Thread: Light Collimator

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I am trying to make the laser from Resident Evil, and need a beam of blueish light approximately an inch in diameter. I want the TOTs to have to walk through it, so cannot use side light fiber optics. There is no way I can afford a blue laser, so my only option is some way to collimate light on my own. I have heard you can use a globe with a hole over a halogen bulb, but I don't think that works with large diameter beams, and the heat poses a hazard. I would prefer some way of doing this optically with a light that puts off minimal heat.

Does anyone have an idea?

It should look like this when fog is present.

high intensity blue leds, with a light tube made from pvc, you will need fog to help see the light

How long does the PVC need to be to properly collimate the light?

I think you are going to have a hard time creating a beam like that using a collimator. It is possible you could use one of those mini mag flashlights with a gel filter over it and adjust the mini-mag so the beam is very narrow. I know you want a blue light, but if you could settle for green then there are readily available laser pointers that would work. As mentioned by one of the others you will have to rely on smoke or fog to make the beam show up no matter what you use. Let us know what you find out!

You might want to do a search on the "Liquid Sky Laser Scanner". It would not be too hard or expensive to modify the spinning mirror setup. I'd arrange small mirrors on the end of a motor shaft to form a cup or bowl shape. When you shoot a laser pointer across your path at one side of the spinning bowl, it would reflect directly back giving you the effect of a wide beam.
Shoot some fog ( fog cooler will keep it low ) or you won't see anything.

Meredith Instruments has a Violet laser head for around $400 , Red and Green are inexpensive.





A nice loud electrical buzz sound track would be ideal for this.....might have to build it myself.

Whatever you do, do not use real lasers. You can damage and even permanently blind people's eyes, and you would not want to be responsible for that. And the blue lasers are far more dangerous than the red ones!

I would try a very bright, powerful light shining through a narrow tube, and some area fog. That should make a "beam" of light visible without causing damage to anyone's eyesights.