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Registered Member #2063
Joined: Sat Apr 04 2009, 03:16PM
Location: Toronto
Posts: 352
thanks to google adsense, they had paid me $100 once again. and im thinking about buying a REAL laser this time. maybe i'll pull out another $50 out my butt if $100 is not enough. anyone know a good place where I can get REAL laser? i've seen a green laser on wicked lasers that has min of 100mW and max of 200mW for $99 i wanted the spyder 3 blue laser but it about $300 and 1 watt 455nm diodes are about $50 each i've never tried making a DIY laser pointer brfore, does the diode need housing and lenses to create a beam or does the beam come right out of the diode package?
Registered Member #2628
Joined: Fri Jan 15 2010, 12:23AM
Location:
Posts: 627
Stay away from wicked.
If your going down the 445nm path of diodes, any diode, will require a collimating lens, none of them will output a colimated beam raw.
Generally a module (as a heatsink) a driver, lens are required for a typical diode laser, since the 445nm diodes are multimode, if you want better beam specs you will need beam shaping optics (animorphic prisms/expanders for example). note that these diodes are very high powered, and in turn dissapate much heat and require a decent heatsink to get any usable runtime. never run any diode without a heatsink/module. (your dissapating several watts of heat in a 5.6mm daimeter brass can.) Also, if your going high powered, throw down some money for decent goggles for the appropriate wavelenth, even looking at the spot itself up close can cause damage to your eyes without you even realizing it.
Here are my personal dislikes about the arctic, while some got nice ones, alot had dissapointments: 1. It never shows up. 2. When it does show up 6-9 months later it either arives DOA or breaks quickly 3. People get upset when they find out it outputs 700-800mw rather then the advertised 1W> 4. Nowdays you can only find the g2 series (which has that anoying code interlock to activate the laser) 5. shit customer service
A few people got flawless units, but the ratio to those that got crap is rather horribly unballanced.
Id either build your own 445nm, or buy a green from companies like rayfoss, O-like or dragon lasers (most carry 445 too IIRC), but once again, stay away from wickedliars. either way you go for 445 though, building your own will be far better results and alot cheaper.
Also, do you have access to any metal working tools or aluminum stock?
Registered Member #2063
Joined: Sat Apr 04 2009, 03:16PM
Location: Toronto
Posts: 352
GBD wrote ...
Stay away from wicked.
If your going down the 445nm path of diodes, any diode, will require a collimating lens, none of them will output a colimated beam raw.
Generally a module (as a heatsink) a driver, lens are required for a typical diode laser, since the 445nm diodes are multimode, if you want better beam specs you will need beam shaping optics (animorphic prisms/expanders for example). note that these diodes are very high powered, and in turn dissapate much heat and require a decent heatsink to get any usable runtime. never run any diode without a heatsink/module. (your dissapating several watts of heat in a 5.6mm daimeter brass can.) Also, if your going high powered, throw down some money for decent goggles for the appropriate wavelenth, even looking at the spot itself up close can cause damage to your eyes without you even realizing it.
Here are my personal dislikes about the arctic, while some got nice ones, alot had dissapointments: 1. It never shows up. 2. When it does show up 6-9 months later it either arives DOA or breaks quickly 3. People get upset when they find out it outputs 700-800mw rather then the advertised 1W> 4. Nowdays you can only find the g2 series (which has that anoying code interlock to activate the laser) 5. shit customer service
A few people got flawless units, but the ratio to those that got crap is rather horribly unballanced.
Id either build your own 445nm, or buy a green from companies like rayfoss, O-like or dragon lasers (most carry 445 too IIRC), but once again, stay away from wickedliars. either way you go for 445 though, building your own will be far better results and alot cheaper.
Also, do you have access to any metal working tools or aluminum stock?
so if I buy a 445 diode, driver and housing w/ lense it will work just like any other pointers right? i found this housing w/ lense on ebay also, does the housing act like a heatsink as well?
Registered Member #2628
Joined: Fri Jan 15 2010, 12:23AM
Location:
Posts: 627
Yes, that will work as a module, I have a couple myself, but it still needs a heatsink, else you are limited to 10 second or so runtimes running any decent power (1W+).
If you buy that, then the only thing you need is the diode and the driver (pending your power supply, there are many ways of driving diodes, if your going to make this a hand held unit, you will need a boost converter or if you make it run of a higher voltage supply you can go many ways.. linear, buck, current sources, etc). The diode's voltage is 4.2V-4.8V. typically thier absolute maximum is between 1.8A-2A, it will vary diode to diode. (those max ratings will push your diode to around 1.7W-2W, but at the sacrifice of diode degradation. some have reported 20hrs of runtime without failuire, but you are really pushing them at that point. its best to run these diodes @ 600mw-1W for good lifetime.
The diodes I talk about are the A-140s, the A-130 series have lower efficiency and can't be pushed as far.
Those black O-likes are very nice and can indeed dissapate the heat, but they still run hot (although far more better then the aixiz modules, MUCH better). A heatsink is really needed for any commertial laser module, and yet another option to bypass that is to build a heatsink where the diode is pressed directly into it (although a lathe is needed to do that).
So all in all, yes, your module/housing whatever you want to call it acts as a heatsink, but its main purpose is to spread and transfer the heat from your diode to your bigger heatsink.
This is why in the earlier post I asked if you have any metal working tools or have access to them, they make it easy to create these heatsinks I speak off. (mostly asking if you have a way to use a lathe or someone to do it for you.) You can buy them from people on laserpointerforums, but I just think its alot nicer and more fun to do it yourself. (thats just me though, if its easier for you, several members there sell kits for hosts and heatsinks)
Here is an example of one of these heatsinks, I built it for a handheld version.
The heatsink itself is part of the laser body, most comonly just called a host, this case its handheld so it also houses the driver (boost converter, 3.7V battery to 4.8V for diode) and the battery itself.
With a good heatsink around your module, you can achive quite long runtimes, and even constant if done right.
Registered Member #2628
Joined: Fri Jan 15 2010, 12:23AM
Location:
Posts: 627
Yes, you need it. Im probably exadurating on that 10 seconds, you can probaby do ~30 with that module, but keep in mind these diodes dont like that high tempertures.
That heatsink I posted keeps my 1.2W in constant runs. (and the whole body is only a few degrees above room temperture).
Although this thing is big, its about 8-9" long by 1.5" wide at the heatsink, thus can dissapate alot of heat without the need of active cooling.
So what do you even want to build? A handheld unit? something wall powered? a lab laser? Do you have any tools to make a heatsink or modify one to work for this module?
Registered Member #2628
Joined: Fri Jan 15 2010, 12:23AM
Location:
Posts: 627
many things, so many things.
For starters, since lab lasers are usually built for continous runtime, power stability and good beam specs (and typically can be modulated, either TTL or analog) they can be used in projectors. Im building one right now so I can do my own laser show thats controlled via computer (to scan images, pictures, text etc).
Another thing is just to mess with different optics, difractions gratings, etc and create different patterns.
Handhelds triumph on the advantage of portability, but cannot do the above. I personally would rather a thermoelectricly cooled laser module with a very stable output that can be modulated over a handheld personally, but since you chose the flashlights, go over to laserpointerforums, there are quite a few members that sell the body/heatsink kits.
Way I see it either you machine your own or you buy one from that site..your cheapest and best bet of the two.
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reliable laser sources?
