Finished my Dorcy Jr upgrade!

[Cenobite9]

With the help of a friend I have completed my upgrade of my original Dorcy Jr. Blu-ray. It started out as a 85mw PHR build but is now a functional ~195mw 6x build. We hit some stumbling blocks through the upgrade process concerning power levels. At first we thought the lava drivers were bad but later found out it was the Dorcy boost circuit that was left in place from the original build that was the culprit. It severely limited the power going to the lava driver. So a few seconds with a hammer and screwdriver later, the problem was fixed. Out went the boost circuit and in went some stiff foam to hold the spring for the battery positive lead in place. I've been pondering purchasing a 405-G-1 lens to get an additional boost in output. Currently I'm using an LSP Blu-ray glass lens and it provides a pretty good boost over the Aixiz glass lens (~165mw with the Aixiz glass and ~195mw with the LSP Blu-ray Glass and ~225mw with no lens). I have the driver set to 220ma so I figure I'll see closer to 220mw with a 405 lens. I don't have any pics yet but I can smoke light brown cardboard from about 10' away and we know that it will sting skin from 20'+. I'm going to try a 50' skin test later today.

 

[chipdouglas]

where are you getting your milliwatt numbers from?

 

[Cenobite9]

My friend has a laser power meter.

 

[Meatball]

so whats the 50' skin sting test result?

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

Good to see real builders here .... Congrats on the laser.
The Lava Driver works well for me and I have used 4 of them.
Now enjoy and be careful.
Mike
+1 rep

 

[Cenobite9]

Well I took half of your advice - I enjoyed... now to quote Kup from the 1986 Transformers cartoon movie - "of all the circuit glitched, diode blowing dimwittery..." I blew the diode! I clicked the laser on for about 10-15 seconds and then clicked it off for another 10-15 seconds, then went to click it on again and nothing! It lasted about two days with the longest on cycle being about 1 minute. I'm thinking one of my uninsulated connections made contact with something it shouldn't have. I checked and replaced the battery and tried to take a measurement across the diode and got zilch on the meter. Time for a new 6x diode... ouch!

 

[Cenobite9]

It's fixed!

I have replaced the diode and the driver. I am now using an SF-AW210 diode with a flexdrive v2. The current is set to 230ma and now I get 318mw of light output with no lens and ~250mw thru a LSP Blu-ray Glass lens. I calculate a 405-G-1 would give me ~295mw since its around 18% more efficient than the LSP lens. Got to get me one of those lenses!!!

By the way, this laser will burn dark paper unfocused (well focused to infinity at least) and it will sting your skin from 50 feet away (I did a backyard test at my house - it's 50 feet from the back of my house to my neighbor's fence). But all this power only comes when there is a GOOD FULLY CHARGED BATTERY in the laser. My Energizer Lithium dropped to 2.6 volts and the laser power went way down (only 200mw+/- with a drained battery).

All in all, I am happy with the build and would like to give a big thanks to roSSco for his soldering skillz.

 

[k1kb0t]

Nice upgrade Cenobite, you will like the 405-G-1 lens when you get one. I have one and it is well worth the power increase.

Jon

 

[roSSco]

50' and it stung the skin! Wow!

We were able to burn a DVD case @ 20' with this laser also. I can't wait to get my 8x up and running.

 

[Cenobite9]

Final Update

I was able to burn a 1mm hole through a CD case plastic insert tray (the hard gray plastic piece inside most CD jewel cases) from 20 feet away!!! I love this laser! I'm almost afraid to see what roSSco's 8x will do...