Need advice on multi diode setup :)

Hi guys, its been a while, and yes i have low rep cause i was young and stupid and because of my rep people think im the spawn of satan, however! i have been working on a very exciting product lately. And i wish to make it even more exciting by including lasers in them...

So.. ive been working on this Iron Man costume for a while and, well... i really REALLY want lasers inside one of its palms to replicate the repulsor in the movie. Now i will have this setup in one hand only due to it being very expensive... so im thinking... about having 5 445nm laser diodes in the palm. or even 10 if i can fit it on there. now.. the only problem i have is the wiring, and the drivers....would i need 1 driver per diode or can multiple diodes be driven off one driver.. or could i just make one strong enough driver to drive all the diodes?...that would of course get hot, very hot.

but... im open to suggestions, and i hope you guys can help this build come to life, my goal is to get it completed by Halloween...

here is what i have currently...

How much power are you hoping to be putting out from the palm of your hand? This doesn't sound like a very safe idea to me...

im planning on having each diode to be 1w, but the diodes will be mounted/pressed into a fairly thick copper disc which will be attached to the hand. The material for the hand will be firebglass reinforced thick paper, which will also have body filler over it.... and not to forget...this hand repulsor wont be on for anything longer than a several seconds...

Why not used a focused blue LED? Safer, cheaper, easier. You wont get the same effect, but it's a costume, you don't actually need it to be a weapon like the real thing.

ARG said:

Why not used a focused blue LED? Safer, cheaper, easier. You wont get the same effect, but it's a costume, you don't actually need it to be a weapon like the real thing.

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eh no, im also a filmmaker/actor, and i was planning on making a short with the suit and a laser. so it has to be a laser.

diachi said:

How much power are you hoping to be putting out from the palm of your hand? This doesn't sound like a very safe idea to me...

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Exactly! Sounds like dangerous, reckless, and irresponsible thing to do.

Apparently 5, 1W lasers at same time

xivlia said:

im planning on having each diode to be 1w, but the diodes will be mounted/pressed into a fairly thick copper disc which will be attached to the hand. The material for the hand will be firebglass reinforced thick paper, which will also have body filler over it.... and not to forget...this hand repulsor wont be on for anything longer than a several seconds...

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Is that what you want to do make a Halloween costume with a palm disc with 5 or 10, 1W lasers each of which would instanly blind someone if hit in the eye?

How do you figure that would not be a dangerous , reckless, and irresponsible thing to do? What do you do intend to dowith it?
Forgeting about your safety for a minute--would be very unsafe to turn it on around other people even if you could manage to do it?

You would need an FDA variance to use of show it--pointers and demonstration lasers limited to <5mW these days. See: http://www.fda.gov/Radiation-EmittingProducts/RadiationEmittingProductsandProcedures/HomeBusinessandEntertainment/ucm118907.htm

Sounds, to me like, an accident looking for a place to happen.

The above being said --just google "laser gloves" and see what is already out there----there is nothing like 5 or 10 1W lasers for several good reasons I would guess.

Encap said:

Exactly! Sounds like dangerous, reckless, and irresponsible thing to do.

Apparently 5, 1W lasers at same time



Is that what you want to do make a Halloween costume with a palm disc with 5 or 10, 1W lasers each of which would instanly blind someone if hit in the eye?

How do you figure that would not be a dangerous , reckless, and irresponsible thing to do? What do you do intend to dowith it?
Forgeting about your safety for a minute--would be very unsafe to turn it on around other people even if you could manage to do it?

You would need an FDA variance to use of show it.

Sounds, to me like, an accident looking for a place to happen.

Click to expand...

I agree with you on all points. Definitely would need an FDA variance (Good luck with that!) assuming that you're in the states and you intend to use it in public. At 10W the slightest reflection could damage someone's eyes, even diffuse reflections would, at the very least, be uncomfortable if not dangerous.

