When mentioning a laser, most people immediately recall episodes from science fiction films. However, such an invention has long been firmly established in our lives and is not something fantastic. The laser has found its application in many areas, from medicine and manufacturing to entertainment. Therefore, many people are wondering whether and how to make a laser themselves.
Making a laser at home
Depending on the specifics and requirements put forward, lasers can be completely different, both in size (from pocket pointers to the size of a football field), and in power, the working media used and other parameters. Of course, it is impossible to make a powerful production beam yourself at home, since these are not only technically complex devices, but also very difficult to maintain things. But you can make a simple, but reliable and powerful laser with your own hands from a regular DVD-RW drive.
Principle of operation
The word "laser" came to us from in English“laser”, which is an abbreviation of the first letters of a much more complex name: light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation and literally translates as “light amplification through stimulated emission”. It can also be called an optical quantum generator. There are many types of lasers, and their scope of application is extremely wide.
The principle of its operation is to convert one energy (light, chemical, electrical) into the energy of various radiation fluxes, that is, it is based on the phenomenon of forced or induced radiation.
Conventionally, the operating principle is shown in the following drawing:
Materials required for work
When describing the basics of laser operation, everything looks complicated and unclear. In fact, making a laser with your own hands at home is extremely simple. You will need some components and tools:
- The most basic thing you need to create a laser is a DVD-RW drive, that is, a burner drive from a computer or player. The higher the recording speed, the more powerful the product itself will be. It is preferable to take drives with a speed of 22X, since its power is the highest, about 300 mW. At the same time, they differ in color: red, green, purple. As for non-writing ROMs, they are too weak. It is also worth paying attention to the fact that after manipulating the drive, it will no longer work, so you should take either one that is already out of order, but with a working laser, or one that you won’t be sorry to say goodbye to.
- You will also need a current stabilizer, although there is a desire to do without it. But it is worth knowing that all diodes (and laser diodes are no exception) “prefer” not voltage, but current. The cheapest and most preferred options are the NCP1529 pulse converter or the LM317 microcircuit (analogous to KR142EN12).
- The output resistor is selected depending on the supply current of the laser diode. It is calculated using the formula: R=I/1.25, where I is the rated current of the laser.
- Two capacitors: 0.1 µF and 100 µF.
- Collimator or laser pointer.
- AAA standard batteries.
- Wires.
- Tools: soldering iron, screwdrivers, pliers, etc.
Removing the laser diode from the DVD drive
The main part that needs to be removed is the laser from the DVD drive. This is not difficult to do, but it is worth knowing some nuances that will help avoid possible misunderstandings during work.
First of all, the DVD drive needs to be disassembled to get to the carriage on which the laser diodes are located. One of them is a reader - it is too low-power. The second writer is exactly what you need to make a laser from a DVD drive.
On the carriage, the diode is installed on the radiator and securely fastened. If you don’t plan to use another radiator, then the existing one is quite suitable. Therefore, you need to remove them together. Otherwise, carefully cut off the legs at the entrance to the radiator.
Since diodes are extremely sensitive to static, it is a good idea to protect them. To do this, you need to wind the legs of the laser diode together with a thin wire.
All that remains is to put all the details together, and the ROM itself is no longer needed.
Assembling the laser device
It is necessary to connect the diode removed from the LED to the converter, observing the polarity, since otherwise the laser diode will immediately fail and become unsuitable for further use.
WITH reverse side diode, a collimator is installed so that the light can be concentrated into one beam. Although, instead, you can use the lens included in the rum, or the lens that the laser pointer already contains. But in this case, you will have to make adjustments to get the required focus.
On the other side of the converter, wires are soldered, connecting to the contacts of the case where the batteries will be installed.
This diagram will help you complete a laser from a DVD drive with your own hands:
When all components are connected, you can check the functionality of the resulting device. If everything works, then all that remains is to place the entire structure in the housing and securely fasten it there.
Homemade body design
You can approach the manufacture of the case in different ways. For example, the body of a Chinese lantern is perfect for these purposes. You can also use a ready-made case laser pointer. But optimal solution It may turn out to be homemade, made from an aluminum profile.
