Recent content by bradix14

Hey guys, just wanted to say thanks again for the help. Here's my working laser. It's part of a larger project, but just trying to get the basics down. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJch2acgU9Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJch2acgU9Q

Hey Bionic-Badger, I noticed you're here in Utah. Do you know of any hobbyist groups around here?

Yeah, dang. I fried two of them... that's exactly what I did. I had had power in the driver before I hooked up the diode. So, as long as the laser is hooked to the driver with nothing in the capacitor, I should be fine if I just leave it hooked up and only turn power off and on at the PSU...

Alright team, I got it working. I built the driver with the 3 ohm resistor and heat-sinked the lm317. It powered up nicely and gave a great beam. Then I wiggled something.... Now the laser is very very dim. Almost like a normal red led. I checked all my connections. Nothing. Rechecked...

Thank you both for the information and tips! Zeebit: I'll implement the new resistor and keep you posted on how it goes. What's the deal with resistors? Seems like anything less than 10 ohms is hard to find. I have some 1 ohm resistors and they are huge. Why so big if resistance is so low...

alright, here are some pics and more details. As stated in the OP, I have breadboarded this multiple times from a couple of different guides. This specific version is based on the physical image daedal posted (here). This is the circuit with 8v going in from 2 li-ion 14500s. I actually want...

Hi all, I've been reading the forum for some time now and just recently joined. Thanks for all the info so far. I've been scouring the web and the forum for a couple of specific things I need some help with. Sorry if I am reasking things that may have been addressed 100s of times. I...