styropyro

upcoming video

Added 2022-11-06 01:04:46 +0000 UTC

after some hiccups and distractions i'm finally wrapping up my next project. i'm building a giant green laser pointer using one of the newly available green laser diode arrays and i'm using a transformer from an inverter microwave oven to power it. It'll be the brightest portable laser I've built yet.

I originally started this project since it seemed easy to knock out quickly and make a video about it, but I ran into problems. 😅 I wanted to drive it in flyback mode like how the microwave oven uses the transformer, but I couldn't pull it off without resorting to fancy controllers. I ended up building it into a 555 based boost circuit instead and at least that works as intended. I probably shouldn't have wasted so much time trying to force a driver topology since very few people will care anyway lol.