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Homemade Laser Module

By pinomelean in Circuits > Lasers 346,602 1,720 139 Featured

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By pinomelean
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About: I love electronics and all about DIY. More About pinomelean »

You all know that when making a laser device, the most di cult part it's focusing without
buying a module.
So here it is, a complet guide about how to make a focusable laser module with parts you have
lying around.
Everybody havs heared about aixiz module, but they're expensive, at least if you know you can
do something similar for free.

This module is not recomended for laser diodes over 300mW, because lens can melt and it's not
the best heatsink.

the goals I wanted to achieve are:

-Make it easily focusable.
-Make it with household parts.
-make it nice and durable.

I'm very happy with the nal results, the module acts as heatsink and it can focus the laser to a
single burning point or a beam.

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Step 1: Materials

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The parts you will need are:

-A 6v motor case (best from a dead motor).

-The lens from the sled.
-A 5mm (inner diameter) washer.
-Three long bolts for the motor case.
-Three ballpen springs (1cm).
-A laser diode (no more than 300mW).

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Step 2: The Lens Mount

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First of all, you'll need to open the motor and extract the rotor, the magnet and the bearing.

When you're done, cut three equidistant notches and round them to the bolts' diameter.

Then, pick the lens from the sled, and carefully put it in the washer hole. Glue it carefully to not
drip glue onto the lens; any scratch or glue drop will disturb the beam.

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Step 3: Placing the LD

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Solder the wires to the diode ans isolate them with some heatshrink tube.

Now yoh have to press the diode into the case. Inprovise a press and force the diode into the
hole.
The hole is 5mm wide and the diode 5.65mm, so, maybe you need to enlarge the hole a bit.

If you add a bit of thermal grease, the heat from the diode will be dissipated better.

Finally, i added a golden brass cover that ts in the motor case and has a 4mm hole for the
3.8mm laser diode.

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Step 4: The Bolt Focuser

Now the washer with the lens can move freely from top to bottom, so three springs will keep it
while it still being adjustable.
The tree-bolt-adjustment can shape the beam or x any lens deviation making possible to focus
the laser in a single dot.

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Step 5: Done!

Now you can save your money and recycle unused parts to make your own laser module for
your next laser project.
Remember that this module is not recomended for diodes over 300mW because lens can melt
and it is not a good heatsink (it's iron)
If you have questions or upgrade ideas, comment so all can learn about them.

If you like my project, please vote me for the I Could Make That and Weekend Projects Contests.

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139 Discussions

0zzy 4 years ago

Reply / Upvote
Somone commented about anyone getting injured by a burning lazer well i made one last year as part
of an experment all went well until somthing in my garage fell over and it just happened to land on top
of my burning lazer and pushing the button that switches the lazer on i was not in my garage at the
time but the time i got back to my garage the lazer had set my garage on fire no one got injured but i
lost half the contence of my garage costing me just under £8000 so yeah burning lazers ARE VERY
DANGEROUS

2 replies F

BattleBlimps 4 years ago on Step 4

Reply / Upvote
what sled (lens)

2 replies F

GuyW12 2 years ago

Reply / Upvote
Your instructions show the lens as "from the sled" but I do not see where you tell us what the "sled" is.
Can you define where the lens comes from and how we might find a similar item?
2 replies F

ArifK41 3 years ago

Reply / Upvote
wow this is realy interesting but i want to know what kind of lens is used in this module, can we get
them from optical store?

1 reply F

/1 RobertB497 2 years ago

Reply / Upvote
Nice work is it possible to make a laser cutter to cut 3 to 4 mm metal plate as it would make working
with hacksaws, hole saws and files to cut a lot quicker and if a miss cut can ruin the job . I know I could
make a bad cut with a laser but it be a lot of time saved making a new project

Ryzler 3 years ago

Reply / Upvote
How do you vote? Just hit favorite?
I like your projects, very resourceful.

Tom French 3 years ago

Reply / Upvote
Where do you get the lens from?

sandoreduardo.pereyra 4 years ago

Reply / Upvote
Excelente !! También lo estoy intentando. Gracias por el aporte.

u971 4 years ago

Reply / Upvote
Now that's some good recycling right there,thanks for the idea.

/1 Sailormanenzo 4 years ago

Reply / Upvote
And where can i find a lm317 source and a limiter circuit set?

Sailormanenzo 4 years ago

Reply / Upvote
Could you please tell me how to make the driver?

driver?
And tell me

Sailormanenzo 4 years ago

Reply / Upvote
1.) What do you use to power it?
2.) What driver are you using, and how to you get or make one. 3.)
I see that the diode has three metal points coming out of the ends, which one do you connect the
positive and the negative to?

Thanks for the awesome project and I agree you don't need all these warnings.

1 reply F

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