[Robotgroup] Star Projector

[john at cozmicfunk.com]

I bought my Laser Stars Projector from an online company for $150.00 (I 
saved
forty bucks), and yes premade components are more expensive than DIY,
but the DIY takes time, R&D, some money and then more time, so I feel
I got a great deal considering what I got.

One thing I was able to figure out from my ghetto school of engineering:
I recently bought some of those prismatic cardboard July 4th glasses
from Walgreen's ($.25 a piece!) and I projected a laser pointer through it
and it multiplied the points because after all, it is a prismatic 
lensing effect.
So I figured that the laser stars must be using something similar to 
keep replicating
the pattern over and over. It goes to show that even a $.25 toy could 
warrant
some great idea possibilities. maybe I might make a red version using 
the prismatic
glasses and LED and see what I can make for the budget. Maybe I could
design it into a spaceship! ooooh aaaah...

John





Gray Mack wrote:
> not bad for 2 years ago, but now green lasers are much
> less than $100-150. 
> Here are some for <$40
> http://www.instapark.com/category/laser-products/?gclid=CICi6cKJ4o0CFQRuZQodSy8KmQ
>
> I recently saw a homemade thing like this made from
> pvc pipe that pointed several red lasers through a
> slowly rotating disk. I dont know what the disk was
> exactly. It looked like diffraction grating but may
> have been a more specialized holographic plate. It
> produced a calidiscope of 100's of moving points in
> the trees. It probably could have been done with one
> laser and some beam splitters but red lasers are
> cheaper than beam splitters. Also it didnt produce the
> nebula clouds like the commercial product.
> -Gray
>
> --- Vern Graner <vern at txis.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> I found that projector that John was using for
>> projecting star fields on 
>> the cieling:
>>
>> http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/lights/8ed4/
>>
>> A little pricey! :)
>>
>> Vern
>>
>> -- 
>> Vern Graner CNE/CNA/SSE    | "If the network is
>> down, then you're
>> Senior Systems Engineer    | obviously incompetent
>> so why are we
>> Texas Information Services | paying you? Of course,
>> if the network
>> http://www.txis.com        | is up, then we
>> obviously don't need
>> Austin Office 512 328-8947 | you, so why are we
>> paying you?" ©VLG
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