Green Laser in Power Functions Motor

[shadow_elenter]

Hey you!

So I had this 5mw green laser lying around and I had the idea to build it into a lego module so I could use it with the lego PF system & an Sbrick in  MOC's.
A few days of figuring out how to do this... and then I just did it 
 

It works perfectly, and it's super cool to see! the beam is just visible in daylight (hard to take a picture of unfortunately) and pretty well in the dark.

However, now it's done... I don't know what to use it for  

I didn't have any special project in mind you see, I just thought YEAH! build it, I'll figure out what to use it for on the way... but still haven't come up with anything interesting other than obvious things like a tank gun or a pointing tool.

So I thought I'd post it, see what you guys think, hopefully Inspire some people to think outside the brick and maybe get some sweat inspirational ideas what to use it for

 

TECHNICAL PART:

The first part from the PF lead is a brige rectifier salvaged from an xbox 360 charging station (this makes it so the polarity is always the same since the polarity switches when a motor is put in reverse and these circuit have no reverse polarity protection).
Next is a stepdown regulator from ebay to turn 9v into 3v for the laser module

Then the driver circuit for the laser, and finally the laser diode

this was the test setup to align the laser, later I shortened all the wires to make it fit, but this illustrates everything better

Since a PF wire costs 5€ and A PF M motor costs 9,50€ I picked the last one,so I'd have an Ideal place to hide the circuits in with great mounting possibility's and perfect lego looks. 

So tell me... what do you think ,and what should I use it for?

 

Edited March 31, 2017 by shadow_elenter
placed the youtube video in the OP

[Myers Lego Technic]

Lego gun with laser sight? 

[dr_spock]

Mindstorm Laser CNC cutter engraving machine?   You may have to upgrade to a more powerful laser.

 

[Victor Imaginator]

Hey, you can build one of the most devastating LEGO tank with that thing. But you also need a cat)

[oracid]

Great !

You can make animation as in nightclubs, write words on a wall or finely measure the thickness of an object by measuring the angle of reflection.

Edited January 30, 2017 by oracid

[shadow_elenter]

I came up with an idea for a type of puzzle, the goal would be to bounce the laser thru a maze type puzzle using mirrors and objects blocking the light or something...
Are there genuine lego mirrors other than sticker type ones? I only found sticker-ed panels, and they would probably diffuse the beam to much after 2 or 3 mirrors.

Gr Onno

[Myers Lego Technic]

As far as I know there are no Lego mirrors, but I could be wrong, 

[dr_spock]

There was a mirror in some of the modular building sets. 

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=20193&in=S

[shadow_elenter]

I found that one too, but

Foam, Plastic Mirror Front and White Paper Backing
... Does not really sound like a Good enough quality mirror... 

I'd rather not use non-lego parts but this leaves me with little choice...

[MajorAlvega]

21 hours ago, shadow_elenter said:

I found that one too, but

Foam, Plastic Mirror Front and White Paper Backing
... Does not really sound like a Good enough quality mirror... 

I'd rather not use non-lego parts but this leaves me with little choice...

The 20193 mirror is not so bad. In fact, it reflects my cheap red laser better than a real (also cheap) mirror I used:

Your green laser seems to be better focused than mine red laser and also more powerfull so you may like this LEGO mirrors. They were not cheap a year ago but lately the price seems to be dropping a bit at bricklink.

If you want to take pictures of the beam add some smoke or fog. There are some cheap USB water foggers that do the trick for short paths.

[Blakbird]

13 hours ago, MajorAlvega said:

The 20193 mirror is not so bad. In fact, it reflects my cheap red laser better than a real (also cheap) mirror I used:

That's probably because the cheap plastic LEGO mirror reflects off the front surface while a cheap glass mirror reflects off the back surface.  For laser reflecting, you really want a "first surface" mirror.

[MajorAlvega]

26 minutes ago, Blakbird said:

That's probably because the cheap plastic LEGO mirror reflects off the front surface while a cheap glass mirror reflects off the back surface.  For laser reflecting, you really want a "first surface" mirror.

Yes, that makes sense. My cheap back surface mirrors tend to distort the beam and/or create optic effects.

[shadow_elenter]

Hey builders!

I made my first MOC with the laser so I thought I'd post a few pictures::

 

to see the full topic about the MOC and to see the laser in a video  check out this topic

[shadow_elenter]

I made a video about the laser so I thought i'd add it to this topic too:

EDIT: sorry, I placed the video in the opening post for viewers convenience, should have done that in the first place!

 

Edited March 31, 2017 by shadow_elenter