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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

First 450nm penlight built from salvaged components

Sumfinclever

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Nov 23, 2018
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So last year I bought a 4 pack of these little 2xAAA LED pen lights from home depot for like $10. The intention was to use the red and blue ones as laser hosts with diodes of the same respective colors. As other projects surfaced, these got put on the back burner until I had the parts. In the months since, I've just been saving bits and pieces from other units, ordering other bits, so on and so forth. Finally got around to going through everything while cleaning and reorganizing my home office this weekend. In doing so, my interest in finishing one of these was renewed and last night I managed to get everything dialed in and squeezed into the host. Sorry I didn't get photos of the internals, but I'll try to do that at some point later then add them.

Unknown 445/450nm diode and driver, case negative. Diode was already mounted in a 12mm brass module, turns out the back half of a Aixiz module clone works perfectly as a threaded lens protector after getting the brass module focused. Used a piece of solid core wire to extend the positive contact down into the tube a bit further so i could use a single 10440 instead of dual AAA. On a bench supply, it was pulling between 250-330mA without getting very hot. Metered on a no-name pocket LPM @ 150mw. This is likely in the same ballpark, but I doubt it's a very exact reading. Either way, I'm happy with how it turned out and was excited to share the finished product.
 

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BowtieGuy

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Nice work, Sumfinclever; that's very unusual looking, at first glance it looks like you've just stuck a 12mm module into the host backwards, but after reading, I think I see what you've done.
Be careful not to get too much reflection from that module back half directed back at the diode.

Thanks for sharing!

The Home Depot Defiant flashlight is one of my favorite small hosts to mod.
 
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Sumfinclever

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...Be careful not to get too much reflection from that module back half directed back at the diode.
That didn't even occur to me to be honest, but you make a good point. Surprisingly, even without the module's "booty" on as a cap, the beam spot is nice and tight.

And yeah these little penlights are awesome, kinda funny even with the word "Defiant" on the side lol. I've still got another red one stripped out, just waiting on components and a bit of my free time. Would be awesome if I could find a green one as well.
 

Sumfinclever

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Here's another couple pics I had to crop in order to upload.

I can't quite convey how happy I was when I realized the module rear threads fit lol. Perfect for protecting the lens from scratches and movement, easily removed if needed.
 

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Sumfinclever

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it's a good start, I'm sure you've read and consulted a lot, for a newbie, building a pen is not a good choice, but you've done well
Thanks, I've definitely spent a considerable amount of time researching lasers, among my other tech-centric obsessions. It's just something that's always captivated me. I think it's kind of funny how when we dig in and try to find answers, we often end up with more than we bargained for. We not only find the answer to our original question, but identify even more questions we didn't even know we had. But that's what makes problem solvers shine... perpetual curiosity, and an insatiable desire to understand.
 
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Huh. I thought you were masking the beam by putting the module back half on the front of this EDC build. I have never seen them used like this before now. It looks like your lens might be an acrylic one. If your laser outputs more than 500mW it could melt on you. Just something to think about. Looks good.
 

Sumfinclever

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Nov 23, 2018
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Huh. I thought you were masking the beam by putting the module back half on the front of this EDC build. I have never seen them used like this before now. It looks like your lens might be an acrylic one. If your laser outputs more than 500mW it could melt on you. Just something to think about. Looks good.
Yup it's acrylic. I've got a few 3EG and G2 lenses in my box o goodies, saving those for another project though as this one didn't really necessitate it. Thanks for the feedback! 😀
 

LaserRanger

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I've got to try one of these hosts for a pocket build. I love these low to medium power pocket poibters. Looks great buddy! Awesome work and thanks for sharing
 




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