Hey Guys!

[pnispel]

So awhile back I got hired as an intern to prototype a cheap bird scaring laser system. (I know best job ever) But after doing a couple random builds (spirograph type stuff) my boss has asked me to start designing the actual product and I'm still pretty new to this whole laser thing. Basically what I want to do is have four 532nm lasers going out horizontally in all four directions after bouncing off fan diffraction grating mirrors. I just need a way to get up and down and left to right movement of the pattern.

 

[Misanthrop]

 

[ARG]

There was actually something like this on TED talks. Where a guy made a laser system that would read the frequency of wing beats of insects (with a non-lethal laser), decide if they were good (bees) or bad (mosquitoes) and then hit them with a CO2 laser.

Obviously you don't want to kill the birds though...

 

[532 with Envy]

"So awhile back I got hired as an intern to prototype a cheap bird scaring laser system. (I know best job ever)"
>>>>>>>>>>WOW, not sure where to start there!

"But after doing a couple random builds (spirograph type stuff) my boss has asked me to start designing the actual product and I'm still pretty new to this whole laser thing."
>>>>>>>>>>>>Boss/primary school teacher?

"Basically what I want to do is have four 532nm lasers going out horizontally in all four directions:thinking: after bouncing off fan diffraction grating mirrors."
>>>>>>>>Again, WOW....

"I just need a way to get up and down and left to right movement of the pattern."
>>>>>>>>>>>have you tried shaking the unit?

My two cents....just for fun........spam

 

[pnispel]

"So awhile back I got hired as an intern to prototype a cheap bird scaring laser system. (I know best job ever)"
>>>>>>>>>>WOW, not sure where to start there!

//
// So I work for this small electrical engineering company
// and this person came to them and asked them to build a
// laser that can scare birds but for cheaper than $1,500 like other
// commercial products
//

"But after doing a couple random builds (spirograph type stuff) my boss has asked me to start designing the actual product and I'm still pretty new to this whole laser thing."
>>>>>>>>>>>>Boss/primary school teacher?

//
// yeah..
//


"Basically what I want to do is have four 532nm lasers going out horizontally in all four directions:thinking: after bouncing off fan diffraction grating mirrors."
>>>>>>>>Again, WOW....

//
// okay so.. theres four main directions on the horizontal plane..
// and theres this diffraction grating that transmits as a line
// Im pretty sure its called fan diffraction grating
//

"I just need a way to get up and down and left to right movement of the pattern."
>>>>>>>>>>>have you tried shaking the unit?

//

My two cents....just for fun........spam

So yeah.. I just dont even know where to start because my primary education teacher wont give me any help

 

[fixitiwill]

I used to live next to a golf course that would use bottle rockets several times a day/night to disperse Canada geese. Knowing just how efficient lasers are at instantly filling the sky with cloud bound birds, I figured I'd try and market some low power green lasers to the golf courses. I looked it up online just to see if maybe I was the first to think of this. I wasn't. Nuisance wildlife hazing lasers they call them. Already invented. :scowl:
I agree, you got a good deal going there.

You might find this of interest: Effectiveness of a Motion-Activated Laser Hazing System
for Repelling Captive Canada Geese

 

[532 with Envy]

pnispel your post is not clear.

If you were hired, even as an inter, to..."prototype a cheap bird scaring laser system" you would not be asking such questions.

Asking others to solve your business/intern duties are not a substitute for research and development.

 

[ShortyInCanada]

Not sure I understand the question properly.
Why do you need 4 lasers ?
You say you want to project horizontally but then you add that you want to go up & down too.
Why are you thinking about diffraction gratings ? They break up the beam into many smaller and lower powered beams. How is that going to help you ?
Have you though at all about how you would keep the output "safe" preventing non-intended targets from being exposed ?
Perhaps a bit more info on your intentions and plans so far...
:thinking:

 

[pnispel]

pnispel your post is not clear.

If you were hired, even as an inter, to..."prototype a cheap bird scaring laser system" you would not be asking such questions.

Asking others to solve your business/intern duties are not a substitute for research and development.

