Actually, the AixiZ is pretty close to perfect if you want quantity. Just give it a bit more room for the lens (so that a collimated beam from a Senkat will put a glass lens flush with the surface, which simply looks better), and the gold electroplating to enable tighter thermal contact. Reduce the bevel on the diode seat in favor of a threaded hole that takes a screwable clamp to press it. Eliminate the part behind the head.
Presto. Parfaît.
Make it a diameter that's readily available, and ship it with thermal epoxy in bags of five. Anyone who can't drill a reasonably close match (and pad the difference with the thermal epoxy) in some stock is going to be out of luck no matter what you do. And you can't make one body to fit every host out there. Hence, it's better to concentrate on the module itself. I believe Senkat would like to replace the AixiZ modules in his stock, should someone (hint, hint) make a suitable replacement.
As for heat sinks to match to hosts, those have to be made for specific hosts, on request. Either that, or you have to do what Kryton did: make your own host. The other alternative would be too expensive, which is to include air channels and a tiny fan to air-cool the head, so that there isn't any need for additional heatsinking beyond the head, making anything else purely cosmetic in nature. If you want to add PCBs, you could always socket the diode, add a set of MOVs to prevent ESD, a ceramic cap to smooth driver spikes, and draw wires through a longer, massive heat sink. But, really, that's all just way more fancy than a newbie wants.
And, as daguin said, noobs are where the quantities are at.
The rest of us are frequently looking to do more fancy stuff, and the only truly generic part for that is a tiny two-part cylinder that will hold the diode, and a tube to screw the lens into. Anything beyond that is custom work, which we probably have opinions about. I suspect the simple, protective PCB would be a popular addition among that crowd, seeing as they all understand what ESD can do.
If you're serious about machining, you could probably garner some interest by making a module that can do DPSS. Diode bar mount or C-mount plus lenses, a crystal holder with precise angles and the ability to adjust the spacing, IR filter that deflects onto a photodiode, a lens tube, a tunable APC driver circuit that monitors the IR leakage (output minus IR equals green, which should be constant), and air channels to blow into with a fan. Lens on one end, battery connector on the other, no fuss. If you want to get fancy, do TEC for the crystal and laser diode.
With that, any noob can blow his/her retina to tiny bits with a few hundred mW of green output for a fraction of the usual cost. A crystal that can deliver that is readily available from Roithner for less than $100 in qty 1. Bundle four of them if you feel like fueling budding terrorists, for multiwatt mayhem. Diode bars or C-mounts shouldn't be hard to find, and would be reasonably priced in quantity. 5W to a bar, if my memory serves. More, if you go for proper bars, like 20-100W or so, but that requires tougher crystals, or more of them. Really, though, you'd sell on that whole quantity thing. Experienced members might be less likely to buy, but it's quantity.
Can you tell I'm biased in the general direction of quality instead?
The golden middle is an AixiZ replacement, as described at the top of this post.
Hell, if you want to cooperate with DarkHorse, Kenom, etc., instead of competing, then you could make it the same diameter, and then people (whether noobs or not) could use your modules in their sinks. Specialization may be good, given that the quantity market is becoming rather saturated by now. Trying to do everything, or to make the perfect host, isn't going to work. Just pick a target audience, and stick with what those need. I spot a need for an AixiZ-compatible module with better heat sinking, better appearance and simpler mounting.
Addendum: If you want a heatsink, a simple square that one can screw the AixiZ
head into would be neat. That makes it trivial to stack them precisely, whether you want more power, more colors, or just a laser harp. Mine don't get as precise as I would like, so I'm considering Big Blue Saw for them. Waterjet is cool.
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