Disassembled key-chain laser

[Briceman92]

Hello all,
I'm new to lasers, but am intrigued by them. I went to walmart and got myself a cheap red laser pointer / LED light combo key-chain. My hope is to mod it to make it much more powerful than the stock 5mw, and to be able to pop balloons, light match heads, etc.

I took the casing off and pulled out the guts. I tried it and both the laser and LED still worked. Of course, me being curious, I pulled off the circular metal piece on one end of it (Fig 1). A small square piece fell out (Fig 2). I'm fairly certian that the square was between a square on the board (Fig 3, upper right) and the groove of the circular metal piece. I've tried to slide it back on with the square in different directions, but I can't get the laser to work. The LED still works.

Does anyone have any ideas? And of course, what are these pieces and how do they work?

Thanks! :yh:

Fig 1

Fig 2

Fig 3

 

[bjarki93]

I think the figure 2 is the laser and that you distroyed it!
Btw it does not work to modify 5mw laser to 100+ laser unless you change the diode

 

[Briceman92]

Hahaha oops. Good to know. Thanks for the input. That's okay. That's why I bought two.
And really? I remember seeing all these videos where people fry the resistor to make it able to burn things. Or do I have the wrong type of laser?

Side note: I also have an old DVD Burner I took apart and got the diode from. The only question now is how much power to route to it. I'm afraid of frying it. Can anyone point me in the right direction? :thinking:

 

[creanzworld17]

Hello all,
My hope is to mod it to make it much more powerful than the stock 5mw, and to be able to pop balloons, light match heads, etc.

I took the casing off and pulled out the guts. I tried it and both the laser and LED still worked. Of course, me being curious, I pulled off the circular metal piece on one end of it (Fig 1). A small square piece fell out (Fig 2). I'm fairly certian that the square was between a square on the board (Fig 3, upper right) and the groove of the circular metal piece. I've tried to slide it back on with the square in different directions, but I can't get the laser to work. The LED still works.

Does anyone have any ideas? And of course, what are these pieces and how do they work?

[/IMG]

There is no way to mod this cheap 5mw laser. You will need a proper driver first of all, and another proper diode. Chances are that your diode isnt working either because you killed it, or you have the pin setup wrong. Either way, that diode is trash anyway, for your future plans.
As for your dvd burner, it should be able to take 350+ma, again, with the right driver. Either buy one-- Adjustable laser diode driver circuit(assembled)Red or Blu-ray! - $15.99 : Modwerx Shop or make one-- http://laserpointerforums.com/attachments/f42/14219-modifying-ddl-circuit-clip_image002_001.jpg You can ignore the resistors in the schematic, and just put in the right ohm that you need for the diode.

 

[creanzworld17]

Also--give more info on what kind of burner this was you took apart. I.e,-what "x" was it? Brand/model name?

 

[Briceman92]

The drive is a "Sony drive unit model crx140e class 1 laser product". Does that help?

I'm fairly confident I could put together the shown driver, assuming I can figure out the ohms... >.<

 

[creanzworld17]

Ehh.... class one will probably be useless. I tested class one cd-drives at 375ma+ (the schematic above, about 3.3ohms) and it was just a somewhat "bright" dot picked up by the cameras lcd. Even to my nightvison, it wasnt that bright. I didnt test it over time spans, but im guessing it would died by within the hours used, or even minutes at that ma(the class 1)
If you want high-powerd IR/red/blue ray diodes, that actually are meant to run at that ^^ ma, buy these- Laser Diodes DDL . The PHR is blue ray, red is obviously red, and IR is 808nm. Those laser diodes are all safe to use in that ^^^ schematic. For blue ray, i would recommend no more than 110-120ma, the red I would say is safe to run at 250-350+ma, and the IR, i would say run at 250-380+ma..maybe even more, but i'm not sure...just follow those ma's to be safe, unless you want to risk it. Hope that helps! ~Steve

 

[Briceman92]

Ah ok. Thanks for the input mate! :thanks:

 

[Bluefan]

ALL dvd burners are class I, just because they are shielded!
google says:
Sony CRX140E/CH2 8x4x32 Internal EIDE CDRW Drive
it's a slow cd writer, 780nm (infrared), maybe a few tens of mW.
the pointer can't be boosted, unless the case is pretty the components are no use for higher power lasers, not even the laser itself (the diode).