Easy time tunnel!

[Stianbl]

If thats what its called? I'm new to this whole laser things, but its fun to play with

I was thinking of a way to make this time tunnel, and none of the motors on the sled would work, as I didnt get them to turn

I had a small computer fan I wanted to try. Found a 16V adapter (for a laptop), and connected it to the fan. Maybe not very safe, and it's supposed to run at 12V. But it worked great, and it still runs

For mirror, I used that small mirror thingy on the sled. I figure it's not completly a mirror, as it passes some of the beam through. But it worked perfect anyways. =)

Here are some pictures to illustrate it better. Note: I dont have any tripods, so taking pictures in the dark handheld aint too easy Thatsy why some of the images are blury. But you see the effect.

Heres 2 previously taken pictures, to show the "mirror" I was using.

Heres the whole thing put together. Took me 5 mins To fasten the mirror I used some tape, rolled it together with the sticky side out, and placed it on the fan. Just ofset the mirror a little bit.

Heres the fan. See how easily it is done

A close up of that mirror thing

And then some beam shots! As a time tunnel is better viewed in a movie, this might not be that great. But most of you have seen a time tunnel, this is just to illustrate a very easy way to make one.
Again note: handheld. Sorry for the blury pictures....

The speaker it stood on was in the way, so the circle wasn't complete. But it does go complete, of course.

And the size of the circle on the back wall. 3-4meters away from the laser.
This is a very crappy image btw: the size is easily adjusted. Just angle the mirror as you like.

 

[Stianbl]

Hmmm, thing I got hit by tha laser, because I feel a blind spot on my right eye. Well, hope it will go away =) As I never stared at the laser (of coursE), and always had my eyes shut and facing the other way while passing the beam.

I will get some glasses very soon... =P

 

[andy_con]

time tunnel???

its just a laser tunnel

 

[Kris.J]

That's very cool Stian! I've got oodles of little DC fans lying around, time to tinker!

 

[Stianbl]

time tunnel???

its just a laser tunnel

Oh, my mistake.. ^^ Thought you called it a timetunnel... =)

@Kris: thanks

 

[AjentX]

the pics dont show up please re-upload..

 

[phoenix77]

Did you use any smoke for the photos to get the swirly, hazy effect ?

 

[AjentX]

nice! thank you for the re-up looks really easy.. lol awesome tut.. how many mW is your greeny?

 

[Stianbl]

I used some smoke, yes Had an old smoke-machine I got for my birthday when I was a kid xD Still works, never actually used it

My greene should be 50mW, but its from DealExtreme, and that particular laser have been tested lower than that. SO I would guess 40mW? Maybe a littlebit less...
But got myself a red 200mW from DealExtreme, which is told to actually put out about what it says, and it burns stuff easily. Pops baloons instantly, light matches instantly. Great fun for the small pricetag

 

[AjentX]

i just made one of these a couple days ago lol

no fog though but indeed very easy

 

[Stianbl]

Nice =) Yeah, its really easy. If you now go ahead and plaze one more motor, or even 2 more (3 total) then you'll see some great effects.. Try reversing one of the 3 motors. If you use 2 motors I think they could go the same way. Not sure, as I havn't tried it yet.

For smoke, you could always light up some fireworks (small fireworks for kids) to get some smoke ^^ Will smell like New Years eve all over again, but just ventilate the room after your done

EDIT: Also, if you think you will experiment some more with these motors, then you could always go out and buy yourself a cheap smoke machine. I think I got mine from Toys'r'us or something, for like 300 NOK, which is 43 USD.

 

[wummi]

also, if you want this kind of effect:

and you are to cheap to build a blanking circuit, just build an ghetto optical shutter wheel:

by adjusting the speed of the "fan" you can get a standing or slowly rotating effect

(sorry i have no beamshots, camera is dead... but this works extremly well ( if you build a shutter wheel thats precise : )

 

[potatorage]

I like the fan effect, It's pretty nice

 

[Stianbl]

Nice Will have to give that a try sometime

 

[kendon]

@wummi: what should be the speed of the shutter wheel, roughly? my first idea was to set a pc fan between the mirror and the laser, but i guess that's way to fast...?
i'm thinking about where i should look for a motor with a speed in that range.

 

[potatorage]

@wummi: what should be the speed of the shutter wheel, roughly? my first idea was to set a pc fan between the mirror and the laser, but i guess that's way to fast...?
i'm thinking about where i should look for a motor with a speed in that range.

THE Speed can be anything, really, but if it is too fast then no real effect will be seen. You can lower the speed by adding a resistor, a pot, or by simply lowering the voltage below what it is normally run at.