Who can build one of these?? Cuz i want one!

I haul cars on a 10 car truck nationwide and so i often encounter low branches on busy streets and cannot get out n measure the height of these obstacles. Often i get scratches on the rooftops n it costs me Alot !! Of money. So im looking to build a laser pointer and mount it on an actuator that i can turn on and project a beam on anything below the height of my highest car.
The actuator will sweep about 35 deg r to l in order to paint the area forward of the truck. The beam will need to remain level, be visible from no less than 50 meters.
My question to the forum is, am i out of my mind or is this a relatively simple project.?
Note: home depot has laser levels , which do ? AlllMost exactly what i need , however they are short range for building acoustic ceilngs n such. I need more distance and the ability to turn it on from the drivers seat.
Anyhow, thats what im up to and i appreciate any input members of the forum are willing to contribute.

This is most certainly achievable and honestly won't be of any great expense (probably cheaper than any repairs on the cars). I'm thinking a cheap red diode could be used with a diffraction lens cap to provide a fan-shaped beam, thus allowing you to see a line across anything that would hit the top of your cars. Wiring it so you could turn it on from your cab wouldn't be an issue either. I'm not exactly the most knowledgeable person about car power systems, but providing power from your truck to the laser should be pretty easy as well.

The biggest issue would be that the laser would be exposed to the elements. You would need a driver that would handle the 12v or whatever your truck has as an input voltage. The other option is that this will only be used when you see something ahead, you could just stick with a pack of 18650s and a remote push button.

I'd skip the actuator and just go for the diffraction grating, less mechanical complexity. You will pickup variations from the tolerancing in the actuator, whereas the grating will stay constant (jarring omitted).

I'd put this in a block with some neo magnets, n a piece of felt on the highest point of the car you're carrying. You still may have some angle to worry about, but that is the most ideal install point.

Do you need this to be visible in daytime? Green would be best, but alil more expensive. Also, be careful of reflections, you don't want to flash any other drivers.

^^I would actually recommend green for better visibility during the day.

These module each generate a line with the installed optic. You will want to give them a nice and nice 3.0V supply. More voltage would hurt the lifetime of the module. You will also want to enclose these in some sort of acrylic box to protect the modules' electronics and optics from the elements.

I'm sure you can find much brighter modules, but the feds do NOT like the idea of lasers on vehicles in the first place. The brighter the lasers, the more visible they are to others. And other drivers do NOT appreciate seeing laser beams while their on the road if you know what I mean. I recommend these modules: 2pcs 532nm 30mw Green Laser Line Module/Industrial/Lab | eBay

They should do the trick.

Awesome ! If you guys lnew how low tech these $250,000 to $300.000 car carriers were you would be astonished! I mean , lol, we have telescopic Sticks with numbers on them to measure height, n low obstacles, bridge hits, branches etc.. Are a multillion dollar yearly problem! You have more technology in a $18,000 car than we get in the new trucks.
So, i cant even begin to tell you guys how much i appreciate your taking the time to contribute that insight and information.
Im concerned about a few issues you guys raised n im hopin for some clarification and or remedys.
Vibration? Dampening ? how much is alot?? The trucks dont necessarily need to be rolling when the device is activated however the Diesel engine will need to be running. So? ? Is that a roadblock? R these things ultra sensitive to vibration ? Theres not alot of vibration in a truck with a runni g engine. But its there. U can feel the engine, so?
About that lense projecting a line? Will it be able to maintain its focus? For example , will the beam/line be one inch wide at 60 meters out and two inches wide at 80 meters? Or will it hold its dimensions?
The reason for my concern is, We push the boundaries often times we clear these bridges by a couple inches. We dont want a beam painting an obstacle thats much higher than the load .. N force the driver to stop n turn around take an alternative rout.

Im going to need to have the ability to mount it on a post that can be folded down in order to lower the device because the trucks are empty half the time and able to travel routes with low obstacles that would impact the device. Im thinking about welding a post with a hinge in the middle that would be brought up to height via a pulley/cable run by a small electric motor.
So i would have two controls ,one three prong switch for extending or retracting the mount, and another to feed power to the laser.
As for housings? Im thinking about using a security camera housing similar to those uses in remote locations .. The cost varies A great deal.. So my question is this. Trucks run 24/7 365...all weather conditions... Do i have tighter temperature paramaters for say a green laser than i do a blue or red??

