So i buy this green laser from tmart. It has a keyswitch in the back and takes an 18650. It claims 5mw of power. When I get the thing and fire it up……. Wow this thing rocks!!! Im not even kidding. It will project a clearly visible beam over 100 yards in broad daylight.
After about a week of play I couldnt resist anymore and took it apart. Nothing fancy in there. It is bout like every other laser pointer with a square circuit board and small LED module. I get the bright idea to mount it in a gun sight so I buy one of those inexpensive
picatinny (ugg on spelling) low profile red laser sights on ebay for about $12.00
Anyway one thing led to another and I wanted an LED light to go with it. This is where the fun begins. I started a search for ideas on a config or hopfully a cheap host. I didnt like anything I saw and the least expensive green laser/led light combo at the time was pushing well over $250.00.
I couldnt believe the lack of choice available for such an item. Not being able to readily afford the high dollar solution I decided to build one. So to cut a long story short this is currently where I am on it:
I drilled and milled on a 1” x 1.25” rectangle of aluminum. Punching a 60 thousands hole all the way through it I was able to fit a modified hugsby xp-1 xpg2 upgrade snugly in the hole. I fitted the green laser electronics in place of the red laser stuff . Now im kinda stuck on the power supply. I wanna fit a 14270 3.7 volt in the whole thing vertically but havent quite worked out the switching mechanisms yet. The following is a link to a shared album on photobucket.com in the form of a slide show. It gives you a rough idea of what im working with. (i still havent figured out how to post individual pictures on blf yet).
So what I am getting to is that I am open for suggestions and everyones general thoughts on the thing. Good or bad.
Nice build!
How large was the laser module? 515nm, 520nm green costs a bit more but would be more suitable for a gun build. 532nm modules are larger, require more power and are more complex / fragile. The 532nm green color is created by passing 808nm infrared through a couple crystals which coverts it into green. Whereas 515nm, 520nm green is “direct diode”, no crystals, no infrared, the green is just generated directly from the small laser diode.
Be aware that your laser is definitely not 5mW. Many sellers just label them as “5mW” because that’s the max allowed to be sold to USA buyers. Be careful with it. It’s more than powerful enough to do damage.
It is a rough build. Mostly proof of concept at this point. The laser is claimed to be a 532nm. Yes there is a small crystal fastened at the front of the LED. You are absolutely correct on the power. I would guess it to be probably in the 50mw range. There is a potentiometer on the circuit driver as well. The actual dimensions of the led module im not exactly sure of but I did have to file the brass housing a bit to get it to fit into the existing housing. My guess would be 30% larger than the red one.
Im not that familiar with powering laser modules at this point. I think I am going to need a dual purpose circuit driver of the 10 mm variety to tie everything together. Such as one of the newer dd/fet i have seen posts on here. I believe the infamous DRJones has the better part of a solution. It would be awesome to incorporate a single remote switch to operate the light and laser via series of switch presses.
You may have a problem with that recoil. I know a 532nm laser usually won’t survive being dropped too many times. A 520nm module might be better suited as it is just the diode itself. That little crystal in the 532nm lasers is carefully aligned and glued in place. If you have one of the crystals come loose they are next to impossible to get back in place correctly. You need to use Laser safety glasses to do it because you will be staring into a 1064nm beam. Ask me how I know.
I was concerned with recoil a bit but wasnt sure what may break first. You have made a very good point. Thank you. Since I dont want to keep an eye on that (okay dumb pun but i couldnt resist) as a potential problem does anyone know of a good resource for the 520nm module?
I think I may have found a solution for one of my own questions. I was browsing mtn elec site and found a driver I may be able to work with for both the laser module and XPG2 emitter I would like to use. The multi color 17mm driver has leads for up to 4 LED’s but I am not sure the circuit pushes enough Mah unless I double up on 7135’s and/or combine 2 possibly 3 of the channels. I asked Richard if the firmware was open source and am waiting a reply. If so I believe the source code could be modified to accommodate my needs. My next hurdle would be an e-switch.
I am making additional models out of a very hard machinable type plastic and would be willing to trade for someone to help with coding a solution. Or if someone prefers aluminum I could duplicate what I have done for barter.
once again thanks for the input. you may be correct regarding the ramp up. I contacted richard at mtn elec. regarding modding the color driver and he suggested that what I was wanting to accomplish could easily be done with a moonlight driver and separating a pwm trace. I understand the concept perfectly but not sure how to identify the trace that needs separated or exactly the best way to separate it. You seem to be well versed on this tech so what are your thoughts on that solution?
