Extraction and setup of burning red laser from an old DVD writer. If you are interested in some of my other stuff for example how to build a small but really powerful induction heater check here: wp.me/P8V9IH-2K
Those lines and circles are usually from skin oil on the lens from fingerprints. Isopropyl alcohol should clean them off as long as they aren't on there when the laser heats up the oils and 'bakes' them on. Terminology: the 'block of plastic and metal' is called the sled. Two lithium batteries in series is usually 7.4 volts, assuming each cell is 3.7 volts.
C, G and D *should* be Control (Controller), Diode (Positive) & Ground. (Ground). And a few simple answers for other simple questions. You can know the voltage 1 of 2 simple ways without any testing. First is to follow the power cables to your PSU, check the label for corresponding color codes (likely 3v), or simply look up the circuit diagram/parts list for your model DVD burner. You calculate the resistor by using a resistor calculator to adjust the input of the power supply you're using down to have the output needed by your laser. As for how much voltage, that's determined by your specific laser diode. For a DVDRW laser, personally I'd stick to around 3v. But current is likely to really be where most people trip up. Hope my minimal bit of info can help get a few of you guys pointed in the right direction. Good luck
John Doe i was thinking the same but the laser should be stronger to just brake the oil residue with out modifying anything, at least u would think so, i dont know nothing about lasers thou,...
Please, tell me one thing: you even do not make impression, that you know that lasers are supplied with CURRENT not VOLTAGE and your laser still works. Many people trying to supply laser with regulated CURRENT (as it should be done correctly), not voltage, burn lasers... The less knowledge - the more luck? Lasers are diodes, they must be supplied with regulated current, not voltage.They are not ohmic devices, at the same voltage, the current through them can vary even 2 - 3 times depending on their temperature. Plus the fact, that laser diodes often work on the edge of their current limit results in very high probability of burning a laser diode at instant with regulated voltage instead of regulated current. Moreover, in laser diodes there often is a photodiode integrated, that measures intensity of emitted light and the diode should be ideally supplied with a circuit, that stabilizes the intensity of light with current limiting to guarantee not exceeding the allowable maximum. More, laser diodes are static charge sensitive and delicate devices, if I treated my laser like you did with vice and hacksaw - mine would be destroyed just by static electricity from fingers or tools touching the connector leads... You must have TONS of luck.
For sure you are right. By wiring it up the way I did was assuming that the voltage regulator would supply the correct current which it just happened to do. The scope of this video was not to to go into the electronics of a proper laser diode driver, but rather to see if I could salvage something useable out of a junk drive. It turned out to be more challenging then I initially thought as the laser unit did not simply pop out but was rather an integral part of the drive and had to be hacked out (literally). Sorry for the rather rough and ready approach. The LM317 set up the way shown seems to drive these diodes well. I think I may have had a whole lot of luckon my side as I was also able to extract some other drives and get good results. The first one I extracted overheated as I did not have a proper fitting heat sink. I realize that these are not ohmic devices but rather diode devices in terms of the way they handle voltage and current. I have seen some approaches where a jewel thief type circuit is used to power these with pulsed input. I did not try that here. Anyway, thanks for your helpful comments and suggestions. Will probably do an updated video at some time.
Hi, I agree, the diodes from burners are 3.3 or 3.8 mm ir or red beam, the one shown with the host housings is a 5.6 , to can diode, its good some one else noticed, cheers mate
Lasik simulator? *jk...* Edit: I have found a *Class 2* laser out of a laser leveling device, I took out the lens which stretches out the laser, and made it into a very fun keychain cat toy!
Hi TeslaSpot 101, Great vid and I have a few questions for you! How did you know what Voltage to use on this Diode? How did you know what Resistor you needed on this Diode? How much Voltage could you put through the Diode How much Watts did the diode make ? Thanks
The correct voltage is 3V. The LM 317 voltage regulator is set to this voltage with the reistor Alternatively you can use a trimmer. You can up the voltage if you use liquid nitrogen or other cooling agent. At 3V the diode still gets warm or hot and its life is shortened if there is not heatsink. These heatsinks are fairly cheap from ebay. Make sure you use some thermal paste.
i wanna to go amendments for my 3LCD projector. Can i use these DVDs laser (blue laser for blue dichroic mirror, red for red dichroic mirror and blue for blue dichroic mirror) instead of any light source????? your advice will make me perfect.
Ahmed Hushaan the voltage is supplied to the laser diode using a LM317 voltage regulator. The input voltage to the regulator is 7.4V from 2 series 3.7V lithium ion batteries. The resistor is placed across the LM317 to limit the output voltage from the regulator to 3V. The laser overheats and will quickly fail above 3V. Also need to make sure the laser diode is heatsinked!
Hey...what am I doing wrong here? I did everything the same, down to the same make/model DVD burner, batteries and heat sink tube. I thought something may be wrong with my laser, so I extracted the laser mod out of an expensive but broken laser pointer (cost me $45 at Radio Shack a few yrs ago) I had in my junk drawer and still, all it did was light up. No heat, no nothing. Any ideas what I might be doing incorrectly?
Vin DiVergilio did you measure the output voltage on the LM317 and make sure it is outputting 3V. I had the same issue with are earlier DVD laser module and fuound out I had connected it wrongly. The casing of the module is usually negative. You might want to see if your power supply lights a regular white or red LED first before connecting it to the laser module (make sure the led is in series with a 200-500 ohm resistor first). Most DVDs also have an invisible infrared read laser. These produce no visible light and it is easy to get the wrong one out. I did this by accident too!
have you tried reversing the polarity on the input current. The other thing would be to make sure you are getting enough current to the dvd module. I used an LM317 voltage regulator connected to a 3.7V litium ion battery to get mine working. The other thing is to make sure that you have not extracted out the IR laser module instead as this would produce the more dangerous (as it is invisible) IR laser radiation.
sorry if video is not clear. I was kind of flying by the seat of my pants when making the video as I did not realize that the laser was encased in a block of metal and had to be cut out with a saw! After I made the video, I opened another DVD which had a much more accessible laser module which popped out easily without having to cut it out.
The best laser is DVD (writing) burning red light laser. The read laser from the DVD is low power IR laser. These r DVD red lasers have 100mW-200mW of power. For even more power, the blue write lasers from Blue Ray drives have 1000 mW of power.
whats up the blue light lasers carry more power. They are more expensive. The red light lasers from dvd are more easy to get as there are many more of these types in old computers.
Use any company that makes dvd with LightScribe technology. These ones have more power to be able to etch a label onto the non write surface of the DVD.
I can bet my ass on this. A laser diode from DVD will not burn anything no matter what driver circuit is used. If you exceed the current beyond 500 mA, it will just burn out dead and will not burn anything. May be you all did not notice but towards the end of the video, he was using a different laser diode and definitely not the one from a DVD player.
