Thread: Purchasing a pre-made green laser vortex effect?

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I'm not very handy, so I'm a lousy prop builder. Does anyone sell a pre-made green laser vortex effect? Or can something very easily be repurposed into a green laser vortex? e.g. adding mirror + laser. Spencers sells a cheap $30 "laser show" device with a red laser. I pulled mine apart and toyed with making it into a green laser vortex effect. But there's the short battery life of the device, not to mention the green laser itself.

I'm wondering if there isn't perhaps a DJ lighting piece of equipment that would serve as a green laser vortex effect without costing a small fortune.

Again, I only solder when I have to. Would prefer to purchase something self-contained or something that requires only minimal tweaking. Most green laser vortex projects seem to require more tweaking than I prefer to get right.

Short of that, can anyone recommend a good but not inordinately expensive supplier for green lasers suitable for this effect? e.g. preferably something with long-enough battery life to last an entire halloween evening without changing batteries; have seen people re-wire green lasers to larger battery packs, but I'd prefer to not have to do that.

Thanks.

Mike

I'm planning to make a laser vortex this year, but haven't really started it yet. Too many home/car projects going on.
I've got the green laser and a small front surface mirror from American Science and Surplus.
I already had the 12 volt computer fan.
I don't think it's too hard to build one, but I know I'll need to wire up some kind of switch or trigger to the laser. It says with the instructions not to energize it for more than 15 to 20 seconds at a time.
E-bay has a lot of cheap laser pens. Most of them come from China, though. Look in the "Electronics" section, then click on "Gadgets".

I do know that Spencer's sells party lasers for a reasonable price. I don't know if they spin so you can get that effect but it's worth a look


Spencers Online - Search Results for laser

Look into this:
Buy Chauvet Scorpion LGX Green Laser | Lasers & Strobes | Musician's Friend

this one says it does the liquid sky, which is pretty cool;
Buy American DJ Mini Emerald Beam Green Laser | Lasers & Strobes | Musician's Friend


this one says liquid sky and tunnel, more $$$:
Buy OmniSistem Magic Box Laser Effect | Lasers & Strobes | Musician's Friend

either way you'll need smoke to make the effect

I pick up 2 of those rotating full light spectrum projectors from Target last Nov. at 75% off ($7 each) and they look great....need to try it with a fogger soon....should make a cool votex effect.

Either of these will probably do the trick:

American DJ's Green Phantom:

Buy American DJ Green Phantom Laser | Lasers & Strobes | Musician's Friend

... or the Eliminator Taratula green laser (available at Target and elsewhere):

Eliminator Lighting Green Laser - Tarantula : Target

Combined with fog, it's exactly what's needed for a no-assembly-required green laser vortex. Now, which of the two units is better quality? That, I don't know. But with the one from Target.com, you can order online and return to any local Target store for a refund. So I may try that first.

If you do try one of those units.
Post your results here.

Great subject and this gives me a chance to ask...are these safe for people to look directly at? I want to do this effect but I keep hesitating.

Icemanfred, will certainly post the results if I buy either of these units.

Originally Posted by Terra

Great subject and this gives me

a chance to ask...are these safe for people to look directly at? I want to do this effect but I keep hesitating.

For safety issues, try this:

Haunted.HyperReactor.com - Laser Vortex safety

and this:

Laser Show Resource Guide - Laser safety article - Pangolin Laser Systems

Make Magazine, I believe, as well as Instructables, have done articles on the laser vortex. The only thing I believe for sure is that a lower powered laser (~5mW) is safer than using a higher powered laser.

This looks like something I'm gonna avoid. Though, if done properly, can be safe. Thanks for the info!