MXDL 3405 build question

[WRM]

Hello Everyone,

I completed my first build last night, (actually, it was more of an assembly of other people's great work). It's an MXDL 3405, with a PHR-803T module by Daguin and version 2 heatsink by Jayrob. (Thanks Dave & Jay!). It was a great feeling when I pushed that little clicky and saw the beautiful violet light emerge, considering that I had never built/assembled anything like this before. There was only one real problem that I've yet to solve. The circular circuit board (backed by the battery terminal) in the pill was originally pushed into the pill with nothing really holding it in. Now that it's been removed from the pill, it does not seem to want to stay in the pill anymore. I know that I could maybe shorten the wires; but I'd rather come up with a different solution to keep the circular circuit board in the small groove in the pill. I thought that pinching the ground wire between the board and the pill body would be enough to keep it in; but it keeps popping out. Has anyone had this problem yet? What solutions have you used to keep the board in the pill? The tri-battery pack holds it in; but I don't want to rely on that. Also, if anyone is using a 3405 host, the tiny positive wire that runs from the circuit board is so fragile, it's basically useless. The wires on Daguin's module were long enough, so I removed the frail wire from the board and put the positive module wire right through the board and re-soldered it. The shoddy solder blob that was the positive battery connection was also substandard and is now much better. Also, with the current version of the 3405, the pill is wide open, so you can stick pretty much any length module in there without modifying the pill. The old version may have required modification because of the module depth. Anyway, if anyone knows a good way to keep the board in the pill, it would be much appreciated. Thanks, Bill

 

[jayrob]

One solution would be to remove the back barrel of the module to see about cutting the existing wire leads, and re-soldering (or splicing) some fine wire instead of the heavy wire that is most likely the culprit. The best wire, is the fine wire that is found in a mouse cord. That's my favorite for all builds. If you peal the shied off of a mouse cord, you will find several strands of fine flexible wire that is perfect for building lasers!

Then just make sure your round board is 'pinched' in fairly tight (maybe a thicker ground wire for the pinch if necessary). But the main problem I suspect, is the existing leads from your module is thick wire that 'pushes' the board out of the pill...
Jay

 

[daguin]

I agree. The problem is probably being caused by the wires coming out the rear of the module.  They are intentionally heavy, mostly because most users simply hook up straight to it  without using a "host."  The wires have to withstand a significant amount of movement.

You could "glue" the board in place.  Even if you need to or just want to rebuild it sometime, it could be accomplished without removing the board.  You would just have to cut the wires with enough left so that they were still sticking out of the "pill."

Peace,
dave

 

[WRM]

Thanks Dave, I thought about gluing the board down. That would definitely work. I just was not sure what type of glue was even viable for metal to plastic. What type of glue do you use (when necessary) in these builds? I also thought about trying to creatively bend the wires to take the push out of them. Also, since it's the first one that I did, I will never rebuild it unless it dies, so glue should not be a problem. Thanks,     Bill