I'm not asking people to "solve my duties" I'm asking people who are part of the laser community what they would use to move a horizontally laying beam along 2 axes in the vertical plane as opposed to trolling around on the internet for hours and hours researching every type of motor/actuator/galvo possible.

 

[pnispel]

Not sure I understand the question properly.
Why do you need 4 lasers ?
You say you want to project horizontally but then you add that you want to go up & down too.
Why are you thinking about diffraction gratings ? They break up the beam into many smaller and lower powered beams. How is that going to help you ?
Have you though at all about how you would keep the output "safe" preventing non-intended targets from being exposed ?
Perhaps a bit more info on your intentions and plans so far...
:thinking:

So this thing is supposed to sit in the rafters of a barn and project a beam around 360 degrees to scare away any birds nesting there. I was thinking about diffraction grating because you're not just going to be able to shoot around a single laser beam and spook birds in the whole area.

 

[532 with Envy]

So this thing is supposed to sit in the rafters of a barn and project a beam around 360 degrees to scare away any birds nesting there. I was thinking about diffraction grating because you're not just going to be able to shoot around a single laser beam and spook birds in the whole area.

Okay then.....

Try something like this..http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alton-132300-Rotary-Laser-Level-Kit-/140623282413?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20bdcd00ed#ht_500wt_1202.a rotary style laser, using a spinning mix of mirrors. With a more powerful 532nm and a grating as you said may produce what you are looking for.
What you are trying to do will take a lot more research on your part. This is a project that will have many parts and can not be solved only here. If you can produce even some drawings of what you are thinking of there will be more useful input.

 

[fixitiwill]

So this thing is supposed to sit in the rafters of a barn and project a beam around 360 degrees to scare away any birds nesting there. I was thinking about diffraction grating because you're not just going to be able to shoot around a single laser beam and spook birds in the whole area.

I disagree. 1 x 5mW green laser will scatter a 1000 geese in under 20 seconds. Hell, on a real dark night you can do the same with a cheap 5mW red laser. That's several football fields worth of birds.
I'd suggest getting a <5mW laser and go do some field research.

Just make sure you-
​

Don't scare them off of areas they are allowed to be in, it stresses the hell out of them.
Check the laws in your area.
DO NOT aim at the birds themselves! It's the rapidly moving "thing" they see that scares the heck out of them; don't blind them! (Laser guidelines were developed for human sensitivities, who knows how little it would take to do permanent damage to them.)

 

[ShortyInCanada]

So a single higher powered green laser with a long term duty cycle aimed at a rotating assembly of mirrors that are set to different angles would produce as many lines of laser light as there are different mirrors.
A good power supply for the laser could also power the motor assembly.
Put it on a standard timer to help control the day/night operations (and possible add a bit of "randomness" to the on times even) and you might find it done for almost no cost.
And with the timer you could incorporate a motion sensor that you aim at the areas where they try to nest so you could target the birds when they fly in too.
Just my thoughts though.

 

[pnispel]

I was thinking of trying to do something like forssa1 did with the 360 laser spirograph using a bore thru slip ring. But like envy said i have a lot more research to do involving supplying power from the stationary base to the rotating assembly. Though I suppose if I used a bore thru DC motor and used a mirror to reflect a beam coming up through the hole onto a mirror assembly surrounding the spinning motor it would probably work just as well. Thanks for the more serious replies btw.

 

[fixitiwill]

I don't know what the laws are in your neck of the woods, but here 5mW is the most you could use. But if it's green, it's enough.
The laser shouldn't be on the same level as the birds, it should be located above, since you need to create a quickly (but not to quick) moving dot that sweeps toward the flock, and then slowly through the area being cleared. The idea being to imitate a predator attack.
Use the laser as little as possible, and not in any pattern. Trust me, they get used to it if you do.
Like I said, I did a lot of research on this a few years back!
By the way, if it's pigeons you are trying to scare off, good luck. They will fly off, circle around and come right back, over and over... I think they are so dumb they forget why they left.

 

[GoolGaul]

i got my hands on a supermarket barcode scanner. There is a mirror assembly, that has a rotating square, and on the 4 sides are a differently angled mirror.