I would appreciate some help from a U.S. member, closer to CO preferably

[Shakenawake]

As many know, I'm selling a few of my units. My bad luck continues, though it may be no biggie.

I'd really like some help, it doesn't have to be free but I'd appreciate not being charged an arm and leg.

The Ideal person to help me has:

1. LPM
2. Soldering iron
3. Diode press (9mm compatible, maybe 5.6mm too)
4. Lives close to Colorado, at least in the U.S.
5. Basic knowledge of diode laser repair
6. Willingness to ship packages for me (not for free of course)
7. Willingness to help me
8. maybe a copper 9mm diode module, the two piece kind that screw together I believe(see below)

1. My 638nm unit has bars of the output dim and flicker, but it SEEMS to be a problem with not getting a good connection, likely between the battery board and heat sink, because when I make sure the connection is good, it comes on at what seems full power. I'm thinking the problem could be as simple to fix as putting a tiny blob or two of solder on the ring to make a better connection with the heat sink. If this is not the problem, perhaps this person could diagnose the actual problem, maybe even fixing it (not for free unless you feel particularly altruistic)

2. I changed my mind on the Dominator, I now want to do what WBS suggested in post #7, but I want it to be with one of the new 9mm diodes, whichever I end up getting first, probably the 445nm. I don't know yet if the current driver's output would be good or not for that diode. I emailed ricktrent hoping he will tell me what the output is at 2.5A, If it's in the range I want, 4W-4.5W, all I should need is the new diode in a module that is screw-able into a heat sink insert that both touches the diode's back, and leaves enough room for the pins and wires. my question is will a pre-made module of such fit in the heat sink I have without needing to be machined shorter? It may be a while before I have the cash for the diode, so whoever helps me may be holding this laser for a bit. in fact, maybe it's best a seperate person can help with this, or the same person, but later, as I think I will personally run the current diode the rest of the way dead first.:evil:

3. finally, all the units could be metered by a LPM to confirm output before sending them to the buyer

I am willing to pay for parts, shipping and labor (aka PITA pay) to whoever helps me, the extent of help needed may be unknown until I find a buyer for every unit, I doubt one person will buy all three of them, and the dominator buyer will need to make a choice

here is the thread of the units I am selling for reference:http://laserpointerforums.com/f39/fs-dominator-520nm-638nm-87345.html

:thanks:
:worthy:

 

[ultimatekaiser]

I can't meter them at present, or else I would help you... Good luck!

 

[KRNAZNBOY]

Good luck with this. My old 9mm had the problem you are describing with your 638nm.

It turned out that the flickering in the multimode bars was cause by fluctuations in the driver output and as it turned out, my driver was bad!

I got it replaced and VIOLA! Perfect!

Hope that helps!
-Matt

 

[IsaacT]

I live in Texas and would be willing to meter for free. I also have a soldering iron and some diode presses although I need to check.

 

[Shakenawake]

thanks all. I do not want to give the buyer a bad deal, I want to be only up front about what they are getting. It seems like I'm trying to get rid of faulty lasers but I swear it's all just rotten luck.

I have not ever exceeded 1 minute on for the 638. regardless of the problem it WILL be in working order before a buyer gets it.

the dominator had been on for four, maybe even five minutes. this is what I was under the impression it could handle. I've had some talks with ricktrent and Blord about the matter, I don't think 5 minutes is actually a good idea even with a heat sink that's over a troy pound of copper. I do not know for certain that this caused the diode to degrade, but I am sold on the idea of shorter duty cycles and back-of-diode heat sinking. the DominatoRs do not have any contact between the back of the diode and heat sink.

 

[Tmack]

Yeah five minutes is a long run for any handheld without active cooling. I can't say I've run my mag light more than 5 minutes more than once or twice for testing, and its huge extended heatsink weights a ton. Not that I don't trust the builders clams, Blord said the aluminum dominator can run 3-4 minutes. I don't ever think its seen three. Your going to have a hard time finding custom builds with heatsinks contacting the back of the diode. Afaik. Unless you know of a builder that religiously does it.

 

[IsaacT]

Some notes:

I used to have the same issue with a 638. It was for me an issue of a short where one of my positive input wire was touching the host with a few stray strands. The hard part is, if you have a C6 host, opening up the driver pill to fix it. I had to use a dremel and drill it open, then replace the wires and used canned air to remove the metal shavings. It was not in any way an elegant solution, but that was a long time ago and a good lesson learned.

For the 445, you might think about only selling the host and building a new 9mm with the diode you have. Yes, modules can typically be reused as long as you weren't too hard on it.

