Laser Trap (pic heavy)

Ok, so I was thinking, I want some thing I can aim a laser into, contain the beam, and give me a safe area for the dot, something that will not catch fire or reflect back to me. Seems such a device would make it safer for me, especially when firing up a laser for the first time. So I decided to build a Laser Trap:

I started with a 2' section of 3" pvc pipe, a 3" pipe cap, satin black spray paint, concrete, and charcoal concrete colorant.
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I cut the pvc pipe down to 12"
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Drilled a hole here to hang it from while the paint dries.
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Painted the inside of the pipe, glued on the cap, then painted the outside of the pipe. While it was drying I started on a stand for the trap. I wanted it to stay put, not roll away.
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I just kind of went with my instincts and creativity here. I had in mind what I wanted to make, ended up real close to what I had envisioned.
[URL=http://s906.photobucket.com/user/jfagan79/media/Lasers/Laser%20Trap%20006.jpg.html][/URL]

Cut a 6" long piece of wood to go in between, tie the ends together.
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At this point I felt the stand was just right. All it needs is a finish.
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Paint is almost dry.
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Painted inside too. More to reduce glare and reflection than anything else.
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Colorant for the concrete.
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Ready to mix.
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Hoping this will provide a good, matte black surface when dry.
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The stand after application of linseed oil. I like linseed oil, have used on many knife handles over the years. (yeah, I make knives too :yh:. Seems as if I am always making some crazy thing or other...)
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The concrete still has some time before it is set. It does look good and dull black though. Hopefully it will perform as I intend.
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Pretty much finished product, waiting for everything to dry now. Wife says it looks like a cannon I suppose it does!
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I have not tried it out yet, still waiting on the concrete to set. I will take some pics aiming some lasers into it when it's all set though.
I hope you all like my project! I welcome any and all feedback. Some may feel this is pointless, and maybe it is, but at least it was fun to build! :yh:

EDIT: I suppose I should have included this, I spent less than $30 making this (already had the wood, linseed oil, tools, etc), and had materials left over to build another. So it was a fun, cheap project!

Mabey me being a neewbie my word doesnt mean much. This is not pointless by any means. Usually at night when I go to bed I bring a different laser to my night stand, and look at the beam as the night gets darker. but what also happens is the laser lights the room up. I allways wondered how to contain the beam in that situation. Looking forward to see your results. I wish I had the courage to show some of my projects,as some of my posts I feel make me feel way behind the majority of the members on this forum. Cant wait to see!:wave:

GSS said:

Mabey me being a neewbie my word doesnt mean much. This is not pointless by any means. Usually at night when I go to bed I bring a different laser to my night stand, and look at the beam as the night gets darker. but what also happens is the laser lights the room up. I allways wondered how to contain the beam in that situation. Looking forward to see your results. I wish I had the courage to show some of my projects,as some of my posts I feel make me feel way behind the majority of the members on this forum. Cant wait to see!:wave:

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Tell you what, never be afraid to share! That is how we learn and grow, by receiving feedback from our projects.

GSS said:

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Thank you I will try. but look what I did I wanted to quote your words and I requoted your pics as well and dont know how to fix it!? :yabbem:

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Use the edit button and edit out the photos, like you should have done when you first quoted it.

Alan

Thanks PiR Squared!

GSS said:

Thanks PiR Squared!

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Your welcome, you see, you are learning, don't be discouraged. There are 2 ways to post photos, you can upload them as an attachment, size limit is 800x600, or the best way is to use a 3rd party photo hosting site, I use Photobucket, it's easy to resize or edit your photos and they give you enough space for free. Remember to resize your photos to no more than 800 width before posting if you display them in your posts like in the above post, I see Vanillah also uses Photobucket. You can also just post links to the full size photos.

Alan

Pi has the right of it, Photobucket is great. I was resizing myself and posting before, didn't much care for that. This way I retain the quality of the photos, and it is relatively painless to upload them.

GSS said:

Thanx to both. Coming this September right down the street at the local college they have a begginers course to basic computers for free, well to those who are over 50. Yup I qualify like I said im still old skcool. Old cars even my work most of my machines are cam driven. This will help me get to my computers options and apps. Sorry for getting of the topic of this thread. Again I want to see the results of this tube!

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No worries, I'm not a "thread Nazi" when it comes to my posts. If getting off track helped you even a little, I'm glad it happened!:yh:

Now with that being said, I took some pics of two different lasers firing down this tube:

First the 650nm I built a little while back
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And next a 532nm
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So there is definitely some reflection in the tube. The concrete I believe will withstand any laser I point at it (I hope so at least). I am satisfied with how this turned out. I can hold a laser inside, turn it on, and have all of it's beam contained inside the tube.

And while I had everything open, I couldn't help but snag a pic of all my goodies together
My collection so far isn't nearly as nice or extensive as many of you have, but I'm happy with it so far, and it is far from done!
[URL=http://s906.photobucket.com/user/jfagan79/media/Lasers/Laser%20Trap%20024.jpg.html][/URL]

It looks good, the concrete should hold up to any laser you get unless things suddenly change in the near future. I would be careful not to point directly at the pipe with anything too powerful, PVC gives off very toxic fumes if it burns.