Aluminum itself is lightweight and, at the same time, very easy to process. The entire structure will be conveniently located in it. It will also be convenient to secure it. If necessary, you can always easily cut out the required piece or bend it in accordance with the required parameters.
Safety and Testing
When all the work is completed, it is time to test the resulting powerful laser. It is not recommended to do this indoors. Therefore, it is better to go outside to a deserted place. At the same time, it is worth remembering that the device made is several hundred times more powerful than a conventional laser pointer, and this requires using it with extreme caution. Do not direct the beam at people or animals; be careful that the beam does not reflect or get into your eyes. When using a red laser beam, it is recommended to wear green glasses; this will significantly reduce the risk of vision damage in unexpected cases. After all, it is not recommended to look at laser beams even from the outside.
Do not direct the laser beam at flammable or explosive objects and substances.
With a properly configured lens, the created device can easily cut plastic bags, burn on wood, burst air balloons and even burn - a kind of combat laser. It's incredible what you can do with a DVD drive. Therefore, when testing a manufactured device, you should always remember safety precautions.
The possibility of making something useful out of unused or worn-out equipment attracts many home craftsmen. One of these useful devices is a laser cutter. Having such a device at your disposal (some even make it out of a regular laser pointer), you can perform decorative design products from various materials.
What materials and mechanisms will be required
To make a simple laser cutter with your own hands, you will need following materials and technical devices:
- laser pointer;
- a regular flashlight equipped with rechargeable batteries;
- an old burner drive (CD/DVD-RW) equipped with a laser drive (it is not at all necessary that such a drive be in working condition);
- soldering iron;
- set of locksmith tools.
Thus, you can make a simple laser cutting device using materials that are easy to find in your home workshop or garage.
The process of making a simple laser cutter
The main working element homemade cutter The proposed design is a laser element of a computer disk drive. You should choose a writing drive model because the laser in such devices has a higher power, which allows you to burn tracks on the surface of the disk installed in them. The design of the read-type disk drive also contains a laser emitter, but its power, used only to illuminate the disk, is low.
The laser emitter, which is equipped with a recordable disk drive, is placed on a special carriage that can move in two directions. To remove the emitter from the carriage, you need to free it from large quantity fasteners and detachable devices. They should be removed very carefully so as not to damage the laser element. Except ordinary tools, to remove the red laser diode (and this is what you need to equip a homemade laser cutter), you will need a soldering iron to carefully release the diode from the existing solder connections. Removing the emitter from seat, care should be taken not to subject it to strong mechanical stress, which may cause its failure.
The emitter, removed from the writing computer drive, must be installed instead of the LED that was originally equipped with the laser pointer. To perform this procedure, the laser pointer must be disassembled, dividing its body into two parts. In the top of them there is an LED, which should be removed and replaced with a laser emitter from a computer disk drive. When fixing such an emitter in the body of the pointer, you can use glue (it is only important to ensure that the eye of the emitter is located strictly in the center of the hole intended for the beam to exit).
The voltage generated by the power supplies in a laser pointer is not enough to ensure the efficiency of using a laser cutter, so it is not advisable to use them to equip such a device. For the simplest laser cutter, rechargeable batteries used in a regular electric flashlight are suitable. Thus, by combining the lower part of the flashlight, which houses its batteries, with the upper part of the laser pointer, where the emitter from the writing computer drive is already located, you can get a fully functional laser cutter. When performing such a combination, it is very important to maintain the polarity of the batteries that will power the emitter.
Before assembling a homemade hand-held laser cutter of the proposed design, it is necessary to remove the glass installed in it from the tip of the pointer, which will impede the passage of the laser beam. In addition, you need to once again check the correct connection of the emitter with the batteries, as well as how accurately its eye is located in relation to the output hole of the pointer tip. Once all the structural elements are securely connected to each other, you can start using the cutter.
Of course, with such a low-power laser it will not be possible to cut a metal sheet, it is not suitable for woodworking, but it is suitable for solving simple tasks related to cutting cardboard or thin polymer sheets.
