DTR's Reviews/Tutorials/Modifications Compilation

[TOExHEAD]

Forget that - you're going to blow up laser diodes left right and centre without a driver. The reason that lasers generally use one type of battery are that a driver is easier to design for a smaller input voltage range (i.e. 3-4.5V instead of 3-9V).

Edit: I'm pretty sure that these 510 thread mods did exist - Jnrpop has a big collection that he posted a thread of fairly recently. I believe the diode drivers were in the removable part - so you could have multiple threaded modules each with a diode module assembly /w lens and driver. Not sure where you'd get something like that now other than making it yourself...

I have had a 1w 520nm laser diode with a driver from DTR's shop for a while now and have been using 2x 18350's. I made a crummy heatsync out of a block of aluminum but it was not very great. I just connected the driver's leads to a switch and the batteries and it worked just fine. I was just looking for some recommendations for some good and sleek way I can have the laser diode, driver, heatsync, and battery compartment all in a nice portable package.

I don't know much about these vape mods so I appreciate the safety concerns and recommendations.

 

[paul1598419]

I have an 1100 mW 520nm laser and I can tell you from experience that it produces a fair amount of waste heat. I put mine in an old sinner host, MS-SSW-II and powered it with two 26650 batteries. You won't want to put yours into a small host as it needs to expel a lot of heat. Maybe a copper heat sink if you are trying to save on space.

 

[TOExHEAD]

I have an 1100 mW 520nm laser and I can tell you from experience that it produces a fair amount of waste heat. I put mine in an old sinner host, MS-SSW-II and powered it with two 26650 batteries. You won't want to put yours into a small host as it needs to expel a lot of heat. Maybe a copper heat sink if you are trying to save on space.

I do not plan on leaving the laser running for long periods of time, and a moderately short duty cycle is fine for me, I just want something I can fit in my pocket. Thanks for the advice.

Edit: And TBH I was so excited when i got my 1000mw 520nm, that my first heatsync was aluminum foil, thick gauge copper wire and thermal compound, as it was all I had on hand(I made it a super tight fit). I could run it for a minute or so before the heat became a concern.

 

[paul1598419]

Mine has a large aluminum heat sink that gets warm to the touch at 1 minute of run time. The mass of a 22 mm aluminum heat sink is much smaller and will heat up much faster. But, it is your decision. I just wanted to warn you as you could lose an expensive diode and driver.

 

[Immo1282]

A 12mm module with a 9mm diode in it, with one of the 22mm heatsinks. That's going to heat up damn fast - you'd be lucky to get 30 seconds of runtime before you need to let it cool. It's all well and good saying that you wouldn't exceed it but it's equally easy to accidentally forget, especially with seriously nice pretty beams.

 

[TOExHEAD]

This is what I am looking at getting atm
https://vapage.com/mekanik-mechanical-tube-mod.html
or this
https://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10008169/1729103-magneto-style-telescoping-mechanical-mod
Or something similar.

 

[paul1598419]

If you just have to use such a tiny heat sink, I would at least use copper. It won't give you more surface area, but will give you more thermal conductivity. I would seriously reconsider such a small host for this build.

 

[TOExHEAD]

If you just have to use such a tiny heat sink, I would at least use copper. It won't give you more surface area, but will give you more thermal conductivity. I would seriously reconsider such a small host for this build.

If it ends up not working out, I will make a larger diameter copper heatsync out of a slug of copper or something.

 

[DTR]

Pretty happy this weekend finally got my LPM back up and running also this week got a new power supply that I really like. I am getting more time now that my new guy Augie had taken a lot of the grind work off my hands. Ready to get back to the mix and want to get caught up on testing for diodes I have not done yet and been wanting for a while to go back and do some of the older ones with a nicer setup. I still don't have a full V2 NUBM44 test as my LPM could not even go high enough. So first was to deal with the LPM.

My LPM has been down for months after I accidentally ripped a bunch of wires off the dual rail converts due to it all being exposed and not in a nice housing. It turned out to be a good motivation to finally do the upgrade and change out the +/-12V rails with +/-15V as I could not go past 6.8W before so ordered up some parts from mouser which got here Thursday. Wired it all up yesterday and installed everything into a tin box. I put in a laser bank sink from a projector in there and attached it to part of my Ophir head. Used copper shims and some MG thermal adhesive. Also switched to a blue display to change things up a bit. Did some tests on lasers that I know very well and the readings were near dead on what I expected. The unit does usually float a little below zero on initial cold power up but after being on for a minute or so.

For fun tested it with two NUMB44's to see it get up there as I have been stuck at 6.8W max read with the previous configuration. Was happy to see it not only was well above 10W now the readings seem to stay pretty accurate over 10W.


Here is the build.

Next on my wish list was a really good power supply that I could adjust in 1mA increments. I liked the BK Precision unit I picked up to replace my cheap mastech which could ready down to 10mA and was fairly easy to adjust precisely and it never blew diodes randomly like the cheap supply did with its noisy and hair trigger pots for the voltage and current. Anyway been looking around for a bit and saw a BK 1747 pop up for a pretty good price. It a great range and could display down to 1mA was not really aware of how nice it was till I got it.

I did not realize the adjustments were digital not pots and am really loving how smooth they are. Had another unit that was digital which I really did not like but used it for lower power diode tests. I really like when in say constant current and you turn the voltage up more it will flash the voltage limit then go solid back to the draw. Same in reverse for constant voltage when adjusting the current pot up past the load being pulled. Check out the action on this. I am geared up and ready to go....

Been a while since I have had time to play so like a kid in a candy store at the moment. Will be adding more testing threads very soon.

 

[Anthony P]

I have had a 1w 520nm laser diode with a driver from DTR's shop for a while now and have been using 2x 18350's. I made a crummy heatsync out of a block of aluminum but it was not very great. I just connected the driver's leads to a switch and the batteries and it worked just fine. I was just looking for some recommendations for some good and sleek way I can have the laser diode, driver, heatsync, and battery compartment all in a nice portable package.

I don't know much about these vape mods so I appreciate the safety concerns and recommendations.

I can't say specifically, but if I were shopping for portable host package I would start with Survival Laser.