**Building a High-Power Laser Project: A Step-by-Step Guide**

As I embarked on this project, I was aware that it would require careful planning and execution to ensure safety and success. The first step was to identify the laser warning label on the case, which informed me of the class rating of the device. With a class one rating, I knew that the laser was not capable of harming me, but the adjacent class three B rating warned me that it could potentially blind me if direct exposure occurred.

To begin disassembling the device, I removed the four visible screws and took off the front plate. This allowed me to access the internal components, including the motors and drivers. As I continued to disassemble the drive, I found two neodymium magnets, which are always useful in electronics projects. Next, I desoldered the flexible PCB from the diodes using pliers and crushed the glue to carefully remove the two diodes.

With the diodes removed, I hooked up my positive wire to the top pin and my ground wire to the right pin. Slowly increasing the voltage, I eventually reached around 18 milliamps flowing through the diode, causing it to emit its red light. This confirmed that this was the correct diode, not the infrared one, and everything still worked fine.

**Moving On to the Housing and Optics**

With the diodes removed, my attention turned to the housing and optics, where I aimed to focus the laser light. Fortunately, a suitable gadget for low price already existed, which allowed me to create a laser point or even a laser line. I started by removing the sticker and cleaning off the remaining glue with acetone. Next, I unscrewed the lens and took out the spring, revealing the diode inside.

However, the diode was secured very firmly in its seat, requiring me to use my rotary tool with a drill bit to remove it from there. To completely free the laser diode from its seat sink, I held it in place with a bench vice and used a small saw to cut a groove on each side. This allowed the diode to pop right out of its seat.

**Securing the Laser Diode**

With the diode removed, I fit it perfectly inside the hole created by the groove. To secure it, I added some wires with featuring tubing to it and secured it with thermal paste to the lens carrier. However, this was not enough, as I soon realized that simply placing the diode on a voltage source like an LED would not be sufficient.

Through the rising temperature, the forward voltage drops over time, causing more current to flow, which shortens the lifespan of the device. It would be better to supply a constant current, such as powering this high-power LED with 330 milliamps, no matter how its forward voltage changes due to temperature rises.

**Building the Constant Current Circuit**

To achieve this constant current, I decided on an LM3117 circuit, but later realized that it's not power-efficient since the power which is not needed gets converted into heat. To control the current up to 500 milliamps, I would even need a one-watt potentiometer, which can be expensive.

However, I prefer this circuit from my constant current load video more than the LM317. In that video, I showed a more efficient way to do this in another project. For now, I focused on building the whole circuit, which took me only around 20 minutes.

**Connecting the Laser Diode**

Finally, it was time to connect my laser diode to the driver, taking care of safety precautions by always wearing laser safety glasses during such projects. Adjusting my lens and trying different currents up to 400 milliamps, I soon discovered that even painting the match black did not improve performance.