Again, i just want to thank you guys for taking the time.. This is a bigg problem n its cost me dearlyalready so , thank you.

would be co strained by having to run

Vibration should not a be a big issue. You are right that diodes are extremely sensitive, but a small block of foam inside the housing would definitely be enough to to protect it from everyday driving, bumps in the road, etc. I don't think you would even need any foam if the heatsink for the laser is securely installed in the casing you plan to use.

Divergence with green lasers is pretty good. At 60m, the beam could become up to 4in. wide (@1.5mrad divergeance), but you still should be able to tell if you have clearance or not based on whether the top or bottom half of the line hits the bridge or whatever it is. If you are within 3-4in. I probably would just turn around instead of risking several thousand dollars in damage. I would suggest angling the laser so that the divergence makes things appear shorter so that you don't have issues. You could always drive closer and check at a distance closer than 60m if you really don't want to have to find another route.

Temperature conditions shouldn't matter too much unless you get below 0F temperatures for extended periods of time. It will not hurt the laser, but it will make it dimmer until it heats up. Red and blue are less susceptible to this since they aren't DPSS lasers, but they also can freeze if there is moisture, so a completely waterproof enclosure is definitely a good idea.

You don't even need it to sweep the beam just a "line" lens will do what you want !
And as meatball said a green laser for best visibility in the day and it can easily be
made water proof and could be turned on and off from the cab.

You would have to set it in place when the cars are loaded and set its
height at the distance you want it.

I would not be turning in on though if there is a patrol car in the area as
I think this would not be legal to use on an open highway.

Now if you did this in infra red so it could not be seen by other motorist you
could get away with it no problem, do you own any night vision equipment ?

You could also try mounting a camera on top to see what's going on up there. Either way, I'd see this more as a temporary solution as you probably won't use it anytime besides parking the truck. Fix it to the roof with a magnet, and then take it down after you've parked. You probably don't want it on there all the time as it would cause drag or get damaged.

Again.. Awesome absolute Platinum you guys just threw my way! Thank you all very much!

You could also get one of these:
GiraffeG4 : Overhead Protection System : Technology

I know it ruins the fun of building something but it could prevent lasers getting shined in ny eyes if I ever pass you on the road....:yh:

Lasers in the eye??? If somewhere you skipped through n we concluded that was a possIbility id encourage u to go back and re read... All these handheld lasers bobbling round in the grip of cell phone users etc r perhaps something to be concerned about. A laser mounted 13.6 feet above the cab of an 18 wheeler switched On momentarily to discern weather a low hanging branch or bridge is an issue ? I wouldnt waste much time Worrying bout getting zapped by it.

Very interesting thread-- besides the cost of damage savings , a device like this could also save lives when it comes to avoiding bridges etc that are to low for a load to clear.. I like the posts by BB and Meatball- IMO the only laser that would be visable in the daytime would be either green or a highpowered 445 blue. Having a camera mounted with the laser would seem to be a must.

Last week a truck came down the county road where I live- it was hauling a pre-fab building and they actually had a guy riding on the roof with a long wooden pole and he was manually lifting phone and cablevision lines and 'walked' the load until it cleared.. low tech but effective. Looked fairly dangerous too. A laser device in this situation would not be useful but it shows an aspect of the job that most of us are not aware existed.
A green horizontal line laser( >50mW < 100mW) and wireless camera may be the way to go with tree branches... you could wire the laser to a power switch in your cab so it would only be on when needed and no worries with duty/rest cycles either...good luck. hak

B52 said:

Lasers in the eye??? If somewhere you skipped through n we concluded that was a possIbility id encourage u to go back and re read...

Click to expand...

B52 said:

I wouldnt waste much time Worrying bout getting zapped by it.

Click to expand...

I don't know, I can see situations where it would be possible. Coming down a hill towards a bridge. If the laser beam cleared the bottom of the bridge it would hit the roadway. Or say the truck is on level ground and there is a hill just after the bridge, etc.

I just added some more to post#12..

I know everybody is stoked about this being a laser project, but wouldn't a remote ccd camera with a reference line on the monitor serve the purpose just as well and remove the possibility of some other individual (not just motorists, but pedestrian) suffering a laser strike (or worse, some paranoid on-looker reporting you to the fuzz, saying that they 'saw your "lazor light" shining on other vehicles and totally blinding people and causing malicious mayhem and just plain being so very scarry')??

stupid