Laser show for poor man

Step 8 Well done

Not bad, not bad, but I would add something spicy.

...Aluminum faceplate and secret military technology of heat toner transfer!!!

That makes real difference.

Now I'm happy.

Comments

[effste]

i want to make a laser show that analizes 3 frequency and depending on the frequency there will be a different colour of laser.. for example if the frequency of the sound right now is from 0Hz to 300Hz than the laser which is producing the light will be red. If it is from 300Hz to 5KHz the laser which is producing the light will be green and if the frequency is higher than the light will be blue. I will use matlab to generate different frequencies and dump them into the microcontroller. Any ideas on how to do this?

[macnomad84]

analogue vu meter basically...

microphone -->LM386--> 3x Hi-Q BPFs

Each output would swing between 0-5 V depending on the signal strength in each frequency "bin" made by the BPFs.

Could run each signal into a threshold detector/comparator circuit to turn the lasers on/off.

[bpark1000]

You will need an RGB laser set, with each one analog controllable. The 3 lasers are combined onto one beam with dichroic mirrors. You could have a computer looking at the music frequency output, and using a look-up table to drive the lasers.

[Treknology]

The reply is very simple, "color organs" are used at discos and clubs. You just need one shrunk down to power your lasers without burning them out. If you want to be really smart, direct the three lasers through a prism so that they combine to form white light and then throw that on the mirrors, as your music changes the density of each primary color, the output of your display will change accordingly. (If been thinking of this for a raster-scan laster projector.)

[AP Digital light]

You can do it even without microcontroller.
Check schematics of color organs.
Usually it includes three band-pass audio filters.
Output signal of each filter can be conditioned and used to drive TTL input of corresponding laser.

[effste]

but how will i input a song if i don't have a microcontroller?

[AP Digital light]

There are different approaches to accomplish the same task.
You can build analog version including audio preamp and band-pass filters or microcontroller-based digital version.

PIC with ADC input can be used to perform signal filtering.
Here's few examples

http://mondo-technology.com/organ.html
http://www.horrorseek.com/home/halloween/wolfstone/ColorOrgans/clomak_MakingColorOrgan.html

[harvey639]

what size was the cut out in the side of the box?

[AP Digital light]

It depends on mirror's tilt and position.
I define it experimentally after mirrors installation.
It can vary from 45mm x 45mm to 45mm x 60mm.

[northconnor]

Awesome instructable! Just curious, are the insides mounted upside-down?

[AP Digital light]

In first unit I mounted mirrors on separated plastic plate and inserted it into box. In later versions I turned box upside down and mounted mirrors on top cover.

[Jtrocker159]

wow that is REALLY cool dude, awesome instructable

[yoduki]

I love it!!! Now, lets make a laser projector. Maybe use small speakers to attach mirrors and some real fancy software to make graphics and letters. Let me know when it is done and how much I owe you. [e-mail]

[MrBurritoMan]

*drooooool* i have always wanted to make one of these. thanks for the how-to man!