100 MW Green Laser Phaser!

[ASBO]

Thanks to your help on this forum i have salvaged my 100mw Laser diode and put it into a $20 star tkek toy phaser to make a baloon popping laser phaser!

I took the phaser apart and took out the plastic toy guts, l.e.d. and shade which adjusted how much light came out the front of the gun. I taped down the switch on the driver board as i did not want to use this as the trigger to save wear, it's pretty precarious anyway as this was the bit which was broken. I measured up where i wanted the housing and board to be and using the foam from inside the case the original pointer came in padded the housing so it lined up with the hole where the LED was. I sprung the trigger with a modified pen spring to make a returning contact switch which gives nice pressure on the trigger button. The handle was just the right width for my batteries but i used some padding on them to keep them comfortable and to stop any rattling.

I then put it all back together being careful to keep the alignment of the housing to the hole in the end and Hey presto working laser phaser that can pop baloons!!!

Thanks for helping me save this diode!

 

[Rhith]

Awesome mod! I've seen this done before. I might recommend just hard wiring across the driver board switch so you don't have glue residue stuck to it afterwards and so you know it will keep the contact. Maybe even wire it to a toggle on the outside of the gun as an extra safety feature.

 

[ASBO]

i did try wiring across the switch but it didn't like it. I am too new to lasers to go dripping solder across the driver board hence all the tape
can't wait till tonight ... hee hee

 

[SenKat_Stonetek]

Nice work ! Where did you get the Phaser ? I have looked, and looked - but none are below the $30 retail mark

 

[ASBO]

i sniped it using auctionsniper on ebay and got it for a real steal 5 secs before the end of the auction from quikdropmicom $24.99 (starting price, 1 bid ). it's a diamond select toys one or probably a cheaper replica but it did for my purposes as i wanted to experiment on it before moving on to a better made replica. It would be shame to wreck a decent one.

 

[SenKat_Stonetek]

I hear ya - that is why I haven't bought the one at Thinkgeek.com yet

 

[ASBO]

the one on thinkgeek.com is the same as mine from what i can tell. good thing about this one is that you can virtually gut it to make loads of space inside.

I also bought a replica communicator off the same guy for $23.50, and it is really nice. (and i have a bluetooth headset ready to be stripped, plus my phone has voice dialling ;D)

 

[IgorT]

I also bought a replica communicator off the same guy for $23.50, and it is really nice. (and i have a bluetooth headset ready to be stripped, plus my phone has voice dialling  ;D)

;D

That's a great idea...


Too bad it wouldn't make sense to put a laser in it..

 

[mikeeey]

awesome!
but the body is made out of plastic?

 

[IgorT]

Yeah.. The green module is all the heatsink. So it should not be left on for too long.

But in this form, i doubt it is ever kept on for too long.. Some metal could be attached to the module, to help dissipate the heat for longer tho. But the room around the module looks tight..

 

[ASBO]

so far the heas hasn't been a problem as it's only on for a few seconds at a time. I am going to take it apart and solder some parts which are taped together to make more permanent so i could put an extra plate in. I burst some baloons with it over the weekend at a 70s party, everyone thought it was really cool