Building my first white (cheap'o-style)

[Kakcoo]

So I've started planning my first white laser, and I have so many questions about various things related to this project that I'll rather make my own thread.

What I will use

40~50mW O-Like module $32
2x rkcstr drivers $26
Aixis violet module $19,38
Aixis red module $22,38

I've ordered two diachroic mirrors. This one (ebay link) and this one (another ebay link). Anyone know how well they will work? I don't think they are meant for lasers. :shhh:

For mirror mounts, I will use laser-mans mirror mount guide (laser-man link).

Will these be any good for mounting/heatsinks? They are $30 for three.(ebay link)

This thread (LPF link) was my first question related to this project, but I've settled with a “simple” seven color laser. I've ordered toggle switches, LEDs (which i will use as indicator lights) and resistors (for the LEDs).

This is my electrical setup. I've decided to use 5V instead of 12. I'm very new to electronics and electricity, so pardon my newbicity :

Thank you for helping that noob over there ---> :bowdown:

 

[pseudolobster]

Welcome to the forums!

I salute your mastery of the beizer tool by the way.. them's some fancy mspaint skills you have there.

Anyways, those mounts will be fine for holding things down, but I doubt they'll provide enough heatsinking for any kind of constant operation.. You're also going to have to figure out how you're going to mount your dichros... I'm not really an expert on dichos or PBS's, you might want to head over to the Optics or Laser Shows sections of the forum for that..
Your diagram looks good, and should work, though I'm guessing you're going to have problems running those LED's at 12v... I'd figure the lasers themselves should be good indicator lights, and I'd probably skip the LED's.

 

[chipdouglas]

but since you will be using the rkcstr driver you can not use 5 volts you will need 7.2 or higher. also search for rog8811's white and jay robs white you should get all the answers you need there. you will even find the color ratios!

 

[Deleted member 8382]

I was just thinking the same, amazing paint skills lol!

 

[jeffd]

You can find some nice labby heatsinks from eghemus or modwerx.com

 

[Kakcoo]

Anyways, those mounts will be fine for holding things down, but I doubt they'll provide enough heatsinking for any kind of constant operation..

What if all the mounts are attached to a sheet of aluminum; wouldn't the whole construction act as a heatsink?

Your diagram looks good, and should work, though I'm guessing you're going to have problems running those LED's at 12v... I'd figure the lasers themselves should be good indicator lights, and I'd probably skip the LED's.

I've ordered a big pack of 100 LEDs, 100 5V resistors and 100 12V resistors, so I think the LEDs will be fine. A dashboard with an indicator LED for each toggle switch will make a nice finnish. More quest equals bigger reward.

but since you will be using the rkcstr driver you can not use 5 volts you will need 7.2 or higher. also search for rog8811's white and jay robs white you should get all the answers you need there. you will even find the color ratios!

Those builds was what inspired my quest to build a white laser.
Should I use a resistor for the green module? O-like.com says “Working voltage: DC 3.0V-3.6V”, but the rkcstr driver can operate at 12V.

 

[Kakcoo]

You can find some nice labby heatsinks from eghemus or modwerx.com

Yeah. If I can't find anything cheaper, it's either z-bolt, modwerx or DX. The fact that the DX heatsink includes a module and a TTL-driver for only $18, and that there is no standalone heatsink for DIY projects, pisses me off. Imagine how cheap that thing could be!

 

[rog8811]

If you look at other builds you will see that everyone has used 2 supplies, the reason being that the red is case neg, BR can be case pos or neg and the green is case pos. If you are mounting modules to a common aluminium base you may run into problems with supply isolation with one supply.

Although you can run the Rkcstr's up to 12v the green will take a max of 3.6v if you want it to live. you could replace the existing green driver with something like an LM317 driver which would allow you to input 12v but the isolation problem still applies.

Good luck

Regards rog8811

 

[Kakcoo]

Thank you rog! That was very informative. Wouldn't it be possible to mount everything to a solid, wooden block, and use a resistor of some kind for the green? It would be really nice to have everything on one PSU.

I've made a heatsink in sketchup which I'll get CNC'd at the nearest technical school. Think I'll make one or two 6mm holes which will run along (just below) the diode for possible water cooling. The thing is 6*4*4cm. I think I'll have ten or 12 made, for future projects.

 

[Kakcoo]

Something like this should do it, I guess.

Then I'll just plug something like this (6mm) into the holes at each end. Could the water be able to conduct electricity and shortend something? I know water isn't very conducting at it's own, but maybe aluminum particles the like would make the water able to conduct enough to shortend the circuit between the red/violet modules and the green module?

 

[ElektroFreak]

If you use 40-50mW of green, you'll need at least 200mW of blu-ray and 300mW of red to get a nice white..

 

[Kakcoo]

Can't I just turn the pot for dimmer beam? The green will have to pass thrugh the most mirrors, and the mirrors will absorb some of the light.

 

[ElektroFreak]

Sure, you could definitely do that. You'll even get a longer lifespan. I just wanted to point out that the green is dominant by far, so you have to watch your levels..

 

[Kakcoo]

Yeah, I know. Here's my 95mW greenie (CNI), 200mW red (DX) and 120mW violet (whazzapadrian). The red is by far more visible to the eye than the violet, but the camera thinks otherwise.

 

[chipdouglas]

go to this thread http://laserpointerforums.com/f51/b...ng-adjustable-sled-mount-heatsinks-41942.html it has everything you need..

 

[Kakcoo]

go to this thread http://laserpointerforums.com/f51/b...ng-adjustable-sled-mount-heatsinks-41942.html it has everything you need..

Yeah, you've already pointed that out, but the thread doesn't say much about water cooling, and potential problems related to that. and I'm using diachroic morrors, and not polarized mirrors.


I've designed a simple mirror mount too, which I will have made. I don't think the schoolchildren will charge very much. :evil: