20 mw green laser from ebay, need help on mods

[Gagoka]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-New-20mW-...8QQihZ018QQcategoryZ14954QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I bought that exact one, its 20mw. I saw how to do pot modifications but my button is metal. how would i take the metal button off. will it break and not be able to be put back on? and what size of philips screw driver do i use?

 

[Hemlock Mike]

That looks like a NewWish pointer. Drill a 1/2" hole in a block of wood, then cut it in half.
Put the two pieces in a vice clamping the tip and wiggle it off. The guts will come out and you can work on it as shown elsewhere in the laser forums.
Been there -- done it !!

Mike

 

[stevetexas]

I have a similar one and although the chrome aperature on the front is difficult to remove (I used vice grips and a rubber sheet between the jaws and the laser) once you have it open, the module is pretty easy to remove.
You'll see the pot on the button side of the board stuck in place with pink "glue". The metal button will fall out of the body, but once you've done the pot mod, replace the metal button in the body and slide the module back in using the 2 red dots on the brass housing as a guide to help align the button on the board with the metal button in the housing.
There are other posts of this with pictures.

 

[liveforphysics]

That trick with pulling the whole laser module out of the pointer sounds neat, I will have to give that a whirl.

This is what I did with a couple of mine. Do the other trick if you dont wana have a little hole in your laser afterwards. I used the "laser hazard" sticker to cover up the little hole in mine, and it works pretty well for peeling back to turn up or down the pointer.

Mark exactly 2mm infront of the button on the side towards the laser apature. Carefully drill a hole there with a 3/32" drill bit, and use a drill stop to prevent the possibiliy of drilling into the circut board. Reach on through with a jewelers screwdriver and turn the pot anti-clockwise to turn up current to the LD.

Some of them have a bit of glue on the pot that needs to be broken to permit the pot to turn, I haven't personally had any trouble with it, but I've only tried it with 2 of them.

 

[Gagoka]

sweet, ill try that once i get home since im at cousins, used his CC to order it and just got today, thx alot guys. also, how much degrees counter clock wise do i turn it? and is it possible to test while turning?