Ok, I thought the Laser Vortex was the coolest Halloween project yet. So this project pays homage to it. For my project, however I needed to make it small and portable to fit into a pumpkin. I also needed to make the laser and spinning mirror all 1 unit. So with a couple of mods, the Jack-o-Laser of Doom was born.

Step 1: Make the Spinning Mirror

If you need to see how to make the mirror mount see mever's instructable,
steps 8 & 9 here-https://www.instructables.com/id/EXB5CA21JPET9K5F7Y this
is the genius of the project.

I Used a little 3 volt radio shack motor with the cog on it, and drilled a
hole in the bottle cap. Then I pressed the cap on the cog and put a lot of
super glue gel on it.

For my needs mounting the mirror at a 45 degree angle produced a vortex that
got too big in too short of a distance, so I just glued the mirror in the
bottle cap at a couple of degrees so I could get a tube of light.

Step 2: Make the Motor Mount & Attach to the Base

Ok for this step I used my favorite prototyping material....Lego... I used two twelve Pieces for the base and then mounted the motor on 3 pieces 6 long on top of the base (see foto) This gave room for the bottle cap to spin. Then I took 2 zip ties and used them to mount the motor.

I had to use the 2x3 bricks on top and bottom because when I sinched the zip ties down It spread the pieces and those bricks held the assembly straight.

Step 3: Attach Laser Mount & Laser

For this step I mounted the 7 or 8 length lego with the axle so I can change the angle of the Laser.

Next I took apart a $30 laser pointer from office max and used another zip tie to mount it.

I Put the zip tie over the momentary switch and sinched it down so that the switch stayed on.

**Help.. the switch has 4 solder points on it... I wanted to figure out a way to jump the switch but didn't want to risk ruining the laser** what is the proper way to take care of this?

Step 4: Add Some Feet to Get Proper Angle and Stability

To make sure the beam shot up instead of straight out, I lifted the front foot a little higher than the back. This keeps the laser beam from being blocked by the laser unit.

Step 5: Mount Laser in Jack-o-Laser

In this step I took the ice cream spoon and flattened out the bottom of the pumpkin. Then I powered up the unit and it shot the circle patern on the inside wall of the pumpkin. This helped me know where to cut the hole.

Step 6: Run Wires and Insert LED's for Eye Lights

The Jack-o-Laser Is only meant to be seen from the front. So I drilled a couple of holes in the back to run my wires... I used the alligator clips because this thing will rot in a couple of days and I was running out of time and patience for this whole deal at 2am this morning.

Step 7: Wait for Night & Shoot a Death Ray at the Kiddies

I got one of those smoke machines at Target for 20 bucks and it is not the greatest but I think the effect is cool..

This would work better inside because the smoke dissapates outside due to the wind.

My wife wasn't as excited about putting this in the house as i was so.... Its on the porch.