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hehe, well spotted. I couldn't resist. Two of the holes go right through the top layer of the keyboard. It's about 3.5mm thick, and I almost managed to cut off the top of the down-arrow cursor key before my sense kicked in and reminded me I might need it. Amazing to think just light caused...

New Zealand or Australia. No offence to Dave Jones though, I know how annoyed New Zealanders and Aussies can get when people mistake their accent for the other ;)

At last, a qualified statement to some key principles of heat-sinking. This is essential viewing for all those who think that simply set-screwing a module into a HS, or relying on threads alone is enough to make a contact for reasonable thermal transfer. It's been said before and repeatedly...

Yeah, to be honest, I think I might stick to what I've got for now and focus on technique, or at least wait until something breaks because of it. Thanks for the tip. I've bookmarked a couple of local suppliers who do that brand amongst others.

hahaha, nice! Thanks Morgan. Here's a link to the successful first build. If there's a better/preferred way to link to it, please mention. http://laserpointerforums.com/f50/my-first-build-beginner-beginners-56055.html Again, thanks for all your help everyone. I really appreciate it :) .

Yes, I'd read somewhere that the other LD was likely to be an IR one, so thought it'd make the ideal sacrificial diode for soldering practise. I was intending, assuming I would manage to solder it properly, to check it with an old digital camera I've recently taken the IR filter from and use as...

Thanks :) I might take it apart and make a quick video clip of it later on, if I can get my video camera back from a mate. The camera used for this thread is useless at video :( . Maybe a before and after beam quality clip once I get the optics sorted? As I touched on during the build, it...

Thanks very much for all the kind replies guys, and yes this will definitely not be the last one I build. This is too addictive :) I bought a couple of 445's recently and thought best to leave those well alone until I feel confident to do them justice. I've still got a couple of spare reds...

Hi. This thread briefly details my first experience of building anything electronic. My background is mechanical engineering, and I've always stayed clear of the voodoo witchcraft also known as electronics, or more accurately, circuits. Bear in mind I hadn't so much as soldered a thing until I...

Fair enough, cheers for the heads-up. Mine aspires to "temperature controlled" status, it's an adjustable iron in that it has a dial to turn up the heat, but no temperature output. Just an increasing colour scale from yellow to red. Precision kit!! ;) Any reason to buy a new gadget is a good...

Yeah Toke, talk about grinning from ear to ear! I can see this getting totally addictive now though, as I'll be all over the optics section trying to figure out why I get so much, glow around the dot. I assume it's reflection due to a poor quality lens, and will explain better with pictures...

Cheers Jerry, too kind ;) Well, I steamed ahead, transferred all the parts from the breadboard to a small PCB, tested the driver with the new test load, mounted my red 650nm "Rohm" LD into a module, soldered that, wired and put it all together in a project box. I took pics of the process as...

Guys, thank you :) If I knew the how to do the facepalm thing, I'd do it now. Made the cuts, plugged it back into the breadboard DDL, AND IT WORKS!! Lesson learned ;) I'll make another one, properly next time, and a bit neater too. Thanks again.

Thank you sir. :) Incidentally, are diodes easy to kill with too much heat from soldering? I think I maintained contact with iron set to hot for up to 5-6 seconds for each joint. I've plugged this into a bread-board driver I've made that works whenever my test module is plugged into it, and I...

Hi guys. A little confused here. I've just built my first test load based on these two schematics, then came across this other diagram that seems to contradict it in terms of the position of the 1R resistor, and here's a picture of my own. The blue wire is negative, and the two reds are...

Couldn't have said it better myself. The three people involved are the only ones that really matter, surely, and if they've agreed to settle this and move on, then maybe it'd be best if everyone else did too. This is just coming across as a hate campaign now, headed by a few regulars who've...

I'll definitely be in touch. Could really do with a couple of custom heat-sinks/modules making up. I've got 2+ years experience as a turner, miller, and grinder (all manual, not CNC) at a Rolls Royce Royce subcontractor, not much to offer really, but would be happy to share anything useful...

Hi everyone. This is a brief review of one of my recent purchases from Dino Direct. I was looking for an inexpensive, reasonable quality violet pointer, or two, as my first foray into this wavelength, and at a power level that's safe'ish to use without too much fuss. I came across this CNI...

God Dammit Monster!! hahahaha

Couldn't agree more. What's the point in adding an, or using the term "heat-sink" if you're going to wrap it in an insulating sleeve like air, steel, wood, or another material of lower thermal conductivity? You see lots of designs here that seem contradictory, like a great material for a...