Laser diode dvd rw. How to make a laser from a DVD drive
Do-it-yourself laser from a cd dvd drive
For many, the assembly of such a device is not a secret for many. It's probably one of the things we collect. Do-it-yourself laser from a drive. It differs from cheap Chinese pointers, and so on, in that it has a certain power. For its manufacture, we need only the initial basics, and cd or dvd drive.And if it is also a writer, then its power is much greater.
The first thing we ask. It's like take the diode out of the drive.
We disassemble the cutter, pull out the optical part. This is what that part of the cutter looks like:
Valuable there is only an output lens and two lasers. Now we get the most important thing - DVD laser:
I ask for your attention:
Before you start play with a new toy, I'll sign for you safety precautions. Laser from DVD-RW drive is class 3B, which means it is very dangerous to the eye! Don't direct the beam into your eyes and in the mirror! You won’t even have time to blink an eye, your vision will become much worse! A guy on one forum accidentally showed himself, got on several thousand euros. consider him lucky. a focused beam can damage your eyesight even from a hundred meters! See where you shine!
Is it possible to damage a laser diode? Can! Even very simple. Just gotta go over current and the diode will come to an end. Moreover, a fraction of microseconds will be enough! That is why LDs are afraid of static electricity. Keep LD away from him! In fact, the LD does not burn out, the optical resonator inside simply collapses and the LD turns into a regular LED. The resonator collapses not from the current, but on the light intensity, which in turn depends on the current. You also need to be careful about the temperature. When the laser is cooled, its efficiency grows, and at the same current the intensity increases and can destroy the resonator! Be careful! It is also easy to kill it with transients that occur when turning it on and off! It is worth protecting yourself from them.
We take out the laser and immediately wrap a thin stranded wire around its legs so that the LD leads are electrically connected. we solder a small non-polar capacitor of 0.1 μF and a polar one of 100 μF to its legs and only then remove the core that was wound! So we will save him from static and transients, which LDs do not like very much!
Now it's time to think about powering our laser. The laser diode is powered by about 3V and consumes 200-400mA depending on the power (drive speed). A laser is not a light bulb! Never connect it directly to batteries! Without a limiting resistor, 2 batteries from a laser pointer will quickly kill him! LD is a non-linear element, so it must be powered not by voltage, but by current! that is, current limiting elements are needed.
This is what the laser looks like from the inside:
So. We now have to power our laser. Let's consider several options.
First option.
There will be a current limiting resistor, like a conventional diode.
The resistance of the resistor is determined experimentally, by the current through the LD. You should stop at 200mA for 16x, then the risk of burning is greater. although my LD worked fine at 300mA. three batteries of the required capacity are suitable for power supply. It is also convenient to use the battery from a mobile phone.
Advantages: simple design, high reliability.
Disadvantages: the current through the LD gradually drops. And it’s not really clear when it’s time to recharge the structure. The use of three batteries complicates the design and inconvenient charging.
It is convenient to place this scheme in Chinese lantern where there is a battery of three AAA (little finger) batteries
The collection will be as follows.
Two 1 ohm resistors in series and two capacitors.
Second option.
Using the LM317 chip.
In this scheme, everything is much more complicated, and it is perfect for a stationary version of the laser! The driver uses an LM317 chip, which is enabled by a current stabilizer. The driver maintains a constant current through the LD regardless of the power supply (at least 7V) and temperature. I advise you to download the datasheet for this microcircuit and understand it thoroughly, otherwise this is the best driver for the house!
Today we wanted to complicate the crafts that we make and invite you to make a homemade laser from DVD drive . The laser beam of this device is able to burn through paper, wood, plastic and shine over a great distance.
materials
To do homemade laser we will need an unnecessary computer DVD drive, screwdrivers, pliers, a soldering iron and a few radio components, which will be discussed below.
Construction
First, we need to remove the LED from the DVD drive, which will shine with a laser beam. In order to extract the LED, we need:
1. Unscrew with reverse side drive 4 screws and remove the cover.
2. Turn the drive over and remove the aluminum cover, unscrew the two screws.
3. Disconnect the cables that connect the drive to the chassis and unscrew the screw.
4. In order to remove the board with LEDs, unscrew the three screws.
5. We break off the protection of LEDs and optics.
6. With pliers we pull out the LED along with cooling. In this case, the legs of the LED must be tied with wire, which will protect it from static electricity.
7. We hook the LED with a knife and carefully remove it.
When the LED is removed, we proceed to the manufacture of the so-called. "driver", which will set the power mode for the diode. A “driver” is made according to the scheme shown in Figure 8.
To create it, we need:
Accu1 - battery, suitable from a mobile phone;
S1 - on / off button;
R1 - resistor, selected empirically (for a 16x drive, the resistance of the resistor is 2Ω and the current passing through the diode will be ~ 250mA);
C1 - 100nF capacitor;
C2 - 2200 uF capacitor (capacitor voltage is unimportant);
HL1 - laser diode (do not forget about static protection).
As optics, we will use a lens from a DVD drive. The lens must be set at the focus distance. In order to choose the distance, it is convenient to use a laser pointer by replacing the lens in it. By turning the screw, we adjust the desired focal length. Beam diameter should be approximately 1mm.
The laser from the DVD drive is ready!
For a better understanding of how a laser is made, we suggest watching the following video.
ATTENTION!
Remember the safety rules!
