Laser + Fuse = line generator!

Well, thanks to ChipDouglas, who saved me from having to spend $15, I just gotta buy another fuse for my multi-meter ($0.90!) I now have a cool little cheapie line generator. All I did was shine my 50mW green laser into the EDGE of a blown F500mAL 250VP fuse that was in my multi meter, and I got an INCREDIBLE line of green on my wall. It goes a full 180* from your feet to above your head. And it's not some bad line that's bright for the first 2 feet, then really dim. It's a full line, really bright green, there's a dot in the middle, then it spreads. But, shinning the middle will result in a short line, surrounded by green speckles. It's cool either way, but shinning the edge gets a perfect green line. There are many different line type / shapes you can get, from tilting the fuse you can get arcs and circles, or shining not the VERY center, but close, you can get the line to go behind you, if you aren't in the way of course! I will TRY to get some pics tonight...Go ahead, try it yourself!:beer:

Well, I shot a pretty low quality 10min vid of this laser line tecknique, it depends on how large a video youtube will accept to see if I can post it. But I'll try, what do I do to link a youtube video on the forum? Rather than posting a link, I want yall to be able to watch it ON the forum, like without having to open a new tab/window, you know?

YouTube - Ministry laser show - Skanska
is
[yt.]wKCHdQjQFH4[./yt]
Just take out the periods and use the letters/numbers from your video.

I don't know what happened...but I had to shoot a new video (the other one was 2.4gb!) aand I 'published' it and ait said it was successful, not it doesn't exist... >.< I'll try again later

Just a few pics would do

Yeah, a pic would probably be better, and you can just link it to the video using a screenshot of the video or something.

I would do a pic, but I haven't seen the USB for my camera for years...I'v been using my laptop's mem card reader feature this whole time, but my laptop recently shit the bed, hence the issue. Not I'm using a desk-top comp, which works just fine =]

You can make a decent Line generator using a small solid glass rod..
Some pharmacies may be able to supply them... they are used as
stir sticks in labs...

Jerry

Are they cheaper than a buck? Fuses are cheap and will make a line extending past 180* if nothing's in the way, and they can make arcs.

bloompyle said:

Are they cheaper than a buck? Fuses are cheap and will make a line extending past 180* if nothing's in the way, and they can make arcs.

Click to expand...

Today.... Probably...
I did those experiments 10 years ago...

Have you tried different fuses... I tried it with a 6 amp fuse
this afternoon and the line was quite wide (dirty) and it dispersed
rather quickly... not too linear in power...
Maybe the type of glass and the internal reflectiveness will have
an effect on the final result... (you are going through 2 layers of
glass)
I know the glass stir sticks are pretty much the same as they are
made to be used in labs... (at least the ones we had)...

Jerry

It's a 250mA fuse, and it was dirty because you sent it through both layers, you need to use the very VERY edge, to get a crip-er line. It will have a pretty bold line, but some specs comeing out from it. Shinning th center and getting both layers will give you a short dirty line. With mine, it doesn't seem like it's the edge, but the laser beam actually warps arround and through the glass, so it only goes through one layer kina, then exits. pics of the line in a minute, a think I can use Flickr...

EDIT: Just checked using a white shirt while BEHIND it, and it actually makes a full circle!! Other than where the laser it of course, so it makes like a 355 +/- 4* 'angle/circle' !!! This is an oustanding find! (for me)

Well, I have a video, but it's 400mb...anybody know where I can put it? other than youtube... Evidently with this Photo2Album software, if I name something or save something with a name other than the default 'snap' the file becomes unreadable...it's quite irritating, I took 9 pics, put them in a different folder, and labeled them, I look....they're all unrecognised file type GRR!! >.< my comp doesn't want you to see my line generator...

Rename them as filename.jpeg

When you rename them you are leaving out the file type, so it becomes unrecognizable.

Just add .jpeg to the end and they should work!

Also you can add a 400mb movie to youtube... shouldn't be a problem. Otherwise upload it to metacafe or google video.... just a few suggestions!

Waiting to see these pics op: -Adrian

I have a 20 inch blacklight mounted vertically on a white wall. By moving the lasers up and down on the tube while moving rapidly across the tube this makes interesting 'arcs' up and down the wall.
Just tried a glass fuse- I see what you mean.thnx