Laser Flashlight Hack!!

Step 5 Continue extraction...

Once you have the assembly off of the burner it's time to start disassembling it by removing all the screws you see. There will be many small screws so be patient. Cut any flat cabling off. There could be two diodes, one for the CD portion of the burner (IR diode) and the actual DVD burning diode (red). That is the one you want. There will be a 3-pin circuit board on the red diode that you want to CAREFULLY remove with a soldering iron revealing 3 pins. You can test the diode with 2-AA batteries and referring to the polarity chart (on the video). You will have to remove the diode from the housing and that will be in a case-by-case basis depending on the burner. The laser diode is fragile so take care in the final extraction process.

Comments

[lego cowz]

DUDE WHERE CAN I BUY A GOOD DIODE THAT DOESNT HAVE A RIP OFF PRICE!!!!!!!

[J.Reynolds09]

http://www.rapidonline.com/

[awang8]

http://www.newegg.com

[squit101]

ebay.com

[awang8]

That's like $40...

[fundash]

oh no, I think I obliterated my diode...:(

[GamerM]

Me too.
I pulled the pin for - power to gt the laser out instead of the pin in the middle that does nothing and i ripped off the tiny cable inside the laser that connects it to the tiny plate that makes laser light

[hondaman900]

I got my red diode out of my kaput DVD burner, hooked up the two AA batteries and it lit up like a beacon. Did that about twice for no more than 4 seconds each time, it never got hot, but now the light is real dim.D VM measures 1.6V on the batteries so they're good. I know these diodes are current sensitive, but could I have blown it with the two AAs'?

[hondaman900]

I'm pretty sure I blew it and it's now functioing as a LED. I tore apart another DVD Burner and hooked it up to a current limiting supply, as described here, and it works great. 10ohm reistor gave me a nice 120mA measured.

Thanks for the great 'ible.

[smashpoe]

So the lazer diodes in cd players are infrared?

[taosif.an]

Hello, I am also interested in the photo transistor (the device that receives the reflected light), how can i extract it? and about the led, are the anode and cathode distinguishable and does anybody know the power rating of the diode (both burning and IR?) Thanks

[madkid45]

i just removed the laser diode from my "light scribe" dvd burner but it looks nothing like the one you have. and all of the prongs are in a strait line what do i do?

[ryguy425425]

I have (had) a panasonic dvd recorder (for recording tv) that conveniently broke randomly right after the warranty expired. I now have the laser diode completely extracted without using a soldering iron. It was held together by screws and some kind of glue that looks like latex calking. When I ran out of screws I pried it out with a mini screwdriver. I can't believe I got it out! Panasonic (the one I have) works great (so far), now to move on to the next step when I get the parts conveniently located on the other side of the world. Thanks Kip Kay for teaching us noobs how to do cool stuff!

[scozzahisee]

I'm afraid that's how a lot of warranties work. The companies test their products to see how long they last and then make the warranty just a little shorter.

[mossimo3]

Two things: 1.) I have two laser diodes that have been removed from the laser housing, one is a smaller 12 pin diode with a small glass cube on it, while the other is larger with a longer glass cube on it, how do I know which one is the burning laser? 2.) There are 12 pins on the laser diodes, how do I know which two power it up?

[xxdracoxx]

those are not the diodes those are the prisms

[ATImaster005]

those arent the lasers

[mossimo3]

They are lasers, they just don't have a focusing lens, so instead of a beam, it is an extremely bright 'light'.

[mossimo3]

I have made a breakthrough, the positive and negative pins are the ones that are on either side of the diode. ooooo (o) (o) ooooo Each "o" is a pin, the ones boxed are the positive/negative pins. To test, get a 3v powersource, then hook up the positive end to a 100ohm resistor. From the negative terminal, wire that to the case of the diode, then touch the 100ohm resistor wire to a pin, you should see it light up a bit; that is the positive pin. And you've discovered the positive pin! Now just solder the laser up and your good to go! (Note: You do not have to have the 100ohm resistor wire into your diode, the 3v is low enough to not ruin the diode, but powerful enough to produce an extremely bright laser beam.

[vdien]

mossimo3, I can't make it focus like a laser. the bright is very less. Do you need other part to make it become a laser beam ?

[mossimo3]

For diodes such as these, a focusing lens is required. One of the reasons why you would be encountering a dim 'light' may be the cause of one of two things. First, if you have tested the positive and negative pins using a resistor in your circuit and it is dim, then it is because of the resistor in the circuit. Or, second, if the diode appears to be emitting a rather dim pinkish-reddish light, it is possible that you have harvested an infrared diode. If it is the latter, I would recommend not staring into it as these are particularly dangerous. While they may appear dim or not working at all, they can be "full on" and due to its wavelength, we cannot perceive the the massive amounts of light that is secretly damaging our eyes. Yes, it is quite possible to blind yourself quickly with infrared lasers. I hope this helps.

