HELLO, DIMON PEOPLE!!!
PRICE-50-300RUR
PRICE-50R
[
PRICE-50R
10 tube of super glue
12 laser printer
chip LM2621
R2 150kOhm
R3 150kOhm
R4 500 Ohm
C2 100uF 6.3V any
So, everything is there??? LET'S GET STARTED 
HERE IS THE DIAGRAM FOR ASSEMBLY 
(I can send you a drawing via PM) 
100% LOSS OF VISION! 
Sincerely, T3012, aka KILOVOLT.
DimonVideo DimonVideo
HELLO, DIMON PEOPLE!!!
Today, I will tell YOU how to make a powerful laser pointer at home.
To do this, we need 17 things:
1- faulty (dead) DVD drive, speed 16-22X (the higher the speed, the more powerful the laser in it)
PRICE-50-300RUR
2- cheap chinese lantern(for 3 batteries)
PRICE-50R
3- cheap laser pointer "double-barrel" (laser pointer + LED flashlight)
[
PRICE-50R
4- soldering iron, power 40W (W), voltage 220V (V) with a thin tip.
5- low-melting solder (type POS60-POS61), pine rosin.
6-piece of one-sided fiberglass with dimensions 35X10mm
7- ferric chloride (sold in radio stores) price - 80-100 RUR
8-tool (tweezers, magnifying glass, small screwdrivers, pliers, long-nose pliers, etc.)
9- these are the terminal petals
(sold in any electrical store) cost from 10-35R
10 tube of super glue
11-alcohol (can be found at the pharmacy)
12 laser printer
13-page of any glossy magazine (necessarily glossy, smooth. You can also use photo paper)
14-electric iron (we take it at home. From mother, sister, grandmother, wife, they don’t see it yet)
15- radio components (you can grab some from the dead drive itself, in particular the Schottky diode, resistors, capacitors)
list of parts and their rating (ALL PARTS are SMD, i.e. for surface mounting (saving space))
chip LM2621
R1 needs to be selected... the current on the Laser diode depends on it. I have 78kOhm current 250-300mA NO MORE!!! otherwise it will burn!!!
R2 150kOhm
R3 150kOhm
R4 500 Ohm
C1 0.1uF ceramics, for example k10-17
C2 100uF 6.3V any
C3 33uF 6.3V, preferably tantalum.
C4 33pF ceramics, for example k10-17
C5 0.1uF ceramics, for example k10-17
VD1 any 3-amp. For example
1N5821, 30BQ060, 31DQ10, MBRS340T3, SB360, SK34A, SR360
L1 in the photo you can see what it looks like... and so, 15 turns on a suitable ferrite ring or frame. You can disassemble either a computer power supply unit, an energy-saving light bulb, or a mobile phone charger, including a car mobile phone charger.
All this is not so important, the microcircuit will set everything up as it should.
16-type multimeter DT890G, allowing you to measure capacitance, resistance, voltage and so on.
17- and of course straight HANDS and “friendship with a soldering iron” or a friend who is friends with a soldering iron
So, everything is there??? LET'S GET STARTED
We take the keychain pointer and disassemble it (CAREFULLY, DO NOT DAMAGE THE INSIDE, we will need them)
we take out the batteries, and using pliers, gently rocking them to the sides, pull out the front plastic head (where the flashlight and laser are)
Next, through the side where this plug was, we take out the insides, pushing them with a pencil from the side of the battery compartment
Then, very carefully, using a small tool with a flat tip, unscrew the plastic nut in the collimator (the brass tube where the lens and the frameless laser itself are located). We take out the contents (the plastic nut itself, the lens, the spring)
Warming up the EMPTY collimator with a soldering iron, disconnect it from the board with the button.
We disassemble the drive and take out the laser device carriage
EXTREMELY carefully remove the LASER, having previously wrapped the legs of the Laser with wire to prevent static.
this is the Laser Diode itself.
We take a Chinese lantern and disassemble it. Roughly similar to a flashlight pointer.
Now, let’s put all the little things in a safe box, and we’ll make a heat sink for the Laser.
We take previously purchased terminals
and saw off them piece by piece, so that we get a type of washer, a length equal to the length of the collimator, and so that they (the washers fit tightly into each other, including the collimator itself) If they do not fit into each other, we drill them out with drills with a diameter of 5, 5-12mm for different washers, or boring.
It should look something like this:
We push the collimator itself a little further, about 5mm, this is important for fixing the Laser Diode.
Yes, we fix the washers themselves with super glue.
So, now we mount the Laser Diode by first inserting a 5mm drill into the collimator and pressing the collimator with pliers on the side of the slots where the board was.
Solder 2 wires to the LD legs. ATTENTION SOKOLEVKU L.D. We call the device with a multimeter type DT890G (it sounds like a regular diode.)
Next we need to assemble the driver circuit.
