multiple beams out of one host

trying to untie a design knot.

if you wanted to build a laser that would project say 6 beams;
kind of a Predator 6 gun thing... (oh, all beams parallel)
would you use 6 modual/diode/driver/battery combinations set up in a Revolver's Cylinder hand gun style heat sink with them all activated by a single switch...

or

can you connect more than one diode to a driver/power source with out releasing the Mysterious Mystical Blue Smoke that renders all electronics FUBAR?

or 3rd you could use one laser a difraction gratting and some mirros to diret the beams.

I think option 3 is too delicate for what he's wanting to do here... In a handheld i think it would misalign too easily.

loosekannonn said:

trying to untie a design knot.

if you wanted to build a laser that would project say 6 beams;
kind of a Predator 6 gun thing... (oh, all beams parallel)
would you use 6 modual/diode/driver/battery combinations set up in a Revolver's Cylinder hand gun style heat sink with them all activated by a single switch...

or

can you connect more than one diode to a driver/power source with out releasing the Mysterious Mystical Blue Smoke that renders all electronics FUBAR?

Click to expand...

We have that, its called the 7 color laser. Just do a search. And 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.

Tech_Junkie said:

We have that, its called the 7 color laser. Just do a search. And 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.

Click to expand...

did a search, 500 posts came up for "7 color laser"
none of them said anything about multy-beam lasers.
now I have a really bad headache!

There was a member a while ago who put 3 separate modules in a huge flashlight host. Each had its own driver. But the 7 color design is far more interesting.

Another member has run 12 diodes in a single setup, (combining all LOCs, 'knifedged', and then other optics for one beam), but wasn't running any more than two on a single driver. I cannot remember if they were series or parallel but would think that series was the most sensible. When one pops, the other stops. I don't know if a driver could drop the current quickly enough in a parallel setup to save the second diode from an overcurrent. Not tried it myself so can't offer more than that, I'm sorry.

M

I'm thinking a bunch of these:
405nm Aixiz Rkcstr Blu-Ray 100mA Laser (PHR803T) Module

HighTechDealZ - 405nm Aixiz Rkcstr Blu-Ray 100mA Laser (PHR803T) Module
then mounting them in the Cylinder of one of the Sci-Fi prop guns I make as a hobby.


buddy's church group got me started painting up NERF Guns, to look realistic,
YES, THIS IS A NERF GUN!!



one guy on here wanted a steampunk type host, well just gotta think outside the uh... copper/brass/wood.18th-19th century box...



now i realize that the plastic Cylinder wouldn't be very good because of the heat generated, but I can get parts cast in what ever metal I want, and I have a machining background so I can machine hosts as well.



I keep wanting to call it a body or casing in place of host lol!

that's the Paintball gun builder in me coming out...

the ultimate goal is to have real visible Laser Weapons for a local amateur Sci-Fi Film group that I'm also part of.

we want something that is actually going to look like Laser or Particle energy weapons will really look when we finally manage to invent them.

ok, the over all design of the gun is going to be way out in left field,
but the beams of a real laser will look so much better on camera.

and before anyone brings up the safety issue,
the person being shot at, is almost NEVER in the same shot as the Shooter.
the shot and the hit can be shot years apart if you want to.
you can ask Peter Jackson about that one.
and when we do have to show a hit, it will either be a back or mid torso hit and using all the other tricks that make it look real.

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.

If you want highly visible, use at least 50mW (higher if you can afford it) green modules.

Green laser module 50mW For custom build or lab [OLGLM50] - $26.99 : Welcome to O-Like.com, Your source for laser products

You know what I would do? What they do in real movies: add the beams in during editing as a post-processing effect. You can still use a laser as a guide (the dot, not the beam!), but you'd be drawing in the beams like they did with light sabers in Star Wars. Why? You're going to need a very powerful laser to get any kind of beam visibility during filming, because you're going to be filming with lights. Even then, it will look pretty lame unless you have lots of fog.

Speaking of fog, if you do plan on using a bit of fog, you don't need a really powerful laser. You could just strap 5x red laser pointers together (like these, at $4.50) and have your hexa-laser. They pretty much did that in Predator I believe.

And really watch out if you're planning on hitting someone with the laser. Even if you're looking away, it might reflect off some surface and back into the eyes, or even reflect into the eyes from the inner surface of goggles/glasses themselves.

I agree with badger, another thing is that they wouldnt look as cool. because you are not gonna see a one foot long laser bullet shoot out of the gun like star wars, but a long beam from the gun to the target that looks as if it instantly appears and disappears, and choreographing would also suck, because jumping half a second earlier or later than you should after getting hit with a "death ray" is gonna make it look really funny, so to speak LOL

Just use one fixed module, and make the barrel rotate really fast. Like a real gatling gun. It will give you a pulse effect.

Bionic-Badger said:

You know what I would do? What they do in real movies: add the beams in during editing as a post-processing effect. You can still use a laser as a guide (the dot, not the beam!), but you'd be drawing in the beams like they did with light sabers in Star Wars. Why? You're going to need a very powerful laser to get any kind of beam visibility during filming, because you're going to be filming with lights. Even then, it will look pretty lame unless you have lots of fog.

Speaking of fog, if you do plan on using a bit of fog, you don't need a really powerful laser. You could just strap 5x red laser pointers together (like these, at $4.50) and have your hexa-laser. They pretty much did that in Predator I believe.

And really watch out if you're planning on hitting someone with the laser. Even if you're looking away, it might reflect off some surface and back into the eyes, or even reflect into the eyes from the inner surface of goggles/glasses themselves.

Click to expand...

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.

yes we could Rotoscope the lasers in like in every sci-fi movie since the 1950's, but that is not what we are going for.

a friend has shot some test footage using a 50mW Green laser pointer and in a "dark room" which on video means typical house hold level lighting the beam looked pretty cool.
so 500mW if we can get it happening should be really really cool!

additionally, we usually do have fog or smoke from dry ice or smoke machines on set for battle scenes.
it gives everything a more gritty feel in play back.

we will start posting some of our stuff online once we are sure that our legal stuff is in place.
don't want someone running off with our characters or story lines.

Tech_Junkie said:

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.

If you want highly visible, use at least 50mW (higher if you can afford it) green modules.

Green laser module 50mW For custom build or lab [OLGLM50] - $26.99 : Welcome to O-Like.com, Your source for laser products

Click to expand...

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.

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