wheedy
0
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2012
- Messages
- 149
- Points
- 18
Howdy :wave:
Not too long ago (like, 2 weeks ago) I discovered the wonderful leadlight pen host. I know, I know. I'm way late to the party. But the party doesn't start till it gets dark!
So, I decided to make one.
I contacted Jayrob for the build kit (love the host, man!) and Flaminpyro for a focus adapter just like RA_pierce's in his 660nm pen he sold here. Then I ordered one of those fancy X-Switch drivers made by Lazeerer from Clif at Cajunlasers and an M140 off of DTR.
I mistimed my order and delivery dates for when I was going on spring break vacation, and I had my packages all waiting for me an entire week before I was back and able to build. It was a very long week! It also goes without saying that building in a pen host is difficult.... And it really is. There is really next to no room to work with inside there!
Normally I would have taken pictures of my build throughout the entire process detailing every step, but I was in a rush to finish this before my 1:25 class.
My build is going to be case positive, since that is how the X-Switch is designed. I soldered my positive and negative leads of the diode to the driver, and the case pin to the v+ input on the driver. The brass body of the host completes the circuit between the positive end of my batteries and the new positive input of the copper module.
Not too far down the road, however, I ran into a problem with the X-Switch.... The button randomly fell apart. No matter, I had an identical momentary button I swapped in to replace it.
Then, I took some hard foam I had laying around and taped a piece to the top and bottom parts of the driver to keep it in place inside the host. I wrapped the whole thing (minus the button) in hockey tape on the outer layer for a good tight grip in the host to prevent slippage. It looks nasty, but it works very well and you won't ever see it.
The finished product!
Now, you might be wondering a little about my thread title.
Well, here's why:
The X-Switch inside it is set at 1.25 amps.
I don't have an LPM so I can't meter this, but I very much need one. Power is definitely well over 1 watt.
Of course, with this power and hilariously small amount of heatsinking, the duty cycle is a maximum 20 seconds on 45 seconds off for it to get a little warm and cool down again. I built this for momentary use, so I won't have a problem with heat that often.
If anyone is a reasonable distance to/from Waco or Houston, drop me a PM. I have quite a few lasers I need to meter.
Not too long ago (like, 2 weeks ago) I discovered the wonderful leadlight pen host. I know, I know. I'm way late to the party. But the party doesn't start till it gets dark!
So, I decided to make one.
I contacted Jayrob for the build kit (love the host, man!) and Flaminpyro for a focus adapter just like RA_pierce's in his 660nm pen he sold here. Then I ordered one of those fancy X-Switch drivers made by Lazeerer from Clif at Cajunlasers and an M140 off of DTR.
I mistimed my order and delivery dates for when I was going on spring break vacation, and I had my packages all waiting for me an entire week before I was back and able to build. It was a very long week! It also goes without saying that building in a pen host is difficult.... And it really is. There is really next to no room to work with inside there!
Normally I would have taken pictures of my build throughout the entire process detailing every step, but I was in a rush to finish this before my 1:25 class.
My build is going to be case positive, since that is how the X-Switch is designed. I soldered my positive and negative leads of the diode to the driver, and the case pin to the v+ input on the driver. The brass body of the host completes the circuit between the positive end of my batteries and the new positive input of the copper module.
Not too far down the road, however, I ran into a problem with the X-Switch.... The button randomly fell apart. No matter, I had an identical momentary button I swapped in to replace it.
Then, I took some hard foam I had laying around and taped a piece to the top and bottom parts of the driver to keep it in place inside the host. I wrapped the whole thing (minus the button) in hockey tape on the outer layer for a good tight grip in the host to prevent slippage. It looks nasty, but it works very well and you won't ever see it.
The finished product!
Now, you might be wondering a little about my thread title.
Well, here's why:
The X-Switch inside it is set at 1.25 amps.
I don't have an LPM so I can't meter this, but I very much need one. Power is definitely well over 1 watt.
Of course, with this power and hilariously small amount of heatsinking, the duty cycle is a maximum 20 seconds on 45 seconds off for it to get a little warm and cool down again. I built this for momentary use, so I won't have a problem with heat that often.
If anyone is a reasonable distance to/from Waco or Houston, drop me a PM. I have quite a few lasers I need to meter.