HERE IS THE DIAGRAM FOR ASSEMBLY
HERE is an approximate drawing of the conductors on the board
(I can send you a drawing via PM)
Transfer the board drawing to glossy paper laser printer(laser ironing method, read on the Internet)
We make a board and solder parts onto it. It should look like this:
Assembly method, your imagination. I assembled the driver in the battery compartment, in place of the third battery.
used VARTA 800mA/H batteries
I used the lens from a flashlight pointer, but you can also use the original one from the drive
only its focal length is shorter, you will have to install another spring to prop the lens closer to the Laser Diode.
Attention! LASER RADIATION IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TO THE EYES!
NEVER TURN AWAY PEOPLE OR ANIMALS!
100% LOSS OF VISION!
This is the device I got:
DO NOT turn on the LD itself without a radiator, it gets very hot and will burn out. Set the current consumption of the Laser Diode to 250-300mA using resistor R1 (it is advisable to temporarily install a 100k resistor, and instead of the Laser Diode (so as not to burn the LD), a chain of 4 KD105 diodes connected in series)
Sincerely, T3012, aka KILOVOLT.">
Who in childhood did not dream of laser? Some men still dream. Conventional laser pointers with low power are no longer relevant for a long time, since their power leaves much to be desired. There are 2 options left: buy an expensive laser or make it at home using improvised materials.
There are the following methods for making a laser yourself:
- From an old or broken DVD drive
- From a computer mouse and flashlight
- From a kit of parts purchased at an electronics store
How to make a laser at home from an old oneDVDdrive
How to make a laser from a computer mouse
The power of a laser made from computer mouse will be much less than the laser power produced by the previous method. The manufacturing procedure is not very different.
- First, find an old or unwanted mouse with a visible laser of any color. Mice with an invisible glow are not suitable for obvious reasons.
- Next, carefully disassemble it. Inside you will notice a laser that will have to be soldered using a soldering iron.
- Now repeat steps 3-5 from the instructions above. The difference between such lasers, we repeat, is only in power.
The possibility of making something useful out of unused or worn-out equipment attracts many home craftsmen. One such useful device is a laser cutter. Having such a device at your disposal (some even make it out of a regular laser pointer), you can perform decorative design products from various materials.
What materials and mechanisms will be required
To make a simple laser cutter with your own hands, you will need following materials and technical devices:
- laser pointer;
- a regular flashlight equipped with rechargeable batteries;
- an old burner drive (CD/DVD-RW) equipped with a laser drive (it is not at all necessary that such a drive be in working condition);
- soldering iron;
- set of locksmith tools.
Thus, you can make a simple laser cutting device using materials that are easy to find in your home workshop or garage.
The process of making a simple laser cutter
The main working element homemade cutter The proposed design is a laser element of a computer disk drive. You should choose a writing drive model because the laser in such devices has a higher power, which allows you to burn tracks on the surface of the disk installed in them. The design of the read-type disk drive also contains a laser emitter, but its power, used only to illuminate the disk, is low.
The laser emitter, which is equipped with a recordable disk drive, is placed on a special carriage that can move in two directions. To remove the emitter from the carriage, it is necessary to free it from a large number of fasteners and detachable devices. They should be removed very carefully so as not to damage the laser element. In addition to the usual tools, to remove the red laser diode (and this is what you need to equip a homemade laser cutter), you will need a soldering iron to carefully release the diode from the existing solder joints. When removing the emitter from its seat, you should be careful and careful not to expose it to strong mechanical stress, which could cause its failure.
The emitter, removed from the writing computer drive, must be installed instead of the LED that was originally equipped with the laser pointer. To perform this procedure, the laser pointer must be disassembled, dividing its body into two parts. In the top of them there is an LED, which should be removed and replaced with a laser emitter from a computer disk drive. When fixing such an emitter in the body of the pointer, you can use glue (it is only important to ensure that the eye of the emitter is located strictly in the center of the hole intended for the beam to exit).
The voltage produced by the power supplies in the laser pointer is not enough to ensure effective use laser cutter, therefore, it is not advisable to use them to equip such a device. For the simplest laser cutter, rechargeable batteries used in a regular electric flashlight are suitable. Thus, by combining the lower part of the flashlight, which houses its batteries, with the upper part of the laser pointer, where the emitter from the writing computer drive is already located, you can get a fully functional laser cutter. When performing such a combination, it is very important to maintain the polarity of the batteries that will power the emitter.
Before assembling a homemade hand-held laser cutter of the proposed design, it is necessary to remove the glass installed in it from the tip of the pointer, which will impede the passage of the laser beam. In addition, you need to once again check the correct connection of the emitter with the batteries, as well as how accurately its eye is located in relation to the output hole of the pointer tip. Once all the structural elements are securely connected to each other, you can start using the cutter.
Of course, with such a low-power laser it will not be possible to cut a metal sheet, it is not suitable for woodworking, but it is suitable for solving simple tasks related to cutting cardboard or thin polymer sheets.
