445nm "Evolution" DIY 250mW

[meepo]

It's a novelty, it's probably not needed at all, but it's just nice to have.

 

[RA_pierce]

This has been bugging me for a while, but the whole point of an emission indicator is so that you can see that the laser is in operation, even with safety goggles on, but the indicator is usually an opposite color from the emitted laser beam, so why have one the same color as the emission? If you didn't want an empty hole, couldn't you have just left the little clear bit in there?

Well for one, I don't often use my lasers in a setting that requires me to use safety goggles. So it really doesn't matter to me.
I'm not particularly anal about safety either. I feel completely comfortable with a 250mW laser and no goggles. I don't ever blast my face with my lasers intentionally or otherwise.
The indicator is there just to make use of the host.
Also, it's not an empty hole. I never removed the not-so-clear plug for the indicator.

If I wanted it for safety, I would install a white LED phosphor at the end of the fiber. The resulting yellow light would be easily visible through safety goggles.
Yes, I did think this whole thing through and built it as I saw fit for my purposes.

Thanks for the constructive criticism, though.

 

[meepo]

I decided to try my hand in this and I removed the button. But without anything to thread into the aperture I can't extract the module... Would I be able to push the module out through the battery compartment?

 

[RA_pierce]

I decided to try my hand in this and I removed the button. But without anything to thread into the aperture I can't extract the module... Would I be able to push the module out through the battery compartment?

Maybe.
I wouldn't recommend it. You may crush the driver. It's pressed in and has a small amount of epoxy as well.