[Demon Dog]

Can anyone recommend a supplier they've had good luck with for green 5mW laser pointers? I'd like to make a laser vortex, but have heard some people haven't always been pleased with the laser pointers they've gotten from Ebay. Would like to keep this under $20. Thanks for any pointers.

 

[Hooked_on_Scares]

heh heh... any 'pointers'. Well, the one I got on eBay worked just fine. And the one my buddy got on eBay works just fine, as well. What kind of problems have you heard of? Many of these units can be 'cranked up', too, increasing their power beyond legal and safe limits. Very dangerous....... and very fun. Just don't point at people or shiny objects.

The unit I have is a Leadlight, but is an older model. I just did a quick search and came up with this one on Amazon. Green is definitely the way to go, because the human eye is most responsive to green (5mW @ 532nm green will look much brighter than 5mW of 635nm red).

- Hook

 

[Demon Dog]

Thanks, I forgot to try Amazon with its customer feedback section. The problems I'd heard of for some of the Ebay sales were extremely short life and/or operating way under the power rating for the wavelength of interest. A few folks noted this on some of the different Amazon listings too.

Yep, I definitely want the green, but will stay with 5mW. For me its not worth the vision risk to go for more.

I love the look of a green laser vortex, and can picture it coming from a witch's cauldron.
DIY Laser Projector - New Laser Mod

Wowza, a "pointer to a pointer"!? It was an unintended pun; it'd been a long day.

 

[Hooked_on_Scares]

Here's another couple 'o tips.

1) aim the light toward the audience as much as is safe - this will make the beams appear brighter because light coming through dust/fog is brighter than light reflecting off of dust/fog

2) Get a proper front surface mirror. Instead of having the silvered part behind glass, these have the silvered part in front of the glass. This gives a much better return on investment, brightness-wise, because there's no secondary reflection from the glass. The CD in the video will also act as a diffraction grating, which gives you tunnels within tunnels - but all of them put together will be less bright than if you only had one beam from a first surface mirror.

3) Go to a plastic supply co., and pick up some different scraps of bubble glass, and check out what those look like, for another effect. (search web for 'lumia effect').


- Hook

 

[Demon Dog]

Thanks Hook. Yep, got the frontside mirror. Only missing one little part: the laser . But I'll take care of that now. The lumina effect is cool, but I'll bet its also one of those effects you have to see firsthand to really appreciate its wow factor.

Here's a link I was looking for earlier that showed a haunter (Brandywine Cemetery) who made a green laser vortex - very nice!
Brandywine Cemetery - a set on Flickr
He also did a great job making creepy fogger heads for his fog machines. If they're on this forum, they should take a bow.