Laser Flashlight Hack!!

Step 8 Assembling the housing...

I used a little bit of Arctic Silver Thermal grease and slowly installed the new DVD diode in the AixiZ housing. Using a pair of pliers, I SLOWLY squeezed the edges of the diode down into the housing until it was flush. CAREFUL!

Comments

[000TOMO000]

Can i use 4.5 volt ?

[Kipkay]

NO! that will blow the diode in an instant!

[exterminater92]

Hi Kipkay,

I was wondering if we don't need a driver circuit between the diode and the batteries. You are using two AA-batteries, that's 3V. Wouldn't that be too much for a diode of 250mW? Connecing it directly to the batteries might fail in giving a constant current, so I guess a driver would do better. Or am I very wrong now?

You can also mail me at [e-mail].

[blacklion]

I had an old dvd burner diode that I hooked a 9volt battery up to. Did I just burn it out? I also only got an intermittent 'faint' glow when I tried it.

[dolfi]

can I use also different diode instead of the one form LG burner? I have some diodes from Philips DVD recorder. will it work?

[stuffman366]

as long as its relativly fast (12x or faster )it should work

[jmoody213]

Hey kipkay, I was wondering if this really works or its a fake video..because i have alot of friends that know alot about heat lasers and i asked them about this and they said that it would blow the diode. Are they right?

[Ryo_Ohki2]

It's real. You see the module the laser is in? It acts like a heat sink and will distribute the heat out so you can use it for a little while. Now for long burns I'm not sure if it would last. My rig I place the housing in a block of metal that fit in one of my flashlights and it worked out perfectly.

[kwa9]

hey kipkay, i am buying the diode from mfgcn.com and was wondering if two 1.2 volt batteries would work or two 1.5 volt batteries would work?

[mondeluz]

yo kipkay what will happen if i will use a 1w diode and 1w module on flashlight using this hack?

[tim127]

I dont know a lot about laser diodes, but why would you need a housing for the diode?

[vksbatham]

How could i install the laser diode in laser module driver circuit ??????????

[xxboulavardxx]

i dont understand. so all you do is pop it in there?

[xXnocturnusXx]

ok...but how do you install a driver circuit??!!

[JudgeMonkey]

After much work, I managed to open the laser housing. Had to use two heavy pliers to do it. But now that dang laser diode will NOT come out. Since I don't care about the diode, I pushed as hard as I could, and it just won't budge. I don't have an exacto knife, so I have been using a pen.

[Ryo_Ohki2]

can you access the diode from the laser side and stick a stick in it and hammer it out? Don't know what housing your using so I can't really suggest much.

[dmhjah]

Its hard to tell in this picture but it looks like the remainder of the old diode has not been removed. Isn't the white part is what needs to be tapped on? I also imagine that the driver is not needed as well? Then place the new diode in, the spring and the black housing we see in one of the next pictures?

[FanThom]

Call me naive, but you refer to the arctic silver as "grease" and all I can find is adhesive. Knowing that the two terms provide opposite definitions, I am wondering exactly what is holding the diode in place. Also, I was wondering if anyone could link me to an appropriate Driver circuit to install to prevent the diode from blowing. I'm still learning about the wide wide world of electronics and am not to savvy, sorry for all the questions.

[MikeDaMan]

Here is the schematic:
http://i43.tinypic.com/1zx6t8j.jpg

If you can't read it, use this one:
http://i42.tinypic.com/2w3zus8.png

[Crash Gordon]

Be really careful here -- I had a nice bright diode until after I pressed it into the holder. It went in smoothly and I had no suspicion that anything was wrong. But when I powered it up in the holder there's only the faintest red glow. So I'm going to have to rob another burner and try again!

[yrogerg77]

This same thing happened to me... I only saw the video which didn't really go over how careful you had to be with these diodes and so I tapped mine into the housing with a hammer... now it is very faint and will definitely not light anything on fire. I kinda wish Kip Kay had mentioned his use of grease and pliers to squeeze the diode into the housing on his video, as this is obviously the most delicate step in the whole process. Now i have to get another diode to try again, but that would mean buying one for $40 because I don't have any more old DVD burners lying around :(

[jerrysl]

If you didn't put a driver circuit in there then it probably burned out from a voltage spike.

[jmoody213]

Hey Crash Gordon You blew the diode somehow...there are alot of ways to blow the diode.

[adrian116]

i dont understand how to install the diode please reply im only 12

[Argonion laser]

what do I do with the driver circuit ? Do i destroy it?

[Enso]

This is the part that I'm confused on. You take the top part of the housing off, remove everything, so you tap the diode.. in backwards so it shines in what used to be the inside of the housing?! or am I just losing it... and by flush he means.......?

[Frogz]

got mine done but it is mounted inside a old ir laser diode housing from a laser printer, insanely bright but doesnt do much except make black plastic smoke

[Gloom]

how exactly did you focus the laser...? mine's pretty bright, but the dot is fairly large, can't get it to focus precisely by twisting the lens...and it's definitely not about to burn anything.

[Peet42]

'Using a pair of pliers, I SLOWLY squeezed the edges of the diode down into the housing until it was flush. CAREFUL!' Alternately... Press the diode into the front piece as far as you can with your fingers, then place it leads-side-up on a solid surface. Take the brass "back end" and place it upside-down over the diode so the leads go through the small hole. Hit with a hammer. Twice. Fast, and it worked fine for me. :-) (Leaves you with a slightly indented "rear end", tho'... ;-/ )

[big_t8r]

Just go SLOW and EVEN... I used a pair of bent-tipped needle nosed pliers, and squeezed one side in BARELY, then the opposite side in BARELY, then the other two sides. Repeat until it's in. Easy.