Just want to warn you, I'm not responsible for your actions! You do everything at your own peril and risk!
The other day I made a laser module for my own and here I will tell you how to make it yourself.
Some people don't believe it, but a laser from a DVD drive can actually set fire to matches, cut thin film, or burn plastic and wood. And so what we need:
- The first thing I got was the radiator. Since the laser gets very hot during operation, it needs somewhere to put its heat. I used a radiator from an old one motherboard Asus. Something like this:
Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of mine in its original form. - Next, we need the laser itself. It can be obtained in writing DVD-RW drives, others will not work. Drive speed must be over 16x. So far I have made a working module and ruined about 5 drives! So I advise you to be very careful. The last donor was the NEC-7173 drive. We disassemble the drive, take out the laser head, it looks something like this:
We find the desired laser, there are 2 of them (CD & DVD). We need one with a larger radiator:
In an extreme case, you can experimentally determine which of them is a DVD by applying voltage to them, the CD will shine dimly, and the right one will shine brightly. ATTENTION! DO NOT POINT THE LASER INTO THE EYES! LOSE YOUR SIGHT ! But do not rush to connect the laser yet, you need a special driver to power it. Before removing the laser, I advise you to bite the cable going to the laser, and not solder it right away. You can unsolder it only when you close all the contacts of the laser with a wire, because. he is afraid of static electricity. This is how the laser removed from the radiator looks like:
The laser looks like this in its own radiator:
And this is what my laser looks like:
I did not remove my laser from my native radiator. After removing the laser, let's start assembling the driver. - For power, as I said, you need a special driver. The laser needs to be supplied with a certain current, not voltage. I offer one of the simplest schemes:
We assemble this circuit, but do not connect it to the laser yet. Install a heatsink on the LM317!
Putting it all together. First, we drill a hole for the wires to the laser, then for the bolts fixing the laser, and for attaching the lens. Where required, cut the thread. We make a bar that will press the laser itself. We look at the photo for more details:
I think it’s understandable why I didn’t remove it from my native radiator, I just pressed it with a bar to a larger radiator. For better conductivity smeared with thermal paste. When soldering wires, do not remove the wire that shorts out the laser contacts before connecting to the driver.
We take the lens from the same laser head, the top one, which looks at the disk. I fixed it on a textolite bush. We do not put prints on it and do not smear it with glue! The lens is afraid of glue fumes. See photo:
We install, turn on the laser through the driver, and adjust the lens so that we get the minimum point. I get a point at a distance of 1cm to the part and about 2mm of the lens to the laser.
Well, a photo of the finished module in operation on a CNC machine:
On a light tree, of course, it burns out rather poorly, but if a dark eraser, then excellent. I am engraving like this:
Without much prelude, I'll start with which drive is better to use.
- First, it must be a burner (RW);
- Secondly, the higher the write speed, the more powerful the laser will be;
- And, thirdly, the more unnecessary it is already, the more satisfaction you can get from it. I noticed a direct relationship :)
Removing the laser module
We disassemble and get to the laser head.
Remove the laser head.
Our goal is the laser module.
Before removing the module itself, we short-circuit all three of its outputs with a thin copper wire (we took one thread from a stranded one). This is to protect against static.
Now you can remove the laser module. He “sits” there quite well, so you need to work hard and balance efforts between “breaking” and “not breaking”.
This is how it should work somehow.
Circuit Assembly
Now let's move on to the diagram. It is necessary to control the power of the laser. Otherwise, it will just burn out.
We did not bother and made a hinged installation.
Nutrition
You need to feed from 3.7v. Mobile phone batteries connected in parallel are perfect for a portable laser.
We used a stabilized power supply.
Warning
It should be warned in advance about the ruthlessness of the laser to the retina. When working with a laser, be sure to use special glasses. You may ask why I am writing all this, because no one will do it anyway? Well, suddenly! Suddenly there is at least one man of sense and put on the same special glasses when handling the laser. And one or even two eyes will save these lines!We did not have such points and we did everything at our own peril and risk. But red glasses, unlike safety glasses, will allow you to better see the laser beam itself. For beauty, you can let the smoke in, as we did in the intro to video.
Trial run
Having connected the power, we see a consumption of 200mA and a beam of bright light.
Works like a flashlight in the dark.
Focus lens
The beam turned out not to be "laser" at all. You need a lens to adjust the focal length. For starters, a lens from the same drive is quite suitable.
It is possible to focus the beam through the lens, but without a rigid body, the task is tedious.
Case manufacturing
On the Internet I met a description where people used laser pointers or a flashlight as a body. Moreover, the lenses are already there. But, firstly, we did not have a laser pointer of the right size at hand. And, secondly, it would increase the budget of the event. And I have already said that for me personally it reduces the pleasure of the result.We started sawing aluminum profiles.
Everything needs to be isolated.
Lens
The lens was attached to plasticine to adjust its position.
By the way, this lens works better if it is turned over with its convex part towards the laser diode.
We adjust and get a more or less collected beam.
It is probably possible to fine-tune it, but this was enough for us to make the black plastic begin to melt.
The match instantly lit up.
Black electrical tape cut like a knife through butter.
This laser would make a great gun for playing toy soldiers.
Video
The video shows the speed of the laser on some materials ( White list, inscription with a marker on paper, black plastic and black electrical tape, thread, plasticine).
Loading...
