Phaser-to-laser Mod Puts Out 465mW

Here’s another Star Trek phaser toy with a laser added. [Jay] started with a 1994 Star Trek phaser and added a 12X Blu-Ray diode. The sound effects of the toy still work, a nice touch that you can check out in the video after the break. That video shows him popping balloons with the laser, a feat made possible by the 465 mW that it puts out when the diode is driven at 320 mA of current. He’s made a nice carrying case for the weapon but we didn’t see a spot in there for protective glasses like we’ve seen with other phaser hacks. He did make one safety consideration by adding a safety switch and indicator LED to signal when the laser diode is armed.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S71mPJ0F0Q]

47 thoughts on “Phaser-to-laser Mod Puts Out 465mW

  1. Andrew, I assure you it’s that powerful… The wavelength of blu-ray is 405nm +- 10nm.. It would never be anywhere near 465nm, that would be a beautiful sky blue… Blu-ray is undoubtedly violet.

    I have an 8x bluray burner diode that reaches nearly 500mW, and some people have pushed theirs to at least 520mW… It just depends how long of life you want out of it… Considering these diodes come from $300 burners, Jay is actually being pretty conservative in his phaser.

  2. Ha! I plan to make something similar (not with a phaser, though), but I’m not gonna spend $300 for a new Blu Ray player. That’s why you buy “AS-IS” Blu ray players that don’t turn on… It’s still a gamble if the laser works, but it’s only a $10 gamble.

    Also, if multiple burning lasers meet at the same point, would their burning power increase at the target? If so, that’d be FANTASTIC.

  3. The Engy, you’re looking for a blu-ray BURNER, not a player.

    A player will have a 40mW to 100mW diode in it, some (like the PS3) only have a 10mW diode… You need a drive that’s capable of burning discs, not just a player. Good luck though, I’ve never seen an AS-IS burner before.. They’re very expensive, and they’re generally all still within warranty, so no one is just going to sell it on ebay.

    And yes, of course, if you focus multiple beams to the same point, of course they’ll burn better.

  4. Ronald Reagan would be so proud.

    God rest his sole.
    He was the greatest President Ever !!!
    Certianly better than the Socialist, and big-mouth VP, that we have now.

    Any way, great work !!!

  5. @bobdole
    Well, yeah, but like I said, I can get broken blu ray players for about $10 each, and they are plentiful on ebay. Blu Ray burners are, like you said, all in the triple digits on ebay, and not a single broken one is on the site. Also with the little physics lesson you pointed out (I know little about the physics of light), I figure either with some mirrors or prisms I can get multiple Blu Ray lasers to combine to practically form one beam. And using multiple blu ray player lasers costs less than buying a new blu ray burner.
    Thanks for the help!

  6. @Manfre: Not really practical. The efficiency is pretty poor with these things (ie. current to optical power generated) along with poor conversion of that light back into electricity. You’d have better results herding cats.

  7. @Patrick: Ronald Reagan? Debatable – he did pwn the Soviets, but put us in lots of debt… Of course Bush and B.O. love debt too and they didn’t take out the pinko menace…

    Anyway, I really liked this hack. Surprising how fast it popped the baloons.

  8. Perfect for when you beam down to a planet full of vicious clowns that start throwing ballons at you :D

    High power laser has been on my want list for a long time but I daren’t get one because of the danger of them – I rather like being able to see…

  9. PLEASE remember that just because it “looks cool” does not mean that the beam is harmless. 500mW is Class IV and a severe eye hazard.

    If you are going to use this, issue everyone in the vicinity with suitable safety goggles (about £40 a pair) and even then be careful.

    Bearing in mind that 0.1 second exposure on a uv sensitive card designed to detect UVA blackened plastic that normally takes hours to change…

    Don’t wreck it for the rest of us by getting these useful things banned.

  10. Whoa! so much fun.Can you carve shapes from bath foam bubbles, or snipe balloon animals? At what range can you pop a balloon in clear(ish) air? Tattoo/burn your friends without them realising? hmm… with great power comes responsibility.

  11. @Zeno Arrow
    I think as a non-communist one would have to say they actually stopped pwning themselves, by abandoning communism.

    Of course I myself agree that capitalism isn’t a winner (as demonstrated) :)

  12. Capitalism works fine, just not this bastardized form we have. Lawyers, courts, legislatures, and corporations in bed together. Try separation of “business and state”.
    Are there a bunch of whiny hovering mothers reading this site? the other day it was crying about lead, today its “you’ll put your eye out. Cinch up your panties and love the tech. We should be aware of poisons and radiation, but stop acting like a bunch of frightened little girls. You can’t fix stupid. He’ll learn or make it onto late night tv.

  13. more like i dont know the difference between a enter key and a space bar(thats worse right?)

    i just made a 2nd “burner” pointer from a dead hp drive
    and actually most “laser” diodes arnt true lasers, just super contaminated leds(spellcheck, i just left it as is)

    but anyway, a “250mW+ 405nm Blue Violet Laser Diode Module with Adjustable Glass Lens, Tiny Heatsink for Laser module and 9 Component Driver DIY Kit with Glass lens” runs for $65 on ebay where as a raw 200 mw diode is like $15
    far cheaper than a “as is” blu ray burner that may be a burnt out diode to begin with

  14. Not to sound skeptical, but could you give me a link to the $15 200MW (megawatt or milliwatt? I get those two abbreviations confused) laser diodes? The cheapest I could find is $25, and since I’m focusing most of my time and effort on another project (automated sentry), I want to get a cheap, high power (ish) laser to have for my next project (a laser pistol/phaser/blaster gun, like the one above).

  15. About the power, are we talking about output power or input power?
    If your talking output, how is that measured?
    I was going to design a project once with laser diodes and finally realized these diodes may not be very efficient. Maybe 500mW they are drawing, but not necessarily is that wattage put out on the focus point.
    Nice project! I’d like to change it to a communication project to see how far you could chat back and forth!

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