Lastly, with all the money you will be spending on shipping, you are honestly better served to pick up one of csshih's very affordable LPM's and do that part yourself. The sooner you do that the more money you will save in the long run as a seller on the forums. You will always need to have measured lasers and postage adds up fast.

PS: for the heatsink touching the back of the diode, you would just need a diode pocket heatsink that screws tightly onto another heatsink with a slightly smaller hole. Press the diode, wire it up and add heatshrink tubing, then screw it onto the BOD(back of diode) heatsink, and then solder on your driver, posiibly even Thermal pasting it to the BOD heatsink. I may contact ehgemus about having something like that made. Or Mrcrouse.

 

[Shakenawake]

I'm mostly concerned about it for the higher powered builds. I'm not sure, but imagine it's easier for 5.6mm and 9mm diodes but harder for 3.#mm diodes

my plan is to eventually get ricktrent to make me three, with the two new 9mm diodes, 520 and 445, as well as the new opnext 700mW rated 638 (maybe, need to learn more about them)

I'm nowhere close to having the cash for this, but if the price drops it will happen sooner. All the units I'm selling would not even cover the cost of one.

lots to consider, let me do some thinking.

 

[IsaacT]

I just sold a lot of my lasers. I could make a 520 1W if I wanted but it is a lot of cash.

 

[Shakenawake]

Update. I changed my mind on the Dominator. I am going to get one of the new 445nm 9mm diodes when I can and use the heasinking method WBS described in post 7, hopefully even using the same driver, which is in it's own pill seperate from the heatsink. I hope the 2.5A it is now will be perfect for only slightly overdriving the new diode. 4-4.5W is what I want, doesn't need to hit 5W. that expensive of a diode I don't want to be replacing often (at all)

Who is the best person to help with this?

 

[IsaacT]

If you can confirm that your current driver is in working order, then adding the new 9mm diode should be a very easy modification. If the dominator a module based host or a diode pocket host?

 

[Shakenawake]

Not sure what a diode pocket host is. here are pictures. I see my module is threaded but there is no back of diode heat sink. Unfortunately while I was carefully trying to loosen the heat sink, but before unscrewing the pill, the heat sink came free and all that mass easily ripped the wires off of the driver in it's pill, otherwise in the picture you would see the wires going through the heat sink and into two holes in the driver pill. now to get at the driver, the four solder points along the round battery board cap-thing will need to be removed, then it removed, new leads soldered onto the driver, and then the board put back and re-soldered. I thought maybe I could shove the module far enough in that it contacts the heat sink, but doing this makes the edge of the module go past the set screw hole, making it impossible to hold in that position and simpy use an extended barrel lens, which I'm not sure would be long enough anyway

I have taken it apart before, careful to not twist any wires or pull them out, this time I was just trying to loosen the heat sink but the force I applied was enough to focefully eject it and rip the wires. damn. guess now I won't be running this diode dead unless I want to get a soldering iron. Even if I had one, I'm not confident im my ability to use it and not make things worse. IDK, maybe I'll try that. with a soldering iron, and a diode press I could handle these problems myself maybe. All I should need is a back of diode heat sink that fits. where are these gotten from?

again, sorry for the defect on my camera's lens

 

[ultimatekaiser]

Looks easy enough.

 

[IsaacT]

Contact a machinist. As far as I know, no one makes them right now. I have never seen one atleast. All they would need to do though is make a heatsink that threads onto the back tightly with a smaller hole for your diode pins.

 

[Tmack]

Couldn't he thermal glue a copper slug in the back of the sink now with the same hole for the pins?


Because of the pin wires shrink wrap, your will get very minimal contact on the diode.

 

[Shakenawake]

there's plenty room for diode contact on a 9mm, pins, shrink wrap and all

I think I will go get a soldering iron and take a crack at it, probably after watching some instructional material. If I do ok, I will get a diode press from somewhere and do all this myself, that just leaves the question, where can I find these back-of diode module things? better yet, if one I find will not fit, who has them AND can shorten one to fit in the heat sink I have? they must exist, I mean, the module is threaded. maybe ricktrent knows.

I measured. looks like the heat sink has room for 5mm more total module length. the threaded part of the existing module piece measures 3mm, so I imagine the total length I need the other piece to be can not exceed 8mm. the hole in the heat sink is tapered, so if I need to get this piece cut to fit, any chance I could get to butt end cut conically to match up with the inside if the heat sink? this would make it's total length a bit more, with the last mm or so being tapered. if existing ones are the right size I'll just do that, but if it has to be cut by a machinist, why not try to have them make it fit perfectly?