- Joined
- Oct 26, 2007
- Messages
- 5,438
- Points
- 83
You might not want to have it in such a portable device. People are going to want to pick up your maglite, and shine it, and that's going to be problematic. It's also a pain to hold if you're burning things.
And which goggles did you buy? If you got a couple of real laser goggles, they're usually going to cost you at least $50 each. We're talking about goggles made for lasers here, and for the specified wavelength of your laser--not safety goggles, and certainly not sunglasses. You're also going to need some that fit the faces of children, not just adults, because they need to wrap around.
I would have your science project inside a booth, with a sheet of laser safety glass for viewing inside a sealed enclosure. Get a fogger machine or clap some erasers so people can see the beam, and get some matches and paper so people can watch you burn stuff, which is always a crowd pleaser.
You could also just buy a premade laser from someone like Daguin for $35 (make sure it is well heatsinked, or it will burn out), take some nice photos of the circuit, and explain how the circuit, diodes, and lasers work. Most of DIY laser building is about just getting the circuit and heatsinking done right, not laser science unless you're making your own gas laser or a green laser with crystals and such.
Therefore, you don't need to build everything from scratch to make an effective science project, especially on lasers, not electrical circuit building. You also don't want the project to burn out from being made wrong (lack of heatsink, etc.). This is an expensive hobby and you can expect to have your stuff burn out the first few times.
And which goggles did you buy? If you got a couple of real laser goggles, they're usually going to cost you at least $50 each. We're talking about goggles made for lasers here, and for the specified wavelength of your laser--not safety goggles, and certainly not sunglasses. You're also going to need some that fit the faces of children, not just adults, because they need to wrap around.
I would have your science project inside a booth, with a sheet of laser safety glass for viewing inside a sealed enclosure. Get a fogger machine or clap some erasers so people can see the beam, and get some matches and paper so people can watch you burn stuff, which is always a crowd pleaser.
You could also just buy a premade laser from someone like Daguin for $35 (make sure it is well heatsinked, or it will burn out), take some nice photos of the circuit, and explain how the circuit, diodes, and lasers work. Most of DIY laser building is about just getting the circuit and heatsinking done right, not laser science unless you're making your own gas laser or a green laser with crystals and such.
Therefore, you don't need to build everything from scratch to make an effective science project, especially on lasers, not electrical circuit building. You also don't want the project to burn out from being made wrong (lack of heatsink, etc.). This is an expensive hobby and you can expect to have your stuff burn out the first few times.
