Lasers from CDR/CDRW/DVD-R etc...

[cratz2]

I've searched and read everything I could find but very little specifically on the burner drives. I was wondering if the lasers from burners, esp DVD-R/DVD+R drives are worth salvaging.

Can anyone comment with first hand knowledge?

 

[WildRice]

FWIR DVD readers/burners were using LD's around 650nm. If it is a burner, it should be a higher power LD 250mW+. But it would have short focus optics.
Jeff

 

[cratz2]

Hrmm... Well... That's no fun. But I think I might try to take one apart and see what happens. What kind of power do you think they need? 3V? 3.7V? I'm assuming it won't clearly be labeled on the module.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif

 

[kongfuchicken]

There's a good chance these will be diodes made for pulsing, therefore not suitable for purposes where they need to be visible... I could be wrong. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

 

[PhotonWrangler]

From what I've seen, CD burners use 780nm LDs running around 35mw peak, and DVD drives use 635-650nm, although I'm not sure about the power levels. The power depends on the write speed as well as the "write strategy" chosen by the burner as it tests the blank media type.

 

[Kingjamez]

Funny you should ask...I wondered the same thing and ordered a 16X DVD burner. The higher the burning speed (16x in this case) the higher power required for the diode to do it's burn in a short amount of time. From my experience a 16x burner should have a 100mw CW / 200mw Pulse 650nm diode. In addition you'll have to get your own optics for the diode as the ones in the DVD drive aren't suitable for most applications.

The one I pulled apart had a long can diode like this one: www.sharp-world.com/products/device/ lineup/data/pdf/datasheet/gh5ra1ja3_e.pdf

I haven't quite figured out how to use the feedback diodes yet, but have run mine in constant current mode using an LM317 driver from Sam's Laser FAQ.

Most new drives have 2 diodes, one 780nm for the CD part and the 650nm diode for the DVD drive. In addition the one I pulled apart had a Holographic Optical Element lens on the front of the diode. This was detrimental to the beam, it made it appear to be a multimode diode. However, after removing the HOE the beam cleared up and I get a NICE clean beam of HIGH intensity. I plan to dremel the original metal diode holder to use it as a heatsink. Hopefully I can fashion some way to mount a collimating lens. But so far it's going great.

I found the 16x DVD burner for $56.00 shipped from newegg.com . It had 2 beam splitters, a couple nice CV lenses, and the 2 100mw+ laser diodes.
If you can build a constant current driver I suggest giving this a try.

-Jim