I also tried a different laser diode, but all I got was a bit of smoke and disappointment. At least we learned something through this project, and I hope you enjoyed watching it. If you like, please share and subscribe to my channel, stay creative, and I'll see you next time with a functioning project hopefully.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enrecently I've been thinking about what I could Salvage from this old computer of mine I saw a couple videos of people lighting matches with a laser diode from an old DVD burner and since this is exciting dangerous and have the potential to Blind you for a lifetime it is perfect for YouTube so in this episode of hacks I will show you how I extracted a laser diode and how I build a constant current source to use them properly and at the end we will see whether I'm capable of igniting a match with it let's get started first of all let's have a look at the DVD drive as you can see it is labeled with a class one laser warning it is a low number because the laser is kept safe inside the case thus this class is not capable of harming you at all but right next to it it says class 3B which can blind you in an instance if the laser beam hits your eye directly you have been warned I started to open the case by removing the four visible screws then I took off the front plat and continued my tactic which says see you screw remove a screw during this process I also save three more motors which could be be useful for a future project I continued to take the whole Drive apart until I finally ripped out the heart which is basically the driver head which moves over the DVDs here we can already see where the two diodes hide again I used a screwdriver soldering iron and some muscle Force Through My plier to take the whole construction apart and I also found two neodium magnets along the way those are always useful then I desol the flexible PCB from the dodes Ed pliers to crush the glue and carefully remove the two diodes now I hooked up my positive wire to the top pin and my ground wire to the right pin I slowly Rose the voltage until around 18 milliamps were flowing and the diode was emitting its red light now we know this is the right one not the infrared one and everything still works fine let's move on to the housing and Optics to focus the light luckily such a gadget already exists for low price it even has different lenses which allows to create a laser point or even a laser line I started by removing the sticker and cleaning off the remaining glue afterwards with some acetone then I unscrewed the lens and took out the spring which reveals the diode inside and of course this diode is secured very firmly which forced me to use my rotary tool with a drill bit to get it out of there now we need to completely free the laser diode from its seat sink for that I held it in place with a bench wise and used the small saw to cut a groove on each side then the diode pops right out of there it fits perfectly inside the hole and after I added some wires with featuring tubing to it I secured it with a bit of thermal paste to the lens carrier but how do we power it we could just put it on a voltage source like this high power LED right here but through the rising temperature the forward voltage drops over time and thus more current flows which shortens the lifespan it would be better to supply a constant current which for example Powers this high power LED with constant 330 milliamps no matter how its forward voltage changes due to temperature rises the easiest circuit would consist of an LM 3117 but it is not power efficient since the power which is not needed gets converted into heat and because I want to control the current up to 500 milliamps I would even need a one wat potentiometer which can be a bit expensive I like this circuit from my constant current load video much more check it out if you haven't watched it yet I just changed a couple things around like using a railto rail op amp and adding a 1 kiloohm resistor on the gates to limit the input Rush current building the whole circuit also took me only around 20 minutes and as always parts list schematic and layout diagram is on instructables but don't think this is more efficient than the LM 317 they are both terrible at this I will show you a more efficient way to do this in another video Once the circuit is done I can power all kinds of components with up to 500 milliamps doesn't matter what I connect it will always try to push the Set current through the compon components now it is finally time to connect my laser diode to the driver and since this is dangerous for your eyes always wear laser safety glasses during such projects now I adjusted My Lens try different currents up to 400 milliamps and even painted the match black and did it work well no I even tried a different laser diode but all I'm getting is a bit of smoke and disappointment but at at least we learned something through the project I hope you enjoyed this video anyway as always it would be great if you like share and subscribe stay creative and I will see you next time with a functioning project hopefullyrecently I've been thinking about what I could Salvage from this old computer of mine I saw a couple videos of people lighting matches with a laser diode from an old DVD burner and since this is exciting dangerous and have the potential to Blind you for a lifetime it is perfect for YouTube so in this episode of hacks I will show you how I extracted a laser diode and how I build a constant current source to use them properly and at the end we will see whether I'm capable of igniting a match with it let's get started first of all let's have a look at the DVD drive as you can see it is labeled with a class one laser warning it is a low number because the laser is kept safe inside the case thus this class is not capable of harming you at all but right next to it it says class 3B which can blind you in an instance if the laser beam hits your eye directly you have been warned I started to open the case by removing the four visible screws then I took off the front plat and continued my tactic which says see you screw remove a screw during this process I also save three more motors which could be be useful for a future project I continued to take the whole Drive apart until I finally ripped out the heart which is basically the driver head which moves over the DVDs here we can already see where the two diodes hide again I used a screwdriver soldering iron and some muscle Force Through My plier to take the whole construction apart and I also found two neodium magnets along the way those are always useful then I desol the flexible PCB from the dodes Ed pliers to crush the glue and carefully remove the two diodes now I hooked up my positive wire to the top pin and my ground wire to the right pin I slowly Rose the voltage until around 18 milliamps were flowing and the diode was emitting its red light now we know this is the right one not the infrared one and everything still works fine let's move on to the housing and Optics to focus the light luckily such a gadget already exists for low price it even has different lenses which allows to create a laser point or even a laser line I started by removing the sticker and cleaning off the remaining glue afterwards with some acetone then I unscrewed the lens and took out the spring which reveals the diode inside and of course this diode is secured very firmly which forced me to use my rotary tool with a drill bit to get it out of there now we need to completely free the laser diode from its seat sink for that I held it in place with a bench wise and used the small saw to cut a groove on each side then the diode pops right out of there it fits perfectly inside the hole and after I added some wires with featuring tubing to it I secured it with a bit of thermal paste to the lens carrier but how do we power it we could just put it on a voltage source like this high power LED right here but through the rising temperature the forward voltage drops over time and thus more current flows which shortens the lifespan it would be better to supply a constant current which for example Powers this high power LED with constant 330 milliamps no matter how its forward voltage changes due to temperature rises the easiest circuit would consist of an LM 3117 but it is not power efficient since the power which is not needed gets converted into heat and because I want to control the current up to 500 milliamps I would even need a one wat potentiometer which can be a bit expensive I like this circuit from my constant current load video much more check it out if you haven't watched it yet I just changed a couple things around like using a railto rail op amp and adding a 1 kiloohm resistor on the gates to limit the input Rush current building the whole circuit also took me only around 20 minutes and as always parts list schematic and layout diagram is on instructables but don't think this is more efficient than the LM 317 they are both terrible at this I will show you a more efficient way to do this in another video Once the circuit is done I can power all kinds of components with up to 500 milliamps doesn't matter what I connect it will always try to push the Set current through the compon components now it is finally time to connect my laser diode to the driver and since this is dangerous for your eyes always wear laser safety glasses during such projects now I adjusted My Lens try different currents up to 400 milliamps and even painted the match black and did it work well no I even tried a different laser diode but all I'm getting is a bit of smoke and disappointment but at at least we learned something through the project I hope you enjoyed this video anyway as always it would be great if you like share and subscribe stay creative and I will see you next time with a functioning project hopefully