Star Trek TOS Phaser's Laser Modded For Sale..

[GSS]

Sounds like you are planning to use some high power diodes. Or, at least, some ones that get quite hot like a high power green.

The fun of these Star Trek phasers are more shorter bursts with the familiar sound it makes from the TV series.
This Rubie brand has alot of room and could of asked Rich for a bigger sink but I thought having a little more open pocket space inside was better for cooling and if you open the image pic you can see the front sticks out around 1/4 inch by choice. I could of asked Rich to make the whole nozzle and sink one big piece. But with the runs times and power levels I didn't think it was worth it. The plastic nozzle has a series of little holes, not much but just thinking every little bit helps.
I feel very comfortable if I wanted to run the M140 at 45 to 60 seconds. The 520 at 1W a bit less just to be safe.
The phaser with Rich's focus nozzle is made from AL and it screws right into the heatsink itself which is also I believe better heat transfer but it's also only running at 1W.
The battery size that the handle takes is also limited, I thought of trying to fit 14500's but just wasn't worth the little extra capacity.
If you look some other builders they even use up to a 7W NUM44, in a different brand phaser that is limited in size inside and has way smaller heat sink and the biggest battery they can manage is only 2 16340's, and even 2 14500's from one builder which no way they drive that 7W. Crazy over kill.
Again they show a video of lighting some matches, popping a balloon or just quickly igniting some steel wool. That's about it.

Now the Klingon Distruptor Rich has, is a whole different prop. Coming from the main body and handle is a long tube and at the tip is where the laser module will go. It's up to him to just how big of a sink he want's to go with.

 

[paul1598419]

Sounds interesting, Peter. At least you are aware of the heat problem and don't try to run the green too long without a comfortable cool down time. I look forward to seeing what Rich comes up with on his.

 

[Benm]

I wonder if it's a good idea putting class 4 laser beams in these things in the first place really.

With a responsible owner that'd be okay, but i guess the "i want to play with it!" factor on these things is so large you'll get friends shooting them around that perhaps have limited understanding of laser safety.

Keeping it down to a sort of eye safe 5 mW may make them look really unimpressive, but perhaps there is no need for these things to output beams in the order of a watt either. Apart from hitting eyes these things will be dangerous to other things too - they wouldn't kill anyone i reckon, but then again getting a hole short through your suit by a 'toy laser' isn't idea either

 

[Pelagius]

I wonder if it's a good idea putting class 4 laser beams in these things in the first place really.

With a responsible owner that'd be okay, but i guess the "i want to play with it!" factor on these things is so large you'll get friends shooting them around that perhaps have limited understanding of laser safety.

Keeping it down to a sort of eye safe 5 mW may make them look really unimpressive, but perhaps there is no need for these things to output beams in the order of a watt either. Apart from hitting eyes these things will be dangerous to other things too - they wouldn't kill anyone i reckon, but then again getting a hole short through your suit by a 'toy laser' isn't idea either

I would not take it to a social gathering-but showing it one on one- with supervision and safety awareness is different

 

[GSS]

I wonder if it's a good idea putting class 4 laser beams in these things in the first place really.

With a responsible owner that'd be okay, but i guess the "i want to play with it!" factor on these things is so large you'll get friends shooting them around that perhaps have limited understanding of laser safety.

Keeping it down to a sort of eye safe 5 mW may make them look really unimpressive, but perhaps there is no need for these things to output beams in the order of a watt either. Apart from hitting eyes these things will be dangerous to other things too - they wouldn't kill anyone i reckon, but then again getting a hole short through your suit by a 'toy laser' isn't idea either

Yes it's a good point and so true. If only there was a way to have a bright beam that did no damage.
If they were to be built with a lower power 520 -532 there still would be the need to run them at 100mw minimum for a wow factor.. Double edge sword kinda thing..
Ebay sellers of these claim to have rules in place to rule out potential immature buyers.
Leaves someone to use their best judgment if they are selling. For example, messages with Palegius tell me he's an older wiser man with other high power laser's, with brick beam stops and 3 or 4 pairs of Eagle laser glasses to maby show some friends. Plus he wants to focus the beam wide while using indoors for extra caution. and seeing from his post's it looks like he is what he says he is??

