Thread: How to power this laser?

Hi all,

I am trying to power this laser for a small research project of mine. I extracted it from a printer and do not know the specifications.
Can anyone tell me how to go about turning it on? Can I remove the circuitry altogether or what...?
Printer was a HP LaserJet 2100

Regards,

Barry

It's an 'invisible' laser probably so be very, very, careful - DO NOT try to look into it! - it'll devastate a row of rods and cones faster than you can blink.

Put the printer back together and measure the voltages - or try to get hold of the service manual. If there is a manf ID and number on the laser - google it.

Other than that unless you are good at 'reverse engineering you are stuffed!

Megabrain,

I found this and am still searching.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/su...6/bpl06466.pdf

See the side tab (specifications) it gives something about power.

Barry

Why dont you just make your own laser ?
Constrcuction is pretty straight forward.

Originally Posted by leohopkins

Why dont you just make your own laser ?
Constrcuction is pretty straight forward.

Yes it goes like this -

First find a piece of kit with a laser in it.
remove it from all the garbage,
build a new power supply and there you have it.

I have found the 'technical manual on-line as opposed to the user manual.
It is in the form of a .RAR file for which I do not have a reader. If you have, and would like it, email me - it should have the circuits or at least schematics.

Megabrain,

I have managed to completely extract the diode now and powering it shouldn't be too difficult.
Some other amateurs said that simple connecting it to a battery works but they prefered a few resisters and ''anti-reverse polarity'' things or something...

http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm
''WinRAR 3.70 Beta 3'' is the one that I downloaded. It works well and no viruses.

Regards,

Barry

Look up 'laser diodes' to get an idea of how they are powered - do not connect it without a limiting resistor! As a note I am not an 'amatuer' but a professional electronics engineer. ( I know you did not say I was but I thought I'd distinguish for you).

I hope that I didn't offend you in any way...! Well I did manage to find out the spec on the diodes also.

http://www.rohm.com/products/databoo.../rld78nzh1.pdf

OR

http://www.rohm.com/products/databoo.../rld78nzh2.pdf

I do not know which one I have.

Regards,

Barry

Err on the side of caution. take the lesser spec, the lower current voltage power rating etc.

No offense taken, in a forum such as this [or any other] it's difficult to tell the level of competence of any poster.

Originally Posted by Megabrain

Originally Posted by leohopkins

Why dont you just make your own laser ?
Constrcuction is pretty straight forward.

Yes it goes like this -

First find a piece of kit with a laser in it.
remove it from all the garbage,
build a new power supply and there you have it.

I have found the 'technical manual on-line as opposed to the user manual.
It is in the form of a .RAR file for which I do not have a reader. If you have, and would like it, email me - it should have the circuits or at least schematics.

Actually it goes like this....

Get yourself a solid box, inside place a spiral flash tube, insert a cyclindrical ruby crystal in the centre of the flash tube's spirals. Place mirrors on all sides of the interior of the box, apart from one end where you place a half-silvered mirror to allow the laser beam to escape once the energy has been amplified enough.

And, er dont for get your power source. It all depends on what you want your laser to do. If you want to use it as a cutting device I would suggest a lot of power and constructing yourself a CO2 laser, although construction is slightly more complex than the simple design described above.

Incidentally, megabrain. A .RAR file is a type of compressed zip archive. If you want a program that will open the archive download it from: www.winrar.com

No thanks Leo, winzip is good enough, until I have a need for RAR.

Hey Barry, just curious....what were you planning on using the laser diode for?

He want's to ride the beam to infinity!

he's going to make God blind

Are you all sorted now barry or have you blinded yourself science and your keyboard mate?

Hi,

I'm not sure if you have a laser tube, or a laser diode there. You probably have a Laser diode with a collimated lenses of some sort.
The last time I delt with laser diodes (which was a few years ago) they required a current regulated power supply. As in you need to control the current that goes into them, not the voltage. and they tend to blow up very easily if you go over that.
Thats why putting a voltage source with a limiting resistor on it is not a good idea. Any slight variations in voltage or other value due to temperature drift and other factors and you blow the thing up.

Laser diodes usually have an extra pin you can use as a current feedback sensing point to help you control the current better.

However, I would suggest you get onto an electronics surplus store and just buy a laser module, and power supply in one go, and save yourself the heartache and possibly your sight.
If you can, go for the visible light laser diodes as it doesn't sound like you've got a good safe setup there.

The last time I bought a cheap module I went to http://www.oatleyelectronics.com just type laser into the search bar and a heap of cheap modules will turn up.

Regards
Robert
( http://www.priority1design.com.au )