A Blu-Ray laser I just put together. . .

proud2deviate

proud2deviate

Joined
Apr 5, 2004
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Just a little something I cooked up. My screwing around funds are tight, so I had to build this mostly with materials I had on hand. For the heat sink, I made a three layer coil of copper wire, soldered it solid, squared the ends, and bored it out for the module. I put it on the drill, and sanded down the outside for a nice, smooth cylinder. It didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped, but it's good enough for now. Most importantly, it works.

The body is kydex. Great stuff:thumbup: The main guts of the laser (diode, module, and driver,) cost me about $30. I'm running it at about 150ma, which should yield an output power of well over 100mw. Not too shabby, considering Wicked Lasers want $2000 for a 60mw Blu-Ray!

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This one shows the laser with two prisms and a uranium glass marble. Blu-Ray is 405nm. It's quite close to ultraviolet, so you can make stuff fluoresce with it. Sweet!
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Yes, it can burn stuff, too. When I focus it, it'll light a white match instantly. It smokes the hell out of leather , and is capable of needle-fine burning on wood, plastic, paper. . . Tons o' fun:thumbup:
 
Good job!

Looks like the beam quality is pretty good.

Do be careful, though. That little devil can also give YOU a heck of a sun-burn. Keep it away from those eyes!
 
Very cool! I have a 3" long ruby crystal with mirrored ends with a helical flashlamp just waiting for electronics to make it all work. I'm not good enough electrically to design the circuit and have little time to make them, so I'm hoping to partner with someone able to do that part. I've loved lasers since middle school and built 4 of them.

Is that laser continuous? I used to make holograms with a helium neon laser. It looks like you might be able to do that with your laser. That is really something to experience.
 
Sweet. I've briefly looked into doing something similar in the far ultraviolet range to make stuff fluoresce but never did find a way to do it more cheaply than just ordering a ready made one. This looks fun; I might try it. :)
 
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