Welcome to Laser Pointer Forums - discuss green laser pointers, blue laser pointers, and all types of lasers

Buy Site Supporter Role (remove some ads) | LPF Donations

Links below open in new window

FrozenGate by Avery

I want to hook up 100 lasers to turn on a switch

A

armyofda12mnkeys

0
Joined
Jan 3, 2009
Messages
8
Points
0
basically me and a friend want to build our interpretation of a 'time machine' for a futuristic model photoshoot (a fog machine will also be involved to enhance the futuristic feel lol)...
I am not sure how to really get started (we are both computer science majors with limited experience in more electrical/engineering projects)...
Should I buy cheap red laser diodes and hook them up in parallel to a power source?
get 100 red laser lot on ebay for 65$ and somehow gerry-rig it to turn on with ghetto wiring going on.
Any ideas?

Specifically what to buy and how to build/calculate power source would be very helpful :).
Thanks!,
Ari
 





Re: I want to hook up 100 lasers to turn on a swit

wow, very cool idea!...
I said I would get red lasers cause they seemed cheapest for cost. now if i were to buy one or two powerful lazers...
Would you recommend red or green?
I saw a cheap green 5mW one here on some websites for 13$
, but I was unsure if it will give the power I need for the diffraction effects to be seen clearly.
 
Re: I want to hook up 100 lasers to turn on a swit

You will get better beam shots with green. Even at 5mw you will have enough power to see beams after the defaraction grating.

Regards rog8811

[edit]You could also consider the idea of using a liquid sky as a back drop.[/edit]
 
Re: I want to hook up 100 lasers to turn on a swit

armyofda12mnkeys said:
wow, very cool idea!...
I said I would get red lasers cause they seemed cheapest for cost. now if i were to buy one or two powerful lazers...
Would you recommend red or green?
I saw a cheap green 5mW one here on some websites for 13$
, but I was unsure if it will give the power I need for the diffraction effects to be seen clearly.
Click to expand...


can you give us an idea of roughly how you are going to position the lasers ?

-Adam
 
Re: I want to hook up 100 lasers to turn on a swit

Definitely go with green. It is much more visible than red. If you have a fog machine, the beams from the diffaction gratings should be visible in the dark as well. I would suggest multiple green lasers, maybe 4 or so if you are going with 5mW or only 2 if you are going with, say, 30mW.

-Mark
 
Re: I want to hook up 100 lasers to turn on a swit

Imagine a door entrance. and lasers attached to the doorway shooting outwards (towards where you are walking)... Like a line of lazers going around the door, so its almost like u walking through a tunnel (a time travel tunnel lol).
Maybe a couple of those Diffraction Gratings on Dragon Lazers, like either the Transmission or Reflection Beam ones which spread it out across a line (both kinda look same to me though).

so a liquid sky, is a system to enhance the laser and spread it across a full plane right? i just googled liquid sky and found systems to use with your laser at $250+, is that the kinda backdrop u talking about?

Sidenote: ... some of these laser 'time tunnel' videos on youtube pretty amazing. how is that effect done, pc fan or a liquid sky system?

Also, Jesus how is this effect done (even more time tunnely than the videos i saw, so i assume its a different effect)?
dragonlasers_com_catalog_photos_800_abp1.jpg (replace _ with /)
pretty cool :)
 
Re: I want to hook up 100 lasers to turn on a swit

also i dont want the girls to get harmed by lazers in the way. it will be facing their backs pretend. and i dont want it to hit them :)
 
Re: I want to hook up 100 lasers to turn on a swit

so a liquid sky, is a system to enhance the laser and spread it across a full plane right? i just googled liquid sky and found systems to use with your laser at $250+, is that the kinda backdrop u talking about?
Click to expand...
It looks like the picture below, that was made for less tha n $50

You could look at using a time tunnel effect as well....
Look at the attached video below the edit in post one of this thread.
http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1230744943
It is not that good an example as I was washing out my fogger with water and the fog was a bit thin, it gives the idea though.

Regards rog8811
 

Attachments

  • sky01small_001.jpg
    sky01small_001.jpg
    144.4 KB · Views: 300
Re: I want to hook up 100 lasers to turn on a swit

armyofda12mnkeys said:
Imagine a door entrance. and lasers attached to the doorway shooting outwards (towards where you are walking)... Like a line of lazers going around the door, so its almost like u walking through a tunnel (a time travel tunnel lol).
Maybe a couple of those Diffraction Gratings on Dragon Lazers, like either the Transmission or Reflection Beam ones which spread it out across a line (both kinda look same to me though).

so a liquid sky, is a system to enhance the laser and spread it across a full plane right? i just googled liquid sky and found systems to use with your laser at $250+, is that the kinda backdrop u talking about?

Sidenote: ... some of these laser 'time tunnel' videos on youtube pretty amazing. how is that effect done, pc fan or a liquid sky system?

Also, Jesus how is this effect done (even more time tunnely than the videos i saw, so i assume its a different effect)?
dragonlasers_com_catalog_photos_800_abp1.jpg (replace _ with /)
pretty cool :)
Click to expand...


If you want to do that, you cannot use a diffraction grating, you could manage it with a liquid sky however. Or you could use several individual lasers.

-Adam
 
Re: I want to hook up 100 lasers to turn on a swit

How do ya get the thing to project such a large circle?
 
Re: I want to hook up 100 lasers to turn on a swit

potatorage said:
How do ya get the thing to project such a large circle?
Click to expand...


Guess your use a spinning mirror to get that effect? if so straighter the mirror and the circle get smaller angling the mirror more will make the circle bigger.
 
Re: I want to hook up 100 lasers to turn on a swit

Thinking about it if you set up 2 vertical and one horizontal sky that just pass through the doorway you would get the effect you want......something like this?

[edit]
Guess your use a spinning mirror to get that effect? if so straighter the mirror and the circle get smaller angling the mirror more will make the circle bigger.
Click to expand...
That is exactly the way ;)[/edit]

Regards rog8811
 

Attachments

  • sky_door01.jpg
    sky_door01.jpg
    23.8 KB · Views: 241
Re: I want to hook up 100 lasers to turn on a swit

If you're not nuts and volts kind of guys I'd suggest getting a ready made laser light show rig.
A couple of hundred bucks and you have liquid sky, time tunnel, spirographs all built in and programable.

Also, if this is just a one time thing, you can rent a laser show and fog machine from your local party store for just a few bucks.

It's only a little more expensive than doing it yourself, and you'll save a lot of frustration.
You have to keep in mind what your time is worth.

I've learned the hard way, that even if I can do or build something myself, unless it saves me at least 75% of the cost, it usually makes more sense to buy it or have someone else do it.

My .02 cents
 
Re: I want to hook up 100 lasers to turn on a swit

SuicideKing: where can i find a good place to find pre-made dj sets like that (specifally time tunnel and liquid sky), i found a few on ebay but mostly made in China.

rog8811: Thanks for drawing that pic. that may be the way to go if i can get 3 of those liquid sky setups for a good price (or 3 diffraction gratings). How would i set that up? like buy 3 pre-made devices that do that? Any good places that sell at good price?

Thanks again everyone, giving some great help!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.





Back
Top