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:crackup: Yeah, don't forget the children in Africa!
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FrozenGate by Avery
I quit
- Thread starter Blarg King
- Start date
:crackup: Yeah, don't forget the children in Africa!
18LJ
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Sir i have a few things to say to you.
#1 quit cryin and bein a lil soft batch about it. This tragedy that has befallen you is not some grand conspiracy cooked up in the nether regions of spacetime, the collective conciousness of the universe in whole has not plotted to sabotage your new light toy. No surreptitious plans were conjoured by unseen powers determined to manipulate a seeming fatalist curse to keep your efforts subdued and sucess a vague ideal never to be realized. No what has happened was just life plan n simple. It often sucks, usually is difficult and the path littered with pitfalls, mines, boobytraps, and absurd obstacles. Life is not fair. Hardships will be encountered at every turn. The solution does not involve being a p#$$y, whining like a baby will not change your fortunes. I say these words to you because i have been in your exact same position numerous times before. And i have felt the same frustration and anger, complained about the same flimsy broken pins, and have contemplated giving up and wondered why even bother trying. So what im trying to convey is that your struggles are not unique. I have suffered them, many others here have as well. Individuals whos experience and skills far surpass yours, mine, combined even. This is a unfortunate place to be in, but know your in good company. "It happens to the best of us" the most appropriate statement i can think of.
#2 hopefully i wasnt being too callous, i just felt a bit of tough love would help to put things jn perspective. I would advise you put your project in a box out of the way somewhere. It will help to reset your psyche not having your failure sitting on a desk glaring you in the face gloating and taunting you. Take a nap, go for a run, smoke a bowl or meet a friend for a beer, clear your head. Once youve forgotten about it for a day or so youll be able to start over without a huge cloud of frustration and negativity surrounding you. These forums can serve as a fraternity of individuals who have made the same mistakes, endured the same problems, and will have tips and suggestions that will ultimately help you suceed in future attempts/projects. I am by no means a pro, skilled, expert, or any other term you would apply to some of the more seasoned vets. However i can say that what i know and understand about photonics, and my mastery of optoelectronics and abilities is exponential now compared to 5 years or so ago. And i owe much of that to the many peoplethat frequent these forums who visit this site daily with purposeful motivation to share their efforts experience and knowledge with anyone who shares their passion for this hobby.
#3 sincerely i hope your able to shed your discouraged feelings. Dont give up! If this project crippled you a bit financially, psychologically, motivationally, etc. Thats totally understandable, but dont give in. If u feel this one isnt worth it then move on to something else. Come back to it after trying a few different projects. Do something easy just to get your confidence back. Teardown a xbox optical drive and make a simple 317 altoids tin build. Take some dc motors and make a spiro laser in a shoebox. Get some mirrors from the $ store and break em up and put the shards inside a cardboard tube lined with glue and make a laser kaliedescope. Do what it takesto grow your wings back and when you ace your 505nm pointer build somewhere down the line youll be able to laugh smugly at all the grief you felt over it. It hurts to blow a project you have a lot invested in. Money dont grow on trees. Neither does inspiration or motivation. Take this experience and try to learn from your mistake, grow from your failure, that way it can be looked upon as a net gain over a gross loss ya dig?
