How to turn your mini maglite into handheld burning laser

[Deadbent]

I'm giving this a try when I get home.


http://lifehacker.com/software/diy/turn-a-flashlight-into-a-handheld-burning-laser-287252.php

[Mommadeez4u]

I'll buy one from ya :)

[RobeSoup&Tears]

Whoa...nice find.

[Nothing Sound]

I find it hard to believe that 2 AA batteries
would be able to supply that much power.

[Deadbent]

I'll buy one from ya :)

I would've got to work but needed the laser adapter thingie from radio shack.

They should be pretty inexpensive, under 15 bucks to make.

[notmikeh]

finally. a thread with something useful

[martianvirus]

Just don't burn down you house.

[MyKneeGrows]

I have 2 4200watt lasers that will cut 1" steel plate.

Mitsubishi makes them, only costs about $650,000.00/per.

[Mommadeez4u]

I have 2 4200watt lasers that will cut 1" steel plate.

Mitsubishi makes them, only costs about $650,000.00/per.

Yeah but do they run on two AA batteries?

[abudabit]

I have 2 4200watt lasers that will cut 1" steel plate.

Mitsubishi makes them, only costs about $650,000.00/per.

So where did you 'acquire' $1.3 million worth of industrial equipment?

[THE FEZ MAN]

i wonder how much power you can dump into it before it burns out. some thing like that would be useful for scoring lines or even cutting stuff, when i do some body i use laser levels for lines, to be able to actually cut or mark with it would rock

[Sct Ptersns Twn]

I'll buy one from ya :)

Ditto! I would buy too! :action-sm

[Furtherman]

Those kids with the balloons down at the carnival are gonna pay!

MUHUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Sct Ptersns Twn]

So where did you 'acquire' $1.3 million worth of industrial equipment?

He must have access to a machine shop. We don't have one in my shop but we send out plate and such to get burned out all the time. I have been trying to get the boss to buy one. Lots of work out there for a laser cutter.

[Deadbent]

Hey guys, if you'd like me to actually make ya one, pm me. I've got like 4 old dvd drives that I can pull lasers from.

[JoeyDVDZ]

Man, I threw out like 4 of my old burners that shit the bed.

[Rumrunner]

Hey guys, if you'd like me to actually make ya one, pm me. I've got like 4 old dvd drives that I can pull lasers from.

did you make one yet? You'll have to post how well it destroys different objects, make sure you include a wow sticker on the background..

[THE FEZ MAN]

i did a you tube search on home made lazers theres a bunch of differnt ways to "up" the out put of even cheep laser pointers. im so gona do this, i just have to get off the 50$ looks like you can just get lasers from this company, they have some how toos on the instruction pages

[Sct Ptersns Twn]

i did a you tube search on home made lazers theres a bunch of differnt ways to "up" the out put of even cheep laser pointers. im so gona do this, i just have to get off the 50$ looks like you can just get lasers from this company, they have some how toos on the instruction pages

*rubbing hands together*


Muah haaa haaa, Muuuuuuaaaah haaaaaaa haaaaaaaa,

Muuuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaah haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

[MyKneeGrows]

He must have access to a machine shop. We don't have one in my shop but we send out plate and such to get burned out all the time. I have been trying to get the boss to buy one. Lots of work out there for a laser cutter.

Thats what I do, Laser programmer/Operator. They are badass, and cut anything. Wood, metal, plastic, glass. They etch. Very cool and a must have in todays metal shops.

Sorry for going off topic.

I'm a douche

[THE FEZ MAN]

lasers is lasers, i just think that they are the ultimate tool for some jobs. i wish i could cut with my laser level, that thing is great and it was cheep as hell

[Deadbent]

Thats what I do, Laser programmer/Operator. They are badass, and cut anything. Wood, metal, plastic, glass. They etch. Very cool and a must have in todays metal shops.

Sorry for going off topic.

I'm a douche

No not really off topic, Im always interested in lasers... but the douche part? :action-sm

and no guys, not yet... haven't finished one up. barely got the radio shack part before I got to work tonight.


Gonna whip it up this weekend though. I'll report on it's damage, though at 250mw or whatever it is, the best it'd do is fry baloons, light matches, and kill bugs smaller than a dime.

and fezman... here's a link for you buddyboy :)

(and all other do it yourselfers!)

http://www.kipkay.com/

Check his flashlight mod. it's pretty good. I can attest.

[Sct Ptersns Twn]

Gonna whip it up this weekend though. I'll report on it's damage, though at 250mw or whatever it is, the best it'd do is fry baloons, light matches, and kill bugs smaller than a dime.




Don't forget to let me know when it's done. ;)

[Dicktator]

I can't wait until i have a way to pop all these balloons scattered around my house.

