3.1W 9mm 445 fan cooled handheld

[Tmack]

Hey good information. Thanks. I'm off to take a look.

 

[djQUAN]

Don't get the ones with buttons and fancy lights. Those have microcontrollers that turn the output on or off depending on the load. you need the plain dc-dc converter types without the built in USB charging port or other crap.

Like this one:
$1.87 USB DC 1~5V to DC 5V Voltage Step Up Boost Module at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping

 

[djQUAN]

Not much laser posts from me so here's an update.

I wanted to make this laser look a little better so I decided to replace the fan/heatsink assembly with something different.

It all starts with a solid block of aluminum.

After milling all the sides to make it perfectly flat, the guts from the previous design are laid over to plan for the placement.

I started with the pockets for the dual drivers.

I didn't take a step by step pic of the heatsink as it took shape as I was on a roll but here is the mess I made with it afterwards.

I didn't have a 12mm drill bit on hand so I went around the local hardware stores but all of them only sold drill bits in inches. the closest I had on hand was 11.85mm so I improvised to make the hole slightly bigger. A strip of sandpaper attached to the dremel made quick work and satisfactory fit of the module in the heatsink.

And here's the nearly completed heatsink. I took me the entire day to get this far. I was working the mill to its limits since it is meant for small pieces only.

Temporarily connected everything and tested it. It still works!

Here it is wired and cleaned up.

Yeah I need to do something with the exposed driver.

Yep. exposed driver!

But I think it looks se×ier now compared to the previous iteration

Yup. Still got it!

And it was a little foggy out so here's what you guys like to see. Beam shots!

And because I wanted to have a reason to put this here haha. Here's a thermal shot of the laser after running a few minutes. I need to do something about those battery springs.

 

[djQUAN]

*for pics*

 

[grainde]

Looks amazing. Great job and +3. :beer:

 

[djQUAN]

So I worked on this some more and thought about making it a little bit shorter.

I also wanted to have a forward clicky type switch so the tact switch had to go. I used a reverse clicky switch since shorting the driver enable pin to ground turns the laser off. Using a reverse clicky switch this way results to a forward clicky operation of the laser. Not making sense? it's hard to explain but it works I also wired the fan to the driver output before the sense resistor so it would not affect driver output current and I could eliminate a third dc-dc converter from the entire laser.

A new cover is needed so off to the mill with a piece of acrylic.

After an hour of milling, this is the finished part

Glued in the pinheader that will serve as both a keyswitch and charging port.

Glued the clicky switch in place

Test fitting the buttons and cover

This will be the key. The pins on the laser are arranged so that shorting certain pins connects the driver to the battery. The middle pin is also ground so we have direct access to the batteries through this port for charging. I will tie this key with a short string to a lens cap. This way, there will be no chance of burning the lens cap since you have to take it off to attach the key to the pinheader slot.

Wired it and ready to be buttoned up.

Here it is put together. The place on the battery meter can be a convenient location for a laser warning sticker

And it works! Key switch plugged in

Push the black button to get black burn spots

And it's totally USB2.0 compliant!

I replaced the focus ring with a longer one I scavenged from a pen build

And it turned out the cap for a spray perfume made a perfect fit as a lens cap. I also tied the key to it so there's no risk of firing the laser with the cap on.

I also added a ribbon to the battery holder to more easily remove the batteries if they need to be replaced or recharged through an external battery charger.

 

[djQUAN]

*for pics*

 

[CDBEAM777]

Just saw this build thread. Great work !! Many new ideas and work arounds...mmm

I will likely...er...ah...borrow several of your ideas !!! THANX !!!!!

I suppose it is all depending on what duty cycle one is aiming for as to the utility of air cooling !! Surly it really extends the duty cycle and pulls heat away from the LD heat sink...which in turn allows for a greater current max.

ALWAYS trade-offs !! For me...A new goal is as small as possible...with as much W !!
Maybe a very small build with a laptop type cooler/heatsink. The laptop computer folks have opened the path for small, efficient thermal management to pull heat away from the CPU. Might be good to use their technology and off the shelf mini parts ??

You've got me thinking !!! Thanx again for sharing and ALL the pics !!! It is great to see the build or builds unfold !! VERY educational !!!

Nice use of the rectangular form factor and Acrylic to show some guts !!

 

[djQUAN]

Thanks. "borrow" all you want.

The fan does help a lot on the duty cycle. I tried running it with the fan disconnected and the heatsink does get warmer much quicker. With the fan on, the heatsink gets warm but never hot even when run 100% duty cycle until the batteries run out.

 

[trussmonkey25]

Thumbs up. Nice machine work!

 

[zenon]

Hello

Does anyone know what thread , tap size for the copper laser diode host ,
I would like to screw the Copper host in to a larger block , Thanks

 

[RedCowboy]

Looks like M11 x 0.5
I have a M12 x 0.5 and it's too big, sorry I don't have a M11 x 0.5 to check it, but that's what it looks like.