posix_memalign
New Member
Hi everyone,
first I'd just like to apologize if this is the wrong section of the forum for such posts.
One of the things I've thought about doing for years is building some sort of laser "rifle", i.e. literally mount a laser aperture with associated electronics and battery pack inside the plastics of e.g. an airsoft AEG rifle or equivalent (obviously with the projectile firing mechanism and electromechanics removed from the original device).
However, I don't feel that this project is worth doing unless I can acquire a laser class 4 module with some significant power output.
I've seen products like Class 3B lasers, such as **broken link removed** but I'd like to buy something much more powerful preferably at least a 10 watts class 4 module -- does anyone know where such lasers are possible to get? I don't really care if the laser is visible light or infrared -- for class 4 I expect it to be the latter.
After the initial proof of concept-setup I'd like to integrate another laser to measure the distance to the target (mounted where the laser sight would normally be on the AEG) and use an Atmel microcontroller to adjust optics (by operating servos) to focus the beam accordingly as the distance to the target changes.
Unfortunately my knowledge on optics is poor at best (perhaps except for the physics and mathematics part) -- what products can I buy or salvage from other products to construct a setup like this? In other words, what am I looking for and where can I get it? I expect a main concern for the optics would be to find optics that will not be damaged by the laser.
Since blooming only occurs at >= 1 megajoule per cubic centimeter I don't expect that to be an issue.
I'm not sure how much cooling a moderately powerful class 4 laser requires, but I have some thoughts on using peltier elements together with heatsinks and aircooling to keep the device cool for short bursts of operation.
As for power requirements I'm not sure on that either, but I had in mind soldering my own LiPo-pack with cells that can deliver high peak amps.
To keep this initial post short I think I'll leave it at that, I don't take this lightly and I know I probably have a lot to learn that I know that I will probably fail numerous times before I get something that even remotely works -- especially concerning the optics part. However I'd like to hear thoughts and ideas that are outside the specific questions I asked as well.
first I'd just like to apologize if this is the wrong section of the forum for such posts.
One of the things I've thought about doing for years is building some sort of laser "rifle", i.e. literally mount a laser aperture with associated electronics and battery pack inside the plastics of e.g. an airsoft AEG rifle or equivalent (obviously with the projectile firing mechanism and electromechanics removed from the original device).
However, I don't feel that this project is worth doing unless I can acquire a laser class 4 module with some significant power output.
I've seen products like Class 3B lasers, such as **broken link removed** but I'd like to buy something much more powerful preferably at least a 10 watts class 4 module -- does anyone know where such lasers are possible to get? I don't really care if the laser is visible light or infrared -- for class 4 I expect it to be the latter.
After the initial proof of concept-setup I'd like to integrate another laser to measure the distance to the target (mounted where the laser sight would normally be on the AEG) and use an Atmel microcontroller to adjust optics (by operating servos) to focus the beam accordingly as the distance to the target changes.
Unfortunately my knowledge on optics is poor at best (perhaps except for the physics and mathematics part) -- what products can I buy or salvage from other products to construct a setup like this? In other words, what am I looking for and where can I get it? I expect a main concern for the optics would be to find optics that will not be damaged by the laser.
Since blooming only occurs at >= 1 megajoule per cubic centimeter I don't expect that to be an issue.
I'm not sure how much cooling a moderately powerful class 4 laser requires, but I have some thoughts on using peltier elements together with heatsinks and aircooling to keep the device cool for short bursts of operation.
As for power requirements I'm not sure on that either, but I had in mind soldering my own LiPo-pack with cells that can deliver high peak amps.
To keep this initial post short I think I'll leave it at that, I don't take this lightly and I know I probably have a lot to learn that I know that I will probably fail numerous times before I get something that even remotely works -- especially concerning the optics part. However I'd like to hear thoughts and ideas that are outside the specific questions I asked as well.