What to do when having vacation? Build a box of course! 3W 445nm for USD300,-

[Datsurb]

Finally having more spare time than usual, and what to do? Getting all the bits and pices i have in drawers and lockers. I also have my DTR single mode Project not finished caused by electrical groundig issues. Removing all the bits and pieces from the baseplate i started rebuilding a more simple Box using the 9mm 445nm from DTR. That beeing the most expensive part in the projector. The baseplate is a solid 10mm aluminum plate 250mm by 250mm. More drilling and tapping by hand to get all bits and pieces positioned where i wanted them. I did nok have enough aluminum plates to make a Whole Box, so i figured, why not use the plexiglass i already have. Drilling and tapping plexi is not what i am used to, but it worked out nicely, using red-alcohol as a drilling/tapping lubricant.

The result turned out quite Nice. I only have a few small handheld machines at my cabin, so the presicion is not 100%.

Total cost of build, was more or less USD 301,-

Not bad for a 3watt 445nm.






And i also made this little gizmo for adjusting the DrLava driver correctly for the Diode.


Reasonable result can be cheap.

Beamshots will come sooner or later.

[kecked]

put a filter on that fan. Will save lot of cleaning later on. After all you build a nice box. Keep the optics clean.

[Datsurb]

I promissed some beamshots.
Apologize for the poor quality, but my camera is not siutable for filming lasers at all.
http://youtu.be/TGWdOU1UIy0

[JasonB]

I like the fact that you used plexiglass, it looks cool when you can see what is inside. And nice setup for adjusting your analog driver.
Is that seven segment display on that board to the right a voltage readout or is it another analog driver? I take it the blue readout is current?

[Datsurb]

I like the fact that you used plexiglass, it looks cool when you can see what is inside. And nice setup for adjusting your analog driver.
Is that seven segment display on that board to the right a voltage readout or is it another analog driver? I take it the blue readout is current?

Thanks for positive feedback.

The board on the right is a voltageregulator with a digital readout. I use it to set the voltage to 5V for maximum output from the driver , and to see what current are used at 2,5V. Unfortunantly it does not go all the way down to 0V, but it works for me.

The blue display is current used by the diode after the driver.

As i remember the current meeter was about USD 5,- at ebay - free shipment. I dont know how accurate it is, but the readout is more or less exact the same as my semiexpensive mulitimeter.