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IR laser questions

D

Digitalebola

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Sep 11, 2008
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Hi Guys,

Interested in building an IR burner - Unsure where to start.. There are lots of tutorials for red's etc but i havnt seen any for IR.

What are the costs like in comparison? Cheaper/More expensive?

What kind of driver is required? (if different than the red burners)

Where can you source the diodes?

How about a housing with focus?


Thanks guys
;D
 





mW for mW IR is cheaper than visible but IR is also available in huge output powers.

The driver setup is the same. Current limited or power controlled circuits are required but if you want a big burner you need a circuit that can handle the current. You should have no problem finding schematics to build circuits up to 3A or so.

Diodes are available through any laser diode manufacturer particularly 808nm as they are used for pumping DPSS. eBay has quite a collection of IR diodes for sale. Some of the members on this site offer IR diodes. It all depends on what output you are looking for.

You can get 5.6mm IR diodes but they don't put out all that much power. 9mm are more powerful then you move on to C-mount TO-3 and HHL mounts which are much more powerful. Finally you end up with laser diode bars which are the most powerful. The smaller diodes will require external optics to collimate except the 5.6/9mm diodes which can be fit in commonly available diode housings including optics.

Don't forget about a quality pair of IR laser safety glasses as your laser will cook your eyes if you are doing up close burning or catch a direct shot or specular reflection.
 
Dollar-wise, IR is a good way to get lots of bang for your power buck. IR burners are fun, but make sure to protect your vision with adequate goggles. You can use the LM317 driver for up to 1.5a, which would run about a 1 watt 808 nm diode. You can substitute an LM338 for the LM317, and go up to 5 amps. Note that current reguators can be paralleled for more current. The diodes are found all the time on ebay. You can get 5mm or 9mm can diodes or you can get c-mounts. For c-mounts, it is very handy to have access to a lathe in order to fabricate a custom mount for the diode. I haven't yet seen a cheap mass market c-mount housing. Good luck and have fun!
C-mounts and bars are where the real power starts.

Bill.
 
So is 1000mW realistically achievable?
Does anyone else run a 1Watt or higher IR laser?

Any vid/pics/
 
Excellent!!

Is there much of a difference in burn distance with the higher output?
Does the power var between say 1W and 3W realistically mean much in burning?
 
I'm thinking maybe 1-1.5 watts is more than enough for a starter..
What driver would you guys recommend? And housing/focus? (sorry if my terminology isn't up to scratch)
 
Digitalebola said:
I'm thinking maybe 1-1.5 watts is more than enough for a starter..
What driver would you guys recommend? And housing/focus? (sorry if my terminology isn't up to scratch)
Click to expand...

You could use a DDL circuit for a laser up to 1W I think, generally a 9mm package will draw about 1.25A +/- 200mA to get 1W of power, so you could use the DDL circuit which uses an LM317 regulator ( It WILL need heatsinking on the regulator) the LM317 works up to 1.25A right ?

Alternatives are buying drivers from people here, I think the flexmod1 would work with a laser of that power.

-Adam
 
Just get a 1w from snoctony on ebay, use a meredith module, and an lm317t at 1 amp.
The 2w in my avatar is a to-3 running at 2.1 amps. :D
 
i'm making one of these two what resistor should i use on th lm317 i was going to use a 1.1ohm would that work for 1-1.3 amps and what voltage should i input?
thanks
 
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