Not that a kid can't take his father credit card and go on a ebay buying spree..

 

[paul1598419]

Parents have been giving credit cards to their kids for years now. No need to take a credit card to buy on eBay. I have given my daughter a couple of my credit cards over the years. She is no longer a kid, but you can see how this happens a lot.

 

[Pelagius]

Yes it's a good point and so true. If only there was a way to have a bright beam that did no damage.
If they were to be built with a lower power 520 -532 there still would be the need to run them at 100mw minimum for a wow factor.. Double edge sword kinda thing..
Ebay sellers of these claim to have rules in place to rule out potential immature buyers.
Leaves someone to use their best judgment if they are selling. For example, messages with Palegius tell me he's an older wiser man with other high power laser's, with brick beam stops and 3 or 4 pairs of Eagle laser glasses to maby show some friends. Plus he wants to focus the beam wide while using indoors for extra caution. and seeing from his post's it looks like he is what he says he is??

Not that a kid can't take his father credit card and go on a ebay buying spree..

A bright beam with no damage potential. That would be nice.

Hahaha! I'm still a kid-at heart. But a LOT more experienced! It will get very limited show and tell-with only people that have firearms training most likely-IE. Never point at anyone or any living thing-never point at shiny surfaces-make sure the spot is broad-unless planning on smoke. I do have multiple Eagle goggles.

 

[Benm]

If they were to be built with a lower power 520 -532 there still would be the need to run them at 100mw minimum for a wow factor.. Double edge sword kinda thing..

Yeah, and also problematic if you want it to be authentic to some degree. Phasers have always been sort or orange in color in star trek, so putting a green beam in there would make it more like an enemy/alien weapon like a disruptor. I figure this may be an important difference for fans.

The 638-ish multimode diodes might actually be good here since the beam is pretty divergent with best effort, and can be defocused a but more by slightly misaligning the optics on purpose. This still would not make them totally safe, but perhaps you can get to the point that the beam at 1 meter distance is so wide the power density is lower and power delivered to the pupil is under 5 mW.

This would be true to the original special effects too since the beams look quite wide there despite being cgi.

 

[Pelagius]

Yeah, and also problematic if you want it to be authentic to some degree. Phasers have always been sort or orange in color in star trek, so putting a green beam in there would make it more like an enemy/alien weapon like a disruptor. I figure this may be an important difference for fans.

The 638-ish multimode diodes might actually be good here since the beam is pretty divergent with best effort, and can be defocused a but more by slightly misaligning the optics on purpose. This still would not make them totally safe, but perhaps you can get to the point that the beam at 1 meter distance is so wide the power density is lower and power delivered to the pupil is under 5 mW.

This would be true to the original special effects too since the beams look quite wide there despite being cgi.

In the original series they were blue-except when they were not! What's that 470 nm?

 

[paul1598419]

If you are going for blue, an NDB7675 would likely be a good diode for that. I would limit it to no more than 2.2 amps because you really don't have room for much heat sinking. I have one that I'm just waiting on a replacement diode to finish, but the driver is set for 1.8 amps. I do plan on measuring the wavelength of the diode that wouldn't seat properly in the copper module and the threshold and 1.8 amp wavelengths of the replacement diode to see what kind of shift I get.

 

[GSS]

Yeah, and also problematic if you want it to be authentic to some degree. Phasers have always been sort or orange in color in star trek, so putting a green beam in there would make it more like an enemy/alien weapon like a disruptor. I figure this may be an important difference for fans.

The 638-ish multimode diodes might actually be good here since the beam is pretty divergent with best effort, and can be defocused a but more by slightly misaligning the optics on purpose. This still would not make them totally safe, but perhaps you can get to the point that the beam at 1 meter distance is so wide the power density is lower and power delivered to the pupil is under 5 mW.

This would be true to the original special effects too since the beams look quite wide there despite being cgi.

