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- Sep 8, 2010
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Hi, I have been doing some research into various lasers recently for a little project. I realised quite quickly I don't know enough about them yet. This seems the best place to ask a question, for somebody without a physics degree, although it seems plenty of people here probably have one!
I started looking in to lasers to create a simple 3d laser scanner, I'm a 3d artist by trade, I don't do a lot of programming and i am certainly not an engineer. I was going to use a piece of cool software cool david laser scanner that simply users a webcam and a line laser. Which is great as the only thing I needed was a focusable line laser.
At first i want to see just how cheap i can build this thing, before doing something more advanced.
However my first try at a super cheap set-up was less than successful. This might not be the best place to ask this question, but I was unsure as to where to post this.
The important thing for me is to get the thinnest possible line, red/green whatever and not to fry anyone's retinas, for as little cash as possible
I purchased from ebay a 5mw laser line module, intending to connect it to a 5v DC power adapter purchased from the same dealer who said it would be suitable. When it arrived I realised I had bought a >10mw module, As I was hoping to scan peoples faces (eyes closed) and not burn out retinas I didn't want to run it at 10mw so I thought running just 3v would be best, the instructions said it would take 3v to 6v to get >5mw - >10mw. As I am not used to doing wiring, using a couple of 1.5v AA batteries seemed the safest option. So I got a battery holder, a terminal switch (like you get on a lamp cord) and just connected red to red, black to black, using the screw clamps in the switch. It worked great, then the next day it started to dim, then started to flicker off, eventually it cut out, I tried changing the batteries when it dimmed, but it made no difference.
the laser only cost me £8 so its not a disaster if I destroyed it, but I have no idea what i did wrong so I don't want to make the same mistake again.
Any suggestions would be welcome, or if you think I should post this somewhere else let me know and I will shift this part of the post somewhere else.
:thanks:
I started looking in to lasers to create a simple 3d laser scanner, I'm a 3d artist by trade, I don't do a lot of programming and i am certainly not an engineer. I was going to use a piece of cool software cool david laser scanner that simply users a webcam and a line laser. Which is great as the only thing I needed was a focusable line laser.
At first i want to see just how cheap i can build this thing, before doing something more advanced.
However my first try at a super cheap set-up was less than successful. This might not be the best place to ask this question, but I was unsure as to where to post this.
The important thing for me is to get the thinnest possible line, red/green whatever and not to fry anyone's retinas, for as little cash as possible
I purchased from ebay a 5mw laser line module, intending to connect it to a 5v DC power adapter purchased from the same dealer who said it would be suitable. When it arrived I realised I had bought a >10mw module, As I was hoping to scan peoples faces (eyes closed) and not burn out retinas I didn't want to run it at 10mw so I thought running just 3v would be best, the instructions said it would take 3v to 6v to get >5mw - >10mw. As I am not used to doing wiring, using a couple of 1.5v AA batteries seemed the safest option. So I got a battery holder, a terminal switch (like you get on a lamp cord) and just connected red to red, black to black, using the screw clamps in the switch. It worked great, then the next day it started to dim, then started to flicker off, eventually it cut out, I tried changing the batteries when it dimmed, but it made no difference.
the laser only cost me £8 so its not a disaster if I destroyed it, but I have no idea what i did wrong so I don't want to make the same mistake again.
Any suggestions would be welcome, or if you think I should post this somewhere else let me know and I will shift this part of the post somewhere else.
:thanks:
), I actually think there is a driver board there. It wouldn't run at all if you put 6V through a red diode. If it's a low dropout driver then 3V is enough but if it's not then it may just be falling out of regulation. From what you decribe however, it does sound like it died. You can try with 3AAs to see if that revives it but I doubt it. Just drop Jon a line and explain what happened. He's a decent chap. I've had quite a bit of stuff from there.
