All posts in the 'Laser projects' Category
Posted on 24 Jul 2008
The goal is to build a very low cost X Y scanner for a laser pointer, this X Y scanner must be able, from a PC, to display fixed or animated simple pictures or some characters.The parts taken from an old CD player: the lens coil actuator is used to set the distance between focal lens and CD.When the actuator move in X or Y direction, laser beam is deflected.[more]
Posted on 24 Jul 2008
It’s quite easy to zone out and become completely absorbed in the music. The multiple vibrating beams coming out of the unit also look amazing when fog or smoke is in the room.You can also do cool things like hooking it up to a microphone and watching the patterns your voice makes. A disco ball or mirrors stuck to the ceiling help spread the effect around even more.[more]
Posted on 09 Jun 2008
The Coherent Compass 315M-100 is a small and sweet DPSS laser head that is relatively cheap to get on the surplus market and ebay and offers approx 100mW of single mode output at 532nm. Running single longitudinal mode is crucial for holography and this sets the head apart from generic DPSS lasers, like tuned-up laser pointers or low cost DPSS heads suitable for show applications. [more]
Posted on 01 May 2008
William J. Turkel writes:
A sure sign of a 1970s childhood is a fond memory of doodling with the Kenner Spirograph toy. In the back of my mind I’ve been thinking it would be fun to build something like it into a history appliance. You can already find software versions online, but I wanted something that could be used at the periphery, rather than the focus, of attention. On a recent trip to Active Surplus in Toronto I realized I could build a version quite cheaply. So here it is: a little too thrown together even to call a hack, this is really a kludge.[more]
Posted on 20 Mar 2008
The basic idea of TinyProjector is to create the smallest possible character projector that can be either integrated into mobile device, or linked dynamically with wireless RF connections like serial low range transceivers.It used laser diodes salvaged from cheap key chain laser pointers.
A micro motor with a single swiveling servo arm, making a continuous full 360-degree rotation, drives the deflection mirror, resulting in a 38-degree left-right sweep. This leads to an unusually high overall laser projection angle of 104 degrees.[more]