Yes they were mostly redish in color but like Pelagius posted they did use other colors and iv'e seen green used also.
I like the authentic look but not to the extreme that some do. There have been some kinda heated battle's on the RPF "replica prop forum
A 638 is a good choice for authentic and beam divergance reasons, but i'm not really fond of that color.
Pelagius really wants something at least at 462nm for better visiblity over the 445nm M140. Who thinks that at around 2W's it will be that much noticeable? Do M140 run at 445nm or are they closer to 450nm. The relative brightness chart says it around 30% bright from a 445nm to a 465nm. Thats if the diode's avalable are true to there nm ratings.

 

[lasersbee]

I don't know yet, just seeing if there's any interest. But no way near as close as what some are asking on ebay.
I'm thinking around $200 to $250 for the 520 green?? Just to try to basicly break even.
Lifetime17 was a blessing and made things so much easier. As far as the focus nozzle he had just gotten his lathe, came up with the idea on his own and sent it to me with the heatsink I asked for.
Which ST phaser do you have Jerry?

On another note, did the forum change make it easy to upload picture's. I am shocked I was able to post them!!

That's a good price for the 520nm..
I've got a cheapie I bought on eBay about 8 years ago by Diamond.
It has the Type 2 Phasor with the Type 1 Mini Hand Phasor clipped
to the top and removable. It looks just like yours.
Was thinking of putting an LD in both.

I haven't tried to post pics yet.....IDK

Jerry

 

[GSS]

That's a good price for the 520nm..
I've got a cheapie I bought on eBay about 8 years ago by Diamond.
It has the Type 2 Phasor with the Type 1 Mini Hand Phasor clipped
to the top and removable. It looks just like yours.
Was thinking of putting an LD in both.

I haven't tried to post pics yet.....IDK

Jerry

Those AA Diamond Select were the first mass produced Star Trek phaser that was as close to the TV props as they come. I guess they finally bought the copy rights. Before that the Playmates brand that Jay Rob mods were the closest.
New member Ceefus has a Diamond select that he got from me. They kinda started the craze of laser modding.
Jerry, thats the brand that jonpaul modded that you had posted on his u tube thread a while back. He had put a NUM44 in one.
They are tricky and tight inside and the main body has no power source, as you can see in yours the P1 has the 3 button tops to run the sound and the red LED..
So many metal parts available for it and "jonpaul12" I think thats his ebay name, make a custom AL nozzle head that extends inside to hold a 12mm module for a exact fit to the Diamond. Not that you couldn't machine one yourself or have Rich make one but for I think around $30 its worth it as he has the bugs worked out and has invested in tooling for it's specific dimensions. It's not the same AL nozzle that Ceefus has in his. His doesn't extend to hold a 12mm module.
I have one built that I still have that I put a Fasttech 532 module in, and use a extra limit switch with 2 AAA's in the handle.
Would love to see how you would mod one By the way since the Diamonds are out of production now, ebay sellers want big money for them

 

[paul1598419]

Yes they were mostly redish in color but like Pelagius posted they did use other colors and iv'e seen green used also.
I like the authentic look but not to the extreme that some do. There have been some kinda heated battle's on the RPF "replica prop forum
A 638 is a good choice for authentic and beam divergance reasons, but i'm not really fond of that color.
Pelagius really wants something at least at 462nm for better visiblity over the 445nm M140. Who thinks that at around 2W's it will be that much noticeable? Do M140 run at 445nm or are they closer to 450nm. The relative brightness chart says it around 30% bright from a 445nm to a 465nm. Thats if the diode's avalable are true to there nm ratings.

The M140s I have measured were all very close to 445nm, not 450nm. That is not to say that there might not be some that are able to reach 450nm, just that I haven't seen it yet. But, at over 2 watts, this diode's beam is very visible even in well lit rooms. I do have one that outputs 1.6 watts because the lens is a three element lens. It is still quite visible.

 

[GSS]

I think Pelgius also just likes the 462 color better.

 

[Pelagius]

I think Pelgius also just likes the 462 color better.

That is true too! I think the color (465 nm) is closer to the blue phaser version- but also according to this it's 46% more visible. That said I did see pics where the Tos Phaser fired a Red beam-even something close to violet. So light blue-probably 472 is closest is to my eye the closest match.