Your collection is very good so far.

Alan

Nice! Im sure its hard to take a beam shot cause the camera is blocked by the side of the tube. Did you use any fog or smoke? Im curious why you didnt use flat black is it because you did this with what you had on hand? Hope you dont mind but im going to make a copy I wont patent it I promise!!. Do you think if was to drill a few holes in the tube randomly it might let some reflection out or will it work opposite and make it worse. Im going to use some card board tubeing as of now my strongest laser is about 100mw 532nm. Thx You gave me a nice project to do on my down time as im waitng for stuff:beer:

Pi R Squared said:

It looks good, the concrete should hold up to any laser you get unless things suddenly change in the near future. I would be careful not to point directly at the pipe with anything too powerful, PVC gives off very toxic fumes if it burns.

Your collection is very good so far.

Alan

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Thank you! The collection is small but growing. I have two BudgetBeams JAD kits in there, waiting for the $$$ to buy diodes from DTR, hopefully end of this month. As for the concrete, IF we eventually reach the point we have diodes that will cut through it, I'm not 100% I'd even want one..... well maybe just one... And yeah, PVC is nasty, ideally I would mount up the laser, Have it centered in the tube, then turn it on. Which reminds me, I built a couple mounts last night, need to post pics of them later.

GSS said:

Nice! Im sure its hard to take a beam shot cause the camera is blocked by the side of the tube. Did you use any fog or smoke? Im curious why you didnt use flat black is it because you did this with what you had on hand? Hope you dont mind but im going to make a copy I wont patent it I promise!!. Do you think if was to drill a few holes in the tube randomly it might let some reflection out or will it work opposite and make it worse. Im going to use some card board tubeing as of now my strongest laser is about 100mw 532nm. Thx You gave me a nice project to do on my down time as im waitng for stuff:beer:

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No fog or smoke, that is pure unadulterated photons bouncing about. The tube is 3", had my camera right on top of my laser, pic was awkward but not bad to take. I used satin instead of flat mainly because I thought it would look better on the outside, not so worried about reflection on the inside, as it won't really reflect back out of the tube. The main thing is to hit the concrete with the dot after all. As for drilling holes, the two I drilled are only for hanging it up to paint or store. My worry with more holes would be too much beam reflection escaping, maybe catching your eye, or someone else's. Feel free to build yourself one! That was part of my motivation posting this idea, if anyone had a use or desire for such an apparatus, hopefully I gave them some ideas. If you have any questions about dimensions, etc, during the build let me know. :beer:

GSS said:

What power were the lasers that you used? or should I say phasers! (Nice collection by the way) I was thinking of using the thick cardboard tubing they use to set cement poles,at least 6 in. Im not even sure what sizes they come in. As for a backing if im just using nothing more than 100mw of green I should just be able to paint a thick cardboard piece black im guessing? What does the master think:beer: Kudos for looking out for safety of others

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Thanks! I have more Chinese pens and 301's than I do nice lasers, but I have a 445nm and a 462nm project lined up for the end of the month, that should class up the collection a bit!
As for the power of those two lasers I tested the tube with, I don't know for sure. The green is a "200mW" LaserPointerPro, who knows? If I'm lucky it runs somewhere between 100-200mW. The 650nm is capable of 400mW, recommended run at 400mA, I have it at 445mA, so hopefully I'm getting somewhere around 400mW out of it. Need to LPM these things to ever be sure though.
Ok, so if you are using a thick cardboard tube, maybe don't even paint it for your 100mW green? Black absorbs light better, the brown of the cardboard might not burn up as fast, idk, someone else may know better than I. You could use that tube, and a good sturdy cap, paint inside and out, and fill the cap end with some black concrete anyway. Then you would have a setup almost like mine, and it would be a done deal! Regardless of which way you go, it will be a fun project for you I'm sure. :beer:

I don't know if either of you are into Star Trek, but the photos remind me of The Doomsday Machine from Star Trek the original series:


Alan

I knew those pics reminded me of somthing! I loved Star Trek but I am no means a trekie. It was my star trek AA Diamond select phaser that got me to this forum. I saw how they were modding them with lasers plus when I saw JayRob,s it automaticly brings you to this forum. Of the cuff of this thread jayrob uses a Playmates brand that gives him the option of serious power. Ive put a red laser in 1 of mine that im changing over to a 532 green, but im limited with only 2 AAA batterys because of the space issue and the P2 part of the phaser detaching and having the sound board. Pi R Squared im curious if your familiur with these phaser replicas?

No I am sorry I am not, have wanted one but I don't have much extra money.

Alan

Pi R Squared said:

I don't know if either of you are into Star Trek, but the photos remind me of The Doomsday Machine from Star Trek the original series:

Alan

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LOL nice! If only their Doomsday machine had a sweet custom stand to sit on.... But yeah, I see what you mean, the way the beam reflects inside the tube, especially the green one.