Cheapy Lighter Laser Burner

Here is the world's first BIC style laser lighter! Butane is outdated. Time to use blue burning lasers!
Watch the video and then build your own!

WARNING: This kind of laser can cause permanent damage to eyesight in less than a second. NEVER look into the beam or reflection of ANY laser including this one

Step 1: What You Need

1. BIC lighter. (The non-electronic, standard version) You may want to get two in case you crack the first one.
2. Blue Laser diode and mini-housing
3. Mini-driver circuit
4. (2) 1.5V button cell batteries
5. Mini Momentary switch
6. (1) 4 to 4.3 ohm resistor
7. (2) small magnets
8. Assorted wire

Step 2: Tools and Other Required Items.

1.Dremel cutoff wheel and small Grinding Stone or a similar tool.
2. Needle nose pliers, small screwdrivers, snips, X-acto knife.
3. A small pin or paper clip
4. Soldering iron and solder
5. Heatshrink tubing
6. Small drill bits
7. Multi-meter

Step 3: Prepare the Lighter

Disclaimer for those that don't know lighters are 'dangerous': Lighters contain butane, a flammable liquid that can catch fire, explode, burn you or your cat. And, lasers are also dangerous. Don't ever point any laser at yourself or any living thing.

1. Remove the flint wheel by prying it out at the edges. DO NOT BREAK THE BRACKETS. Once you release it a spring and flint (and other small stuff) will pop out and fly across the room. Go get them. Keep the flint wheel.
2. Remove the shiny shield by prying it out at the edges. DO NOT BREAK THE BRACKETS. Keep it.
3. Flip the lighter over and take it to a safe place. Putting on safety glasses never hurts. Stick a small pin or paper clip in the hole and it should contact the metal valve in the base of the lighter. Gently tap it with something to release the butane. You may need to tip it over to make sure all the butane is gone. You should hear something small rattling inside. That's the valve.
4. Remove the red button that releases the butane. Keep it.

Step 4: Gut the Lighter

The entire inside of the lighter needs to be gutted out. There are probably many ways this could be done but I found the best is as follows:
1. Using a Dremel cutting wheel, make two small slits in the white cover on the bottom of the lighter. Careful not to nick up or cut the housing or it will look crappy.
2. Use snips, pliers, X-Acto or whatever you need to remove most of the plastic on the white cover. (The cover is sonically welded to the housing so it cannot just be pulled out.)
3. Use a sanding tool or dremel attachment to completely remove all of the white base from the housing. This is time consuming if you want to do it right.
4. Remove all of the inside of the housing as far into the lighter as you can to make room for the mini-diode housing. This is a painstaking process and you may have to resort to burning the plastic away with your soldering iron. Don't inhale the smoke or get it in our eyes. Burning plastic is no fun.

Step 5: Final Lighter Prep

There are two main holes at the top of the lighter.

One is the where the red button you removed earlier makes contact with a valve to release the butane and on the other side where the flame exits.

Both of these holes need to be drilled out to accommodate the switch and the mini-diode housing. Use drill bits and CAREFULLY drill the holes out. (A small bit will be needed to drill out the little valve.) Don't worry about the center area where there is another hole. Stay away from the brackets in the middle because you will need those to reattach the red button later.

Step 6: Building the Circuit

NOTE: This requires an experienced solderer and a real good soldering iron with small tip

Wire the driver according to the following picture. The second picture is the flip side of the driver.
Be sure to add the resistor and the switch as show in the the final wiring pic.

Using a multimeter set to check milliamps, put the leads between the end of the resistor and the diode. Power it with no more than 3 volts and adjust the pot on the driver to no more than 170 mA. I used 2 button cells, taped together on the sides, harvested from an Energizer 12V 123 battery I also used two small magnets to attach the (+) positive and (-) negative leads from driver.

Step 7: Install the Laser Circuit

After confirming that everything is wired correctly, it's time to put everything inside the lighter housing. The diode goes on the former flame side and the switch is pushed in to the side where the red button switch was (See the next step for details). I used hot glue to secure the switch and diode after lining up the diode so the beam cleared all areas of the housing.

