First laser build

[Daniel]

First of all, hello to all members here! It's a huge relief to find a forum w/ a bunch of dedicated experts on lasers.

I built a blue ray laser from ebay w/ parts in all that was supposed to be a 250 mW and I soldered all the parts together and it worked.. for about 5 minutes. The instructions were terrible so I decided for my Technical Writing class assignment to rewrite a new tutorial for creating a 100-300mW laser. The instructions will mainly be based around creating the driver unit.

This is the list that came with the kit i bought off ebay

What I need is a parts list(including a circuit board) so I can order them online.

I have soldering experience and am willing to invest in this 20~150$, however the parts have to be easy to come by. After looking at some of the flashlight mods on here like jayrob's DIY links. I'm interested in those to bring as an example when I do my presentation. It would be nice to make this as powerful as a hand held laser can get.

If you look in the picture of the circuit, is it more likely that I blew the 15A diode than the laser diode? I showed my physics teacher and he said its highly likely that It was the former.

 

[Swordofsalvation]

so, is there anything you need? any advice, technical help, parts, etc?

 

[Daniel]

I apologize, I was very distracted when I wrote the original post. I have edited it to make sense of what I was asking.

 

[Tech_Junkie]

You will need more than $150 to build a Blu-Ray laser over 200mW. One that will last longer than 5 min anyway.

This should answer most of your questions...

http://laserpointerforums.com/f42/meta-topic-pinout-performance-actual-ld-26417.html

 

[Daniel]

Thank you, that did give some extremely useful information. I think I will settle on the 803T for the laser diode. What output is recommended from the link it seems around 170 is where it died so about 120 should be ok for extended use?

Also the laser driver build is of highest priority right now, the project I spoke of is due on the 30th and it will be over building the driver mostly.

 

[Tech_Junkie]

There is a diagram and parts list for a driver on that link. Just search around.

If you dont care much for burning capabilities then setting the 803T to 90mW (around 80-90mA) will give you super long life. Just make sure you dont over heat the diode with the soldering iron. It only takes 2-3 seconds to over heat it. If you search the DIY area in my sig there are many tips, and details to doing it right.

Good luck!!!

 

[Swordofsalvation]

You will need more than $150 to build a Blu-Ray laser over 200mW. One that will last longer than 5 min anyway.

This should answer most of your questions...

http://laserpointerforums.com/f42/meta-topic-pinout-performance-actual-ld-26417.html

thats not true. you can build a blu-ray laser for under 150 dollars, with an output over 200mws. A
GGW-50 dollars
Axis-3 dollars
V3 micro drive with current preset-19 dollars
two cr123 rechargeable-6 dollars
charger-12 dollars
Eghemus custom host-35 dollars
+ about 1 hour of your time
Total: AROUND $130
U can even change your host to a jayrob pocket mini, switch the micro drive with a flex drive ($25) and switch the eghemus host for the pocket mini kit, which is 45 dollars. That still puts you at only 150 dollars.

 

[Tech_Junkie]

Well I dont know if you are keeping up with the GGW reviews, and plots, but getting a GGW to put out over 200mW is a "freak" occurrence. I think we can all agree IgorT knows what he is talking about after testing 60+ GGW diodes. Sure you could push it, but there is a high percentage that it will die quickly. Then you have to spend another $50 and hope for a freak diode. You need to add a 405 G-1 lens to get a safe >200mW. So add ~$60 to your totals.

Only Dark pushes his GGW's to over 200mW without the lens. And its all agreed by the veterans that its not the correct thing to do. And I'd tend to side with the veterans.

I'd suggest you read a little more before handing out advice. You should know better bro. You have been around long enough.

 

[Swordofsalvation]

I was unaware of the inconsistency in outputs. the last time i researched it, GGWs easily outputted 200mws. I suppose that has changed. If it has, then my advice was incorrect. I also thought that we could safely drive GGWs at 180-200mas. I admit I have not encountered the thread in which IgorT discusses these new weak diodes. I thought SFAW210 diodes were the only ones who tended to have a large range of potential outputs.

 

[Tech_Junkie]

You can still drive them @ 180 - 200mAs. It just the efficiency has changed. The first GGWs were great, but now you will be lucky to get 190mW @ 200mA. Most are lower than that, and Igor came across one that only did 138mW @ 200mA. Mine does 187mW @ 199mAs with a plastic lens.

 

[Daniel]

YAY!!! I just finished my first laser build!!! I'll post pic's and video later.

Thank you all so much

 

[megha]

Did you buy it to geareb? how much mAh did you give to the diode? I`ve bought a kit to him, I think I`ll set the mAh to 130/150. It will not be powerful but this diode seems to last just 5 minutes at more than 160mAh

 

[megha]

Can I lower the mAh to 140 without changing the kit parts ? Because I read something about 5.4 ohm, 230mA and 250mW. If I lower mAh to 140 It will decrease mW to 130/150 aprox. and what should I do with 5.4 ohm resistor ?