Blu Ray laser worth the time?

[ChevalierBlade]

I just finished salvaging a Blu Ray player for the blue laser, but alas, twas not what I hoped to find. Rather than a nice blue laser diode, I discovered a mess of mirrors, lenses, and other things I am unfamiliar with. I believe that the small extensions on the top, and on the right are the actual laser diodes, but i have no clue how to work with those.

 

[grainde]

Carefully remove the mirrors, dicros etc if you want to keep them for later use and then take out the diode(s). You will need a module to press the diode into and a host with a heatsink. The main diode is a 405 nm ie purple diode. Not sure which diode is actually in your particular drive, but if you want to make a laser it will definitely be worth it. :beer:

 

[Eudaimonium]

On the top-left part of the sled (in this image), you can see a components with three pins protruding upwards, soldered to a ribbon cable.

That's your diode. Remove it and the cooling block it's mounted in carefully. Cut the ribbon cable, use pliers to break the glue holding the block.

Follow a few "diode harvesting" videos, there's plenty around. Your best bet is breaking the block in half using two pliers, freeing the diode to be placed into a module and used in a laser build.