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Thread: My DPSS laser driven saber

  1. #1

    Default My DPSS laser driven saber

    Well if you're like me you've not only been fascinated by sabers since you were a small kiddo, but also lasers in general.
    I can remember having a big he-ne laser way back in college and really freaking some people out back in the day before the $2 laser pointer came around. Ok, no more nostalgia, on to present day.
    The technology for small portable lasers has taken quantom leaps since the late 80s.. I now have a pen sized 90 mw DPSS green laser that runs on 2 lithium AAAs that I tote around with me and the thing is absolutely amazing. Because the 532nm wavelength is amongst the most visible to the human eye, these green lasers that are hitting the market are many times brighter (at 5mw) than their red counterparts you buy for $2. Bear in mind, mine is 90 mw so looking at the dot a few feet away is somewhat akin to trying to look at a welding light without a mask. At over 20 MILES, getting hit with the dot will cause flash blindness, and at your average person to person range getting hit, even by a specular reflection is likely to cause retinal damage. Being stupid enough to stare directly at the beam would likely cause instant blindness. It is strong enough to pop baloons, light matches, and burn holes right through black electrical tape.. aka THIS IS NO TOY. The beam itself is highly visible, and pointing it around at night, even if its perfectly clear is like looking at a real lightsaber..
    So of course I couldn't resist lighting up my saber with it
    I used a small double concave lens with a focal length of approx -7 to diverge the beam out. At about 11 feet it throws almost the same size dot as my hilt with the 3w green luxeon, but it is brighter.
    I've been playing around with the diffuser that Strydur sells here and its mezmorizing.. it lights the blade to the same intensity as the luxeon, but its the purest green, and the entire blade dances and sparkles.. any of you who have ever played with a laser knows the phenomenon I am referring to due to the nature of true monochromatic light. I'll try to get some pics and maybe even a video up of the laser actually lighting the diffuser blade, but for now, here are a couple with just the dot shining beside the lit luxeon blade.
    thanks!
    chris
    The laser

    The dot next to my saber




  2. #2
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    Ever seen Ionsaber's (aka photonalterations) laser sabers? I've only seen the bladeless ones he sold on ebay, but it's pretty much what you did/doing.

    I look forward to the pics and video.[8D]

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  3. #3

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    I would be weary of the green 15-20 mw lasers found on ebay (that is if someone can manage to get their ad up before ebay nukes it). They are typically pot modded leadlights that are being overdriven. People buy the 5 mw lasers, mod them and resell them for a jacked up price. Not only are they illegal to own and sell (because its modified and not OEM), you are running a crapshoot of them burning out on you.
    I would also never ever build one of these things and sell it due to several factors, #1 being the potential for harm. If the tip pops off the blade you literally have a weapon in your hands that could blind someone permanently.

  4. #4

  5. #5

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    I have also thinks abaut this, you see, I'm from sweden and we translate "lightsaber" to "laser-svärd" and that would be "laser sword, directly translated...so I would like to get some more info how you built in a saber...and, I would really love some pics of it in a saber...[]

    EDIT: did you say that it is 90 mw??? where did you buy it and how much did it cost?

  6. #6

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    <blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by cjarmst

    I would be weary of the green 15-20 mw lasers found on ebay (that is if someone can manage to get their ad up before ebay nukes it). They are typically pot modded leadlights that are being overdriven. People buy the 5 mw lasers, mod them and resell them for a jacked up price. Not only are they illegal to own and sell (because its modified and not OEM), you are running a crapshoot of them burning out on you.
    I would also never ever build one of these things and sell it due to several factors, #1 being the potential for harm. If the tip pops off the blade you literally have a weapon in your hands that could blind someone permanently.

    <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

    I concur with you 100% completely on this!
    We do Laser cutting and let me tell you, you don't screw with lasers... unless you want to
    go blind!
    Someone willing to sell the average Joe's Kid a Lightsaber made with a real Lazer is walking on very dangerous ground.
    I don't care if people think they know what they are doing.
    When dealing with a real Lazer all you have to do is make a mistake once!
    Shine it into someones eyes or even your own.
    Or worse yet I can see someone pointing one of those "Lazer Sabers" into someones bedroom, have the beam reflect off a mirror and... well I'll not get into it.

    They certainly are not for kids, or anyone that can't pay someone elses medical bills.
    They can't hide on eBay if they Live in the U.S. so[xx(]

    In any case Good luck with your project cjarmist just be careful where you point it[]

  7. #7

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    If it lights matches and pops balloons... what exactly is it / would it be doing to the inside of the polycarbonate tube?

    Even mirror refraction would re-direct some of the light back at the LED pen / thingy itself or the tube (or both)... and over time... my thinking is can we say "Crispa Greedo"?

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  8. #8

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    if you use 1-5 mw and a lins? would that be dangerous?
    And please...some pics on it in a saber?

  9. #9

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    Sorry I haven't posted anything on this in a while, since the weather is nice the garage and the twin turbo 300z started calling and the sabers have gone on the shelf.. but I'll get back to it soon
    Greytale, to answer your question.. a 90mw laser is still very very low power when it actually comes to things like heating, cutting, etc. If you focus the dot on your skin and you are dark complected you might feel a slight sting in a few seconds.. a balloon pop looks impressive but in all reality you're not really burning through very much are you? At the same time though.. to your poor eyeball 90mw is an inferno that can cause damage even from a specular reflection.

    Enalmano, your average 5mw pointer doesn't have near enough power to make the blade light up well, you're much better off going with an LED.
    Other downsides.. these DPSS lasers generate a lot of heat internally and you have to be weary of duty cycle. I can run mine for maybe 1 minute before I need to let it cool down. In order to really make a saber that could be run for a long while I would need to remove it from the casing, heat sink it, and maybe even put a cooling fan in there.. so you do run into most of the same issues you have with a high powered LED. And rather than dissasemble a $300 laser, I'll just leave it be and continue to have fun pointing it around like it is (safely). They are also quite fragile due to all the alignments between the crystals so jarring them around is not such a great idea either.

    In any case, its something fun to tinker with and I'll try to post some comparison pics if my cheapo digital camera will even do them justice.

  10. #10
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    damn, delete that last crap post

    thank you!


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