So this finally leads me to my suggestion for you which u may try or if not keep in mind as a last ditch option for future endeavors. I was working on a blu ray build afew yrs back. Broke the pins somehow and cursed the god of coherent photons for the diode pins being soo fragile. Not having the money to replace i was determined to reanimate this broken diode no matter what. Get the helping hands clips out. If u lack them drill a hole in a piece of wood or whatever to make a stable place to seat the diode. Wrap it up in plumbers tape. (the white silicone tape you wrap around threaded ends to seal a screw connection) once the diode is wrapped fully tin some good quality wire that will solder quickly but has a bit of flex to it so it wont immediately break off. Use some rubbing alcahol on a qtip to wet the tape on the back of the diode, this will soak into the tape making it transparent so u can see where the broken pin terminals lie beneath. Use a razor blade or really sharp needle to poke a hole right over the broken pins so that the two pin terminals are the only points exposed on the back of the diode. The wet tape makes it easy to poke through and stretch enough to keep the rest of the diode shielded from solder. Dab some flux and a bit of excess solder on the end of the wire, make sure the diode is secure and not wiggling around. Once youve got in place and the wire standing on top of the broken terminal take your clean freshly tinned iron and barely touch the wireabove the excess solder blob. Itll heatup and instantly drip to bond to the exposed terminal. Repeat for the other pin. If you were careful and patient and took care to keep solder from flowing outside the black ring of insulator that isolates the pins, you will have climbed from a defeated pit of despair into the triumphant promised land of glorious 505nm light. GENTLY remove tape from the rear of diode with a razor blade and use some superglue or epoxy globbed onto the back to strengthen the frail solder point. Make sure not to glue the diode in place to the rig used to hold it steady. Leave it dry overnight. Next day a second application of superglue or epoxy globbed on to provide support will be needed. Finally once cured you gently poke out or pry the diode out of the rig. The tape on the diodes face should pop off or can be coaxed off gently with a needle. There ya go. Ive done this multiple times on multiple diodes. Its no walk in the park. I takes patience and surgeon like determination and caution but its doable. Make sure u consider the thermal effects on the glue if u try this out on a higher powered diode, it melted the glue onto the diode window on a high power bluray i fixed once. Low power diodes should be fine with hot glue. I have this workhorse phr diode that underwent this treatment multiple times, then after it just wouldnt take another fix.... i used a needle file to file down the metal around the terminal posts. Never say die. Unless a diode is just burned out, theres almost always a fix or ghetto rig you can come up with that with enough patience and determination, will ressurect your diode from the grave.
That is all. Good luck
#1 quit cryin and bein a lil soft batch about it. This tragedy that has befallen you is not some grand conspiracy cooked up in the nether regions of spacetime, the collective conciousness of the universe in whole has not plotted to sabotage your new light toy. No surreptitious plans were conjoured by unseen powers determined to manipulate a seeming fatalist curse to keep your efforts subdued and sucess a vague ideal never to be realized. No what has happened was just life plan n simple. It often sucks, usually is difficult and the path littered with pitfalls, mines, boobytraps, and absurd obstacles. Life is not fair. Hardships will be encountered at every turn. The solution does not involve being a p#$$y, whining like a baby will not change your fortunes. I say these words to you because i have been in your exact same position numerous times before. And i have felt the same frustration and anger, complained about the same flimsy broken pins, and have contemplated giving up and wondered why even bother trying. So what im trying to convey is that your struggles are not unique. I have suffered them, many others here have as well. Individuals whos experience and skills far surpass yours, mine, combined even. This is a unfortunate place to be in, but know your in good company. "It happens to the best of us" the most appropriate statement i can think of.
#2 hopefully i wasnt being too callous, i just felt a bit of tough love would help to put things jn perspective. I would advise you put your project in a box out of the way somewhere. It will help to reset your psyche not having your failure sitting on a desk glaring you in the face gloating and taunting you. Take a nap, go for a run, smoke a bowl or meet a friend for a beer, clear your head. Once youve forgotten about it for a day or so youll be able to start over without a huge cloud of frustration and negativity surrounding you. These forums can serve as a fraternity of individuals who have made the same mistakes, endured the same problems, and will have tips and suggestions that will ultimately help you suceed in future attempts/projects. I am by no means a pro, skilled, expert, or any other term you would apply to some of the more seasoned vets. However i can say that what i know and understand about photonics, and my mastery of optoelectronics and abilities is exponential now compared to 5 years or so ago. And i owe much of that to the many peoplethat frequent these forums who visit this site daily with purposeful motivation to share their efforts experience and knowledge with anyone who shares their passion for this hobby.
