Laser for SciFi prop

[joeranger]

New here. I am trying to do as much research as I can before posting. I love to make toy laser guns. I put cheap pointers in wood or plastic prop toys and the kids have a ton of fun in the basement, especially with the fog machine on and the lights off.
I would like to make a high end prop for myself. A blue or yellow laser that can pop a balloon and fit inside a scifi hand held weapon. I am thinking SW Blaster for simplicity and room. This means I do not need an encased laser pointer. The components might be easier to wire to the trigger.
i am trying to balance cost, power and safety.
Cost $100 - $300
Power - very visible - pop balloons, burn tape
Safety - no need for goggles to operate or observe.

I am using the wicked laser Artic as a baseline, but I do not need the housing. I am pretty handy with tools, but have not built a laser before. I would be ok with hooking up a laser to power and trigger.

 

[kevinmassey]

Power - very visible - pop balloons, burn tape
Safety - no need for goggles to operate or observe.

You're funny.

 

[AJ_Dual]

You're funny.

What he's saying is, the two things you're asking for are mutually exclusive.

Anything able to pop a balloon will not be eye-safe and will require goggles.

Green would have the most visibility with the least power for that visibility.

You could put a potentiometer knob in the circuit, and dial it down to 5mW for "play", and back up for burning/popping demonstrations. Although even that is kind of dicey in terms of laser safety, since you could have it in the wrong setting and play with it.

Best would be TWO pistols, one permanently at 5mW, and one at 100-200mW as the burner.

 

[mbessey]

Popping a balloon and simultaneously being eye-safe will be very difficult to accomplish. Other than expanding a beam to a huge size, then focusing it to a point at a short distance, I don't know how you'd get the energy density high enough to pop a balloon, but weak enough in the near distance so as not to blind someone.

 

[joeranger]

Thanks. Still learning, but a point of clarification.
This is not something I would treat as a toy. I assume it would be on par with a pellet gun. Fun to play with but not a toy.
(and yes, I use safety goggles with pellet guns)

 

[qumefox]

It's been done before. And eye protection is mandatory.

http://laserpointerforums.com/f51/tutorial-12x-star-trek-phaser-mod-46886.html

I'm in the processes of doing a similar 1W 445 build. Except i'm using a diamond select phaser instead of the playmates version.. which I couldn't find at a price I was willing to pay. The diamond select version is more accurate, and the type I is detachable, but these things actually make the build a lot harder.

 

[millirad]

^ Love that Jayrob phaser and balloon popping video!

 

[joeranger]

Thanks guys! Very helpful. Here is the progress on the frame. It is the stormtrooper blaster based on the WW2 sterling.

 

[qumefox]

Thanks. Still learning, but a point of clarification.
This is not something I would treat as a toy. I assume it would be on par with a pellet gun. Fun to play with but not a toy.
(and yes, I use safety goggles with pellet guns)

The only thing to watch out for here is while you have to watch out for ricochets with the pellet gun, you have both gravity and atmospheric drag slowing down the projectile fairly quickly. Neither of these will do much to light heh. If you hit a mirror or other similarly really shiny surface, you'll have a beam leaving it at close to the same power and divergence as the incoming one, only at an uncontrolled angle. This is why you and everybody exposed needs to be wearing goggles. They aren't there to protect against what you expect.. They're there to protect against what you don't expect.. Since few people that stick around here long would knowing point high power lasers at people or shiny objects, etc, but accidents do happen.

 

[Meatball]

That's right. EVERY laser, no matter the power, NEEDS to be treated like, and used like it is a firearm of some type. It's all about control. What you're making might not be a toy to you, but to others it looks like one. I recommend <5mw for your project unless you, and everyone around you plans on wearing goggles whenever that thing is out and in use.

 

[joeranger]

Oh, the icy hand of reality across the face. Now I understand. If I want to pop balloons, I need to follow all safety procedures as there is real danger.
If I want a display piece for my desk that gives a pretty light show, use a low power "pointer".

I am going to reset expectations for this project. Since the laser will be embedded into the frame, what is a good compromise for bright, but relatively safe. I would like to use new technology since red and green are very familiar.

What is the "step up" from a laser pointer? Also, the case will be hidden, so I can use parts if better.

 

[drumz0rz]

Well if you don't want red or green you've got few remaining options. You can buy a 405nm laser for fairly cheap, and those are cool since they make UV reactive materials fluoresce, but purple is a very difficult color for your eye to see, and so it is difficult to see a beam without the aid of haze/smoke. 445nm is popular now, but being blue it suffers from a similar visibility issue. Yellow pointers are fairly easy to see but they're definitely the top end on price currently.