Laser display (was Re: Orlando hamfest)

From: Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks_at_gmail.com>
Date: Mon Feb 14 18:33:21 2005

On Mon, 14 Feb 2005 16:24:44 -0800 (PST), Philip Pemberton
<philpem_at_dsl.pipex.com> wrote:
> Being the curious little thing I am, I also bought three laser pointers.. The
> idea of building a scanning laser display sounds like fun. Managed to smash
> the diode on one of them by squeezing it too tightly in a vice. One is still
> packaged up, the other came apart fairly easily after cutting the metal
> casing open with a hacksaw (fx: evil grin). Still need to find some stepper
> motors for that though...

Steppers? I have on the shelf a book by "Scientific American" about
lasers and light. One of the articles reproduced there is about
constructing ones own 'laser show', but it uses a pair of modified
cone speakers (the paper cones are mostly cut away to minimize air
resistance) with mirrors mounted on foam blocks on the centers, and
the speakers mounted at such an angle that one moves the light beam
along the X axis, the other does the Y axis. By careful phase
manipulation of the two speakers, one can draw lissajou(sp?) figures,
etc., as done in the 1970s laser/rock shows. I expect that one could
also do arbitrary patterns with a pair of DACs and sufficiently
complex software.

I don't have the book handy, or I'd quote the ISBN for you, but it
looked interesting, and a _lot_ cheaper than a professional "laser
display" for, say, the foundation for a Laser MAME rig (who wants to
play "Star Wars" on the living room wall? Anyone?)

-ethan
Received on Mon Feb 14 2005 - 18:33:21 GMT

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