Break - it - yourself The webpage where I break stuff, and you can too! http://www.instructables.com/id/Laser-Flashlight-Hack!!/ The laser flashlight. Part 1 For some reason, I thought I could do this project. Probably only because I had at least half of the things needed. 1. A mini Maglite 2. an old cd burner. (it's supposed to be a dvd burner, but hey...) So, yeah, this was enough to get me interested. So then I looked online to find the other stuff I needed. There's something called a "5mW 650nm RED Laser module". I had no idea what this is, but I looked it up on ebay. Whadda ya know, they're only a couple of bucks. So, I ordered one, and waited. And waited. And waited. Actually the first one I ordered wasn't from ebay, and it never actually arrived. So, I ordered a second one from ebay, and waited again, and waited, and... You get the point. So, at this point I had all of the parts that I needed. Stay tuned to find out specifically how I break all this stuff. Part 2 - "Some disassembly required" I took apart the CD burner and I'm pretty sure that I broke it in the process. (Fig. 1) I doubt there's any hope of being able to reassemble it. I make a point of that because I feel like, for some reason, when I'm taking something apart, I'd like to try not to break it to the point of not being able to put it back together again, in case whatever it is I was trying to do didn't work out the way I wanted. What I'm trying to say is, if the laser flashlight didn't work, it would have been fun to try to put the CD burner back together and get it working again. But, at this point, that seems pretty unlikely, because I think I actually broke some parts of it. So, oh well. (Fig. 1: CD burner guts) Things broken to this point: CD Burner nice. Part 3 I started taking the 5mW 650nm RED Laser module apart. This was pretty easy for the most part, because it was all screwed together. All I had to do for most of it was unscrew everything. The only part that was a little tricky was the actual laser diode. Before this project, I wasn't aware of how small the laser diode was. (from wikipedia) To explain what I was doing at this point: The module has a few parts to it, the metal casing, the lens and the laser diode. I'm taking the diode out, and replacing it with the one from the CD burner, because it's stronger. The next part is to see if it will work before I try to put it all together, and try to get it to fit inside of the flashlight. At this point, all of the messing with the old laser diode has yanked the wires off of it, and kind of smashed it up a little, but amazingly it still works! Things broken to this point: CD Burner Laser diode (slightly smashed, but still fully operational) Okey doke. Part 4 The parts I'm working with now: Maglite minus the lightbulb Laser diode from a CD burner A couple of wires Laser module thing minus the parts I don't need (Fig. 2) (Fig. 2: Module parts I don't need) So, yeah. I hooked up the wires to the Maglite. At this point the Maglite is working only as a battery housing. I could essentially hook the two wires up to any small electronic thing and get it to work. Actually, that's what I did, just to play around a little. I hooked it up to a small motor, and a red LED, and some other random stuff. FUN! I had a hard time getting the laser diode from the CD burner to fit into the module casing, so I just taped it into place for now.(Fig. 3) (Fig. 3: Taped together) I placed the wires onto the corresponding whatchamajigs on the thingy, and... It works! (Fig. 4) (Fig. 4: It works!) Now I just have to get it all to fit inside of the flashlight. Stay tuned to see how this turns out, and what else I can break in the process! Part 5 I tried to get everything to fit into the Maglite case, but it just wouldn't fit. I remembered that there are a couple of different sizes of mini-maglites, so I went out and bought a slightly larger one. In the process, I seemed to have lost a little piece to the original maglite, without which, it won't work. So, to say the maglite is broken is a little harsh, but to say it's currently not working would be correct. I also had been having another problem. I couldn't figure out how to get it to turn on and off easily. Twisting the top would be fine, but I found a better option. I found a maglite upgrade kit with an on/off button for the bottom of it! The final test was getting it all to fit together into the new casing and... It fits! I now have a laser maglite! (Fig. 5: The finished product! A laser maglite) (Fig. 6: Check out the snazzy on/off button) (Fig. 7: In action) Total things broken for this project: CD Burner (probably not repairable) Laser diode (slightly smashed, but still fully operational) Maglite (not working because of piece missing) I'd say this project was a sucess. You may ask, "How is this any better than a regular laser pointer?" Well, first of all, it's in a Maglite case, which is more durable than your average laser pointer. Not only that, but the laser is stronger that the typical laser pointer. Granted, the project called for a DVD burner laser, and I'm only using one from a CD burner, so it's not as powerful as it could be. But, if I do happen to come across an old DVD burner that nobody's using... hmm...

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