Oh, what a relief .... !!!

[RB astro]

I'm smiling again after I thought I fried one of my 7W NUBM44's.
Like a nitwit, not paying attention to the runtime, I was mucking around with a Sanwu 3x BE on one of my Rick Trent 7W units.
It got a little warm so I turned it off and let it cool before putting it away.

The next day it wouldn't turn on and my suspicions turned to panic after trying a fresh set of batteries and even dismantling it.

I honestly thought I fried it and my last resort was to resolder the rim of the driver because I remembered this happened previously on another unit I have.

Just before getting the soldering iron out I thought I'd give it one more try tonight and gave it a slight couple of taps.
There was a flash of blue and then with the next tap, a beam of 450nm goodness re-appeared.

Well, you can imagine my relief.
It was music to my protected eyes.

Lesson re-learnt.

RB

 

[GSS]

Wow..I can really feel the relief you felt after that pit in your gut

 

[Dutch67]

I've had this feeling 2 or 3 times now with my builds. It's a heart attack each time, huh? :crackup:

 

[Lifetime17]

Hi RB,
Glad it turned out ok i hate when these lasers start playing with my head not funny.. I feel your pain...

Rich

 

[BobMc]

RB

And the band plays on.

Edit, how do I get rid of the words "attached image" ?

 

[Alaskan]

but what did the tap do?

 

[lasersbee]

I'm smiling again after I thought I fried one of my 7W NUBM44's.
Like a nitwit, not paying attention to the runtime, I was mucking around with a Sanwu 3x BE on one of my Rick Trent 7W units.
It got a little warm so I turned it off and let it cool before putting it away.

The next day it wouldn't turn on and my suspicions turned to panic after trying a fresh set of batteries and even dismantling it.

I honestly thought I fried it and my last resort was to resolder the rim of the driver because I remembered this happened previously on another unit I have.

Just before getting the soldering iron out I thought I'd give it one more try tonight and gave it a slight couple of taps.
There was a flash of blue and then with the next tap, a beam of 450nm goodness re-appeared.

Well, you can imagine my relief.
It was music to my protected eyes.

Lesson re-learnt.

RB

What actually did you tap :thinking:
If it requires a tap on the Laser to get it started
you probably have an intermittent connection
somewhere... You know what happens if you rapidly
apply and remove power...(Supply Spikes)...

And the band plays on.

Edit, how do I get rid of the words "attached image" ?

You can't unless you delete the attachment IIRC.
What were you trying to do with the banana Smilie ?

This.....:thinking:

If this is what you were trying to do you will need
to copy the Smilie URL into the "Insert Image" tag
over your Post Edit page.


Jerry

 

[BobMc]

You can't unless you delete the attachment IIRC.
What were you trying to do with the banana Smilie ?

This.....:thinking:

If this is what you were trying to do you will need
to copy the Smilie URL into the "Insert Image" tag
over your Post Edit page.


Jerry

Yes, but as far as I know I tried every tag on the "post edit page" and still came up empty . All I got it to do was post a link but not a picture? If you wouldn't mind, which tag/tab are you talking about? :thanks:

 

[lasersbee]

Yes, but as far as I know I tried every tag on the "post edit page" and still came up empty . All I got it to do was post a link but not a picture? If you wouldn't mind, which tag/tab are you talking about? :thanks:

I've attached a pic of the tab to use.....

Jerry

 

[Accutronitis]

What great news ! I know that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you start to realize your laser might be toast and your most likely the cause ! It's the worst......

 

[lasersbee]

Yeah... Been there... Done that...

Jerry

 

[BobMc]

I've attached a pic of the tab to use.....

Jerry

:thanks: lasersbee

That is one of the ones I tried. It's the same one I use when I post pictures. But for some reason when I paste the URL in it, just comes up as a link and not a picture???

Any chance it could be the dinosaur 5c I'm using?

 

[RB astro]

Thanks everyone.

but what did the tap do?

What actually did you tap :thinking:
If it requires a tap on the Laser to get it started
you probably have an intermittent connection
somewhere... You know what happens if you rapidly
apply and remove power...(Supply Spikes)...

Jerry

Ah, sorry I should have elaborated on that.
I've had trouble in the past on my other two Rick Trent 7W builds.
The driver is soldered onto the copper sink and it's very difficult to do because the copper dissipates the heat so quickly.
I posted a thread about it back in 2014 and was given some great advice.
See link below:
http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/w...-solid-copper-heatsink-91429.html#post1329318

The driver board looses connectivity via the solder points because of the high current/heat generated.
I was about to pull the MX900 apart to resolder the board in the hope that this was the problem and not the diode burning out.
Just before I started I gave the MX900 a couple of taps with the palm of my hand and it came good.
So I assume it's a weak solder joint to which I plan to resolder it again.
It's just that this third unit looked so much better soldered up than the previous unit Rick sent me that I thought it couldn't be that.
He's improved the soldering around the board from his initial builds.
I'll test it again and post some pics as an update but boy what a relief.
These builds are awesome and the sinking capabilities are fantastic but even Rick has a challenge to solder onto the solid copper sinks.
Thanks for the tip Jerry Re: Supply Spikes

And the band plays on.

Edit, how do I get rid of the words "attached image" ?

You can't unless you delete the attachment IIRC.
What were you trying to do with the banana Smilie ?

If this is what you were trying to do you will need
to copy the Smilie URL into the "Insert Image" tag
over your Post Edit page.

Jerry

Hey Bob, yep it's what Jerry said, copy and past the whole link into the Insert Image Tag.
Here's the link to Mr Banana Smilie.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/vbiis/images/smilies/party05.gif

:beer:

 

[paul1598419]

Loose connections can be a pain. I rarely if ever have them on my own builds, but have run into it with lasers I've purchased from eBay. Depends on the size of the copper you are trying to solder to. A large piece does pull heat away making soldering difficult if not impossible. I have given up in despair before when trying to heat a small section on a large piece of copper.

 

[lasersbee]

The only way I've found to do it is with a High
Wattage Soldering Iron or soldering Gun. Heat
up the large mass heat source first. Make sure
the parts to be joined are already tinned with
solder.

Place the parts to be joined and apply Heat.
Don't hold the heat source on too long or you
may damage one of the parts being joined.

If you can't get a solder joint then your heat
source is not massive enough or can't maintain
a solder melting temperature.

Try to hold the pieces with thermal insulated
items to not draw away any additional heat
from the items being joined...

Jerry

 

[RB astro]

Paul, Jerry, Bob, Chris, Rich, Pete & Lildutchboy7 thank you.
That's why I love LPF, it's full of great people full of knowledge that are willing to help out someone in need, unselfishly giving honest advice to help a fellow member out in need.
I'll keep you updated.
I've got to go to work now to afford this all consuming hobby. {Bob :crackup:}

Cheers
:beer: