3W 445nm Survival laser Stainless Steel build!

[deltawars]

The host just arrived today, so i built up my laser and here it is.

Parts:
445nm 9mm Diode In V4 Copper Module W/2.4A X-Drive With G-2 Lens
Survival Laser Stainless Steel Host Assembly, Extended and Tapered Heat Sink
Blank Battery Contact Board
Conical Focus Adapter - Clear Anodized
Universal Warning Label
Total Price: £147 It will be cheaper for USD but because I use GBP paypal has the worst currency conversion rate.

All of the Parts.

After assembling the laser to see that it didn't work, and then me pissing my pants, I took it apart and found out it was wires from the driver shorting out, one reason to use a good driver, only god knows what could have happened if it was a cheap one.

To stop the wires from shorting out and leave more room I cut a bit of the module.

Solder new wires and add the module then solder to the blank battery contact board then install the thing to stop it popping out.

screw pill into host.

add the heatsink and other thing.

screw it all together.

add the other piece of metal thing then the Focus Adapter and label (there was a bit of damage to the metal thing).

Bit of damage to battery insert threads.

Finished thing.

badly focused Laser dot.

It is a very nice host it feels heavy and solid, but I was surprised when I saw its size, I thought it was bigger lol.

I would now like to thank LPF and there members for the helpful information on the site.

Edit: This host with this diode at 2.4A has a duty cycle of 35s on and 180s off.

 

[Hitokiri Battousai]

Wow !

 

[IsaacT]

Great job on the build! I love Stainless Steel builds!

 

[deltawars]

I do love Stainless Steel hosts too, they feel nice and heavy plus there super strong unlike aluminium, which is very light and feels like your holding air, or that its going to float away lol.
That made me think, when is someone going to make a host out of gold and do a gold build, I have seen copper and silver but not gold.

Haha yer, they are nice and small plus fit in your pocket and hand very nicely, but mannnn... with a 3w laser diode they must have a very have small duty cycles, does make a good hand warmer tho lol. I just ordered a thermometer so I will update with the duty cycle on the host.

 

[deltawars]

I don't even have a heat sink on the x-drive and it is recommend 60 second without a heat sink. When the thermometer arrives I will test the laser diode and if it can stay on longer then 60 seconds I will get some thermal glue and a heatsink for the x-drive. and thanks for reminding me about the battery's, i totally forgot about that cant be to careful with them li-ions.

 

[Down with Umbrella]

I bet Boeing was scratching they're heads about the batteries too hehe. Nice build! It is a good pocket laser

 

[Pi R Squared]

Great work deltawars! I have one of those hosts too and I like it very much. +rep. I have seldom left mine on for even a minute, am afraid of overheating it, it is quite a lot of power for a host and heat sink of that size. You might get poor battery life with those small batteries but one thing nice about that host is you can always get the extension tube and use 18650's.

Alan

 

[deltawars]

Ahh damit I didn't see that tube, but If you use good battery's like AW IMR 18350 700mAh or Efest IMR 18350 V2 800mah or Efest IMR 18350 700mah purple 2014 you should get about 30-40Mins, according to this graph and this calculator.

Same I'm afraid of it overheating, but when I get the thermometer which will arrive tomorrow I will make a graph, I checked and the datasheet says a maximum temperature of 50oc but for life I think 30-40oc is safer.

 

[IsaacT]

My AW IMR 18350's give me long runtimes on my 3 watter. It has been a few months since I have recharged the batts, and they are only now starting to die. Don't be crapfires though, they aren't worth even 60% of their stated capacity.

 

[KrowBar]

I have almost the exact same build in that host. I use the Efest IMR 18350s and haven't felt like my run time between charges is restrictive. I am running a bit lower at 2.2 A, so yours will obviously run hotter, but I have left it on for nearly 2 minutes (I usually limit it to under a minute, but was trying to do some divergence estimates and left it on longer a couple of times) and it got fairly warm (I know, very objective & quantitative right?) up front, but I didn't feel like it was about cooked. Did you coat the module with thermal compound before putting it into the heatsink? I would suggest using some Arctic Silver or similar for these set-screw types since otherwise you will have an air gap around most of the module. Like Bubonic said though, the warm host suggests the heat is being pulled effectively from the diode. Good job on the build! I quite enjoy mine and think you will love yours as well.

 

[deltawars]

I just done the tests and running the diode at 2.4A it has a duty cycle of 35s on and 180s off, that is with the diode reaching right near its max of 50c degrees celsius.

 

[Pi R Squared]

I just done the tests and running the diode at 2.4A it has a duty cycle of 35s on and 180s off, that is with the diode reaching right near its max of 50c degrees celsius.

Thanks for posting that. I hadn't thought about testing the temperature. Duty cycles can be shorter than expected. I think many people don't know that when the host is warm the heat sink is warmer and the module is even warmer and the diode is hot.

You can also see when measuring with an LPM that the power begins dropping as a diode heats up.

Alan

 

[deltawars]

Ok my laser just started to have a weird laser beam pattern, the diode has not been over heated.
I keep it below its max temp with a duty cycle of 30s on and 180s off, it takes 180s it drop to about 37oc(from 50oc) then 35s to rise to 47-48oc.
I measured the back of the diode where the pins are because that is where it would be hottest.

Here are some pics of the beam yesterday (without lens)

And here is a video of it today, first video is without lens and second is with lens.


What could be causing this problem and how can I fix it?
It was working fine yesterday but when I went to use it now, the beam has a pattern now.

 

[upaa27]

Nice build! How good would you say the host is heat sink wise? What was the energy drop's time and amount?

 

[upaa27]

Ok my laser just started to have a weird laser beam pattern, the diode has not been over heated.
I keep it below its max temp with a duty cycle of 30s on and 180s off, it takes 180s it drop to about 37oc(from 50oc) then 35s to rise to 47-48oc.
I measured the back of the diode where the pins are because that is where it would be hottest.

Here are some pics of the beam yesterday (without lens)

And here is a video of it today, first video is without lens and second is with lens.


What could be causing this problem and how can I fix it?
It was working fine yesterday but when I went to use it now, the beam has a pattern now.

Oops! Just read this discard my last question

 

[KrowBar]

It looks like your diode window got something on it. This can happen pretty easily any time you have the lens out. It could be anything from moisture to dust or fibers or little pits on the window from something that got burned there. I'm not the best one to recommend a cleaning method, but I think some of the vet testers might have some suggestions.