Host With Optical Shelf Needed

[Andrew124C41]

I have a bunch of them but I don't have a lathe or a milling machine but I do have a metal blade on my chop saw, a drill press and a slide vise, plenty of bit sets and end mills so I can fake most of it pretty well, I had the milled shelved sinks made but I have made my own by drilling and taping a shelf to a cylinder and I have also built square units, I can cut plate and bar stock to size and do it the cave man way turning to size with a sanding disc on my radial arm saw and chucking up my cylinder slices in a hand held......someday I will get a lathe and a manual mill.

Here's a square build I did but if you don't have some basic workshop tools you are not going to be able to do this at home, it will be better for you to get a host with a shelf made or a slip over with a shelf.

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Here's a very simple box type slip over, you can see how much of the c-lenses are used by the beams imprint.

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Here's how I attached a shelf to a cylinder, it's attached with screws through the back.

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Here's another way screwed from the front.

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I was just looking at all of your work. For one thing, you have one heck of a creative imagination. How are you making all of this stuff without a lathe or milling equipment!

 

[RedCowboy]

They say there's no limit to what we can do, except the limits of our imagination, but that's not true, a big factor is having the funds, the time and room to work on everything we can dream up, how nice would it be to really have no limits........in lieu of that we often make do with makeshift solutions and what I find interesting is what other people come up with, so I share some of my poor mans junk come to life and enjoy seeing others do the same, sure the polished pro built units look good, but form that follows function has a beauty of it's own that......well maybe not beauty.......but it can be interesting or at least good for a laugh.

With lasers and optics alignment is key, so if you build your own make sure to build in as much adjustability that you can, failing that remember the famous words of Al Bundys father.......There is no mix up that a sander can't fix up.

 

[Andrew124C41]

They say there's no limit to what we can do, except the limits of our imagination, but that's not true, a big factor is having the funds, the time and room to work on everything we can dream up, how nice would it be to really have no limits........in lieu of that we often make do with makeshift solutions and what I find interesting is what other people come up with, so I share some of my poor mans junk come to life and enjoy seeing others do the same, sure the polished pro built units look good, but form that follows function has a beauty of it's own that......well maybe not beauty but it can be interesting or at least good for a laugh.

LOL....absolutely! You have more room than I do. We had been in an apartment. Drove my wife nuts. Now we are in a townhouse....better but still not conducive to having a shop. One of these days I want to drive up north and see what Richard has setup up.....if he will let anyone into his secret workshop

What kind of bench supply do you have? I decided enough with the HP hooked up to a bucking conroller.

 

[RedCowboy]

I have several, you can buy them online for not a lot of money and they don't take up much space, also I can do some milling with my slide vice when I need to but it's not ideal, if you search for them on ebay use the word VARIABLE power supply to narrow your search.

The variable power supply sitting on my bench next to me is one of these > https://www.ebay.com/itm/313484127672?hash=item48fd1c2db8:g:ZuIAAOSwS2pgbiMP

 

[Andrew124C41]

I have several, you can buy them online for not a lot of money and they don't take up much space, also I can do some milling with my slide vice when I need to but it's not ideal, if you search for them on ebay use the word VARIABLE power supply to narrow your search.

The variable power supply sitting on my bench next to me is one of these > https://www.ebay.com/itm/313484127672?hash=item48fd1c2db8:g:ZuIAAOSwS2pgbiMP

That is really not bad. I had heard the Chinese stuff was a problem, but I guess not.

I purchased a rather heavy and not cheap linear to run my Radios. Amateurs are generally leary of switching supplies due to rfi. But another amatuer did a lot of research and found a 30 dollar mean well supply. It is a small switching one. I got one. Works great. The linear makes a great paper weight.

So, exactly what kind of equipment are you using to machine aluminum.

I meant to to tell you, I have been very happy with the ACS 4500 drivers. They may even be better than the SXDs..hard to say.

Vlad sent me one of his boost drives...wanted to try it for a 1 W greenie gift. He set it to 1.8. He did not charge me for it and refused to accept money for it I did not realize who it was... Vladimir who makes all those drivers. COVID has made things difficult.... getting chips from Tx Instrument for example. His budget shipping costs and shipping times have been a problem. It took only 2 weeks for the driver to get here. Anyway, we need good drivers!

 

[Andrew124C41]

I have several, you can buy them online for not a lot of money and they don't take up much space, also I can do some milling with my slide vice when I need to but it's not ideal, if you search for them on ebay use the word VARIABLE power supply to narrow your search.

The variable power supply sitting on my bench next to me is one of these > https://www.ebay.com/itm/313484127672?hash=item48fd1c2db8:g:ZuIAAOSwS2pgbiMP

Forgot to ask. The constant current/voltage. Automatic or can you set it up.

 

[RedCowboy]

Automatic.......no you have to adjust it.

You can set a voltage limit and a current limit and there's a coarse and fine adjustment knob for both on most units or at least the one I linked.

If you want to drive a nubm44 you 1st ( without any laser connected ) 1st set the voltage limit by turning it on and turn up both coarse adjustment knobs, with nothing connected you will see the voltage meter go up/down, set your upper voltage limit, I set to 4.5v for a nubm44 then turn the current knob all the way down leaving the voltage knob where you set it.

If you wanted to set your current you short the leeds together and you will see the current meter go up/down but I start at zero ( with the current knob turned all the way down ( counter clockwise ) after setting the voltage limit as I described above.

Connect the laser diode in a heat sink and slowly turn up the current knob, with your voltage already set to 4.5v you wont be able to go past about 4.5a but if it won't go past say....4.3a and you want a little more then give the FINE voltage knob a little bump ( clockwise ) then the current knob.

Now if you knock your wires loose then turn your current knob back down before reconnecting unless you know you had the limit set, but until you learn its best to just turn the current down if you knock the wires loose before reconnecting.

There are videos you can watch to explain it all better and an indicator light for both voltage and current to show when one is in regulation, so if you wanted to walk away and leave a laser running at it's max you want the current limiting not the voltage, so just back the current down until the meter moves and the indicator light is on in that case.