Dissection of a DVD writer

Ok, here is the ‘Victim’ a Sony DWD28Q 16x dual layer DVD writer

And the underside:

Now remove the four Philips screws & void the warranty seal ;-)

Now release the left hand PCB

First release the zif as shown by pushing the brown bar to the right

Release the PCB retaining catch and lift the PCB upwards.

Release two more zifs on the underside of the PCB

Now you can see the optical assembly (riding on the two slide rails)

Now the brute force bit – detach the rails.

And here is the liberated optical assy.

Now is a good time to short out the diodes to prevent static damage.

Remove all screws. Prise the read diode upwards to break the adhesive. Then cut its flexi.

Prise the write diode (the one you really want) to the right to break the adhesive & cut flexi.

The two laser diodes (DVD r/w on the left, CD r/w on the right)

Now you could glue a collimating lens to the diode ….

And using a prototype laser diode driver. (check my ebay auctions for production drivers)

I have measured 60mW out t 100mA drive

A nice, well collimated spot.

Scanning by hand, the laser is modulated by a 1kHz square wave.

For more info on the driver see the 1A laser diode driver page Die4Drive.