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hey dakka, i am going to build an IG laspistol, if everything works out, i will make either heretics or tyranids out of ballons to purge for my tests, i will decide off of your votes, if you know anything about lasers or know anyone who does, please tell me if i am doing something wrong or if i am missing something asap... ENOUGH OF THAT, on to the fun stuffs, the laser will be capable of at least igniting paper, i have tracked down these electrical components:

http://www.diy-lasers.com/product.php?id_product=13
http://www.diy-lasers.com/product.php?id_product=121
http://www.diy-lasers.com/product.php?id_product=19

(now is when you laser gurus should say if i am missing something)

batteries and outside will be thought about after a visit to my local hardware store

Support is welcome and necessary, laser know-how is vital and votes for the most hated enemy of the imperium so i know who to fry when i am done, so please reply with useful things to know such as how to post pictures or advice and support

But how will it go "Pew Pew Pew"?

My friend may be able to help you with exterior design. This is his paintball gun.

 DeffDred wrote:
My friend may be able to help you with exterior design. This is his paintball gun.

Spoiler:

That's awesome

The gun's dakka will be provided by a high powered laser diode
I would love pictures of las pistols so I get an idea of which varient I like (I have only found one photo) bit I have lots of experience with building,just no experience with lasers,

Please vote on nids or chaos so I know who to fry when I am done

Make your targets out of styrofoam, that way you can melt them to death.

I was going to look at that for you, but that store doesn't allow access from the UK. Restrictions on exporting lasers, it appears.
Are you able to post the blurb or pics?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I was going to look at that for you, but that store doesn't allow access from the UK. Restrictions on exporting lasers, it appears.
Are you able to post the blurb or pics?

I would except i have no idea how to post photos, if i did i could show the design and pieces, but the website is down right now so i really can't do anything for now

Cool project, note that you probably want a small scale laser ablation system or something similar (high amp pulsed laser). The pulsed laser portion is the important part as it will allow for a hotter point of contact with the beam (for a short period of time kind of like laser bullets) while also keeping your power usage low. I would recommend getting a data package for one of these systems emailed to you from the company (they will do so gladly and for free) and using that as a guideline of what you need.

Do not take this as negative but you probably will not be able to create a las pistol. You can definitely create a helgun (storm trooper lasgun) using a car battery, pulsed laser, and a lot of solder/wiring. The pistol may be possible for the actual laser components (perhaps very expensive) but the power source is not going to fit into there without inventing something new or using something extremely esoteric (perhaps a jetfuel reactor?).

You need to be careful that it is not mistaken as a weapon as it is currently against international laws to create a direct energy weapon and so you can have nato come knocking at your door if they think you are making an actual laser pistol. Be clear to the people you purchase parts from as to what it is for, ie. it is not a weapon and will never be used on living animals.

To post images use the image button when you post and copy the image url into the space in between

.

Please keep us informed if you make progress. I recommend the tyranids be your test targets.

thank you for all of your replies and especially that last one, on the car battery issue, the diodes i found go to 240 mW so they are not quite at the level of power consumption where i will need a car battery, they max out at just under 3 volts so i will use a combination of batteries in series and parallel to make something appropiate. the main reason i chose these diodes is because the wattage is very high compared to an equivalent pulsed laser for the price, i will ask for data as soon as i get their email from the website that is currently down, no animals will be harmed, though i cannot say the same for the foam or baloon enemies of the imperium, can i post photos without them being online? HOLDUP, JUST FIGURED IT OUT

Here are photos of the site and the datasheet for the diode

the website is back up

I do not think that the diodes, even in series, will be sufficient with such a relatively low mW cap.

50 mw to pop a balloon, 150 to burn white paper, as you can read from before, that is all i am trying to do, as for your diodes in series comment
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a diode is like the lightbulb of a laser, if you wire batteries in series then it ups their voltage, if you put them in parallel then the capacity is upped

Well you can put diodes in "series" by using the correct optics to merge the light beam in the correct phase...that is very expensive and complicated optics as compared to the diodes.

That diode may work but you will probably only have the power to pop a balloon within a very limited range (perhaps a foot or two, there are calculations but I don't remember where I put my optics book). The power drops off on lasers due to the atmosphere they go through. The rule of thumb I have normally heard for stand off laser devices is that you should have a multiple of 3 of the power you need at the target.

Additionally if you use a red beam they tend to be cheaper but they also tend to not deliver as much energy to the traget. However you can fix this by targeting green objects (I recommend a green balloon).

the laser is focused giving more range and power, red is no less powerful than any other color, it just appears less powerful to the human eye

Please vote on the enemy of choice, the pieces are almost assembled and ready to be ordered so i can get everything i need in one go

Well, this will be interesting. I'll keep watching, though I kind of agree with ansacs that I suspect you're going to be underwhelmed with your result.

just realized that i need goggles/glasses so i don't blind myself, does anyone know of any cheap solutions , if this obstacle beats me i am making an rc leman russ with shooting capabilities (i know more about how to do that than this sadly)

Green goggle should more or less do it but you would be better off with laser safety glasses. Sorry to say I have never found cheap ones.

The energy of red light is actually lower than that of blue light, but that is somewhat besides the point. I was more concerned that you don't get red/purple balloons which would be more traditional "nid" colors as those will decrease the absorbance of the red light on the balloon surface therefore reducing the "power" (ability to heat the balloon surface) of your laser. Green balloons will work best.

Haerp_a_derp wrote:
just realized that i need goggles/glasses so i don't blind myself, does anyone know of any cheap solutions , if this obstacle beats me i am making an rc leman russ with shooting capabilities (i know more about how to do that than this sadly)

Might look for a cheap ebay welding facemask? I used one of those for a eye shield back in the day.

That's my best guess.

Do you know if that would work? if i use my laser at the max power (240 mW) what distance would i have to be away from the point of impact for it to be safe

 ansacs wrote:

Additionally if you use a red beam they tend to be cheaper but they also tend to not deliver as much energy to the traget. However you can fix this by targeting green objects (I recommend a green balloon).

Or orks