Trying to create a He-Ne handheld laser

[Ryan J]

Hello! I have seen people on here successfully attempt to create He-Ne handheld lasers and was curious if the tube and power supply that I have could fit into a host.
The tube is a very small 05-LYR-006 (594nm). The battery pack is shown in the photo. Does anyone know of someone that might be able to create a host to install both a power supply and the tube itself? Could such a thing be done?

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated!

 

[farbe2]

It would certainly doable. There should be a thread almost at the top of the new section where someone is offering machining services.
There are also other people that offer custom cases.

How much power does this thing put out? i have seen 0,1mW figures. Is that true? Should be just visible right?

 

[Ryan J]

It would certainly doable. There should be a thread almost at the top of the new section where someone is offering machining services.
There are also other people that offer custom cases.

How much power does this thing put out? i have seen 0,1mW figures. Is that true? Should be just visible right?

I saw similar reports before receiving this. Interestingly, I have been obtaining readings of about 0.3mW. The laser has been surprisingly stable in its output.

 

[Anthony P]

The first laser project I ever did 40 years ago was a similar HeNe in pistol configuration that fit inside a 1&1/2" pvc pipe. With modern batteries the project would be much easier today.

 

[icecruncher]

my 6" red nightlight is about .1 mw - but yours being yellow is very nice, especially that size. My yellow HeNe lasers are much longer.

You should be able to power it with 3 or 4 - 18650 batteries.

Post when you finish it, with a beam shot.

 

[Ryan J]

my 6" red nightlight is about .1 mw - but yours being yellow is very nice, especially that size. My yellow HeNe lasers are much longer.

You should be able to power it with 3 or 4 - 18650 batteries.

Post when you finish it, with a beam shot.

Thanks for the information, will do!

 

[Giannis_TDM]

Thanks for the information, will do!

3 at most, do not use 4 since you got a goood chance of overvolting the supply and I don't think it would be happy with that. or just use 1 and a good off the shelf boost converter.

 

[Ryan J]

3 at most, do not use 4 since you got a goood chance of overvolting the supply and I don't think it would be happy with that. or just use 1 and a good off the shelf boost converter.

Thank you for clarifying this! Do you think using a boost converter would also minimize space?

 

[Giannis_TDM]

Thank you for clarifying this! Do you think using a boost converter would also minimize space?

Yes since you'd only need 1 18650 but emphasis on a good one, cheap Chinese ones have p-p ripple of up to volts, not very good for HeNe Supplies

 

[kecked]

Be careful of heat and run time as a result. If you use plastic it might melt. If you use metal be really careful about shock. So maybe a metal sleeve for a heat sink with a thin Plastic sleeve for shock prevention. If your using any hehe the voltage is likely 1.5-2kv. Heat might be ok if it’s small. Just things to think about. Don’t freak out over it. Have fun and enjoy. Totally doable.

 

[Ryan J]

Be careful of heat and run time as a result. If you use plastic it might melt. If you use metal be really careful about shock. So maybe a metal sleeve for a heat sink with a thin Plastic sleeve for shock prevention. If your using any hehe the voltage is likely 1.5-2kv. Heat might be ok if it’s small. Just things to think about. Don’t freak out over it. Have fun and enjoy. Totally doable.

Thanks for the information and encouragement!

 

[paul1598419]

I have a 6 inch HeNe tube at 632.8nm, but I have never tried to make it portable. I also believe three Li-ion batteries would work best for this rather than trying to boost the voltage from a single battery. I just don't trust many of the boost converters at start as you could get a voltage surge. Good Luck with your project.

 

[Ryan J]

I have a 6 inch HeNe tube at 632.8nm, but I have never tried to make it portable. I also believe three Li-ion batteries would work best for this rather than trying to boost the voltage from a single battery. I just don't trust many of the boost converters at start as you could get a voltage surge. Good Luck with your project.

Thank you for this recommendation!

 

[Giannis_TDM]

I have a 6 inch HeNe tube at 632.8nm, but I have never tried to make it portable. I also believe three Li-ion batteries would work best for this rather than trying to boost the voltage from a single battery. I just don't trust many of the boost converters at start as you could get a voltage surge. Good Luck with your project.

Not really, output caps take care of that and said thing would only be present in excessively badly designed ones, 3 18650s would make it too bulky.

 

[WizardG]

Be grateful the discussion these days is about the number of 18650s to use and not how to fit a 6-pak of gel cells into a host.

 

[lasingfox]

if you find a big old lyte pointer they work great for 6" HeNe hosts. stick a 2 lithium cells in with an voltex A-14-00 and you're good to go.