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FrozenGate by Avery

Hello from Finland!

L

Lehto

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Hello everyone. Im from finland and have found this forum after doing some googling about lasers. I accidentally stumbled in a youtube video where a guy said he took a DVD burner diode and put it into his flashlight. This kind of made me want to build my own! Lucky lucky I had this one crippled old dvd burner here, which for some reason read discs really badly.

So I decided to take this DVD burner apart and put it into one of my cheap china laser housings (oh man... a bad idea!). So basically I just did what one isnt supposed to do. I filed the housing bit shorter so I could focus the beam, hot glued the diode to it and soldered leads to the old laser button.

Here are pictures for you all to laugh at! This laser was in use for 2 days until I discovered this forum and decided it was a really crappy design and took it apart so I wont damage the diode by misdriving it with just 2x AAA batteries.
20100224_006.jpg

20100224_004.jpg




Hoping to build a much better laser around this DVD laser diode. Already bought 2x 20x DVD burners for 20$ for both so I dont have to worry so much about breaking my diode and propably even get a better diode.

I will be using the search button a lot for the next few days, as I will need to find a good laser optic part for my projects. This current one is just... horrible. The beam sparkles all over the place even with stock 0.5mw diode. It was like this with DVD diode... only 10x brighter.
20100225_006.jpg



So this is my beginner project... I already built a DDL driver and opted to use 6x AA 1.2v 2500mah rechargeable batteries. Now I just need a proper housing for the diodes to shine through. This is the hardest part as I have to order the parts from somewhere far away.
 
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Welcome to LPF. Enjoy your time with us here. Glad you found us!

I promise not to laugh, we all had to start somewhere right?

mat.jpg


I have compiled a list of "must read" information, it will make your time with us more productive and pleasant.

Laser Resources (for n00bs and veterans alike!)

http://laserpointerforums.com/f36/looking-build-laser-read-me-47684.html

Sam's Laser FAQ (The Laser Bible)

Sam's Laser FAQ - Preface, Introduction, What is a Laser?, Safety

RP Photonics Encyclopedia of Laser Physics and Technology

Encyclopedia of Laser Physics and Technology - an Open Access Resource of In-Depth Information, Free Articles, Nonlinear and Fiber Optics
 
Welcome to the forum! You'll find lots of info here, as well as parts, kits, and components. For your laser diodes, you need at least an aixiz module to hold the diode and lens. To run the diode at power for any period of time, you'll need a heatsink to keep things from warming up. Two lithium cells would be a smaller, lighter power source that would work with your DDL driver.
 
welcome.gif
to the Forum...
You will find a lot of info on the Forum to help you build a Laser
the correct way... We all needed to learn at some point..
Thanks for sharing your laser build problem...:cool:

Jerry
 
Welcome to the forum.
You sound like you have a good start on building a great laser.
And, man are you lucky you didn't blow that diode. I'd buy some lottery tickets!!
Keep reading here and on the links Photonaholic gave you and all the pieces will fall into place.
Good Luck!!
 
Thank you all for the warm welcome. I've already ordered the 10set of aixiz bare shells as Im quite sure that 10 of them wont last for long when I get hold of building lasers. Many different kinds are ofcourse always the best? One for each weekday.


Greenmechanic said:
Welcome to the forum.
You sound like you have a good start on building a great laser.
And, man are you lucky you didn't blow that diode. I'd buy some lottery tickets!!
Keep reading here and on the links Photonaholic gave you and all the pieces will fall into place.
Good Luck!!
Click to expand...

Seems the diode has gone LED already. Such a shame...
 
Was doing little bit of building tonight, cant finish just yet as I dont know when my aixiz modules come.

This is my "easily swappable" diode module so I can more easily try them.
20100303_003.jpg


Built the DDL driver.
20100302_003.jpg

20100302_004.jpg


20100302_002.jpg

20100302_001.jpg
 
Finally, a newb that didn't come here for the sake of asking a million questions! Welcome to the forums, and I like your build!
 
My aixiz modules still havent arrived to this side of atlantic. Therefore I made a really rough and ugly test bed for the DDL driver and the diode so I can see if its capable of anything. What I find really odd is that even @ 300ma it doesnt even warm and there isnt a visible red beam in the air unless its completely dark inside.

Am I doing something wrong or is this completely normal? Ive only seen guys melt black plastic with their red lasers and mine doesnt even heat them slightly. Could this possibly be because my el' cheapo china laser housing is of very questionable quality?

20100306_010.jpg


Still a lot of learning is in front of me! Im thinking of making a proper aluminum housing to this once I get all parts together, after that its blu-ray time!









EDIT::

I was doing search like mad man on the forums and couldnt find a definitive answer wether my diode is of long or short open can type. So I took a picture... from all the infos I could gather I suppose this is the LOC type?
longopenmaybe.jpg
 
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Lehto said:
My aixiz modules still havent arrived to this side of atlantic. Therefore I made a really rough and ugly test bed for the DDL driver and the diode so I can see if its capable of anything. What I find really odd is that even @ 300ma it doesnt even warm and there isnt a visible red beam in the air unless its completely dark inside.

Am I doing something wrong or is this completely normal? Ive only seen guys melt black plastic with their red lasers and mine doesnt even heat them slightly. Could this possibly be because my el' cheapo china laser housing is of very questionable quality?

20100306_010.jpg


Still a lot of learning is in front of me! Im thinking of making a proper aluminum housing to this once I get all parts together, after that its blu-ray time!









EDIT::

I was doing search like mad man on the forums and couldnt find a definitive answer wether my diode is of long or short open can type. So I took a picture... from all the infos I could gather I suppose this is the LOC type?
longopenmaybe.jpg
Click to expand...

Its an LOC see the chip almost goes all the way to the back... And @ 300mA you should definately see something unless your voltage isnt right or your diode is popped.
 
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