#3 sincerely i hope your able to shed your discouraged feelings. Dont give up! If this project crippled you a bit financially, psychologically, motivationally, etc. Thats totally understandable, but dont give in. If u feel this one isnt worth it then move on to something else. Come back to it after trying a few different projects. Do something easy just to get your confidence back. Teardown a xbox optical drive and make a simple 317 altoids tin build. Take some dc motors and make a spiro laser in a shoebox. Get some mirrors from the $ store and break em up and put the shards inside a cardboard tube lined with glue and make a laser kaliedescope. Do what it takesto grow your wings back and when you ace your 505nm pointer build somewhere down the line youll be able to laugh smugly at all the grief you felt over it. It hurts to blow a project you have a lot invested in. Money dont grow on trees. Neither does inspiration or motivation. Take this experience and try to learn from your mistake, grow from your failure, that way it can be looked upon as a net gain over a gross loss ya dig?
So this finally leads me to my suggestion for you which u may try or if not keep in mind as a last ditch option for future endeavors. I was working on a blu ray build afew yrs back. Broke the pins somehow and cursed the god of coherent photons for the diode pins being soo fragile. Not having the money to replace i was determined to reanimate this broken diode no matter what. Get the helping hands clips out. If u lack them drill a hole in a piece of wood or whatever to make a stable place to seat the diode. Wrap it up in plumbers tape. (the white silicone tape you wrap around threaded ends to seal a screw connection) once the diode is wrapped fully tin some good quality wire that will solder quickly but has a bit of flex to it so it wont immediately break off. Use some rubbing alcahol on a qtip to wet the tape on the back of the diode, this will soak into the tape making it transparent so u can see where the broken pin terminals lie beneath. Use a razor blade or really sharp needle to poke a hole right over the broken pins so that the two pin terminals are the only points exposed on the back of the diode. The wet tape makes it easy to poke through and stretch enough to keep the rest of the diode shielded from solder. Dab some flux and a bit of excess solder on the end of the wire, make sure the diode is secure and not wiggling around. Once youve got in place and the wire standing on top of the broken terminal take your clean freshly tinned iron and barely touch the wireabove the excess solder blob. Itll heatup and instantly drip to bond to the exposed terminal. Repeat for the other pin. If you were careful and patient and took care to keep solder from flowing outside the black ring of insulator that isolates the pins, you will have climbed from a defeated pit of despair into the triumphant promised land of glorious 505nm light. GENTLY remove tape from the rear of diode with a razor blade and use some superglue or epoxy globbed onto the back to strengthen the frail solder point. Make sure not to glue the diode in place to the rig used to hold it steady. Leave it dry overnight. Next day a second application of superglue or epoxy globbed on to provide support will be needed. Finally once cured you gently poke out or pry the diode out of the rig. The tape on the diodes face should pop off or can be coaxed off gently with a needle. There ya go. Ive done this multiple times on multiple diodes. Its no walk in the park. I takes patience and surgeon like determination and caution but its doable. Make sure u consider the thermal effects on the glue if u try this out on a higher powered diode, it melted the glue onto the diode window on a high power bluray i fixed once. Low power diodes should be fine with hot glue. I have this workhorse phr diode that underwent this treatment multiple times, then after it just wouldnt take another fix.... i used a needle file to file down the metal around the terminal posts. Never say die. Unless a diode is just burned out, theres almost always a fix or ghetto rig you can come up with that with enough patience and determination, will ressurect your diode from the grave.
That is all. Good luck
Alaskan
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He might have had some tongue-in-cheek with his post too showing his distain at the same time 
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Right, I've decided to take Alaskan up on his generous offer, though with the change that he won't be just buying me a diode module, but instead he'll be getting me one and I will owe him at a later date when I'm more financially capable.
This time around though I chose a high powered 405 module, because its almost half the price of the 510 and my ebay 405 finally bit the dust. Hopefully next round goes smoothly.
This time around though I chose a high powered 405 module, because its almost half the price of the 510 and my ebay 405 finally bit the dust. Hopefully next round goes smoothly.
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Patience is the key to building anything. It especially applies to handheld lasers. 
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Ain’t that the truth. Recently I’ve destroyed two red diodes. Cheap, but dead nonetheless.