Using the algorithm described above, it is possible to produce a more powerful laser cutter, slightly improving the proposed design. In particular, such a device must be additionally equipped with such elements as:
- capacitors whose capacitance is 100 pF and 100 mF;
- resistors with parameters 2–5 Ohms;
- collimator - a device that is used to collect light rays passing through it into a narrow beam;
- LED flashlight with steel body.
Capacitors and resistors in the design of such a laser cutter are necessary in order to create a driver through which power supply will come from the batteries to the laser emitter. If you do not use a driver and apply current directly to the emitter, the latter may immediately fail. Despite more high power, such laser machine It also won’t work for cutting plywood, thick plastic, and especially metal.
How to make a more powerful device
Home craftsmen are often interested in more powerful laser machines that they can make with their own hands. It is quite possible to make a laser for cutting plywood with your own hands and even a laser cutter for metal, but for this you need to acquire the appropriate components. In this case, it is better to immediately make your own laser machine, which will have decent functionality and work in automatic mode, controlled by an external computer.
Depending on whether you are interested in DIY or you need a device for working on wood and other materials, you should correctly select the main element of such equipment - a laser emitter, the power of which can be different. Naturally, laser cutting Do-it-yourself plywood is done with a device of lower power, and a laser for cutting metal must be equipped with an emitter whose power is at least 60 W.
To make a full-fledged laser machine, including for cutting metal with your own hands, you will need the following Consumables and components:
- a controller that will be responsible for communication between an external computer and the electronic components of the device itself, thereby ensuring control of its operation;
- electronic board equipped with an information display;
- laser (its power is selected depending on the materials for which the cutter being manufactured will be used);
- stepper motors, which will be responsible for moving the device’s desktop in two directions (stepper motors from unused printers or DVD players can be used as such motors);
- cooling device for the emitter;
- DC-DC regulator, which will control the amount of voltage supplied to the electronic board of the emitter;
- transistors and electronic boards for controlling stepper motors of the cutter;
- Limit switches;
- pulleys for installing timing belts and the belts themselves;
- a housing, the size of which allows all the elements of the assembled structure to be placed in it;
- ball bearings of various diameters;
- bolts, nuts, screws, ties and clamps;
- wooden boards, from which the working frame of the cutter will be made;
- metal rods 10 mm in diameter, which will be used as guide elements;
- a computer and a USB cable with which it will connect to the cutter controller;
- set of locksmith tools.
If you plan to use a laser machine for do-it-yourself metal work, then its design must be reinforced to withstand the weight of the metal sheet being processed.
The presence of a computer and a controller in the design of such a device allows it to be used not only as a laser cutter, but also as an engraving machine. Using this equipment, the operation of which is controlled by a special computer program, it is possible to apply complex patterns and inscriptions to the surface of the workpiece with high precision and detail. The corresponding program can be found freely available on the Internet.
By design, the laser machine, which you can make yourself, is a shuttle-type device. Its moving and guiding elements are responsible for moving the working head along the X and Y axes. The Z axis is the depth to which the material being processed is cut. For moving the working head of a laser cutter of the presented design, as mentioned above, stepper motors are responsible, which are fixed on the stationary parts of the device frame and connected to the moving elements using toothed belts.
Movable carriage homemade cuttingSliding support Head with laser and radiator Carriage assembly
Placing the carriage on the stands
Is it possible and how to make a laser at home, with your own hands? Who among the male population, no matter boys or adults, has not once dreamed of assembling his own “laser sword”, like the heroes of the “Jedi” in the movies? Remember laser pointers, which have been out of fashion for quite some time; their power, of course, is unlikely to impress anyone. But this, of course, does not mean that they cannot serve you in the end. Of course, they won’t make a real laser sword, but a laser with some power may well work out. In order to make laser at home You will need the following items and tools:
- soldering iron, wires
- DVD drive with a working laser (it’s easy to buy a cheap broken DVD on the market if you don’t have one at home)
- flashlight (small, with two AA batteries)
Many people know about the possibilities of laser technologies and their benefits. They are used not only in industry, but also in cosmetology, medicine, everyday life, art and other areas of human life. However, not everyone knows how to make a laser at home. But it can be built from scrap materials. To do this, you will need a non-working DVD drive, a lighter or a flashlight.