Using the algorithm described above, it is possible to produce more powerful laser new cutter, slightly improving the proposed design. In particular, such a device must be additionally equipped with such elements as:
- capacitors whose capacitance is 100 pF and 100 mF;
- resistors with parameters 2–5 Ohms;
- collimator - a device that is used to collect light rays passing through it into a narrow beam;
- LED flashlight with steel body.
Capacitors and resistors in the design of such a laser cutter are necessary in order to create a driver through which electrical power will flow from the batteries to the laser emitter. If you do not use a driver and apply current directly to the emitter, the latter may immediately fail. Despite the higher power, such laser machine It also won’t work for cutting plywood, thick plastic, and especially metal.
How to make a more powerful device
Home craftsmen are often interested in more powerful laser machines that they can make with their own hands. It is quite possible to make a laser for cutting plywood with your own hands and even a laser cutter for metal, but for this you need to acquire the appropriate components. In this case, it is better to immediately make your own laser machine, which will have decent functionality and work in automatic mode, controlled by an external computer.
Depending on whether you are interested in DIY or you need a device for working on wood and other materials, you should correctly select the main element of such equipment - a laser emitter, the power of which can be different. Naturally, do-it-yourself laser cutting of plywood is performed with a device of lower power, and a laser for cutting metal must be equipped with an emitter with a power of at least 60 W.
To make a full-fledged laser machine, including for cutting metal with your own hands, you will need the following Consumables and components:
- controller, which will be responsible for communication between the external computer and electronic components the device itself, thereby ensuring control of its operation;
- electronic board equipped with an information display;
- laser (its power is selected depending on the materials for which the cutter being manufactured will be used);
- stepper motors, which will be responsible for moving the device’s desktop in two directions (stepper motors from unused printers or DVD players can be used as such motors);
- cooling device for the emitter;
- DC-DC regulator, which will control the amount of voltage supplied to the electronic board of the emitter;
- transistors and electronic boards for controlling stepper motors of the cutter;
- Limit switches;
- pulleys for installing timing belts and the belts themselves;
- a housing, the size of which allows all the elements of the assembled structure to be placed in it;
- ball bearings various diameters;
- bolts, nuts, screws, ties and clamps;
- wooden boards, from which the working frame of the cutter will be made;
- metal rods with a diameter of 10 mm, which will be used as guide elements;
- a computer and a USB cable with which it will connect to the cutter controller;
- set of locksmith tools.
If you plan to use a laser machine for do-it-yourself metal work, then its design must be reinforced to withstand the weight of the metal sheet being processed.
The presence of a computer and a controller in the design of such a device allows it to be used not only as a laser cutter, but also as an engraving machine. Using this equipment, the operation of which is controlled by a special computer program, you can high accuracy and apply complex patterns and inscriptions with detail on the surface of the processed product. The corresponding program can be found freely available on the Internet.
By design, the laser machine, which you can make yourself, is a shuttle-type device. Its moving and guiding elements are responsible for moving the working head along the X and Y axes. The Z axis is the depth to which the material being processed is cut. For moving the working head of a laser cutter of the presented design, as mentioned above, stepper motors are responsible, which are fixed on the stationary parts of the device frame and connected to the moving elements using toothed belts.
Movable carriage homemade cuttingSliding support Head with laser and radiator Carriage assembly
Placing the carriage on the stands
Is it possible and how to make a laser at home, with your own hands? Who among the male population, no matter boys or adults, has not once dreamed of assembling his own “laser sword”, like the heroes of the “Jedi” in the movies? Remember laser pointers, which have been out of fashion for quite some time; their power, of course, is unlikely to impress anyone. But this, of course, does not mean that they cannot serve you in the end. Of course, they won’t make a real laser sword, but a laser with some power may well work out. In order to make laser at home You will need the following items and tools:
- soldering iron, wires
- DVD drive with a working laser (it’s easy to buy a cheap broken DVD on the market if you don’t have one at home)
- flashlight (small, with two AA batteries)
Many people know about the possibilities of laser technologies and their benefits. They are used not only in industry, but also in cosmetology, medicine, everyday life, art and other areas of human life. However, not everyone knows how to make a laser at home. But it can be built from scrap materials. To do this, you will need a non-working DVD drive, a lighter or a flashlight.
Before starting at home, you need to collect all the necessary elements. First of all, you need to disassemble the DVD drive. To do this, unscrew all the screws that hold the top and bottom covers of the device. Next, the main cable is disconnected and the board is unscrewed. The protection of diodes and optics must be broken. The next step is to remove the diode, which is usually done with pliers. To prevent static electricity from damaging the diode, its legs must be tied with wire. You must remove the diode carefully so as not to break the legs.
Next, before making a laser at home, you need to make a driver for the laser, which is represented by a small circuit that regulates the power supply to the diode. The fact is that if the power is set incorrectly, the diode can quickly fail. You can use AA batteries or a mobile phone battery as a power source.
Before you make a laser at home, you need to take into account the fact that the burning effect is provided by optics. If it is not there, then the laser will simply shine. As optics, you can use a special lens from the same drive from which the diode was taken. To set the focus correctly, you need to use a laser pointer.
