Red DIY

[Abray]

OK, here's the thing.

I'm interested in lasers, and was going to get one for christmas. I saved up $500 (i have $300 and parents are chipping in $200). To get a green laser, I would use all of that and more just to get 125 mW. So I thought, what if i buy or make a red laser, I hear they are much cheaper, but just as strong.

so, Where can i buy a red laser, or where can I buy the supplies to make one? And I have never done anything like this before, and have basically no idea what I need or how to do it. Is it possible for me to do this, and are there any existing walk throughs for this? Will I just be wasting my money trying this?

thank you so much for any help at all.

 

[Da_Dude]

Take a look at the "*** THREADS OF INTEREST *** "
Heres a link:
http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1190456606
Of those, I sugest a look at Detell's Driver. VERY good stuff in there.
Also, go to SenKat's site, there you can find the AixiZ module, a GOOD Laser Diode, and a kit for Detell's driver.
But first, take a browse through the Experiments and Modifications section.
Welcome and good luck!

 

[wooooooolazer]

I made my own diy easy i had only soldered one other thing before and it it still pretty easy to solder the pins and such its alot easier than i thought it would be, I did have 2 die but i had mixed up 2 wires on my circuit just when you make one make sure everything is wired right and youll be fine ;D

...lazer.... ;D ;D

 

[Abray]

thanks.
I've been trying to figure out how to make a laser for a while.
I came here from Wicked lasers and I know almost nothing about lasers because all they do over there is gawk at thier over priced, underpowered lasers. While, here, I will hopefully find out what I need to do the project, and how exactly to do it.

 

[wooooooolazer]

Thasts a good choice to leave wicked,  All their products are over priced underpowered, they do look nice but that dont matter if a 125mw is putting out 60mw, mode hopping and dies within 5 minutes..The only good thing they have is their goggles for lasers.  

....lazer.... ;D ;D ;D


Remember always recycal wicked lasers

 

[Abray]

haha nice!!!

OK, I have another question.
I am currently looking into a blu-ray DIY project, and I understand that they aren't exactly high powered. they run at around 30 mW.

However, I will also hopefully be doing a DIY high powered red project. When I say high powered, I mean around 200 or more mW. but what is the strongest diode you can buy/have you seen? i have seen powerful 4 W red lasers, but they are formed from many, many, smaller diodes.

Should I try combining 2 diodes, or what kind of powereful diode could I buy?

the 200mW is the minimum BTW, it is almost preferred to be higher. Nothing more than 1 Watt though...

 

[wooooooolazer]

Well you could harvest a open can from a 20x or higher dvd burner they have more power, a one from a 20x has been tested to go to 300mw at a very high ma, DO NOT try this unless you have extreme cooling, a huge heatsink or tec on a heatsink with a fan, If you harvest one from one higher than 20x the power would be higher.



....lazer.... ;D ;D ;D

 

[toked323]

well you can make the GB diodes at sales.stonetek.org go well to 260mw i had 345mA in mine and it popped balloon (black )
at about 21ft and lit matches at 8ft

 

[Abray]

I see, so basically, the higher the x on the dvd burner, the more power. But you have to make sure it's cooled properly.

Are these diodes exclusivelly from dvd burners? or are there other machines you can slavage them from?

And also, if you pump more mA into the diode, isn't the life of the diode ALOT smaller?

 

[wooooooolazer]

Toked they cannont go that high mw... look at this graph at the bottom of the page they level out at about 210mw any past that they wont go higher, they are the lower line to ,  The higher line is the 20x dvd diode thats open can as you see it does go to 300mw.  Theres about no other devices you can get them from,  The dvd burners have to burn the coating off of the dvd so that is why they are high powered.

The life will be shortened by some amount, but if its cooled properly at those high lvls the life should still be pretty good as long as your not sending spikes to and and have a steady current going to it,  You can run a gb diode at like 250ma without cooling they dont get that warm,  after 2 min on they do get slightly warm but you just have to turn it off for about a min to cool down.

Here is the graph From Hemlock Mike, Remember the lower line is the group buy diode, the higher one is one salvaged from a 20x dvd burner..

....lazer.... ;D ;D ;D

 

[Da_Dude]

Hoave fun building!

 

[Bionic-Badger]

If you want a ready-made solution, check out the deals and discounts section. However, with a budget like yours, you can fool around with making your own, and buying some good tools for it.

I would get one or more of those laser barrels of Kenom's in the group-buy section (you need to hurry), and then maybe one of the Senkat diodes and a Blu-Ray diode. The barrels present a real opportunity to create a portable, usable, and virtually ready-made DIY laser without some giant rig or some half-baked flashlight mod (no offense to those who did it). At $35, which includes the laser drivers, it's a bargain. You can also take apart some DVD burner, but many of those have open-can diodes which are a pain for beginners (I busted one).

Then you can invest the rest into a good soldering iron, some wire strippers, etc. and of course, a good pair of goggles (get them from Wicked Lasers).

If you want a ready-made, but not-so-expensive, solution that isn't super-powered, but still quite fun, grab a laser or two from DealExtreme (http://www.dealextreme.com/). The 30mW one is the best deal, and you can get a 100mW green stage laser for about $90 (the 100mW red is about $30).

 

[Abray]

What is the laser barrel (sorry, I'm new and don't yet know what everything is)?

is it the tube that holds everything together?

 

[Kenom]

In a nutshell yes. the laser barrel Group buy is for a pre-made laser barrel specifically designed to take most of the work out of building your own DIY laser. I've made a ton of home made DIY lasers and have used that knowledge to put together a barrel that incorporates everything you need to build a laser except the laser diodes and batteries. You can check out the thread in my sig line.