RGB Laser Light Show (for under $10.00!)

cults3d

This was actually a project gone wrong, so now it's just a toy/prop with interesting light effects. It's simply an enclosure to hold 3 laser pens with the ability to control all of them at once. I already had most of the components on hand since I'm into electronic engineering, so for me the total cost was $3.00 for the laser pens. If you need to purchase everything listed then it should be around $10.00 to make this. This project required some light soldering and cutting with a dremel cut-off tool. This is not a step by step tutorial with detailed instructions. It should be, for the most part, self explanatory. I am posting this with the assumption that you will have some knowledge and experience with electronics. If not, please do not take on this project. BOM- X3 laser pointer pens (red, green, blue) http://ebay.to/2qArcZ1 X1 DPST slide switch http://ebay.to/2ri9dtk X1 18650 4.2v L-Ion cell http://ebay.to/2qwru54 X3 tactile switches http://ebay.to/2qAfA8u X1 18650 Lithium Ion charging board http://ebay.to/2rutlF3 Epoxy or hot glue gun, soldering iron, dremel cut-off wheel. To me, this all seems pretty self explanatory. You're just putting the lasers inside the enclosure and using some hot glue to keep them in place. I made this because I hate using consumer type AA/AAA batteries and I wanted the lasers to be an "all in one" solution, using a rechargable 18650 instead of going through consumer batteries all the time. I soldered a bridge to close the gates on the laser pointer tactile buttons and removed the actuators. Save those actuators if you're a maker! I'm sure you will have use for them in the future and actuators are sometimes difficult to acquire. My new switch gates are the tactile switches and slide switch mounted in the enclosure. The gates are now located on the connection from the battery to the lasers. See diagram below. You can either drill some holes and use screws, or just seal the enclosure shut with epoxy (or acetone if using ABS) If you seal the enclosure, you will need the charging board to re-charge the battery. There is a square hole on the enclosure allowing for access to a charging port. The l-ion charging boards are pretty straight forward, see diagram below. I'm not going to get too specific on wiring, because you can wire this any way you want to create different effects. I used some diodes for reverse voltage protection so I can control each laser individually or all at once with the slide switch. See images below for documentation on how I did things.