In order to build a regular pocket laser, you can use a regular lighter. However, before you make a laser from a lighter, you need to know the construction technology. It is best to purchase a high-quality incendiary element. It needs to be disassembled, but the parts should not be thrown away, as they will still be useful in the design. If there is gas left in the lighter, it must be released. Then the insides must be turned out using a drill with special attachments. Inside the lighter body there is a diode from the drive, several resistors, a switch and a battery. All elements of the lighter need to be installed in their places, after which the button that previously lit the flame will turn on the laser.
However, to construct the device, you can use not only a lighter, but also a flashlight. Before you make a laser from a flashlight, you need to take the laser block from the CD drive. In principle, the structure of a homemade laser in a flashlight is no different from the structure of a laser in a lighter. You just need to take into account the power supply, which almost never exceeds 3 V, and it is also advisable to build an additional voltage stabilizer. It will increase the life. It is very important to take into account the polarity of the diode and stabilizer.
All assembled filling must be placed in the body of the disassembled flashlight. First, not only the inner part, but also the glass is removed from the flashlight. After installing the laser unit, the glass is installed in place.
Who among teenagers and most adult males does not dream of building their own laser sword? Laser pointers have long gone out of fashion; their power is unlikely to impress anyone. However, this does not mean that they will not serve you in the end. They won't make a laser sword, but they will make quite a powerful laser.
Instructions
To make a laser at home, you will need a laser pointer, a DVD drive with a working laser, a flashlight, wires and a soldering iron. You can buy a broken DVD on the radio market if you don’t have one on your farm.
At the first stage, you need to remove the laser diode from the DVD. This is a long and painstaking process. When you open the DVD, you can easily find a carriage that moves along two guides. You need to carefully unscrew the carriage. There will be a lot of screws along the way; you need to remove them without haste, since the laser diode does not tolerate shaking or shock. When you remove it from the carriage housing, handle it carefully and carefully.
The second stage is replacing the original diode in the laser pointer with one removed from the drive. This is necessary to make the laser more powerful. The fact is that inside the pointer there is a low-power laser diode, whereas in a DVD the laser is of a higher class. The laser pointer can be untwisted into two parts. The diode is installed at the top. You need to get the original diode and emitter. After that, you need to install a diode from the DVD into the upper housing. It is best to place it on an adhesive base.
A DIY laser cutter will come in handy in every home.
It is necessary to take into account following points: how best to place the diode, how to connect it to the power source, because the diode of the writing device requires more electricity than the main element of the pointer.
This issue can be resolved in several ways.
Therefore, the laser pointer is disassembled as carefully as the DVD burner drive.
The object is untwisted, then its body is divided into two halves. Immediately on the surface you will be able to see a part that needs to be replaced with your own hands.
To do this, the original diode from the pointer is removed and carefully replaced with a more powerful one; its reliable fastening can be done using glue.
It may not be possible to remove the old diode element right away, so you can carefully pry it out with the tip of a knife, then lightly shake the pointer body.
At the next stage of manufacturing a laser cutter, you need to make a housing for it.
For this purpose, a flashlight with rechargeable batteries is useful, which will allow the laser cutter to receive electrical power, acquire an aesthetic appearance, and ease of use.
To do this, you need to install the modified upper part of the former pointer into the flashlight body with your own hands.
Then you need to connect charging to the diode using the battery located in the flashlight. It is very important to accurately establish the polarity during the connection process.
Before the flashlight is assembled, it is necessary to remove the glass and other unnecessary elements of the pointer that may interfere with the laser beam.
At the final stage, the laser cutter is prepared for use.
The depth of material processing depends on the type of laser installation and the characteristics of the materials being processed.
Today, three types of lasers are used: solid-state, fiber and gas.
The design of solid-state emitters is based on the use of specific types of glass or crystals as a working medium.
Here, as an example, we can cite inexpensive installations operating on semiconductor lasers.
Fiber - their active medium functions through the use of optical fibers.
This type of device is a modification of solid-state emitters, but according to experts, the fiber laser is successfully displacing its analogues from the field of metalworking.
At the same time, optical fibers are the basis of not only the cutter, but also the engraving machine.
Gas – working environment laser device combines carbon dioxide, nitrogen and helium gases.
Since the efficiency of the emitters in question is not higher than 20%, they are used for cutting and welding polymer, rubber and glass materials, as well as metal with a high degree of thermal conductivity.
Here, as an example, you can take a metal cutter produced by the Hans company; the use of a laser device allows you to cut copper, brass and aluminum, in in this case The minimum power of the machines only outperforms its analogues.
Drive operation diagram
Only a desktop laser can be operated from a drive; this type of device is a portal-console machine.
The laser unit can move along the guide rails of the device both vertically and horizontally.
As an alternative to the gantry device, a tablet model of the mechanism was made; its cutter moves only horizontally.
