multiple beams out of one host

loosekannonn said:

not all of those guns are my work,
and the geared one is just an example.
most of my builds use eliments from different units to end up with a final
resin cast or machined Aluminum display gun.

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It's totally do-able with the 6-barrel gun you have.
You can even put 2 of each color (bluray, red, and green) in there for pretty cheap.
The biggest thing would be machining (aluminum or brass) heat-sinks that fit pre-made modules (12mm-diam hole in the center) that are machined perfectly to have all the beams aligned parallel, and getting the right power-ratio for each (if using different colors).
You probably want to go with 100mW bluray, 200mW red, and 30mW green.
Then you have to use the rest of the space in the gun handle for power supplies.
If you get pre-built modules using rckstr drivers like you linked to above, you would need a bunch of 9V batteries to power them. You may be able to purchase pre-made modules (with flexdrives) that only require 3V.
So, you would still need 18V of power in the handle, split to 6x 3V (for the 6 modules).
You can build the 100mW bluray ones for about $35 each.
You can build the 200mW red ones for about $30 each.
You can buy 30mW green modules for about $15 each. -Link-
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Or, if you wanted 10x 5mW red lasers in there (would still look good with smoke in the air) you could get all 10 of them for only $25. -link-

Tech_Junkie said:

you cant use one driver for multiple LDs because if there is a failure, the voltage will increase on all the other diodes and short out the whole thing.

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When diodes fail, they often only fail optically, drawing similar voltage and current. Even if they didn't, a constant current source driving multiple diodes in series would be immune to this.

Yes for the same type diodes, but you would need resistors on each diode. He wants to use different wavelength set ups. How is one driver going to drive a dpss, and LD's at the same time?

loosekannonn said:

with all due respect,
you would seem to be unfamiliar with the current low light HD cameras that are available.
a 5mW Laser is actually visible on camera, and so is IR which has caused problems because you can see the beams from remote controls.

but the main issue is that I haven't accurately represented my level of skill/knowledge here. or the techniques we are using to shoot everything in camera as often as we can.

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No offense taken. If you're into having greens, see if you can connect up six of these. Six of them would drain about 1.8A of current. You could use two alkaline batteries to supply the 3V needed for them (the bigger the better!) depending on your size constraints. I believe they're able to source 2A. NiMH batteries can source even more, but have less voltage, so you'd need three, which might need a rectifier diode. The IR from those lasers produce may even add to the effect.

Tech_Junkie said:

Um....is this some of your work?

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nope.
in fact, even the couple I thought were my work, on closer look at the pics are not anything I've worked on.

so there is actually none of my guns posted here lol!

Bionic-Badger said:

No offense taken. If you're into having greens, see if you can connect up six of these. Six of them would drain about 1.8A of current. You could use two alkaline batteries to supply the 3V needed for them (the bigger the better!) depending on your size constraints. I believe they're able to source 2A. NiMH batteries can source even more, but have less voltage, so you'd need three, which might need a rectifier diode. The IR from those lasers produce may even add to the effect.

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yes I'm looking at building different color guns for different factions/armies/warlords and so on;
but I'm thinking that the first build or 2 are most likely going to be green.
or might build one green and one red just to be more cost effective.
and drilling the Aluminum or Copper properly, is no big deal, worked in machine trade for years and I'm still custom building stuff that shocks and amazes.

now I just need to work out the battery requirements...
bunch of different options:
1) each module gets it's own battery located in the chamber, pointer style, with a common switch
2) single large battery/array lots of wire and a common switch (possible resistance issues?)
3) cylinder rotates with trigger pull, laser activated by contact pad/brush location at top dead center, power needs to be strong enough to achieve full power with split second contact and over coming the resistance of the contact/brush set up
4) remote power pack connected by quick disconnect cable
4) 1 module and beam splitter mirror array..... not really a great idea for a hand held prop that needs to be able to take some bumps and knocks

loosekannonn said:

now I just need to work out the battery requirements...
bunch of different options:
1) each module gets it's own battery located in the chamber, pointer style, with a common switch
2) single large battery/array lots of wire and a common switch (possible resistance issues?)

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If your lasers have separate drivers (and they should!) you can use one big battery at the needed voltage and power them all. Just make sure that the battery can provide enough amperage to supply all the lasers.

Note that this is for single types of lasers. If you want to combine colors, you should have separate batteries just so you can ensure you have the right voltage. It may not matter if you use Dr. Lava's Flexdrive, however, since they can accept virtually any input voltage for any output voltage. That might be the way to go to use a single battery source.

