Linear vs Buck: Thanks DTR & CrazyS, all this time I thought linear drives were the same as buck drives, they do the same thing, but a different way, as I have come to see through a web search:
Understanding the difference between Linear, Buck, Boost and Direct Drive drivers | BudgetLightForum.com
DTR, the flashlight I want to modify as a host for the PL520 B1 laser diode I will be ordering from you has only 17 mm of width to mount the driver into, its depth is half of that deep so has to be mounted that way; sideways in the short tube. The Aixiz drive I was considering is too long to fit, so hoping your X-Drive will.
Is there a round shaped version of this kind of drive which fits a 17 mm hole? The brass ring I need to solder to will let a 16.8mm fall right through, so need exactly 17 mm diameter if you have a round driver to fit that. I found some 17mm wide 18 gauge copper disks on ebay I could use to mount it to, if need be.
Here's a photo of the back side of the pill I need to fit the driver into, that hole on top only 17mm wide.
RHD, DTR, Crazyspaz and VisibleGreen thank you for your kind help, +rep when the system allows me to do so.
This is what I'm working on, converting a lensed flashlight into a fat beam laser pointer:
I took one of DTR's laser diode modules and cut most of the threaded section of the tube used for the lens off, then inserted it into a copper slug and soldered them together. Then I put it into a hole I drilled into the flashlight pill and screwed a threaded cap down on top of the copper diode mount, compressing it into the pill. I don't need the small G2 type of lens the copper module normally uses for the flashlight host, so just cut that part of it off. The reason I had to do that is the tube is so deep and the lasers output so wide, the tube clips some of the lasers output. For collimation, the flashlights 67mm diameter lens with a 44mm focal length will collimate it into a large spot with low divergence. That's the plan, if it works out.
I was going to drill and tap the aluminum pill and screw the copper DTR module into it, but ended up making a mistake with the hole ending up too far off center. After that I decided I could just file the hole out, put a slug around the copper diode mount to keep it from falling through and compression fit it with the black threaded aluminum cap which had been used to keep the LED's flat copper mounting plate held tightly against the pill. Now all I have to do is buy the laser diode, insert it into the copper, wire in a driver and put the flashlight back together.
This flashlight:
http://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_71429.html (it's lens is great for a LED, but has distortions I don't like when shining a laser beam through it. I had to find a replacement made from crown glass).
What this mod essentially does is turn a flashlight into a laser with a beam expander, but using only one lens. Since the flashlight is made with a large range of focal adjustment, I'm hoping I can focus it to infinity as a low divergence beam, or with a wide output as a green flashlight.
This is what I'm making, similar to this one but mine with a larger lens and far higher output power:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Laser-Genet...X50-Light-Designator-with-mount-/281448729745
.
.
.
