How to Build Your Own Blue Laser
Building a blue laser provides a uniquely bright and colorful beam of light that will stand out amidst the ho-hum of the red and green laser pointers that are commercially available to the public. You will need to purchase supplies from a laser service store and have experience in using a soldering iron. Making a blue laser needn't be prohibitively expensive, although the blue laser diode costs many times more than that of the more pedestrian red or green laser diode.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Newspaper
- Blue laser diode
- Laser assembly module
- Wire cutters
- Wire strippers
- Ruler
- Tweezers
- Electric wire
- Microswitch
- Soldering iron
- Solder
- 9-volt battery pack
- 9-volt battery
Instructions
-
-
1
Purchase a laser assembly without a laser diode from a laser supply store. (As of May 2010, a laser assembly cost less than $30.) Put a sheet of newspaper on a work surface. Place the laser assembly on its side on the newspaper.
-
2
Unscrew the front end of the laser assembly that has a hole at the end off of the back end with your fingers. Place the front end of the laser assembly off to the side.
-
-
3
Place the back of the laser assembly on the newspaper with the wires trailing from the back on the left side.
-
4
Open the plastic bag that has the blue laser diode inside of it, carefully. Slide the blue laser diode out of the plastic bag and onto the newspaper.
-
5
Pick up the blue laser diode with tweezers by gently grasping the base while keeping the two pins on the bottom pointing down. (The pins transfer electricity through the diode.)
-
6
Insert the two pins of the blue laser diode into the back end of the laser assembly--the shorter pin goes into the hole near the center while the longer conductive pin goes into the hole to the right of the hole near the center.
-
7
Push down on the blue laser diode so that it is firmly seated into the holes in the back end of the laser assembly.
-
8
Screw the front end of the laser assembly back onto the back end.
-
9
Place the laser assembly on the newspaper with the blue laser diode facing to the left.
-
10
Strip a 1/2 inch of insulation off of the ends of the black and red wires attached to the laser assembly with wire strippers, which look like a pair of pliers with a cutting edge between the two jaws at the end and can be purchased at a hardware store.
-
11
Heat up a soldering iron for 5 to 6 minutes.
-
12
Cut off the two wires from the 9-volt battery snap with the wire cutters.
-
13
Solder the end of the black wire to the positive contact on the 9-volt battery pack so that power will be able to flow from batteries placed inside through the blue laser diode. Let the solder cool for a minute after the 5 or 6 seconds it takes for the solder to melt from the soldering iron onto the end of the black wire and the positive contact on the 9-volt battery pack.
-
14
Place a microswitch, which has a button on top that is pressed to turn a switch on or off, on its side on the newspaper. Solder the end of the red wire to one of the two contacts on the bottom of the microswitch. Let the solder cool for a minute.
-
15
Cut a 6-inch length of electric wire with the wire cutters. Strip a 1/2 inch of insulation off of each of the two ends with the wire strippers.
-
16
Solder one end of the electric wire to the other contact on the bottom of the microswitch. Let the solder cool for a minute.
-
17
Solder the other end of the electric wire to the negative contact on the 9-volt battery pack. Let the solder cool for a minute. Unplug the soldering iron.
-
18
Put the 9-volt batteries into the 9-volt battery pack. Aim the front of the laser assembly at a far wall. Turn off the lights.
-
19
Depress the microswitch to turn on the blue laser you have made and watch the blue beam of light shoot across the room.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
You can buy a broken PlayStation 3 or Blu-Ray player and “harvest” the blue laser diode from it.
Do not ever aim the beam from a laser at a person or domestic animal no matter what the circumstances are. A laser beam can severely damage the retina of the eye.