3) cylinder rotates with trigger pull, laser activated by contact pad/brush location at top dead center, power needs to be strong enough to achieve full power with split second contact and over coming the resistance of the contact/brush set up

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If you're going for a gatling-gun type look, are you really going to need multiple lasers since they're supposed to look like they're coming out of the same single barrel? Instead, you could just use one powerful laser in the output barrel, and turn on/off the laser to make it appear like it's shooting individual pulses from multiple chambers, while rotating the barrel. This would eliminate the mechanical aspect of having a laser in the barrel, making potentially high-powered sparks, etc.

For more colors, check out these $100 10mW blue lasers. They have TTL modulation, so you can turn them on and off as needed. It won't help you if you still want to spin the barrel with the lasers, but it's still a nice bright blue.

You can likewise get a TTL-modulated green for $50.

For red, you'll be limited by the brightness the beams appear to have. Something to try is to mix them with a bit of green to get a more yellowish (center) beam effect. It'll give the beam a brighter core in conjunction with the reddish halo around it. A lower-powered green core with two or three reds around it would make a nice fat, bright beam.

4) remote power pack connected by quick disconnect cable

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For portability, get some LiPo batteries that can source enough current (like this). You can also use some NiMH battery packs, the kinds used for RC cars.

Finally, you might just want to buy some battery holders and use some 18650 LiPo batteries since they're pretty high capacity, useful voltage (3.7-4.2V), and can source quite a bit of juice.

4) 1 module and beam splitter mirror array..... not really a great idea for a hand held prop that needs to be able to take some bumps and knocks

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It's hard to get those aligned precisely, and when you do, you need something extremely rigid. Check out Morgan's mini beam combiner. Maybe look at what If you do rig something up, I'm sure you could sell them here too.

Tech_Junkie said:

Let my guess, YARG LOL.

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can you explain that?
YARG?

Its a joke on one of the forums I lurk. If you were a member, you would have gotten the joke.

Yet Another Ray Gun. Apparently there are a lot of people out there making ray guns. Like myself.

^It might be a teensy bit threadjacky but have you got any pics or links to your work TJ? (If the OP doesn't mind, of course)

M

I'm funny about showing my art on the internet. I dont really care about pointers, thats why no list in my sig. I have 4 laser projects I'm working on now.

The gun will be made out of a solid brass actuator. Kind of like this...

If all goes well it will have an IR scope, 1.5W 445mn in the end barrel, and an exposed ~5mW HeNe for the sighting. I'm going to carve an oak stock, and hand engrave filigree into the brass barrel. Should be quite the piece.

I also have a sprio built into a human skull (replica) with an antique gas mask on the face.

Plus others a few others. I like using lasers for art. Burning balloons and matches have not impressed me. An scanners are just boxes filled with parts. Anyone can make a box. I like making works of art out of them.

Nice. I really want to see those things now. What good is art if it can't be appreciated!

Is it a rip off thing you're worried about or are other reasons depriving us of the visual feast? I'd be happy to PM you an email if that would help me see them?

Who'd have thunk it. An artistic troll! Good stuff.

M

None are finished. I live on a very small income, and only have so much 'play' money per month. That means I can buy only so many parts a month. I made a huge mistake of buying parts for all my projects at the same time. I should of took on one project at a time. So everything is unfinished. And the fact they are all high end projects, limits me buying everything I need because I dont have the cash. I kind of screwed myself in a way.

I plan on mass producing these. Thats why I dont want my plans, or finished work posted openly on the internet. The style of my work is called Steampunk. I incorporate antique parts (old voltage meters, vacuum tube, brass and copper tubing, brass clock gears, odd lights, leather, ect) and new technology. The idea being what would people in the past create if the had the parts that are available now. Here is an example of a laptop.



I'm also going to be with high voltage too. Making antique looking Jacob;s ladders, Tesla coils, ect.

Laptop didn't come up for me. I know the style though. It's been tickling the back of my imagination for a while but I'm still swatting it away at the minute. I've got a mahogony and brass LPM case in the works that is Steampunk-esque, (not as extravagant). It's in an incomplete form too but sits in a thread you've probably seen in the, 'General', section with, "Steampunk", in the title. If you haven't seen the thread then you'll like it!

It's all very cool stuff! If you feel comfortable then I'd love to see some finished articles but understand commercial sensitivity.

Anyhoo, threadjack done. Sorry folks... :thanks:

M

YES
That's great I need it very much
Let my guess, YARG LOL. A lot of people use those Maverick guns. I dont like the gears on yours. They look like the do nothing. Great paint skills tho.:drool::gun:

Tech_Junkie said:

I also have a sprio built into a human skull (replica) with an antique gas mask on the face.

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I have the same project (less the gas mask) going on with consideration of doing the same with a plastic or ceramic owl.


Now I know what I can do with that WW?? gas mask!

Yet I like you TJ rarely come to a final end to a project