Building a PCB with a uC

[Apex]

Hey all, I'm really enjoying this community of learned laser connoisseurs!
I'v had luck receiving some a great information already and I am hoping to learn some more now.

My plan is to build a laser capable of burning matches and that sort. The hope is to use a small circular PCB that is about 1" diameter, and has about 60 through holes, I want to put a uC with a female micro USB on it that will tell an LED when the battery is in need of a charge, when it's fully charged, and when the laser is being used.

Here's where I need some laser tech wisdom!

the questions are about to roll in...


.1 What would be the best laser components to use for such a small space, that would also allow it to burn?
all the tiny stuff that goes on a driver, resisters, diodes...diodes, capacitors, a pot etc.


.2 what battery will have enough mA and Voltage but be small enough to flat and smaller then 1'' I have a small 3.7v 300mA (is that an acceptable size for power output?)

3. The small diameter of the PCB is not the only limited area, above and below the board cannot exceed .5'' so tight quarters!

4. Is possible to have the diode be facing down vertically on the bottom side of the board in the center.

5. how would I connect it all and in an efficient heat safe way.

I would like to be as careful as possible in all aspects when dealing with lasers!

I know that is a lot of questions, but I have done a lot of reading these past few months and I just need some solid feedback from actual people that I can ask questions to, apposed to google leads PDFs and youtube videos which are helpful but not always what you need!

I thank you so much for any information you can give me, if it is not possible maybe if you had some suggestions for something that might work

thanks again!!!!!!

 

[rhd]

What's a uC? I've never come across that term in reference to laser drivers.

What's the purpose of the 60 through holes?

Rather than describing small portions of what you have in mind, describe the bigger picture. What are you building? (sounds to me like you're trying to do a laser watch, but that's just a guess)

 

[Apex]

I'm making a short metal cylinder housing with threaded sides so I can integrate it into my other projects, because of the space I need the housing about a half inch high and an inch in diameter. I'm not a big fan of function fallowing form, but in this case I have to fallow that principle... at best it will burn. uC is just an abbreviation for a micro-controller. And the Circuit board just so happens to have about fifty or sixty though holes, It's a basic PCB from Radio Shack. I'm a novice with lasers, I'v been doing research on the components for a while, but in the end I just wanted some good advice from well informed people.


And If anyone has some good goggles they recommend let me know! I'm going to poke through the threads to see what goggles others are using.

Thank you very much for your input

 

[MarioMaster]

I think you will need to have a professionally done PCB with SMD components to fit a microcontroller, leds, and a laser driver in a space small enough to fit in your project.

With such a small battery you will either need one specifically designed for very high discharge currents (RC heli Lipo battery cells or something) and even a 4C discharge on a 300mAH battery only gets you 1.2A which is only going to get you a bit over a watt or so on a 445nm diode. I'm not sure how powerful you need this laser to be.

Also doing anything more than very simple circuits on perfboard sucks.

 

[rhd]

With such a small battery you will either need one specifically designed for very high discharge currents (RC heli Lipo battery cells or something) and even a 4C discharge on a 300mAH battery only gets you 1.2A which is only going to get you a bit over a watt or so on a 445nm diode. I'm not sure how powerful you need this laser to be.

My "Photino" builds, which I've never really shown to the forum, had to cross that bridge.

Basically, every cubic mm of the CNC'D host had to be very deliberately planned. The only way to put that much power into a host smaller than a pack of matches, was to go LiPo + custom SMD driver. Not only that, but the driver itself was a laborious task, because I was choosing components not only with an eye to footprint, but height too, dropping 4mm high inductors in favor of 3mm high ones, etc.

It's not an easy task. You may want to try some easier electronics projects first. If you were indeed referring to perfboard (makes sense now, but I didn't pick up on that at first), forget it. Through hole drivers are out of the question.

Some Photino eye candy:

 

[Apex]

I thank you both very much that was indeed a great wealth of info.

I agree with both of you on the fact that this is not a weekend solder on the perfboard project. The original plan was to design the piece then send the plans to a private company for the build.

The Photino looks amazing, great job.

Would you commissioned work rhd? if I sent you the specs

 

[Apex]

Feel free to PM if you are interested



thanks again

 

[rhd]

The Photino looks amazing, great job.

Would you commissioned work rhd? if I sent you the specs

No, unfortunately not. But I really appreciate the complement. Thank you!

 

[Bionic-Badger]

It's really sounding like you haven't done any of the research yourself, and are mostly just seeking someone to contract out to do this stuff for you. It's fine if you have a budget, but you should probably list that if you want people to design this thing for you. For all the other questions: please do some research on the subject and then ask more specific questions. Listing some random electrical components and asking what goes into a driver shows that you haven't done much legwork yourself.

 

[petters]

From your requirements, It sounds like you just want a green light to indicate being on, a red light when a charge is needed soon, and a driver. I feel like it is being over-complicated with a microUSB port. It can be simplified by just making a driver and throwing a simple low battery indicator circuit on there. I also don't understand the '60 through-hole' part, why do you need that? Maybe I missed something in your requirements, but this can all be integrated into a laser without an external USB.

 

[Apex]

Thanks petters, That's good to know.

I'd like the micro USB port for charging is all

and the board I had just so happened to have that many holes I wont need that many so I'll get another one

thanks for the input

 

[rhd]

Stop double and triple posting. Edit your previous comment instead.