Selecting components for my projects - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: eyad.majali
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 03, 2018, 06:03:52 pm
content: Hello all,I'm long time follower of dave videos, but this is my first post here.I'm going to design a couple of products that involves lasers ( I might make a kickstarter campaign),all my search for a known manufacture and cheap laser diode failed , they all start from 6$ upwards , and I'm wondering where manufacturers of CD/DVD drives get their diodes from ? Does anyone has any datasheet or part number? , I also might use dual wavelength diodes.I can get very cheap laser diodes with housing and lens from china , but would be this acceptable for a product ( mainly targeting hackers ,hobbyists and makers (as a module)).Any help is appreciated!

author: Nitrousoxide
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2018, 06:03:47 am
content: It depends.What exact wavelengths do you need? Some may be more exotic than others an thus more expensive.How much output power? Again, this will determine the price.If you want cheap diodes, look at aliexpress/alibaba, but be warned, don't expect stellar quality/QC.It's hard to name a specific diode due to the lack of detail provided on the implementation/product. You'd have to give more specifics.

author: eyad.majali
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 05, 2018, 11:56:34 am
content: Thanks Nitrousoxide,Im basically looking for eye safe lasers < 5mWThe application is just sensing and tracking no need for high power ,For Wavelengths it would be red 650nm , or red and IR .I'm aware of AliExpress diodes , but would that be professional to include low quality component , or my seek to lower the selling price would make that ok?

author: Nitrousoxide
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2018, 01:49:12 pm
content: Quote from: eyad.majali on April 05, 2018, 11:56:34 amI would never use components from Aliexpress (or any other Chinese distro) for production or even one-off units, perhaps not even for prototypes. The only reason I suggested Aliexpress is because it sounded like you were very financially restricted. The QC from these distributors are terrible, you might as well expect to get a bag of rocks.A quick search on Arrow gets:https://www.arrow.com/en/products/opv332/optek-technology(That's the cheapest "diode" on the list).The price all depends on the quantity you are going to buy. Large-scale manufacturers get quite a large bulk discount because they buy the diodes in the order of 100's of thousands.

author: CopperCone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2018, 01:51:53 pm
content: If you really make it cheap people will tollerate it but like, you alienate part of the market because some people will be wary of using your module that has a high chance to break in a project.A bad subassemby can cause down time and system failure. No one wants their robot crashing into walls because a laser broke when 400$ of parts could be saved by spending an extra dollar.Most things are cheap and people tend to gamble so..

author: eyad.majali
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 05, 2018, 01:59:58 pm
content: My goal is to make it affordable, especially that it would include a chip that sold around 10$ , and only lowers to 5$ in 1k quantities , so I have an idea what if I made two versions of the module , one is cheap that will just do the job and another professional one , of course notifying the user with pros and cons , would this make it better ?

author: hayatepilot
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2018, 02:03:27 pm
content: Quote from: eyad.majali on April 03, 2018, 06:03:52 pmThose manufacturers source the laser diodes from the same manufacturers you probably already found. The difference is quantity! You can get things orders of magnitude cheaper if you can buy millions of pieces directly from the manufacturer vs. buying a couple through several layers of dealers.Greetings

author: eyad.majali
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 05, 2018, 02:14:18 pm
content: Thanks hayatepilot,Well what I meant by buying the lasers from china , is not the actual diode , but the complete laser pointer module , housed in brass tube with lens , if I want to make the module with bare laser diodes i have to use housing and a lens and clibrate the lens to give me the pointer effect , so that's much more extra cost, while I can get the whole pointer assembled and calibrated for really low price.See the attached photo .

author: TomS_
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2018, 07:18:56 am
content: Quote from: eyad.majali on April 05, 2018, 01:59:58 pmWorse IMO.One dodgy product from a brand can be enough to put people off that brand as a whole. Personally, I wouldnt buy your higher priced products if I had so much trouble with your lower cost products. The risk wouldnt be worth taking.Consumers are fickle, they will turn to a competitors product over a few cents of saving. You produce a low cost module, someone in Asia copies it and sells it even cheaper, game over.On the other hand, produce a quality module, and you will win business from people who cant stand the cheap knock offs that keep failing.

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2018, 07:33:11 am
content: Quote from: eyad.majali on April 05, 2018, 02:14:18 pmWhy not buy few, as they're cheap, then test 1st ? Whats wrong with that ?

author: eyad.majali
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 06, 2018, 11:46:06 am
content: Quote from: BravoV on April 06, 2018, 07:33:11 amNothing wrong with that , I even have the same modules already in my country , more pricey but it's the same, and I can test with that, but currently I'm calculating all the aspects of the project and the total cost and final price , plus durability and feasibility, and of course how professional my board will be.

author: eyad.majali
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 06, 2018, 11:51:37 am
content: @blueskullIf you mean by modules the sane what i mean ,i.e the photo above ,Then I don't think its stockpiled, I've disassembled many of those , they are just a small pcb with laser itself being part of the pcb , not a diode with any kind of housing , so I can say its proudly made in china.

author: eyad.majali
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 06, 2018, 12:58:21 pm
content: Quote from: blueskull on April 06, 2018, 12:11:41 pmYes I guess you are right.