[Jinx32]

Apparently not all "diodes" are the same. My Memorex is all kinds of Funky. It has a small chip (I assume the diode) with 8 pins soldered to a flexible pc board (green with visible copper underneath). Then this diode is and pc tape is glued into this huge frame where it is angled at a glass prism looking thing that is glued next to it. The other end of the prism is facing up and faces a lens. Above the lens is a another lens that floats between two magnets. Anyone have success with one of these arrangements or should I give up now. J

[xxdracoxx]

yeah i had the same kind of diode i de-soldered everything and got the diode out but the pins were so small i couldnt solder the longer pins on to them and i short circuited the diode bc the of the solder and i used really fine silver solder and i just couldnt do it lol so i bought a blu ray diode from ebay for $20.

[Lasersrock]

thats just like the dvdrom diode thing that I saw!! i used my micro screwdriver that i got from my blade cx and kindof forced the glass out. i was able to get everything out and make my way to the diodes. the magnets on the other hand, i just ripped the green stuff and pushed them off. it turns out that the magnets are acually atached to the metal thing only using the magnetisem they have. there acually very strong. but the other lenses with the copper wire is held up by little silver wire so i just broke them with the micro screwdeiver and took the lenes out. and about the diodes, one will be attached to a brownish copper looking circit board and you can push down on the diode and the two leads will break through there soldered part of the circit board and you will have to take sisors and sqeeze the citcular part together and then pull it out. or pull slowly yet hardly and the two leads will come out leaving them clean. or if you have a soldering iron (i had to do it the other ways becase i dont have soldering iron.) and solder it off. the next diode will be on a green circit board and will have a little metal casing that will look like this: _
l 0 l

---

the 0 is where the lense of the diode is. its glued to it so i used something sharp to break it and took my micro screwdriver and put it on top of the oval part holding the three leads and pushed outward and i FINALLY got it out but it took some time. i hope i helped you!!

[Lasersrock]

wait that went on wrong... lets just say that its a rectangle with a circle at the mid of the top.

[stephankishore]

Quick question, I sucessfully extracted my diode and mounted it my mag, it works great. =) However it does not burn stuff. I even went higher and got a 20x DVD Burner, but no cigar. I tried to see how much it would raise the temp on a thermometer, I it barely moved from room temp. What's wrong? and I can't afford a professional power meter to test the output!

[h1r0sh1m4]

Ok, I got everything gutted. When I got down to the diode, I removed the circuit board from around the pins. But now I'm having trouble getting the diode free from the housing. Any help?

[tehpwnz0r]

i used two pliers and bent the metal housing untill the diode fell out

[fatboyslim]

Try using two pliers on either size of the housing and twisting them in opposite directions?

[jake501]

I've got a really quick question...will a 52x32x52x CD-RW work? I looked on Wiki and saw that it is 100mW. Does it have to be 250mW DVD-R or is mine alright?

[skylab]

NO. CD-RW Lasers are Infrared, which means that you can't see them. So, even if there was enough power to "burn things", you are likely to cause PERMANENT DAMAGE to your EYES (or someone elses. Unlike visible Lasers, you will have no warning of eye injury with infrared lasers. Your FIRST warning will be Retinal failure. DVD Lasers are visible, so while you can still hurt yourself (or others), you will at least KNOW when you are doing so.

[jake501]

k, thanks

[vietwing87]

im at this part and i cant get the diode from the orange part under the circuit board. Its glued on sadly. any ideas?

[iBurn]

Mine is like a square thing with about ten connectors.... Whatdoido?

[zextron]

hello I'm trying to do one flashlight like yours but I want to be sure about the materials to use. I've just dismount a Toshiba laptop DVD burner from my satellite, it doesn't work anymore. The picture of what I think the diode is it's attached and I appreciate all the help you can give me. Inside this part doesn't appear to be anything useful that justify continue smashing, all the drive is now tear apart :] My best regards & thanks!!

[Kipkay]

Based on the pictures, it does not look like youhave located the laser diode from the assembly. You should be looking for a small ribbon cable and a tiny circuit board with 3 pins on it.

[zextron]

In the mean time i have solder it together to have sure and surprisingly it light up but with no distance a only a short red light inside it like in the picture. This was a 1X DVD burner from my laptop as I said, so I think I may have to wait for something more powerful.

[zextron]

here is the image :S

[ELF]

And a quick thought... Maybe you're looking into a now burned out IR laser (the CD laser from the drive) Just a thought... BTW, isn't there a way to edit a comment you've made? :S

[ELF]

Awesome! Solved my problem, I've been looking everywhere to find out how to use the laser from my CD burner (I need an IR laser, one only visible to cameras). I expected to find a "normal" laser diode inside, but after counting 12 legs I was like "WTF!" and after looking everywhere for a similar laser, you know, for reference, I felt kind of jibbed... The drive worked perfectly before I ripped it apart :( But yea, exactly same type of laser diode...