My first show laser build, 3W+ total output

[lostbeam488]

Hello,

I just finished building my first show laser. I custom machined all of the mounts and the optical table. It has one 445nm 1600mW, one 520nm 600mW, and two 638nm 700mW diodes. This adds up to 3.6W but I'm assuming some loss with the optics. The analog drivers I designed and made myself. The galvos are 23kpps eBay ones that work well enough for beam shows and simple graphics. I know it is not as well made as some of the others on this forum, but it's decent and works great. Still have to add a cooling fan for the heat sink underneath the optical table, and maybe a way to isolate the optical table from the intake and exhaust area to prevent dust. Feel free to ask any questions!

[kecked]

Hello,

I just finished building my first show laser. I custom machined all of the mounts and the optical table. It has one 445nm 1600mW, one 520nm 600mW, and two 638nm 700mW diodes. This adds up to 3.6W but I'm assuming some loss with the optics. The analog drivers I designed and made myself. The galvos are 23kpps eBay ones that work well enough for beam shows and simple graphics. I know it is not as well made as some of the others on this forum, but it's decent and works great. Still have to add a cooling fan for the heat sink underneath the optical table, and maybe a way to isolate the optical table from the intake and exhaust area to prevent dust. Feel free to ask any questions!

noce job good to see people are still home brewing!

[dkumpula]

That's awesome and WAY nicer than my first build. It may have cost you more than a production laser, but I'm sure you learned lots along the way and can take pride in having built it yourself from scratch. Nice work!

-David

[mixedgas]

Nice

Those "Blue Boxes" require thinking to work with. Job well done.

Steve

[buffo]

That's an amazingly compact design for your first build! What's even more impressive is that you designed your own diode drivers. That's very cool!

What software are you using to drive it?

Adam

[lostbeam488]

That's awesome and WAY nicer than my first build. It may have cost you more than a production laser, but I'm sure you learned lots along the way and can take pride in having built it yourself from scratch. Nice work!

-David

Thanks! Believe it or not, it only costed me $250 in parts! I had access to a mill so the machining only cost me my time and $20 for aluminum stock.

[lostbeam488]

That's an amazingly compact design for your first build! What's even more impressive is that you designed your own diode drivers. That's very cool!

What software are you using to drive it?

Adam

Thanks! I'm currently using LaserShowGen and a Helios Laser DAC. It would be cool to try an FB4 and QuickShow/Beyond, but that's a bit out of my price range currently haha.

[lostbeam488]

Nice

Those "Blue Boxes" require thinking to work with. Job well done.

Steve

These boxes were the only enclosures I could find that were big enough. I much would have preferred an aluminum extruded enclosure or an old show laser enclosure over a steel sheet metal one, but I made it work. I actually had to shave an inch of extra material off the optical table to make it fit! At some point I will powder coat this one black.