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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

The Re purpose thread

Joined
Oct 24, 2009
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Hopefully exchanging ideas we get can spark creativity in others. How many of you out there have torn apart an RC car to get the servo systems out? used a CPU heat sink to cool a laser? used a cell phone charger to power a laser? set your wife's cut crystal on a record player and shined a pointer at it? emptied out an old printer power supply just to use the plastic box? I'll start with a list of junk you should never ignore when available.

Broken copy machines = 5 mirrors, lenses, stepping motors, solid state relays, power supplies, etc..
broken computer scanners = mirrors
broken projection tv's - 90's vintage = huge first surface mirror, huge Fresnel lens
laser printers = scanning mirrors
BMX bicycles = Billet aluminum parts
broken gas lasers = a cool housing for your diode project. (broken HeNe lasers are cheap)
broken 12 volt power tools = Lithium battery and charger

So what clever ideas does everyone have??

Here I used a toy motor, a tripod bar for mounting photography flash boxes, an aluminum heat sink plate taken from an old computer power supply and a hard drive magnet harvested from a broken hard drive. the end result is quite nice, and (laser excluded) have under 20 bucks spent.... The plastic plate that the power supply is attached to was the bottom of an old Kodak printer, I jig sawed it off because it had a 1/4-20 journal (female thread) for tripod mounting. (free)IMG_0876.jpg
 





Joined
Sep 20, 2013
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That is funny. I have used an Echoplex echo chamber for guitar work back in the early 1970s. It had a loop of record/playback tape running and a record head with two play heads. You could shift the distance between the playback heads to get the type and duration of the echo you want. Using one with a wawa pedal and a violin bow to get the crashing effects that Jimmy Page could get in Led Zeppelin. Very cool effect.

Edit: For those who are fans of Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page was friends with David McCallum who was also a concert violinists as well as an actor. He suggested to Page that he try a violin bow with his guitar. That led to a very unusual sound that Page was able to get. I saw them perform in January 1971 in New Orleans six months before the fourth album was released. They played "Stairway To Heaven" at that concert and I remembered it when the album was finally released. Page used a double neck red Gibson SG on that song.
 
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Joined
Nov 21, 2009
Messages
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Older laser copiers had really nice laser optics. They were large with very fine threads...I used a laser
out of a black and white machine and used the much nicer color laser copier lens on it. It made a 7mm dot
but the cool thing was how small the dot looked at range (excellent divergence) It was deep red, 670nm.
Now the optics are tiny...and instead of one 15 or 20mw beam shot at a mirror with air bearings spinning 18,000 rpm
they are using 40 beam VCSEL lasers on a much less sexy and smaller, slower turning mirror. I got every old laser
assembly I could get my hands on...they were expensive and well made, ideal for projects. The new stuff is lame.
Some of the old analog copiers had huge lenses...I have lots of those too!

The trend is smaller/cheaper optics. Bummer.
 
Joined
Oct 24, 2009
Messages
2,738
Points
63
Older laser copiers had really nice laser optics. They were large with very fine threads...I used a laser
out of a black and white machine and used the much nicer color laser copier lens on it. It made a 7mm dot
but the cool thing was how small the dot looked at range (excellent divergence) It was deep red, 670nm.
Now the optics are tiny...and instead of one 15 or 20mw beam shot at a mirror with air bearings spinning 18,000 rpm
they are using 40 beam VCSEL lasers on a much less sexy and smaller, slower turning mirror. I got every old laser
assembly I could get my hands on...they were expensive and well made, ideal for projects. The new stuff is lame.
Some of the old analog copiers had huge lenses...I have lots of those too!

The trend is smaller/cheaper optics. Bummer.


I was a copier technitian for Konica and Minolta for 20 years. Also Cannon factory trained. Over the decades I have collected front surface mirrors, lenses, solid state relays, solenoids, magnetic clutches, I even powered a HeNe with a transfer corona power pack for a long time. :) I still remember years ago using a file to cut square mirrors, then using JB weld to attach them to solenoids, motor shafts and even the drive unit from a CD player that I wired to oscillate back and forth. The HeNe beam was nearly joyless compared to the high wattage diode lasers of today....
 
Joined
Oct 24, 2009
Messages
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Points
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"Harvested" a few of these polygon mirrors over the years too... I never threw away a machine without tearing it down first.jWLiX.jpg
 
Joined
Nov 21, 2009
Messages
318
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"Harvested" a few of these polygon mirrors over the years too... I never threw away a machine without tearing it down first.View attachment 61993
The assemblies from canon clc 1000 copiers were EPIC. I have 2!!!!

The new stuff is very cheap compared to the originals.

As I type this, my room reeks of burning plastic. I can safely say my 3.84watt 465nm burns much better than my 1.2 watt 520 nm.
I will be 57 in a couple of weeks...and I am just now really enjoying burning!
The clc 1000 mirrors were gold plated and double stacked. Beautiful. And the housing was cast aluminum.
 
Joined
Oct 24, 2009
Messages
2,738
Points
63
The assemblies from canon clc 1000 copiers were EPIC. I have 2!!!!

The new stuff is very cheap compared to the originals.

As I type this, my room reeks of burning plastic. I can safely say my 3.84watt 465nm burns much better than my 1.2 watt 520 nm.
I will be 57 in a couple of weeks...and I am just now really enjoying burning!
The clc 1000 mirrors were gold plated and double stacked. Beautiful. And the housing was cast aluminum.

At times I enjoy the raw power. Being a physics nerd and all... but I also hate lasers that burn the silver off the mirrors or scorch my walls in the den. :)
 




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