DIY 405nm pointer- NOW WITH BEAM SHOTS pg.3

[Milos]

This is the story of my first and second actually DIY 405nm project ever. First I blew the diode because devil wouldn’t let me rest and I HAD to go “a notch more” and pushed my poor diode to 53mA. That was it .
This one came out great and I have been playing with it pretty much every day for the past one weak.
Its outputting 14mW peak and 12mW average drawing about 46mA.
I used housing from old Vega beltpack VHF microphone transmitter from whom I also stole on/off switch.
I also built RED version of this that is outputting solid over 200mW. Here is link to the review I did on it at Laser Enthusiatst Forum.
link
laserenthusiast.com/forums/showthread.php?t=273

And some pics. I’ll post few beam shots soon.

Thank you a_piro-is, and rog8811 for driver tips.

 

[Milos]

Re: My first DIY  Blueray portable pointer.

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[Milos]

Re: My first DIY  Blueray portable pointer.

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[Milos]

Re: My first DIY  Blueray portable pointer.

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[Milos]

Re: My first DIY  Blueray portable pointer.

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[Milos]

Re: My first DIY  Blueray portable pointer.

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[Milos]

Re: My first DIY  Blueray portable pointer.

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[Milos]

Re: My first DIY  Blueray portable pointer.

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[Milos]

Re: My first DIY  Blueray portable pointer.

O yeh, circuit components and diode were from GB from Daedal. Thanks man, it all worked out nice. !!

 

[Gazoo]

Re: My first DIY  Blueray portable pointer.

It looks very nice too.. I like the blu-ray color the best.

 

[Phazonx]

Re: My first DIY  Blueray portable pointer.

I have a question though, hou do you go about testing the ma safely with out bumping it and killing it?

 

[Milos]

Re: My first DIY  Blueray portable pointer.

hi Phazonx,
I used 4 green 5mm diodes 2 in series parallel to other two, and 1 ohm resistor in series to them. Like this.

GD-GD
/ \
(+)---- 1 ohm res - -------- (-)
\ /
GD-GD

Testing voltage across 1 ohm resistor = mA



It acts as dummy load to test the current. You can learn this useful trick on this forum and tune your circuit board to mA you desire (or want to try your laser diode with) here is link where it was discussed many times.
http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1190170289
there is more discussion on this in other DIY threads. It works nicely!

There is nice thread with better picture of how to test it but I can't find it now.

 

[Phazonx]

Re: My first DIY  Blueray portable pointer.

Ok, thanks for the help. I just finished a mini laser diode driver and I never used it on a blu-ray. The driver is like yours, but about the size of 2 pennies. I have a smaller one, but no video of it yet.

see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1JUm-XgHqw

 

[jamilm9]

Re: My first DIY  Blueray portable pointer.

where did you get that box to hold everything in from.

 

[Milos]

Re: My first DIY  Blueray portable pointer.

where did you get that box to hold everything in from.

The box is from my work. I used to work on audio gear, and I used to actually repair these belt-pack transmitters long time ago. The hole where i stuck diode module was place where Shure lavaliere microphone connector used to be (I had to widen the hole with the file about 1mm). Basically I threw the guts out and built guts and sitting to accommodate Blue ray laser.

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

Re: My first DIY  Blueray portable pointer.

Milos !! I never knew you are a builder !!!! Nice work.
You are getting about the same as mine at that current.
Over that current, you stand on the cliff of OWCH !! I ran one at 55 mA to light a match to show it can be done. A $35 experinment Dead in 15 minutes.
Keep up the good work and learning !!

Mike