Other existing versions of laser machines have a work table equipped with a drive mechanism and endowed with the ability to move in different planes.
There are currently two options for controlling the drive mechanism.
The first ensures the movement of the workpiece due to the operation of the table drive, or the movement of the cutter is carried out due to the operation of the laser.
The second option involves moving the table and cutter simultaneously.
At the same time, the first control model is considered much simpler compared to the second option. But the second model still has high performance.
The general technical characteristic of the cases considered is the need to introduce a CNC unit into the device, but then the price for assembling the device for self made will become taller.
HELLO, DIMON PEOPLE!!!
Today, I will tell YOU how to make a powerful laser pointer at home.
To do this, we need 17 things:
1- faulty (dead) DVD drive, speed 16-22X (the higher the speed, the more powerful the laser in it)
PRICE-50-300RUR
2- cheap Chinese flashlight (3 batteries)
PRICE-50R
3- cheap laser pointer "double-barrel" (laser pointer + LED flashlight)
[ 
PRICE-50R
4- soldering iron, power 40W (W), voltage 220V (V) with a thin tip.
5- low-melting solder (type POS60-POS61), pine rosin.
6-piece of one-sided fiberglass with dimensions 35X10mm
7- ferric chloride (sold in radio stores) price - 80-100 RUR
8-tool (tweezers, magnifying glass, small screwdrivers, pliers, long-nose pliers, etc.)
9- these are the terminal petals
(sold in any electrical store) cost from 10-35R
10 tube of super glue
11-alcohol (can be found at the pharmacy)
12 laser printer
13-page of any glossy magazine (necessarily glossy, smooth. You can also use photo paper)
14- electric iron (we take it at home. From mother, sister, grandmother, wife, they don’t see it yet)
15- radio components (you can grab some from the dead drive itself, in particular the Schottky diode, resistors, capacitors)
list of parts and their rating (ALL SMD PARTS, i.e. for
Many of you have probably heard that you can make a laser pointer or even a cutting beam at home using simple improvised means, but few people know how to make a laser yourself. Before you start working on it, be sure to familiarize yourself with the safety precautions.
Safety rules when working with laser
Improper use of the beam, especially at high power, can lead to property damage, as well as serious harm to your health or the health of bystanders. Therefore, before testing your own made copy, remember the following rules:
- Make sure there are no animals or children in the testing room.
- Never point the beam at animals or people.
- Wear safety glasses, such as welding glasses.
- Remember that even a reflected beam can damage your vision. Never shine a laser into your eyes.
- Do not use the laser to ignite objects while indoors.
The simplest laser from a computer mouse
If you need a laser just for fun, it’s enough to know how to make a laser at home from a mouse. Its power will be quite insignificant, but it will not be difficult to manufacture. All you need is a computer mouse, a small soldering iron, batteries, wires and a shutdown switch.
First, the mouse must be disassembled. It is important not to break them out, but to carefully unscrew and remove them in order. First the upper casing, followed by the lower casing. Next, using a soldering iron, you need to remove the mouse laser from the board and solder new wires to it. Now all that remains is to connect them to the shutdown switch and connect the wires to the battery contacts. Batteries can be used of any type: both finger batteries and so-called pancakes.
Thus, the simplest laser is ready.
If a weak beam is not enough for you, and you are interested in how to make a laser at home using improvised means with sufficiently high power, then you should try a more the hard way its production, using a DVD-RW drive.
To work you will need:
- DVD-RW drive (write speed must be at least 16x);
- AAA battery, 3 pcs.;
- resistor (from two to five ohms);
- collimator (can be replaced with a part from a cheap Chinese laser pointer);
- capacitors 100 pF and 100 mF;
- LED lamp made of steel;
- wires and soldering iron.
Work progress:
The first thing we need is a laser diode. It is located in the DVD-RW drive carriage. It has a larger heatsink than a regular infrared diode. But be careful, this part is very fragile. While the diode is not installed, it is best to wrap its lead with wire, since it is too sensitive to static voltage. Please pay Special attention for polarity. If the power supply is incorrect, the diode will immediately fail.
Connect the parts according to the following scheme: battery, on/off button, resistor, capacitors, laser diode. Once the functionality of the design has been verified, all that remains is to come up with a convenient housing for the laser. For these purposes, a steel body from a regular flashlight is quite suitable. Don’t forget also about the collimator, because it is the one that turns the radiation into a thin beam.
Now that you know how to make a laser at home, do not forget to follow safety precautions, store it in a special case and do not carry it with you, as law enforcement agencies may make claims against you regarding this matter.
Watch the video: Laser from a DVD drive at home and with your own hands
A laser cutter is a unique device that is useful to have in the garage of every modern man. Making a laser for cutting metal with your own hands is not difficult, the main thing is to follow simple rules. The power of such a device will be small, but there are ways to increase it using available devices. The functionality of a production machine that can do anything without embellishment cannot be achieved with a homemade product. But for household chores, this unit will come in handy. Let's look at how to build it.