[LZMF1]

i'm goona have to make one of these. i wonder if it would work with one of the bigger maglites. i have the one that takes 2 D batteries as well as the one that takes 3. they would definitely be able to burn shit if they don't burn up.

[Deadbent]

Don't forget to let me know when it's done. ;)

You got it bucko.



LZMF1 i'm gonna have to make one of these. i wonder if it would work with one of the bigger maglites. i have the one that takes 2 D batteries as well as the one that takes 3. they would definitely be able to burn shit if they don't burn up.


The intensity of the laser won't be governed by the battery output, or overall voltage in 'em. For this project, the faster the dvd burner, the more intense the laser, though.
If using a big ass maglite, you'd only have a longer lasting source of power.
And that can be a good or bad thing, depending.

From doing some research this morning...

the 16x dvd burner; it's laser can only be ran at full stream (like in the video) for about a minute, if that. Otherwise, it can (and most likely) will melt.

(Meaning.. if you hold down the button, or keep it on nonstop for a minute+ it's kaput. The diode will burn itself out)
I thought that was kind of a downside to it.


If I can find some sort of ... device or regulator to provide a pulse effect in rapid succession (which is how the laser normally operates when in the dvd drive) it would accomplish two things.

The first, I think it would actually increase it's potency and effectiveness.
For example, imagine an automatic rifle shooting every cartridge in its magazine at its target, and there's no grouping. Just every cartridge hitting in the same place. ontop of each one, right after the other.
That's the general idea behind pulsing lasers, I'm pretty sure. Perhaps mykneegrows can confirm/deny this for me before I start chopping up the dvd drives.

and two, I'd almost bet it would allow a longer operating time than 1 minute.
If pulses are being shot at 10 times a second, that'd increase it's operation time to (insert math here, someone) ________.

Also, I was digging around to find what burners have the highest milliwatt rating, which is what the intensity is gauged by.
It seems lightscribe burners are tops, at 300 miliwatts. I have none of those.
A few 16x burners for sure though to piece apart.


Anyhow, that's my update, I need to see if there are places or specialty shops online that deal with strictly laser/handheld shit, and try to find something to create a pulse. If I'm going to make one, I figure I do it correctly, the first time. (or at least by the second time ;p)



Edit : After Todays ron and fez show, we should make yellow laser beams

[LZMF1]

interesting.....i have a lightscribe burner in my XP media center PC. i rarely ever use it. the diode would be put to much better use in the 2 D cell maglite

[Deadbent]

interesting.....i have a lightscribe burner in my XP media center PC. i rarely ever use it. the diode would be put to much better use in the 2 D cell maglite



Don't start hacksawing it out just yet bro, I've got some homework to do yet on the pulse thing.

[LZMF1]

cool man....get some info and post that shit.

who knows? maybe if it works nicely i'll shoot some vids and put 'em on youtube.

[Deadbent]

I knocked out hard earlier, so my info hunting was sorta cut short. Fucking hate the graveyard shift.


But.. so far...

I found a decent online retailer for laser parts and what not, but they've got over 250 orders put in today for the laser housing/focuser. I don't think I'll be able to get anything in with them for a week. So I need a secondary source. Guess it's gonna be the radioshack model after all, if there happens to be no other similar laser part retailers. That's sorta the bottleneck right now for me.
The part I need is responsible for tightening and focusing the beam.


Second... Lzmf, I found out any more than 3 volts running through the laser diode will fry it. Meaning D batteries, C, etc.. Even Lithium AA, aren't too good. So the BigAss Maglite Laser... would probably be a bust and ruination of material. The mini is best suited to it.

Standard AA batteries I think give off 1.35v a piece, and that gets us right under the threshold of what fries the diode.

3, a pulse regulator, or whatever... probably isn't available, or able to house a diode like that. Was asking around, can pretty much say for a fact it'd be a no go.

4, I also found that cd burners are absolutely not recommended, because they are Infrared. Meaning you can't see em. The potential danger is increased.
Plus, even with the dvd drive laser, the danger is huge. Even if the beam is reflected off something, someones eye coming into direct contact with the beam is likely to cause permanant damage. With that said, don't use this around your pets, or wives.

5, if anyone wants a purple laser, take apart your blu ray player and use it's diode.
Some richer people were already fucking around with this option.



Edit: hmm also, I'm not sure about laser laws, but there's the off chance this can actually be illegal to make/own. (I know jack shit about this, and just thought of it)

Radioshits are closed right now, and I slept my fucking daylight hours away, so I gotta go shop tomorrow.

Tomorrow the first revision of this bitch gets built.

[Deadbent]

Had a hiatus on these while I waited for the focus pieces to get here.

Just soldered the new laser into the first unit, about to drill the fitting on the flashlight to house it properly, after that I'll need to make it flush and screw back together correctly.

