I could hardly believe it...A PRACTICAL use for my burner.

[scumbagatheist]

I got into building lasers as a fun and safe project/hobby to do with my daughter.

We had a cheap pointer to play with the cats, so, our first build was a perfectly reasonable 1.25A 445nm in one of Mrcrouse's awesome hosts.

Well, I work in the vacuum cleaner business and spend all day here or tinkering/fixing vacuums. Essentially, work is where my bench is.

So....what to do with a burning laser at work??

One problem I have while cleaning the brush roller systems is getting hair and threads that are securely spun around various axles, stems, gear pulleys, etc. Pulling this hair out with a pair of needle-nose pliers and tiny picks.

Well, NO MORE OF THAT!

I just donned my goggles, put in my fresh 3400mAh 18650 and got to work! Oh, it was so fun...and even far more efficient than trying to pick it out!!

I just have to deal with the smell of burning hair now...

 

[Flaminpyro]

Good on you for finding a legit reason to burn shit with you 445 +3 my man...

Get a small bench fan that should help with the smell :crackup:

 

[scumbagatheist]

Thanks Jeff! Your wire certainly had a lot to do with it! Have some +s yourself!

 

[Flaminpyro]

What the hell is that big red thing, it looks like a bench grinder but those don't look like grinding wheels :thinking:


EDIT: what happened I used to be able to see your picture on your post now all I see is a link, why did that happen ?

 

[Eudaimonium]

I also found that sometimes, lasers are better at taking care of those nylon loops holding a pair of socks together, or the thin tags on the inside of shirts for example. I HATE the clothes tags, and cutting them is unbelivably difficult since they always appear to be made of some resistant cr*p that just refuses to go.

Also, for having the dog do a few laps around the backyard if he's acting jumpy or bored

You know, you could just bring the focus point much closer to the laser, and by that bring the laser closer to the part you're working on, at that distance it looks like it'd be really difficult to aim.

 

[scumbagatheist]

Sorry Jeff, I was trying to re-size the image to a more manageable size.

It is a bench grinder, viewed from behind. You're seeing the shields. I have one brush and one grinding wheel on the machine.

 

[scumbagatheist]

That's good advice, Eud. That focal length was just for the photo.

 

[Eradicator]

Looks like you burned your pants

 

[scumbagatheist]

Looks like you burned your pants

That's actually a stain...Hazards of the job.

 

[Zeebit]

That seems fun. Just don't let your customers see the burn marks.

@OP - you must mean 125mA? I don't think any diode would lase at 1.25mA.

 

[Eudaimonium]

1.25 Amps I bet he meant, I mean it's obvious the laser is very powerful, too much for any lower currents.

 

[scumbagatheist]

@Flaminpyro Fans? This is a vacuum shop. I've got things that suck, not blow.

@Zeebit Yes, it is 1.25A. Thanks, I fixed that typo.

I cannot wait to see how much more efficient of a burner my new 405nm build will be...

 

[Eudaimonium]

What's the power of 405nm gonna be?

Because I can tell you, miliwatt for miliwatt, it's not really all that different from 445nm.

 

[scumbagatheist]

Thanks Eud. I've been running the wavelength energy level numbers in my head and only a nominal increase. I'm really more into the violet for the flourecsing qualities.

I'm going to drive one of DTR's S06J diodes at as near to 500mA as I can. I still haven't picked a driver for the host. (waiting to measure dimensions)

I am just this side of convinced that I need to push this M-140 to as close to 2A as I can. I'm having a hard time finding a good BOOST drive to run at that current AND small enough to fit in the limited space in the MXDL 3405 host.

Thoughts?

 

[Eudaimonium]

For 12x Bluray, I had one at 475mA or so, doing near 600mW. Wasn't as powerful as 1W+ blues but it had outstanding beam quality to compensate, and very low divergence. You could focus it to a spot and ignite a match at 8 meters away (the farthest we tried).

Regarding 445nm, you should aim for 1.8 A, not much gain going over that except increased heat production and shorter battery life.

You could run two drivers in parallel, like I plan on doing, two of these:
18V 5W Cree Circuit Board for Flashlights (16.8mm*5.5mm) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

Each at 900mA, in parallel, to take the temperature stress off. I have all the parts on the way, I'll make a post on the forum regarding reliability but I have high hopes.

 

[scumbagatheist]

Thanks Eud. The MXDL build I got from Mrcrouse has a MONSTROUSLY large heatsink and leaves so little room with the big 22600 or 18650. I don't know if I would have room to use 2 drivers.

Good luck on the build! I'm still waiting on a mouth-watering host that is on that VERY slow boat from China. I am really trying to be patient. If I had to wait another month for a driver, I don't know that I could take it!

+1 for your generous advice.