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Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Altoids Can Laser Pointer

I came across a 200mW green laser diode and current driver for $0.01 on eBay and I just had to buy it! Unfortunately it cost me $10 to ship the darn thing. Oh well, I decided to make a laser pointer with it and decided to house the laser in an Altoids can.


I went to radio-shack and got a AAA battery holder to provide 3v for the diode. I also got a low profile push button switch.


I just drilled a couple of holes in the can and used super glue to glue everything in place. The laser pointer works great! It is a little big though. It's nice and bright but it doesn't burn anything. booo.
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4 comments:

  1. HeatherApril 5, 2011 at 7:04 PM

    I can't see your pictures for some reason. I didn't know you were going to put it in an Altoid can...cool!

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  2. onlyjusApril 6, 2011 at 5:04 PM

    Thanks, Fixed!

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  3. UnknownApril 12, 2011 at 4:46 PM

    i'm not to smart when it comes to lasers, but can is there a button on the module you can just use, and just hook it up to the battery without the push button switch? i really want to make one, but i'm not to smart when it comes to lasers :S

    thanks :D

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  4. onlyjusApril 13, 2011 at 5:27 PM

    This particular laser module that I got had the diode, lens, current driver, and a push button switch all assembled together. I tried connecting the battery module directly to the wires that were already attached to it. However when I did that, the laser turned on without pushing the switch. In order to use the built in button, I think you would have to attached the battery to the red wire and the spring.

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