Hello, folks!
I am making a project where I need to solidify resin polymer with laser beam. I am also writing the firmware for it basically from scratch and would like to use a safe visible laser first in order to debug software and calibrate the timings and whatnot, but at some point it would be replaced with a more powerful near-UV laser.
I intend to use two diodes: one is 635nm 5mW (DL-3148-034) aka "visible one" and some undecided model ~100-200mW 407nm as "invisible one". (I know it will be somewhat visible though).
I need a driver solution for this setup. Ideally, it would be same driver for both diodes (except for the pinout), but if that's not possible I could build two drivers I guess.
So, after quite some googling and searching on this forum I just got more confused on particular driver design I should use. Could you advise me something that would fit my application?
- I do not care much about compactness and energy efficiency as I am not going to power it with batteries.
- However, I do care about it being DIYable because I want to understand how it works. Buying off the shelf device wouldn't get me peace, if you know what I mean.
- Obviously enough, such driver should allow signal modulation.
I am willing to learn and hear your wisdom on this topic. My background is programming and I am relatively new to circuit design. However, SMD soldering have never been a problem to me.
Oh, an I have a LM358 lying around if that'd do any good.
I am making a project where I need to solidify resin polymer with laser beam. I am also writing the firmware for it basically from scratch and would like to use a safe visible laser first in order to debug software and calibrate the timings and whatnot, but at some point it would be replaced with a more powerful near-UV laser.
I intend to use two diodes: one is 635nm 5mW (DL-3148-034) aka "visible one" and some undecided model ~100-200mW 407nm as "invisible one". (I know it will be somewhat visible though).
I need a driver solution for this setup. Ideally, it would be same driver for both diodes (except for the pinout), but if that's not possible I could build two drivers I guess.
So, after quite some googling and searching on this forum I just got more confused on particular driver design I should use. Could you advise me something that would fit my application?
- I do not care much about compactness and energy efficiency as I am not going to power it with batteries.
- However, I do care about it being DIYable because I want to understand how it works. Buying off the shelf device wouldn't get me peace, if you know what I mean.
- Obviously enough, such driver should allow signal modulation.
I am willing to learn and hear your wisdom on this topic. My background is programming and I am relatively new to circuit design. However, SMD soldering have never been a problem to me.
Oh, an I have a LM358 lying around if that'd do any good.