Step 8: Final Assembly

Cut the original red button in half leaving just the two small tabs that are secured in the housing holes.
You will have to play around with the exact height of the switch in relation to to the red button. Re attach the flame shield. After I shot the video I found a small rubber stopper and cut it in half, then pushed it inside the base of the lighter to make sure the driver and batteries stayed put. .

Your Cheapy Laser Lighter Burner is complete!

Use responsibly! Lasers of all types should never be pointed at your self or any living thing. This kind of laser can cause permanent damage to eyesight in less than a second. NEVER look into the beam or reflection of ANY laser including this one.

I hope you enjoyed this Instructable!

Comments

[jdanderson1]

Can you update this Instructable the Links are no longer Valid

[WayneM85]

I have been wanting a soldering tool like this:)

[Subal Suchdev]

Is it necessary to use the magnets or we can think of something else

[ArmandoB9]

where do I get the circuit in step 6? Please I need for a school project.

[blakeghx]

What are the specs of the laser diode (mW, nM, dimensions, etc)? Cool project!

[MichaelM138]

I think the new site is

http://www.diy-lasers.com/

However it would be nice here if the specs on the laser diode were given so you could find one similar.

[Litavecz]

Beware. There are people claiming to be scammed into buying products from this DIY site and never receiving their orders.

[caden202]

do u have any to sell that are already made

[golddigger1559]

i wish to know this as well

[A.C.E.]

Just make one! It's a fun project! But if you do want to buy one, Kipkay is just a man, not a marketplace.. There aren't any lasers fitted into a lighter, but there are burning lasers out there you can buy. The lighter case is the DIY guy/girl's badge of honor. Also, you'll find that many of the powerful lasers are way more expensive than what you would pay to make this one, unfortunately. That's why I chose to make my own. Once I get tired of this little dvd burner drive diode (you can get a red diode for this same project from a dvd burner in case you didn't know) I'll go to amazon and get a 2 watt blue laser diode for $40. Wickedlasers.com sells a laser with the exact same diode in it for $300, so I'll get all the same fun but will be spending a fraction of the money

[WilliamP1]

The domain laserdiy.com is for sale :(

[Chikpeas Brother]

Will the laser from and old scanner work? I'm not sure how powerful they are.

[madson812]

If it has a casing then it should tell you the wattage.

[iFirefly]

Cheers!

Nicely done, and you have a wonderful radio voice and presentation. This is pretty cool, but I need one that is just a little hotter and only needs to work at less than an inch distance; I'd like to heat up an area about of 1/4" in diameter quickly to 225-300 degrees (F). What modifications to these components would I need to do in order to use this in 10-second or less sessions, infrequently? I would not mind having to use longer batteries, as a longer time between changes - or recharging - would be preferred. Thanks!

[iFirefly]

Shoot, I forgot to ask about wavelength. Would any other type of laser produce heat out of the visible spectrum - like Infra-Red or Ultraviolet? I have a huge electromatic spectrum chart but I can't figure out how to convert it into temperatures other than Kelvin, which is OK for lightbulbs, but not for effective heat output.

Thanks again!

[madson812]

There are wavelengths outside of the visible spectrum that make heat (radiation is a great example of this) and yes, infra-red would work. It is actually the hottest type of light there is. The red lasers actually burn a bit more. But then, I'm not really a reliable source. you should try finding another source for information.

[nsaul]

everyone, buy everything in the video on amazon, its about $35. the names are different though, but here is a list:
-Momentary N.O. Classic Small Push Button Switch Red
-4.3 Ohm 1/2W Flameproof Resistor 10 Pcs.
-650nm 5mw laser module 8X13mm
-1W 445nm blue laser diode driver / 405nm laser driver
-Neodymium Magnets 1/2 x 1/8 inch Disc N48
-JT&T Products (120F) - 12 AWG Black Primary Wire, 12 Ft. Cut

this is all the stuff I am getting for it and (without tax) its about $35 fir everything, if any of the stuff us wrong, please let me know. The wire I wasn't sure about, it just said 'assorted wire'.

[mx28]

also I can't seem to find a diode less than $40

[mx28]

can you help me find the driver and module you used on Amazon? I've looked and can't seem to find small enough ones to fit in the bic.

[nsaul]

Also, look around amazon for better prices. you could get all this cheaper than I did.