Before starting at home, you need to collect all the necessary elements. First of all, you need to disassemble the DVD drive. To do this, unscrew all the screws that hold the top and bottom covers of the device. Next, the main cable is disconnected and the board is unscrewed. The protection of diodes and optics must be broken. The next step is to remove the diode, which is usually done with pliers. To prevent static electricity from damaging the diode, its legs must be tied with wire. You must remove the diode carefully so as not to break the legs.
Next, before making a laser at home, you need to make a driver for the laser, which is represented by a small circuit that regulates the power supply to the diode. The fact is that if the power is set incorrectly, the diode can quickly fail. You can use AA batteries or a mobile phone battery as a power source.
Before you make a laser at home, you need to take into account the fact that the burning effect is provided by optics. If it is not there, then the laser will simply shine. As optics, you can use a special lens from the same drive from which the diode was taken. To set the focus correctly, you need to use a laser pointer.
In order to build a regular pocket laser, you can use a regular lighter. However, before you make a laser from a lighter, you need to know the construction technology. It is best to purchase a high-quality incendiary element. It needs to be disassembled, but the parts should not be thrown away, as they will still be useful in the design. If there is gas left in the lighter, it must be released. Then the insides must be turned out using a drill with special attachments. Inside the lighter body there is a diode from the drive, several resistors, a switch and a battery. All elements of the lighter need to be installed in their places, after which the button that previously lit the flame will turn on the laser.
However, to construct the device, you can use not only a lighter, but also a flashlight. Before you make a laser from a flashlight, you need to take the laser block from the CD drive. In principle, the structure of a homemade laser in a flashlight is no different from the structure of a laser in a lighter. You just need to take into account the power supply, which almost never exceeds 3 V, and it is also advisable to build an additional voltage stabilizer. It will increase the life. It is very important to take into account the polarity of the diode and stabilizer.
All assembled filling must be placed in the body of the disassembled flashlight. First, not only the inner part, but also the glass is removed from the flashlight. After installing the laser unit, the glass is installed in place.
Who among teenagers and most adult males does not dream of building their own laser sword? Laser pointers have long gone out of fashion; their power is unlikely to impress anyone. However, this does not mean that they will not serve you in the end. They won't make a laser sword, but they will make quite a powerful laser.
Instructions
To make a laser at home, you will need a laser pointer, a DVD drive with a working laser, a flashlight, wires and a soldering iron. You can buy a broken DVD on the radio market if you don’t have one on your farm.
At the first stage, you need to remove the laser diode from the DVD. This is a long and painstaking process. When you open the DVD, you can easily find a carriage that moves along two guides. You need to carefully unscrew the carriage. There will be a lot of screws along the way; you need to remove them without haste, since the laser diode does not tolerate shaking or shock. When you remove it from the carriage housing, handle it carefully and carefully.
The second stage is replacing the original diode in the laser pointer with one removed from the drive. This is necessary to make the laser more powerful. The fact is that inside the pointer there is a low-power laser diode, whereas in a DVD the laser is of a higher class. The laser pointer can be untwisted into two parts. The diode is installed at the top. You need to get the original diode and emitter. After that, you need to install a diode from the DVD into the upper housing. It is best to place it on an adhesive base.
Laser cutter, made with your own hands, will be useful in every home.
In this case, it is necessary to take into account the following points: how best to place the diode, how to connect it to the power source, because the diode of the writing device requires more electricity than the main element of the pointer.
This issue can be resolved in several ways.
Therefore, the laser pointer is disassembled as carefully as the DVD burner drive.
The object is untwisted, then its body is divided into two halves. Immediately on the surface you will be able to see a part that needs to be replaced with your own hands.
To do this, the original diode from the pointer is removed and carefully replaced with a more powerful one; its reliable fastening can be done using glue.
