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FrozenGate by Avery

First Build...

@captainATI

first off, my first phr build was like 30 bucks...total. it can be done.

like bluuray said, hotlights going for 12.50 is the best/affordable way to get a host + heatsink.

now for the driver and battery. I used to make lm317 drivers but using 3 10440 Li-ion batteries suck since you gotta do 2 charging cycles, 2 batteries and then 1 more. Its soo annoying.

Thats why i recommend going for the 1117 chips, low drop out, same configuration as the lm317. you only need 1.5V over the diode voltage so that allows for using of 2 cr2 batteries. In my hotlights, i used pvc tubes from home depot as a battery sleeve, and 2 cr2's running a 1117 driver, input and output caps, resistor and all fitting into the pill of the hotlights. very easy to do.

one thing though, invest in some silicon wire. its soo much better than the crap you buy at electronics stores. its super flexable and doesnt bend pins on your diode or rip contact pads on circuit boards. its cheap too, i got 5 feet each of red and black for like 6 bucks total. color coded is nice, so you dont get confused.

sorry man im kinda lazy to dig up links but if you search the BST forum, you can find people here selling the silicon wires, the 1117 chips (or at least a link to it), and the host. batteries are available everywhere and anywhere. Mouser.com or digikey.com is a good place to get resistors, capacitors, lm1117/317 IC's, etc

phr's are widely available from modwerx, stonetek, aixiz, hightechdealz any of those sites. and they are members here as well so you can contact them through the forum.

if you dont/want to build your own driver and you dont mind waiting a bit, odicforce sells some boost drivers for blu-ray for like 10 dollars US shipped. takes a couple of weeks but its a cheap pre-made driver made for 405 blu-rays.

uhh if you need any more info please let me know.
 
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Thanks for all the tips steviedezie! i ended up going with an lm317 based driver with 10440's before you had left your comment, and i'm using the hotlights host. and yeah, i'm gonna be needing some silicon wire i think (from what i understand its pretty awesome). If you have used the hotlights host for anything similar, do you know what a decent but safe mA would be for this build? also, do i need to worry about heatsinking the lm317 (or even other parts of the driver?) thanks again for your response :D
 
hmm you didn't even search huh...?
PHR- about 110mA is good..
at 110mA you dont really need to heatsink it..
 
no i DID search, and i know its fine to run 100-110 normal, but i'm wondering since i'm heatsinking it in the hotlights host, could that be bumped up a noticeable amount?
 
if you want more power then buy a sfaw210 or a 12x... :/
but for a phr.. you can drive it at 125mA if you want but the diodes life will be shorter..
 
okay, i guess i'll stick to 100-110mA just to be safe/for longer life. sfaw210's seem pretty cheap though, i may use one of those next. 12x don't seem practical unless you're hard-set on 405nm as (from what i've seen) they run about the same as a 1w 445nm diode :P
 
ok for the diode itself, the hotlights host is PLENTY good as far as heatsinking goes. THat big sink will keep 300mW lasers cool after 5 minutes so your 100mW phr is not even gonna get lukewarm. I actually use hotlights and hotlight variants all the frickin time, love that style host. My sig has some for auction btw.

anyways the LM317 doesnt need heatsinking at that level since power dissappated is calculated via Pd = (Vin - Vout) * Current (in Amps)

so, 3 10440 = max 12.6V at full charge phr's run at like 5.2 thats 7.4 * 0.110 = 0.814W of heat. Thats nothing, and it only gets less as the battery voltage drops under load. so definitely no worries of heat with the lm317. trust me bro the hotlights host is THE DIY host of all time. It provides the most straightforward builds, has plenty of room, and the heatsinking will keep the any class3b laser cool.

If you havent already bought the phr, then i recommend the sf-aw210 over that. my first blu-ray was an sf, and i found myself getting bored of it very fast. jumped straight to 12x's right after that. sorry to say i cant go back. 12x's are the shizzle! I seriously love my 750mW 405 over my 1.7W 445. Something about a purple beam, plus the fact that its 750mW of SINGE MODE power!!! multimodes diodes have such ugly dots and crap divergence. Correction optics are a pain to install and sometimes not practical. in smaller type builds.

anyways this might be a lil much for you, im just ranting now... good luck with your build man!! post pics!!!! thats how we help you, by seeing your work!
 
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ah, good to know the driver should be fine heat-wise, and i have already ordered the phr, but i think i'm going to do a lab-style sf-aw210 build in the near future and see if i can get a decent wattage out of it, since i have spare heatsinks laying around and i can mill my own heatsink set-in for the module. i know where you're coming from, but i'm a major noob in the laser field so i'm getting a slow, hopefully safe, start to things. so the last bits of things should be coming in monday/tuesday so i'll be building it then and i will most definitely post pics! Thanks for the help and encouragement steviedezie!
 
wow, you are new to the laser hobby and you gotta mill/lathe??? thats nuts man! hey where are you located, I might end up asking you to do some work for me. Of course you will be well compensated. Good luck on your first build. After its done, be prepared to get addicted. Lasers on the brrain!!!
 
haha, well i have a small cnc mill that was not bought for laser purposes haha, and i have access to, but don't own, a lathe. I'm in central-ish Alabama btw ;) nearby perhaps or oh-so-far away?
 
hey, if your in the USA, thats all I need. I might have to ask you for some quick work. I'll mail it to you and then paypal you for your work and return shipping. Sounds like that could work out?
 
its just heatsinks for some hosts i got. Of course i would send you the host so you can measure n stuff. Shouldnt be too hard with the host in hand. I'll get into details if you are willing to do it AND whenever i save up enough funds. These last couple weeks have been spend spend spend. Gotta cut back for a little bit.
 
hmm, doesn't seem too bad, no reason not to give it a try. would you need anything fancy done or just plain old aluminum cylinders? :P i have plenty of aluminum to work with, but if you need copper, i would need time to get some stock of it.
 
aluminum is exactly what i need. hmm good stuff, im add you to my contacts. I will let you know when I need this done. Gotta save money first for the diodes and drivers, etc.
 
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