Hopefully this works. Will report back later, but Bioshock takes precedence. :p

[Mommadeez4u]

Deadbent: The Sgt. Carter of Wackbag!

http://www.larryhovis.net/larryhovis/hhpix/hh102.jpg

[Mommadeez4u]

Uh oh:

Zapped! Man Charged With Shining Super-Power Laser at Airplanes (http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=4416)

[SwimConnerSwim]

Will this work with a CD burner? Or is a DVD burner the only option. I have a CD burner laying around i could do this with..

[LAX]

This is cool I think I'm gonna make one also:icon_wink


Will this work with a CD burner? Or is a DVD burner the only option. I have a CD burner laying around i could do this with..

Someone answered that earlier in the thread......

[Deadbent]

Technical Sargeant, haha momma.


Well, I got the housing complete, the soldering went as expected, everything fit. The laser powered up, the focus piece worked to condense the beam, it worked, it burned a match. It drove some ants nuts before killing one. and I had no balloons to test on.

I used it 5 times.
Once in rapid fire manner. On-off-on-off-on-off. "Ok, it works? it works!"

Once to burn the match. That took 12 seconds.

Once chasing the ant and cooking him. 43 seconds. and 38 seconds respectively.

Once to try burning gift-tissue paper. 22 seconds. Then the batteries started to die out and the beam got wimpy.

I used fresh AA energizers to start.

I loaded more batteries in the laser. Tried to turn it on. No laser fired.

Tried with other batteries, no dice.

I'm guessing somehow I fried the laser diode, and that the recommended continual use on this thing should be well under 1 minute, not the full 1 minute I've read about on forums.


More trial and error will be forthcoming to get this thing right. I must've done something wrong with it.
Just wanted to let the guys know about the experiments so far.

Still have to figure out how the diode burnt out. Either by prolonged use, or some sorta spike in voltage/focuspiece failure.

[SwimConnerSwim]

The Mag light that uses only 2 D sized batteries might work with this. D batteries are 1.5 volts each, so the 2 would be at the limit. I've ordered the housing, now I just need to find a DVD drive. I'm going to try it with the mini, then move on to the bigger Mag.

[LAX]

Now that I know it's confirmed working...I'm definetly making one

[martianvirus]

I don't know if I would trust myself to make one. I might burn something down.

[Earth2murf]

that is sooo cool

[Deadbent]

Still no confirmation on what caused the diode to burn out. I've tried it in a different focuser, and with different batteries, and no dice. The diode definitely fried out in under one minute of continual use. I'm reluctant to fry another one under the same circumstance/construction until I get some sort of hint as to why, and what I can do differently next time to avoid it from happening.

As far as the d battery-maglite goes, give it a shot, but I was under the impression 1 d battery is 2.8 volts. Anything over 3 (and from my experience even at 3.0v) is said to fry the diode.
Your main difficulty aside from voltages, would be to fit the focuser into the flashlight head.


I've got all the material set up for another round tonight when I get in from work. Hopefully assholes on the laser forums reply by then with some answers.

[SwimConnerSwim]

Hopefully assholes on the laser forums reply by then with some answers.

El-oh-El.. Don't know why but that had me laffing..

[cigarsandscotch]

Wow, that would really come in handy at a shitty music concert. Can it reach a stage? I'd buy a ticket if I thought I could melt one of Justin Timberlake's eyes.

[jackjack]

As far as the d battery-maglite goes, give it a shot, but I was under the impression 1 d battery is 2.8 volts.

Any single alkaline cell is going to be 1.5v, regardless of the size.
One idea would to be to try rechargable AA's. the NiCad cells are around 1.3, so that'd be a bit of a reduction.

This looks like a pretty cool experiment. I love shit like this.
I'll definitely give it a try eventually.

[Deadbent]

Can probably damage 20-30% of someones permanent vision from 500 yards. It can reach up to 2 miles, too.


Going to give it a shot with rechargeables too Jackjack. Thanks for the info.

[WhiteHonkyDevil]

You guys ever read any of the "Evil Genius" books?

Like, 101 Gadgets for the Evil Genius, 100 Spy Gadgets for the Evil Genius, etc...?

Basically, schematics and do-it-yourself projects for shit like this.

The one I want to do involves building a laser mic with a laser pointer. Or a 'sonic pain inducer'.

Anyhow, I've got a couple of the books in pdf format if anyone is interested.

[SwimConnerSwim]

Anyhow, I've got a couple of the books in pdf format if anyone is interested.

I'm intrested.

[Fr. Dougal]

Anyhow, I've got a couple of the books in pdf format if anyone is interested.

Yeah, me too... especially anything that I can use to cause havoc at work. :)

[umo]

I need one of those things. I wanna use it on James Bond's nutsack.