Very frustrating, I know. Try to hang in there, bro!! Take some time, collect your wits, and start again when you’re ready
:beer:SGD
Excellent choice---best of luck with the new build. :beer:
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So, I take it you are going for a BDR-209 diode and driver. Make sure it isn't over driven and put it in something a bit more substantial than a 501B host. I've seen a lot of these die from people trying to get a full watt out of them. I think it does pretty well if kept below 500 mA. At least not over that.
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My 1.7 Watt 445 is in a 501B and it doesn't get too toasty, surely a > 1 watt 405 wouldn't get that hot, unless they have poor efficiency? As for the current, I usually just leave it at whatever DTR sets it too. I dont know how to adjust the current myself, I assume theres a trim pot but Im not sure how and where to stick a current measuring device.
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It's your build. Put it in a pen host, if you like and drive it as hard as you want. I was only trying to be helpful. I will know better next time.
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Sorry, I wasn't trying to come off as rude or anything, I do appreciate the advice. I just thought it seemed odd that a laser under 1 watt would need a bigger host, so I was just wondering if that 405 diode has low efficiency and makes a lot of waste heat. Per your recommendation, I emailed DTR and asked if he could set the current to 500 mA.
Again, sorry if I came off rude. I sometimes have difficulty conveying what I intend over text.
Again, sorry if I came off rude. I sometimes have difficulty conveying what I intend over text.
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The BDR-209 is a tiny 3.8mm diode that is being pushed much harder than it was ever designed to be. Trying to eliminate as much waste heat from the diode is just good practice. I have an S06J 5.6mm diode in a huge aluminum heat sink to keep it from going into thermal runaway. It puts out 700 mW of optical power and still pops balloons and burns great four years later. It might be a little bit overkill, but after I lost the first diode, I decided to try to make it last a bit longer.
18LJ
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Good luck with ur new build. Alaskan is a saint for hooking you up like that, it never ceases to amaze me how kickass this site and its members are. Though there have been times where ive been bugged or put off or ive had gripes or took issues with some things here or there that arent even a big deal really. Overall lpf is a collective of simply amazing people with an endless supply of passion, knowledge, and helpfulness. The forums in every sense of the word embody the concept of a community. I was a sociology major in college and me and a friend were talking recently about how quickly some aspects of our education havelost relevence with the speed and advances not just in technology but how quickly new things are adopted and integrated, and despite my Soc. Degree i never really contemplated until now the effects and dramatic changes social media and the internet has had on things like social constructs and heirarchy, membership integration or devolvement, identity of self vs. Group identity, adherence to social contracts and things of that nature. And when i think about other websites i frequent that are formatted in similar forum structure, i observe a lack of collective agreement on topics, much less group cohesion and less inclusiveness in regards to ousiders or unfamiliar visitors, and in general a lack of polite, respectful dialogue and a tendency for threads to transform from positive interactive sharing of thoughts ideas and info into hateful, ignorant, crude trolling. Lpf members from my perspective share some special quality where conversations more often than not remain diplomatic and mature (despite a little tounge in cheeck here and there) and there is an environment within these forums that promotes sharing information and answering questions, engaging and productive contributions to threads and conversations, and a genuine kindness and helpfulness you dont often see on the internet anymore these days (ex. Alaskan hookin up a diode on good principle, the whole altruistic pay it forward ethic isnt common enough these days.) So i guess to sum it up i was just commenting on how uncommon and special lpf forums can be compared to other online forums and what an awesome group of people it has become and continues to evolve into. Sorry maybe this should have branched off into a new thread, i was just impressed to see the outpouring of goodwill and supportive nature of the responses on this thread and got to rambling a bit. Goodnight
grainde
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Very generous offer from Alaskan - reps asap! Just be careful 405s are quite sensitive diodes and much more so than the 445s or 450s...If you have had lots of issues building, I’d recommend you try starting with something less likely to just die on you. Anyway your call.:beer:
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Yes, Chris is the nicest guy you're likely to meet. He has been my friend on here since early 2014 when things were less cordial than they are now. He has many times been completely altruistic in his dealings with other members here and I am lucky to have him as a friend. :thanks:
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