first 445 build completed and working

[joniverson]

It had been over 3 years since working on any lasers, but after reading about the seemingly extraordinary capabilities of these 445 diodes, I decided to build a basic unit. No bells and whistles, just a DX driver (which I tested for voltage and current first), a 445 mounted in Axiz module with glass lens, and the module screwed into a lab heatsink. Powered by 6 AA cells. My first target was some furniture 5 meters away which started smoking! Then the matches test to burn not only the top (easy to ignite), but further on down the match to ignite with very little effort. All in all, an extraordinary device and I didn't think this was coming 3 years ago.

I have one area of concern and that's accidental activation, which is something I definitely want to avoid. I used a temporary switch so it only works when I push it, but I am seriously thinking of adding a key or similar for additional security.

What would you recommend?