Now Polished HS! The Bastard: 445nm 1.9A UltraFire KF-T60 Host-PIC HEAVY AND VIDEO

[scumbagatheist]

The bastard was my daughter's and my first REAL build. Together, we picked out the host-We wanted something that we hadn't seen used in a build before and would be big enough for a long duty cycle. We found the UltraFire KF-T60.

I might be addicted to polishing now...

It is a pretty host, and as you can see, it's reasonably sized in comparison to my Mrcrouse MXDL host.

We just knew that we needed a big, fat copper heatsink for this thing. We asked JayRob to do us up something nice. He did not fail to deliver!

It Weighed So Much, It Maxed Out My Scale!!

The look with Mrcrouse's custom forcus knob. This came off of my MXDL and frankly, looks much better next to the copper!

We had some first-build troubles figuring out what we were gonna do with the oddball pill design and getting a driver in it.

We knew we wanted serious power. So, we went to Clif at CajunLasers and picked out a nice adjustable 1.9A X-Boost driver.

Getting this thing tuned to it's max 1.9A was very challenging without the driver being sinked. Everything got very hot, very quickly! So, time to machine some copper...

Not Enough Heatsinking Yet...

Still Not There...

4 Grams of Copper Should Do It!

So, once we got the driver all wired and sinked up, it was time to adjust it! We had our dummy load that we built together. But, I just had to have Jufran's super-sexy 3A test load...I mean, look at that thing!

Time to hook the driver up to DTR's 445nm M-140 diode! We have both the 3-element for pretty beams and the G-2 for maximum wattage.

Time for the beam shots!!

One last beamshot...this one with the diode in Mrcrouse's heatsink just to test.

I don't yet know what kind of wattage this monster is putting out. But, I can tell you that the beam is fully visible outdoors on an overcast day, and we burnt holes through a black plastic CD case in just 2 seconds!

Here's a quick video of the diode, burning a CD case when it was driven at just 1.5A!

One interesting thing about this host is that it turns out to have a 2-mode switch! So, I have to be VERY careful about making sure that I turn it completely off! The bonus to it is that the low-mode is so low, that the laser is cat-toy power! I don't know how it's limiting the voltage, but the dot is no brighter than my ~5mw red cat toy laser. So, yay! I get to play indoors with it as well!

Thanks for reading everyone. I hope you enjoyed it! A huge amount of thanks to all the members who helped me along through this build:
Mrcrouse, DTR, Lazeerer, Mohrenberg, Clif, JayRob, Jufran, Awillis, and those I've forgotten.

 

[Cel]

Re: The Bastard: 405nm 500ma UltraFire KF-T60

We are waiting for beamshots!

Nice host, btw

 

[Seoul_lasers]

Re: The Bastard: 405nm 500ma UltraFire KF-T60

Just a piece of advice for 12x LD's...
I know there are some builders out there that have successfully done 500mA or more.
There is some debate out there as to whether of not these could be freak diodes. For piece of mind, I'd do no more than 490mA at first.

Err on the side of caution. Better to have a laser that lasts than go LED on you.

 

[jander6442]

Re: The Bastard: 405nm 500ma UltraFire KF-T60

I would say prolly use the Xboost 1.9 amp X-Boost V7 16.8mm round adjustable - $19.99 : Cajunlasers Store It will fit that host and has a sweet soft start to boot. Starts at 495mA very efficient.

 

[scumbagatheist]

Re: The Bastard: 405nm 500ma UltraFire KF-T60

I would say prolly use the Xboost 1.9 amp X-Boost V7 16.8mm round adjustable - $19.99 : Cajunlasers Store It will fit that host and has a sweet soft start to boot. Starts at 495mA very efficient.

That is just the driver I've been looking at! I don't think I am going to start this diode over .5A. I'm not excited about blowing another diode.

I promise beam shots as soon as they are available. I'm still waiting on the host to arrive from DX...it should be soon now!

I'm placing the order w/ DTR today for the diode. I'll at least show it being driven before the heatsink is machined.

 

[LuxorLasers147]

Re: The Bastard: 405nm 500ma UltraFire KF-T60

I have to warn you man, my 12x died after 2 month of daily use at 500mA. It did not matter how well heatsinked it was it just died.
Some dont even last an hour at that current, 450mA seems to be best for longer life.

 

[sinner]

Re: The Bastard: 405nm 500ma UltraFire KF-T60

Thats a nice host, copper sink is the way to go mate although the 12x wont product much heat as the M140's but still makes the laser much better overall!

