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sounds LEET cool! have fun Dave! post pix!
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FrozenGate by Avery
Custom Plastic Case Fabrication?
- Thread starter xanatos
- Start date
i think id rather use a metal housing instead of plastic. be easier to machine than to mould. then on top of that everything will act as a heatsink. just have to be careful that you dont short anything out. i already have my own plans on doing something very similar to this. i just need money and the tools to do it 
. i plan on making my own aluminum ingots then machining them on a milling machine/drillpress. pretty much all i would need for that project. wouldnt be very hard to do and it would be pretty small. i bet the battery pack will be bigger than the laser housing
. i plan on making my own aluminum ingots then machining them on a milling machine/drillpress. pretty much all i would need for that project. wouldnt be very hard to do and it would be pretty small. i bet the battery pack will be bigger than the laser housing
Krutz
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metal surely has its advantages!
my route to metal would be to solder. hard-solder if you prefer! take 1mm or thicker sheets, cut them, "solder" with hard-solder and a propane burner. all done in an hour, has a nice flat surface, and much less effort! copper would be heavy and thick (and expensive), steel/iron would work too. you can always do some paintjob on the outside of course. or put chrome on it ;-)
i tried to solder aluminum, didnt work, i think it was because of the aluminum itself, a flashlight-host. with those alu-solder-kits you can only solder pure or "poured" aluminum, no machined aluminum.
manuel
my route to metal would be to solder. hard-solder if you prefer! take 1mm or thicker sheets, cut them, "solder" with hard-solder and a propane burner. all done in an hour, has a nice flat surface, and much less effort! copper would be heavy and thick (and expensive), steel/iron would work too. you can always do some paintjob on the outside of course. or put chrome on it ;-)
i tried to solder aluminum, didnt work, i think it was because of the aluminum itself, a flashlight-host. with those alu-solder-kits you can only solder pure or "poured" aluminum, no machined aluminum.
manuel
that sounds like more effort to me. all that heat going into it too. id rather just have 1 solid chunk. im assuming it would transfer the heat slightly better too. with a project like this precision will be important so i wouldnt want any warping or anything that could be caused by this type of soldering.
Thanks for the info!
YES- The PS3 5mm cubes are the ones! Rubberband was kind enough to send me 4 of his from the PS3 sleds he parted out.
As for spacing, I'm planning on decreasing beam diameter going into the cube, and hoping I dont exceed power/cm^2 ratings for the little things!
I'll take all of those little 5mm cubes I can get - they work really well.
As for the case- the case is really curvy - a very ergonomic design, fits the hand really well, molded rubber inlaid grips, thumb trigger on top, heatsink on bottom, recessed to prevent it catching when pulled from pocket, inlaid polycarbonate window for view of power monitor and - the ultimate finishing touch - a flip-up eyeshield for viewing close-range burning w/o needing goggles (the 3" distance setting).
Hence the need for plastic - wayyyyy too much detail and "stuff" to do simple fabrication. Gotta be molded.
I've been playing with combining beams from my 5mw pointers and have successfully combined 3 beams so far (one from the straight through side and two from the reflect side - only because I'm now working on figuring out how to gang the diodes effectively).
What I'll really need as I approach actually taking the leap and investing in the case - will be a power meter so I can verify that the beams are tuned to MAXIMUM proper polarity orientation, and that I am getting the power output I expect, not that it just LOOKS a lot brighter and seems to burn faster & deeper... the power meter will tell all!
But for now... back to "real" work, as I have clients who have sent me stuff to get live this weekend, alas. Would that I could make tons of money by just doing whatever I felt like doing at any given moment!
LOL!!!
Dave
YES- The PS3 5mm cubes are the ones! Rubberband was kind enough to send me 4 of his from the PS3 sleds he parted out.
As for spacing, I'm planning on decreasing beam diameter going into the cube, and hoping I dont exceed power/cm^2 ratings for the little things!
I'll take all of those little 5mm cubes I can get - they work really well.
As for the case- the case is really curvy - a very ergonomic design, fits the hand really well, molded rubber inlaid grips, thumb trigger on top, heatsink on bottom, recessed to prevent it catching when pulled from pocket, inlaid polycarbonate window for view of power monitor and - the ultimate finishing touch - a flip-up eyeshield for viewing close-range burning w/o needing goggles (the 3" distance setting).
Hence the need for plastic - wayyyyy too much detail and "stuff" to do simple fabrication. Gotta be molded.
I've been playing with combining beams from my 5mw pointers and have successfully combined 3 beams so far (one from the straight through side and two from the reflect side - only because I'm now working on figuring out how to gang the diodes effectively).
What I'll really need as I approach actually taking the leap and investing in the case - will be a power meter so I can verify that the beams are tuned to MAXIMUM proper polarity orientation, and that I am getting the power output I expect, not that it just LOOKS a lot brighter and seems to burn faster & deeper... the power meter will tell all!
But for now... back to "real" work, as I have clients who have sent me stuff to get live this weekend, alas. Would that I could make tons of money by just doing whatever I felt like doing at any given moment!
LOL!!!Dave