It may not be possible to remove the old diode element right away, so you can carefully pry it out with the tip of a knife, then lightly shake the pointer body.
On next stage To make a laser cutter, you need to make a housing for it.
For this purpose, a flashlight with rechargeable batteries is useful, which will allow the laser cutter to receive electrical power, acquire an aesthetic appearance, and ease of use.
To do this, you need to install the modified upper part of the former pointer into the flashlight body with your own hands.
Then you need to connect charging to the diode using the battery located in the flashlight. It is very important to accurately establish the polarity during the connection process.
Before the flashlight is assembled, it is necessary to remove the glass and other unnecessary elements of the pointer that may interfere with the laser beam.
At the final stage, the laser cutter is prepared for use.
The depth of material processing depends on the type of laser installation and the characteristics of the materials being processed.
Today, three types of lasers are used: solid-state, fiber and gas.
The design of solid-state emitters is based on the use of specific types of glass or crystals as a working medium.
Here, as an example, we can cite inexpensive installations operating on semiconductor lasers.
Fiber - their active medium functions through the use of optical fibers.
This type of device is a modification of solid-state emitters, but according to experts, the fiber laser is successfully displacing its analogues from the field of metalworking.
Wherein optical fibers are the basis not only of the cutter, but also of the engraving machine.
Gas - the working environment of the laser device combines carbon dioxide, nitrogen and helium gases.
Since the efficiency of the emitters in question is not higher than 20%, they are used for cutting and welding polymer, rubber and glass materials, as well as metal with a high degree of thermal conductivity.
Here, as an example, you can take a metal cutter produced by the Hans company, application laser device allows you to cut copper, brass and aluminum, in in this case The minimum power of the machines only outperforms its analogues.
Drive operation diagram
Only a desktop laser can be operated from a drive; this type of device is a portal-console machine.
The laser unit can move along the guide rails of the device both vertically and horizontally.
As an alternative to the gantry device, a tablet model of the mechanism was made; its cutter moves only horizontally.
Other existing versions of laser machines have a work table equipped with a drive mechanism and endowed with the ability to move in different planes.
There are currently two options for controlling the drive mechanism.
The first ensures the movement of the workpiece due to the operation of the table drive, or the movement of the cutter is carried out due to the operation of the laser.
The second option involves moving the table and cutter simultaneously.
At the same time, the first control model is considered much simpler compared to the second option. But the second model still has high performance.
The general technical characteristic of the cases considered is the need to introduce a CNC unit into the device, but then the price for assembling the device for self made will become taller.
HELLO, DIMON PEOPLE!!!
Today, I will tell YOU how to make a powerful laser pointer at home.
To do this, we need 17 things:
1- faulty (dead) DVD drive, speed 16-22X (the higher the speed, the more powerful laser is in it)
PRICE-50-300RUR
2- cheap Chinese flashlight (3 batteries)
PRICE-50R
3- cheap laser pointer "double-barrel" (laser pointer + LED flashlight)
[ 
PRICE-50R
4- soldering iron, power 40W (W), voltage 220V (V) with a thin tip.
5- low-melting solder (type POS60-POS61), pine rosin.
6-piece of one-sided fiberglass with dimensions 35X10mm
7- ferric chloride (sold in radio stores) price - 80-100 RUR
8-tool (tweezers, magnifying glass, small screwdrivers, pliers, long-nose pliers, etc.)
9- these are the terminal petals
(sold in any electrical store) cost from 10-35R
10 tube of super glue
11-alcohol (can be found at the pharmacy)
12 laser printer
13-page of any glossy magazine (necessarily glossy, smooth. You can also use photo paper)
14- electric iron (we take it at home. From mother, sister, grandmother, wife, they don’t see it yet)
15- radio components (you can grab some from the dead drive itself, in particular the Schottky diode, resistors, capacitors)
list of parts and their rating (ALL SMD PARTS, i.e. for
It is possible to create a homemade building level, when creating lighting effects when decorating a home disco, for an additional rear signal for cars, motorcycles, bicycles, etc.
