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Does this idea look like it would work?

Joined
May 1, 2012
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208
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Here is my idea, let me know if you think it would work/ any sugestions to improve it. The lasers are just 5mW pointers, but I could remove them from the pointer body to save room if I knew how I would wire them up and then power them. Otherwise they will reflect perfectly to get them to line up and then bounced off mirrors conected to motors.
(incase the file does not load here is a link to it, http://imgur.com/2XntN)
 

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That wont work. The lasers will reflect off the mirror at the same angle they hit it. They will not combine into one beam. If you want to combine them, you need to use dichros. Other then that it looks like it would work. One problem I encountered when I tried to build a spirograph was that the motors vibrated too much.

A dichro will pass one color and reflect another. This picture shows how a dichro combines green and red into yellow

23758d1255424599-first-rgy-spirograph-dichro-comb.jpg
 
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That wont work. The lasers will reflect off the mirror at the same angle they hit it. They will not combine into one beam. If you want to combine them, you need to use dichros. Other then that it looks like it would work. One problem I encountered when I tried to build a spirograph was that the motors vibrated too much.

A dichro will pass one color and reflect another. This picture shows how a dichro combines green and red into yellow

23758d1255424599-first-rgy-spirograph-dichro-comb.jpg

I know they will bounce off at different angles but would it be possible to line op the lasers exactly so they reflect at the same angle?
 
Maybe you could do it with prisms, because of dispersion, but not mirrors. Even so, that would be relatively difficult, and dichros are probably your best option.
 
I know they will bounce off at different angles but would it be possible to line op the lasers exactly so they reflect at the same angle?

No, think about it. It is basic physics. All of the lasers would have to be in the exact same physical spot.
 
Some terms you might find useful to search for more information: dichro, PBS cube, knife edging.

As others said you can't do it the way you describe, no matter how close you get the lasers they will never combine into a single beam since the angles will always be different.
 


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