I have to warn you man, my 12x died after 2 month of daily use at 500mA. It did not matter how well heatsinked it was it just died.
Some dont even last an hour at that current, 450mA seems to be best for longer life.

Thanks a lot for clearing that up, I have a 12x S06J from a failed project where i accidently killed the pot on my boost drive while fiddeling with mA's overturned it unfortunately

I am also finding a good driver for it, For a single cell build i wonder if moh's ben boost would work flawlessly with no spikes or whatever it was that caused the previous versions to die!!

:beer:

 

[LuxorLasers147]

Re: The Bastard: 405nm 500ma UltraFire KF-T60

Thanks a lot for clearing that up, I have a 12x S06J from a failed project where i accidently killed the pot on my boost drive while fiddeling with mA's overturned it unfortunately

I am also finding a good driver for it, For a single cell build i wonder if moh's ben boost would work flawlessly with no spikes or whatever it was that caused the previous versions to die!!

:beer:

You had your diode connected to the driver while setting current?

Yeah i grabed a benboost from moh at the beginning and it killed one of the two 12x i had.. But aside from drivers and current spikes and all that, I was talking in general about the diode it self and warning him about the current he wants to give it.

 

[sinner]

Re: The Bastard: 405nm 500ma UltraFire KF-T60

You had your diode connected to the driver while setting current?

Yeah i grabed a benboost from moh at the beginning and it killed one of the two 12x i had.. But aside from drivers and current spikes and all that, I was talking in general about the diode it self and warning him about the current he wants to give it.

Fortunately I was extra careful and had the test load on, while setting current on the X-Boost Super Mini V7 Current setting was ~200mA-to-578mA adjustable via pot. I dont mean to threadjack here but do you really think the newer V5 Ben Boosts are not good for 12x's. Otherwise i will go with the X-Drive 495mA

 

[scumbagatheist]

Re: The Bastard: 445nm 1.9A UltraFire KF-T60

Bump for the update and to thank Clif at Cajunlasers personally for helping me out so much on this build! If you have need, and he has what you need, feel confident in your choice of vendors.

 

[jakeyboii]

Re: The Bastard: 445nm 1.9A UltraFire KF-T60

very nice host!

loving the build, can't wait to see beam shots

 

[scumbagatheist]

Re: The Bastard: 445nm 1.9A UltraFire KF-T60

Thanks. I believe I will do a formal review/tutorial on the host when it's completed. I don't know that I can recommend this host. It's anodized a pretty greenish/grey, but the finish is not very good quality, and before it's even been shipped for the heatsink, it's suffered some marring to the finish. I think I may very well wind up polishing, or at least, strip the finish.

I'm thinking of brazing some brass rings to wrap around the recesses in the body and running some colored liquid tubes to give it a steam punk theme.

 

[grainde]

Re: Beamshot Update; The Bastard: 445nm 1.9A UltraFire KF-T60

Nice work and beam shots! Btw you might want to change 3A resistor to 3A diode in the OP
+1 :beer:

Edit: Just to let you know I had a S06J running at 530 mA with a Moh linear. Worked fine, but the power slowly dropped over time. It fell from 790 mW to approx 500 mW in a couple of months and it was only used a few times to LPM and look at the beam in the sky. It was run for max 45 secs each time. The diode still lases, but I'm switching it over to an Xboost V7 at around 450 mA in the hopes that it wont degrade further...

 

[scumbagatheist]

Re: Beamshot Update; The Bastard: 445nm 1.9A UltraFire KF-T60

Thanks, Grainde. The 405nm is running wonderfully so far while being driven at 498mA. It's in my MXDL host. I understand I'm right at the theoretical limit of this diode. Life span of our toys is also an important lesson to learn for my daughter and I. I'm prepared to replace this diode, should it suffer my abuse.

 

[grainde]

Re: Build Complete! The Bastard: 445nm 1.9A UltraFire KF-T60 Host-PIC HEAVY AND VIDEO

Nice work!

FYI I rebuilt my SO6J in a MS V1 with an X-boost V7(special ed. with pot ) set at 500 mA and the power has gone back up to 660 mW with a G2 (500 mW with 3 ele). So it may have been something to do with the Moh linear? Anyway the diode doesn't seem to have degraded much, but I'll keep it at 500 mA just to be safe. :beer:

Edit: The Moh linear was set at 568 mA too and not 530 mA, as stated previously..

 

[scumbagatheist]

Re: Build Complete! The Bastard: 445nm 1.9A UltraFire KF-T60 Host-PIC HEAVY AND VIDEO

Thanks grainde. That's pretty much the setup I am going to rebuilt. I'm tuning down the old one for my daughter's birthday.