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Some people can make use of the optics that come with a sled (Beam splitters, lenses, mirrors, ect). Additionally, many blu-ray sleds also come with a red diode that can be extracted and used. However, if you are just planning on building pointer, all you need from the sled is the diode...

Seeing as how no one has commented yet and your thread is about to drop off the front page. I thought that I would just say thanks for sharing. It might be easier just to buy a GITD sheet, but your idea is certainly very innovative. Thanks for taking your time to upload the photos and video.

After reading a bit more about the 7882 driver board, it does appear to be voltage regulated. Plus, the 15880 seems to have poorer regulation that I had previously thought. So neither of these boards looks too promising for driving LDs. But even then, I might just end up buying a few of...

So you get 58ma regardless of whether you are using the 5v or 12v rail? If so I can't think of much else that could be going wrong. Are you sure that the red diodes you had could take 57ma? And again, make sure the capacitor is shorted before you hook up a LD. I would short the capacitor...

Just a bunch of low value items. Some LEDs, a bunch of microcontrollers, voltage regulators, and a whole lot of other miscellaneous stuff. Good luck! I used firefox, though chrome might be faster. I basically hit refresh over and over again for 45 minutes until I went though all the pages...

And I'm through! Good luck everyone! Keep refreshing your browser and don't give up!

Do you have a multimeter? If so, measure the voltage being output between the red and black wire of the PSU. I have a feeling it might be 5v instead of the 6v you say since most ATX standard PSUs only have 3.3v, 5v, and 12 v outputs. If its 5v, then you may not be feeding the LM317 enough...

Did you ever try using the driver first with a test load? The 57ma of current you are getting sounds about right for a 22Ω sense resistor. But obviously something is going wrong when you hook up the 12v rail. You might try measuring the current through a test load when you have it powered...

LM317s have line regulation of ±0.01% as listed on their data sheet. That seems pretty stable to me, but do you think that is stable enough to drive a laser diode? I'm not too concerned about efficiency actually. It's just that achieving a lower dropout voltage allows me to use a lower input...

I think that the 15880 may be adjustable. I've read about some mods where a person increased the output of this particular driver, so I would imagine I would be able to decrease it also. Additionally, the 50% efficiency you quoted is when the driver is boosting from 1.2v volts. When it's...

Thanks for the responses, From what I've read, I'm guessing the voltage regulation isn't as good for regulating laser diodes. But will it still be able to power LDs? I'm not looking to perfectly regulate my diode, I'm fine with something that's "good enough". I've read about people using...

Protected just means that the Li-ion battery includes an internal protection circuit. This circuit prevents the battery from over-charging and over-discharging. Unless your driver has a low-voltage shutoff feature, it's probably better to get protected cells. That way you dont accidentally...

Is it possible to use voltage regulation instead of current regulation when driving laser diodes? The reason I ask is because using the LM317 in voltage regulation mode would lower the dropout voltage when compared to using it in current regulation mode (as it is used in the DDL driver). In...

Thanks! Do you just print these out on sticky paper?

Like I mentioned above, if you are using the diode for reverse polarity protection, substituting a 1N4001 should be okay. If you are using it for something else then I cant say for sure whether a substitution is possible.

Hey Eudaimonium, Where do you get your laser warning stickers? I need to put a new one on my green laser (I mangled the old sticker when I opened up the host for a pot mod), and one on my red build when it's finished. Thanks!

You can run the red with 3x 10440s, but you might be better off using only 2x 10440s. Giving 12v to the rkcstr when you only need 6v means it will have to dissipate a lot of heat. Your driver efficiency will end up being pretty low. You could probably wrap an old, fully discharged AAA...

How much current are you pushing though the LOC to acheive 370mw? I'm interested in seeing how long your diode will last at these power levels.

No problem. The rkcstr driver is a current regulating driver, so the output current will not vary with the input (if the driver is regulation). So as long as you are feeding the driver enough voltage, the output current will stay constant (which is what we want). Effectively, you can give...

When Li-ion batteries are fully charged, they output 4.2v. So it's possible that the rkcstr driver will receive more than 12v (4.2v x 3 = 12.6v). You can place a 1N400X diode in series with the driver to drop the voltage to a lower level. But to be honest, I dont think the extra 0.6v...