How to make a laser cutter in the garage
Everything is ingeniously simple, so to create such equipment, which is capable of cutting out the most beautiful patterns in durable steel, can be made from ordinary scrap materials. To make this you will definitely need an old laser pointer. In addition, you should stock up on:
- A flashlight powered by rechargeable batteries.
- An old DVD-ROM, from which we will need to remove the matrix with a laser drive.
- Soldering iron and set of screwdrivers.
The first step will be to disassemble the drive of the old computer floppy drive. From there we should remove the device. Be careful not to damage the device itself. The drive of the disk drive must be a writer, and not just a reader, the point is in the structure of the device matrix. We won’t go into details now, but just use modern non-working models.
After this, you will definitely need to remove the red diode, which burns the disk while recording information to it. Just took a soldering iron and soldered the fastenings of this diode. Just don't throw it away under any circumstances. This is a sensitive element that can quickly deteriorate if damaged.
When assembling the laser cutter itself, consider the following:
- Where is it better to install a red diode?
- How will the elements of the entire system be powered?
- How the flow of electric current will be distributed in the part.
Remember! The diode that will perform the burning requires much more electricity than the elements of the pointer.
This dilemma is easily resolved. The diode from the pointer is replaced by a red light from the drive. You should disassemble the pointer with the same care as the disk drive; damage to the connectors and holders will ruin your future with your own hands. Once you have done this, you can begin making the homemade case.
To do this, you will need a flashlight and rechargeable batteries that will power the laser cutter. Thanks to the flashlight, you will get a convenient and compact item that does not take up much space in your home. The key point equipment of such a housing is to choose the correct polarity. Deleted protective glass from the former flashlight so that it does not become an obstacle to the directed beam.
The next step is to power the diode itself. To do this, you need to connect it to the battery charging, observing the polarity. Finally, check:
- Reliable fixation of the device in clamps and clamps;
- Device polarity;
- Beam direction.
Fix any inaccuracies, and when everything is ready, you can congratulate yourself on a successfully completed job. The cutter is ready to use. The only thing you need to remember is that its power is much less than the power of its production counterpart, so it cannot handle too thick metal.
Carefully! The power of the device is enough to harm your health, so be careful when operating and try not to put your fingers under the beam.
Strengthening a homemade installation
To enhance the power and density of the beam, which is the main cutting element, you should prepare:
- 2 “conders” for 100 pF and mF;
- Resistance 2-5 ohms;
- 3 rechargeable batteries;
- Collimator.
The installation that you have already assembled can be strengthened to get enough power at home for any work with metal. When working on gain, remember that plugging your cutter directly into an outlet will be suicide for it, so you should make sure that the current first gets to the capacitors, and then goes to the batteries.
By adding resistors you can increase the power of your installation. To further increase the efficiency of your device, use a collimator that is mounted to focus the beam. This model is sold in any electrician store, and the cost ranges from 200 to 600 rubles, so it’s not difficult to buy it.
Then the assembly circuit is carried out in the same way as discussed above, only you need to wind an aluminum wire around the diode to remove static. After this, you have to measure the current strength, for which you take a multimeter. Both ends of the device are connected to the remaining diode and measured. Depending on your needs, you can adjust the readings from 300 mA to 500 mA.
Once the current calibration is completed, you can move on to aesthetically decorating your cutter. An old steel LED flashlight will do just fine for the case. It is compact and fits in your pocket. To prevent the lens from getting dirty, be sure to get a cover.
The finished cutter should be stored in a box or case. Dust or moisture should not get there, otherwise the device will be damaged.
What is the difference between ready-made models
The cost is main reason, why many craftsmen resort to making a laser cutter with their own hands. And the principle of operation is as follows:
- Thanks to the creation of a directed laser beam, the metal is exposed
- The powerful radiation causes the material to evaporate and escape under the force of the flow.
- As a result, thanks to the small diameter of the laser beam, a high-quality cut of the workpiece is obtained.
The cutting depth will depend on the power of the components. If factory models are equipped with high-quality materials that provide sufficient depth. That homemade models are able to cope with cutting 1-3 cm.
Thanks to such laser systems, you can make unique patterns in the fence of a private house, components for decorating gates or fences. There are only 3 types of cutters:
- Solid state. The operating principle is based on the use of special types of glass or crystals of LED equipment. These are low-cost production plants that are used in production.
- Fiber. Thanks to the use of optical fiber, it is possible to obtain a powerful flow and sufficient cutting depth. They are analogues of solid-state models, but due to their capabilities and performance characteristics they are better than them. But also more expensive.
- Gas. From the name it is clear that gas is used for operation. It could be nitrogen, helium, carbon dioxide. The efficiency of such devices is 20% higher than all previous ones. They are used for cutting and welding polymers, rubber, glass and even metal with a very high level of thermal conductivity.
In everyday life without special costs You can only get a solid-state laser cutter, but its power with proper amplification, which was discussed above, is enough to perform household work. Now you have knowledge about making such a device, and then just act and try.