Variances aside, it wouldn't be that hard, even if you were using one driver per diode. A few authentic Panasonic 18650's or some packet style li-pos (thing RC helicopter) would provide plenty of juice and be smaller than 18650's. A few 12mm holes to for some aixis modules and you are good to go. Alternatively you could go the press fit method, and either have a hole threaded to fit the lens, or machine it so you can glue a lens in place and have it focused- couldn't adjust it that way, but it'd be more compact.

so aside from people thinking im going to kill someone with it and blind people... this suit WILL be for my own geeky self, i have NO intentions of using the lasers in Public, when i wear this for Halloween, i will not be hooking up the batteries to the diodes.. im not stupid, and for all you guys, once AGAIN because of my negative rep, thinking im gonna do something stupid and irresponsible, and for your info, i dont live in the US.

@crazyspaz, thank you for your ideas on that! i suppose i could do one diode per driver, but then i would need to connect all them to the same switch.

Good luck with your project!

One question though. Why use 5 1W diodes when you can use 1 diode? There's a 3.5W 450nm one and you could easily push it to more than 5W.

You can get it from DTR here: https://sites.google.com/site/dtrlpf/home/diodes/ndb7a75-3-5w-445nm-diodes

xivlia said:

so aside from people thinking im going to kill someone with it and blind people... this suit WILL be for my own geeky self, i have NO intentions of using the lasers in Public, when i wear this for Halloween, i will not be hooking up the batteries to the diodes.. im not stupid, and for all you guys, once AGAIN because of my negative rep, thinking im gonna do something stupid and irresponsible, and for your info, i dont live in the US.

@crazyspaz, thank you for your ideas on that! i suppose i could do one diode per driver, but then i would need to connect all them to the same switch.

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Even if you don't live in the US, regulations still apply in most places for public displays. But if you're not going to have it on around anyone else/in a public place then that isn't an issue. Maybe incorporate some laser safety glasses into the helmet for your own safety. If you are using it around anyone else in private then you should provide proper eye protection for them.

Multiple drivers would work just fine, you just use one power source and have a switch between that and the drivers which when closed would turn them all on simultaneously. As Crazyspaz said, a packet type LiPo battery would do the job quite well.

You are correct, your negative rep raises some concerns.

Constandinos97 said:

Good luck with your project!

One question though. Why use 5 1W diodes when you can use 1 diode? There's a 3.5W 450nm one and you could easily push it to more than 5W.

You can get it from DTR here: https://sites.google.com/site/dtrlpf/home/diodes/ndb7a75-3-5w-445nm-diodes

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i thought about having one 3.5w diode and push it to 5W, but im not going for power here, im merely going for visuals, by having 5 diodes in a circular array, and once fired, it will give the effect of a large cylindrical beam, which is what i want.

diachi said:

Even if you don't live in the US, regulations still apply in most places for public displays. But if you're not going to have it on around anyone else/in a public place then that isn't an issue. Maybe incorporate some laser safety glasses into the helmet for your own safety. If you are using it around anyone else in private then you should provide proper eye protection for them.

Multiple drivers would work just fine, you just use one power source and have a switch between that and the drivers which when closed would turn them all on simultaneously. As Crazyspaz said, a packet type LiPo battery would do the job quite well.

You are correct, your negative rep raises some concerns.

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okay thanks!

so a packet type LiPo, now.... time to start building the gauntlet... i shall keep yous updated here!

I for one want to see this project completed and operational

As far as I know, fully working palm lasers have only been made by AnselmoFanZero, and those were single-diode setups.

If you manage to build a multi-diode palm laser, that'll be amazingly impressive. Not to mention how awesome the pics will look like.

What are you making the suit out of? I can't figure out the material from the pics. Also, what software are you using to design it?

xivlia said:

i thought about having one 3.5w diode and push it to 5W, but im not going for power here, im merely going for visuals, by having 5 diodes in a circular array, and once fired, it will give the effect of a large cylindrical beam, which is what i want.

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Maybe use a beam expander along with the diode then? That way you could also change the diameter of the beam. It's much less complex this way.

As far as I know, fully working palm lasers have only been made by AnselmoFanZero, and those were single-diode setups.

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But wasn't he using 1W diodes? Are there single-mode 1W diodes out there? Don't think so...

Constandinos97 said:

Maybe use a beam expander along with the diode then? That way you could also change the diameter of the beam. It's much less complex this way.

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A beam expander would take up too much space to fit in the palm of a hand.