A laser diode is a semiconductor crystal made in the form of a thin rectangular plate. The beam passes through a collecting lens and presents thin line, when intersecting with the surface we see a point. To obtain visible line you can install a cylindrical lens in front of the laser beam. The refracted ray will look like a fan.
The proposed homemade product can be made quickly and inexpensively even by a novice radio amateur.
I made it from a 5mW laser, 3V supply voltage from AliExpress. Despite the low power of the laser emitter, it is necessary to observe basic safety precautions not to direct the beam into the eyes.
Watch the entire manufacturing process in the video:
List of tools and materials
-laser emitter 5mW, 3V (link to laser)
-screwdriver; scissors;
- soldering iron;
-cambric; foil textolite;
- two 1.5V batteries;
- connecting wires; battery compartment housing with headlamp power button;
-5 Ohm resistor;
-LED with a transparent bulb;
- strip of tin.
Step one. Making a laser board.
From a small piece of foil PCB we make a scarf for mounting the laser. We solder a piece of tin to the PCB, having previously bent it along the laser body. Then we insert the laser itself into the clamp (it should fit tightly). On the side of the beam output we solder an LED (if you have a transparent glass tube, you can use a piece 5mm long) on the back side of the board and by bending the legs we set its position relative to the laser to get a bright and contrasting visible line. All that remains is to place the board with the laser in a suitable housing. We make a rectangular window in the battery compartment housing with the headlamp switch. To power this laser emitter, a voltage of 3 V is sufficient. We install two 1.5 V batteries in the battery compartment housing. In place of the third battery, we install our board with the laser. We solder the wires respectively onto two batteries and connect them through a 5 Ohm resistor to the push-button switch. If desired, the laser can be powered from a battery and a buck converter board can be used. To extend the life of the laser diode, I set the voltage to 2.8 volts and the current to 15-18 mA.
Step two. Manufacturing of building level.
Based on this homemade product, you can make a laser construction level. The first option is to attach the homemade body to an industrial level (of course, you need to precisely adjust the position of the beam). The second option is to attach the body of a homemade laser to a piece of foam plastic and place this structure in a container of water. The water level will always be parallel to the horizon. Check the position of the laser line with the industrial level. The further the laser is from the surface, the longer the visible line.
Making a powerful burning laser with your own hands is not a difficult task, however, in addition to the ability to use a soldering iron, you will need to be attentive and careful in your approach. It’s worth noting right away that deep knowledge from the field of electrical engineering is not needed here, and you can make a device even at home. The main thing when working is to take precautions, since exposure to a laser beam is harmful to the eyes and skin.
A laser is a dangerous toy that can cause harm to health if used carelessly. Do not point the laser at people or animals!
What will you need?
Any laser can be divided into several components:
- light flux emitter;
- optics;
- power supply;
- current supply stabilizer (driver).
To make a powerful homemade laser, you will need to consider all these components separately. The most practical and easiest to assemble is a laser based on a laser diode, which we will consider in this article.
Where can I get a diode for a laser?
The working element of any laser is a laser diode. You can buy it at almost any radio store, or get it from a non-working CD drive. The fact is that drive inoperability is rarely associated with failure of the laser diode. If you have a broken drive, you can extra costs get the required element. But you need to take into account that its type and properties depend on the modification of the drive.
The weakest laser, operating in the infrared range, is installed in CD-ROM drives. Its power is only enough to read CDs, and the beam is almost invisible and is not capable of burning objects. The CD-RW has a built-in more powerful laser diode, suitable for burning and designed for the same wavelength. It is considered the most dangerous, as it emits a beam in a zone of the spectrum invisible to the eye.
The DVD-ROM drive is equipped with two weak laser diodes, the energy of which is only enough to read CDs and DVDs. The DVD-RW burner has a red laser high power. Its beam is visible in any light and can easily ignite certain objects.
The BD-ROM contains a violet or blue laser, which is similar in parameters to the analogue from the DVD-ROM. From BD-RE recorders you can get the most powerful laser diode with a beautiful violet or blue beam capable of burning. However, it is quite difficult to find such a drive for disassembly, and working device it costs expensive.
