4.5V 3.5W Nichia 450nm 3500MW Cutting Laser Module

This little laser module is dangerous and that makes it fun.It burned a pure white envelope I had as a target in under a second while I was tuning a buck converter to drive it in constant current mode. Then I tried it to a plastic container like you get sour cream in at the grocery store. Zapped a surprisingly small pinhole right through it.Once I stop playing with it acting like a kid with a new toy, it will work well on a 3D printer for engraving which is the original reason I bought it.I'm very impressed with the laser and the price I paid.

I will admit that I truly like this product though I have 1 issue. The connector was wired the wrong way as far as polarity goes. When plugged in it causes the positive and negative to be backwards into the driver. If I did not notice it I would have figured the driver was defective because I had already checked the diode and knew it was working. But because I am so pleased with this diode I can just do the minor adjustment and still give this product 5 stars! I just changed from 5 stars to 4 stars because of incorrect dimensions of the housing that was listed for this. So that made it 2 issues to report now!

Works fine , used for CNC etching.

works amazing

Initial perceptions:This laser is scary powerful. The actual laser diode output (without the lens) looks like a flat bar of maybe 1 by 3 (that is, 3 times wider than it it tall). When focusing far away (around a meter or so, the "bar" gets narrower until, finally, it becomes taller than it is wide. Optimal focus at 1 meter results in approximately a 3 mm square spot. This square will instantly ignite paper with black or dark ink on it, white paper seems to "burn through" into a hole with minimal charring and no flame. Strange. OK, enough playing around!Performance:Burning things at a distance is not what the laser is meant for. As an engraving laser where the target is only 10 cm or so away from the laser, the spot is round and super tiny (difficult to measure, but I would say the spot is 1mm or a tiny bit less).At 2 amperes current (about 6 watts since the laser's Vfwd is around 3.0 volts), the laser effortlessly engraves wood, plastic (black ABS) and even clear polycarbonate (Lexan).Thermal:The heat sink body of the laser (in "dead air") starts to get warm in about 3 minutes and too hot to hold in 6 minutes (with 2.0 amperes drive current). Using a small muffin fan blowing across the fins of the laser body, continual usage with barely any warming is possible. Of course, when engraving (when the laser is pulsed on and off and is probably off more than it's on), no fan should be needed.Summary:This laser is all that it's advertised to be and works just great! Be careful of your eyes though... laser goggles for this wavelength (450 nm blue) and this power are a MUST. A stray reflection of the beam into your eye WILL cause instant damage (probably permanent). Don't take the chance!