Do you have experience in developing a DIY metal laser cutter? Share with readers by leaving a comment under this article!
Who in childhood did not dream of laser? Some men still dream. Conventional laser pointers with low power are no longer relevant for a long time, since their power leaves much to be desired. There are 2 options left: buy an expensive laser or make it at home using improvised materials.
- From an old or broken DVD drive
- From a computer mouse and flashlight
- From a kit of parts purchased at an electronics store
How to make a laser at home from an old oneDVDdrive
- Find a non-working or unwanted DVD drive that has a recording speed greater than 16x and outputs more than 160mW of power. Why can't you take a recordable CD, you ask? The fact is that its diode emits infrared light, invisible to the human eye.
- Remove the laser head from the drive. To access the “internals”, unscrew the screws located on the bottom of the drive and remove the laser head, which is also held in place by screws. It may be in a shell or under a transparent window, or maybe even outside. The most difficult thing is to remove the diode itself from it. Caution: The diode is very sensitive to static electricity.
- Get a lens, without which it will be impossible to use the diode. You can use a regular magnifying glass, but then you will have to twist and adjust it every time. Or you can purchase another diode included with the lens, and then replace it with the diode removed from the drive.
- Next you will have to buy or assemble a circuit to power the diode and assemble the structure together. In a DVD drive diode, the center pin acts as the negative terminal.
- Connect a suitable power source and focus the lens. All that remains is to find a suitable container for the laser. You can use a metal flashlight of suitable size for these purposes.
- We recommend watching this video, where everything is shown in great detail:
How to make a laser from a computer mouse
The power of a laser made from a computer mouse will be much less than the power of a laser made using the previous method. The manufacturing procedure is not very different.
- First, find an old or unwanted mouse with a visible laser of any color. Mice with an invisible glow are not suitable for obvious reasons.
- Next, carefully disassemble it. Inside you will notice a laser that will have to be soldered using a soldering iron.
- Now repeat steps 3-5 from the instructions above. The difference between such lasers, we repeat, is only in power.
Each of us held a laser pointer in our hands. Despite the decorative use, it contains a real laser, assembled on the basis of a semiconductor diode. The same elements are installed on laser levels and.
The next popular product assembled on a semiconductor is your computer's DVD burner drive. It contains a more powerful laser diode with thermal destructive power.
This allows you to burn a layer of the disc, depositing tracks with digital information on it.
How does a semiconductor laser work?
Devices of this type are inexpensive to produce and the design is quite widespread. The principle of laser (semiconductor) diodes is based on the use of a classic p-n junction. This transition works the same as in conventional LEDs.
The difference is in the organization of radiation: LEDs emit “spontaneously”, while laser diodes emit “forced”.
The general principle of the formation of the so-called “population” quantum radiation performed without mirrors. The edges of the crystal are mechanically chipped, providing a refractive effect at the ends, akin to a mirror surface.
To obtain different types of radiation, a “homojunction” can be used, when both semiconductors are the same, or a “heterojunction”, with different materials transition.
The laser diode itself is an accessible radio component. You can buy it in stores that sell radio components, or you can extract it from an old DVD-R (DVD-RW) drive.
Important! Even the simple laser used in light pointers can cause serious damage to the retina of the eye.
More powerful installations, with a burning beam, can deprive of vision or cause burns skin. Therefore, use extreme caution when working with such devices.
With such a diode at your disposal, you can easily make a powerful laser with your own hands. In fact, the product may be completely free, or it will cost you a ridiculous amount of money.
DIY laser from a DVD drive
First, you need to get the drive itself. It can be removed from an old computer or purchased at a flea market for a nominal cost.
Information: The higher the declared recording speed, the more powerful the burning laser is used in the drive.
Having removed the case and disconnected the control cables, we dismantle the writing head along with the carriage.
To remove the laser diode:
- We connect the legs of the diode to each other using a wire (bypass). During dismantling, static electricity may accumulate and the diode may fail.
- Delete aluminum radiator. It is quite fragile, has a mount that is structurally “tailored” for a specific DVD drive, and is not needed for further operation. Just cut the radiator with wire cutters (without damaging the diode)
- We unsolder the diode and free the legs from the shunt.
The element looks like this:
The next important element is the laser power circuit. You won't be able to use the power supply from the DVD drive. It is integrated into the general control circuit; it is technically impossible to remove it from there. Therefore, we make the power supply circuit ourselves.
There is a temptation to just connect 5 volts with a limiting resistor and not bother with the circuit. This is the wrong approach, since any LEDs (including laser ones) are powered not by voltage, but by current. Accordingly, a current stabilizer is needed. Most affordable option– use of the LM317 chip.
The output resistor R1 is selected in accordance with the supply current of the laser diode. In this circuit, the current should correspond to 200 mA.
You can assemble a laser with your own hands in a housing from a light pointer, or you can purchase a ready-made module for a laser in electronics stores or on Chinese websites (for example, Ali Express).