The most suitable one is a laser diode taken from a DVD-RW drive. The highest quality laser diodes are installed in LG, Sony and Samsung drives.
The higher the DVD drive's writing speed, the more powerful the laser diode installed in it.
Drive disassembly
Having the drive in front of you, first remove the top cover by unscrewing 4 screws. Then remove the movable mechanism, which is located in the center and connected to printed circuit board flexible cable. The next goal is a laser diode, securely pressed into a radiator made of aluminum or duralumin alloy. It is recommended to provide protection against static electricity before dismantling it. To do this, the leads of the laser diode are soldered or wrapped with thin copper wire.
Next, there are two possible options. The first involves operating a finished laser in the form of a stationary installation together with a standard radiator. The second option is to assemble the device in the body of a portable flashlight or laser pointer. In this case, you will have to apply force to cut through or saw the radiator without damaging the radiating element.
Driver
Laser power supply must be handled responsibly. As with LEDs, it must be a stabilized current source. On the Internet there are many circuits powered by a battery or accumulator through a limiting resistor. The sufficiency of this solution is questionable, since the voltage on the battery or battery changes depending on the charge level. Accordingly, the current flowing through the laser emitting diode will deviate greatly from the nominal value. As a result, the device will not work efficiently at low currents, and at high currents it will lead to a rapid decrease in the intensity of its radiation.
The best option is to use a simple current stabilizer built on the basis. This microcircuit belongs to the category of universal integrated stabilizers with the ability to independently set the output current and voltage. The microcircuit operates in a wide range of input voltages: from 3 to 40 volts.
An analogue of LM317 is the domestic chip KR142EN12.
For the first laboratory experiment, the diagram below is suitable. The only resistor in the circuit is calculated using the formula: R=I/1.25, where I is the rated laser current (reference value).
Sometimes a polar capacitor of 2200 μFx16 V and a non-polar capacitor of 0.1 μF are installed at the output of the stabilizer in parallel with the diode. Their participation is justified in the case of supplying voltage to the input from a stationary power supply, which can miss an insignificant alternating component and impulse noise. One of these circuits, powered by a Krona battery or a small battery, is presented below. 
The diagram shows the approximate value of resistor R1. To accurately calculate it, you must use the above formula.
Having collected electrical diagram, you can make a preliminary switching on and, as proof of the circuit’s operability, observe the bright red scattered light of the emitting diode. Having measured its actual current and body temperature, it is worth thinking about the need to install a radiator. If the laser will be used in a stationary installation at high currents long time, then it is necessary to provide passive cooling. Now there is very little left to achieve the goal: focus and get a narrow beam of high power.
Optics
In scientific terms, it's time to build a simple collimator, a device for producing beams of parallel light rays. Ideal option For this purpose there will be a standard lens taken from the drive. With its help you can obtain a fairly thin laser beam with a diameter of about 1 mm. The amount of energy of such a beam is enough to burn through paper, fabric and cardboard in a matter of seconds, melt plastic and burn through wood. If you focus a thinner beam, this laser can cut plywood and plexiglass. But setting up and securely attaching the lens to the drive is quite difficult due to its small focal length.
It is much easier to build a collimator based on a laser pointer. In addition, its case can accommodate a driver and a small battery. The output will be a beam with a diameter of about 1.5 mm and a smaller burning effect. In foggy weather or heavy snowfall, you can observe incredible light effects by directing the light stream into the sky.
Through the online store you can purchase a ready-made collimator, specifically designed for mounting and tuning a laser. Its body will serve as a radiator. Knowing the sizes of everyone components device, you can buy a cheap LED flashlight and use its housing.
In conclusion, I would like to add a few phrases about the dangers of laser radiation. First, never point the laser beam into the eyes of people or animals. This leads to serious visual impairment. Secondly, wear green glasses when experimenting with the red laser. They block most of the red portion of the spectrum from passing through. The amount of light transmitted through the glasses depends on the wavelength of the radiation. Look from the side at the laser beam without protective equipment allowed only for a short time. Otherwise, eye pain may occur.
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