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Guy Builds Star Trek Phaser

Be careful where you point that thing. According to William Shatner, George Takei got hit with one that was set to "Fabulous."

:duck:
 
RobRoy said:
Very cool demonstrations, but I'm Youtube/Mythbusters savvy enough to be skeptical.
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I understand, I'm the same way...but this one is real. It just uses the laser diode from a blu-ray burner. They are actually powerful enough to create enough heat to pop a balloon. Definitely not something for playing chase with the cat...unless you want a very unhappy burnt and blind cat.
 
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Macgyver1968 said:
I understand, I'm the same way...but this one is real. It just uses the laser diode from a blu-ray burner. They are actually powerful enough to create enough heat to pop a balloon. Definitely not something for playing chase with the cat...unless you want a very unhappy burnt and blind cat.
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Indeed, it is. I also don't mind being wrong.

BTW, my birthday is in August, in case anyone is having a tough time with a gift.
 
My best guess, infrared low-to-medium quality laser.

Pretty nice as a toy imo.
Now the burning question...

If he sells them, would I buy one just for being a Star Trek fanboy?


ETA: The lowqual infrared laser would be the component popping the balloon, what i mean...
No idea how you would cheaply make the visual effect real... unless of course its not cheap and/or possibly edited in VFX
 
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I'm calling fake on that one. Assuming this GIF is from the video:

http://senorgif.memebase.com/2012/04/26/funny-gifs-real-life-phaser/

The actual beam doesn't seem right. Its bright enough to be reflected on the shelves on the left (nice touch), but not bright enough to affect the shadow of the balloon on the chair.

...

Okay, can't view the video at my current location, and there are apparently more shots than just the gif to which I linked. I'll change my position to 'tentatively calling fake'.
 
Wicked Lasers has been selling handheld visible-light lasers powerful enough to pop balloons for years. Stick one of those in a custom case with a cheezy sound-effects chip and demonstrate it in a smoke-filled garage so the laser beam is visible... and you end up with pretty much what we see in the video.

ETA: The beam in the video doesn't look right to me either. Could just be that he's touched up the video, adding the beam and sound-effects later.
 
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It's actually the real deal. It uses the diode out of a 12X blue ray burner. They can output up to 1300 mW of power. (A regular laser pointer puts out 3 mW!) The beam is very bright because he is using a smoke machine to enhance it. Notice how cloudy the room is.

Just google "blu-ray laser" and you can see many other examples.

I have a 5 mw laser tube, I used to bounce the beam off a 1" square mirror glued to a speaker. It make all kinds of neat patterns on the wall to the beat of the music, and you could clearly see the beam in the air with the help of smoke. (although our smoke came from a different source...not a smoke machine :) )
 
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Think I've said it before here, but worth repeating. High power lasers are really nasty bits of lab kit. Not that they're incredibly lethal, but it's easy to get blasé and make mistakes and blind yourself really easily.

My undergraduate safety lecture for the big physics projects was about an hour long. The first five minutes consisted of "Don't eat radioactive materials. Don't take a swim in liquid nitrogen and don't risk asphyxiation from it in confined spaces (like elevators)." and a few other things which mostly consisted of "don't be an idiot".

The other 55 minutes were on not blinding yourself or your colleagues with lasers. They're just insanely easy to screw up with. A high power laser you accidentally wave at a reflective surface can blind someone. A really high power laser you can accidentally wave at a non-reflective surface and still blind someone.
 
The Wicked Laser Spyder Arctic looks much more powerful.


I lusted after one of these when they were first announced but I "settled" for a much cheaper & less powerful green laser that can burn through a dark colored plastic trash bag. The thing scares the heck out of me, even with appropriate safety glasses on. My eyesight may not be very good but I can't imagine living without it.
 
edd said:
Think I've said it before here, but worth repeating. High power lasers are really nasty bits of lab kit. Not that they're incredibly lethal, but it's easy to get blasé and make mistakes and blind yourself really easily.

My undergraduate safety lecture for the big physics projects was about an hour long. The first five minutes consisted of "Don't eat radioactive materials. Don't take a swim in liquid nitrogen and don't risk asphyxiation from it in confined spaces (like elevators)." and a few other things which mostly consisted of "don't be an idiot".

The other 55 minutes were on not blinding yourself or your colleagues with lasers. They're just insanely easy to screw up with. A high power laser you accidentally wave at a reflective surface can blind someone. A really high power laser you can accidentally wave at a non-reflective surface and still blind someone.
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Blah, blah, blah, high powered laser, blah, blah, blah high powered laser, blah, blah, blah, high powered laser!

I'm sold, I'll buy a high powered laser.
 
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