The advantage of this solution is that you get a ready-made adjustable lens included. The power supply circuit (driver) easily fits into the module housing.
If you decide to make the case yourself, from some metal tube, you can use a standard lens from the same DVD drive. You just need to come up with a mounting method and the ability to adjust the focus.
Important! Focusing the beam is necessary for any design. It can be parallel (if you need range) or cone-shaped (if you need to get a concentrated thermal spot).
The lens complete with a control device is called a collimator.
To properly connect the laser from the DVD drive, you need a contact diagram. You can track the negative and positive wires by markings on the circuit board. This must be done before dismantling the diode. If this is not possible, use the standard hint:
The negative contact has an electrical connection with the diode body. Finding it won't be difficult. Regarding the minus located at the bottom, the positive contact will be on the right.
If you have a three-pin laser diode (and most do), there will be either an unused pin on the left or a photodiode connection. This happens if both the burning and reading elements are located in the same housing. 
The main body is selected based on the size of the batteries or accumulators that you plan to use. Carefully attach your homemade laser module into it, and the device is ready for use.
With the help of such a tool you can do engraving, wood burning, and cutting fusible materials (fabric, cardboard, felt, polystyrene foam, etc.).
How to make an even more powerful laser?
If you need a cutter for wood or plastic, the power of a standard diode from a DVD drive is not enough. You will either need a ready-made diode with a power of 500-800 mW, or you will have to spend a lot of time searching for suitable DVD drives. Some LG and SONY models use laser diodes with a power of 250-300 mW.
The main thing is that such technologies are available for self-production.
Step-by-step video instructions on how to make a laser from a DVD drive with your own hands
Hello ladies and gentlemen. Today I am opening a series of articles devoted to high-power lasers, because Habrasearch says that people are looking for such articles. I want to tell you how you can make a fairly powerful laser at home, and also teach you how to use this power not just for the sake of “shine on the clouds.”
Warning!
The article describes the manufacture of a high-power laser ( 300mW ~ power 500 Chinese pointers), which can harm your health and the health of others! Be extremely careful! Use special safety glasses and do not direct the laser beam at people or animals!Let's find out.
On Habré, articles about portable Dragon Lasers, such as Hulk, appeared only a couple of times. In this article I will tell you how you can make a laser that is not inferior in power to most models sold in this store.Let's cook.
First you need to prepare all the components:- a non-working (or working) DVD-RW drive with a write speed of 16x or higher;
- capacitors 100 pF and 100 mF;
- resistor 2-5 Ohm;
- three AAA batteries;
- soldering iron and wires;
- collimator (or Chinese pointer);
- steel LED lamp.
This is the minimum required for making a simple driver model. The driver is, in fact, a board that will output our laser diode to the required power. You should not connect the power source directly to the laser diode - it will break down. The laser diode must be powered with current, not voltage.
A collimator is, in fact, a module with a lens that reduces all radiation into a narrow beam. Ready-made collimators can be purchased at radio stores. These immediately have a convenient place to install a laser diode, and the cost is 200-500 rubles.
You can also use a collimator from a Chinese pointer, however, the laser diode will be difficult to attach, and the collimator body itself will most likely be made of metallized plastic. This means our diode will not cool well. But this is also possible. This option can be found at the end of the article.
Let's do it.
First you need to get the laser diode itself. This is a very fragile and small part of our DVD-RW drive - be careful. A powerful red laser diode is located in the carriage of our drive. You can distinguish it from a weak one by its radiator bigger size than a conventional IR diode.It is recommended to use an antistatic wrist strap as the laser diode is very sensitive to static voltage. If there is no bracelet, then you can wrap the diode leads with thin wire while it waits for installation in the case.
According to this scheme, you need to solder the driver.
Don't mix up the polarity! The laser diode will also fail instantly if the polarity of the supplied power is incorrect.
The diagram shows a 200 mF capacitor, however, for portability, 50-100 mF is quite enough.
Let's try.
Before installing the laser diode and assembling everything into the housing, check the functionality of the driver. Connect another laser diode (non-working or the second one from the drive) and measure the current with a multimeter. Depending on the speed characteristics, the current strength must be chosen correctly. For 16 models, 300-350mA is quite suitable. For the fastest 22x, you can even supply 500mA, but with a completely different driver, the manufacture of which I plan to describe in another article.
Looks terrible, but it works!
Aesthetics.
A laser assembled by weight can only be boasted of in front of the same crazy techno-maniacs, but for beauty and convenience it is better to assemble it in a convenient case. Here it’s better to choose for yourself how you like it. I mounted the entire circuit into a regular LED flashlight. Its dimensions do not exceed 10x4cm. However, I do not recommend carrying it with you: you never know what claims the relevant authorities may make. It is better to store it in a special case so that the sensitive lens does not become dusty.This is an option with minimal costs- a collimator from a Chinese pointer is used:
Using a factory-made module will allow you to get the following results:
The laser beam is visible in the evening:
And, of course, in the dark:
