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Warning! Lasers are dangerous and will blind eyes permanently. Never shine a laser into someone's eyes.

This Instuctable is going to show you how to make a working Phaser from the original series of Star Trek. It will be able to make sound, and fire a green laser-- the one I made, shown here, has a visible beam. Note, most people like to use lasers powerful enough to burn things, but if it's so powerful that you need to wear laser safety goggles to be around it, then there is no way you can enjoy the visible beam. That's why I ask you not to use a powerful laser. Thank you!

I designed the circuit, and the Phaser body using math.

Note that the Phaser body is designed around my components.

Please use for personal use and not for commercial profit.

Supplies

All resistors 1/4 watt unless otherwise stated.

Electronics needed:

1: 1x Arduino Nano

2: 1x 2N2222 transistor

3: 1x prototyping circuit board (optional but very handy)

4: 1x Green laser pointer (optional; because sound alone is pretty awesome too!)

5: 1x Piezo buzzer (can't be the ones with an internal oscillator)

6: 2x push buttons

7: 1x toggle switch

8: 3x 1.5k ohm resistors

9: 1x 10k ohm resistor

10: Two alligator clip pieces

11: wire (I used mostly 18 Gauge solid core wire when it fit, and then for the toggle switch and battery, I used thin multi-strand telephone wire)

12: 9 volt battery clip

13:

The rest of the required supplies:

1: Aluminum tape (optional)

2: Rubber bands

3: Magnets

4: Soldering Iron and other paraphernalia.

5: electrical tape for insulation

5: stl files for 3D printing the Phaser model

I show pictures later of some of these supplies.

Step 1: 3D Printing the Phaser Body

First of all, download the stl files and 3D print them. I suggest putting them in the orientation shown above. If you don't have a 3D printer available, then you could build these models with something else. The first one I made was made out of foam from the dollar store. It may not have been as complicated as the models above, but it worked just fine!

Step 2: Add Magnets to the Phaser Body

The Phaser was designed around the materials I had, so the Phaser body fits specific magnets. 8 magnets fit into each half of the Phaser body so it can snap together nicely. I highlighted the spaces for the magnet in the above picture.

You don't have to put all of the magnets in. I myself only put in 6 on each side because it was enough to hold it together. The picture above shows the ones I put in.

Step 3: Making the Circuit

The circuit schematic is shown above, and you can download the pdf for the circuit if you wish to print it.

For the Laser, I use a green laser pointer top. I simply unscrew the two halves of the laser pointer, and then tape the button down so when you give it power, it turns on.

If you are wondering if the transistor is necessary, yes, it's there because the digital i/o pins on the aruduino can't supply enough current to the laser without being hurt. The transistor also limits the current to the laser so it doesn't burn out.

For the laser beam to shine through the barrel tip, I actually had to cut the barrel a little bit shorter then it is originally, so you may need to do the same thing.

Two important reason why I chose to use a green laser, is because that's the color seen in Star Trek the original series. The other reason is because green is the color most visible to the human eye.

If you need extra help, ask me in the comments, or just look at the pictures provided.

Schematic_Phaser circuit schematic_Phaser schematic_20191114181534.pdf
Download

Step 4: Programming

Here's the programming part! You may want to program the Arduino before you put it into the Phaser body.

For the buttons, I'm using an analog pin on the Arduino to read different voltages on a voltage divider displayed by the buttons. This is a neat trick to use less pins on the Arduino.

The Sound Effect is basically a siren sound that has been sped-up. It oscillates between 500Hz and 1500Hz in increments of 5. I listened to the real sound and made this one by ear.

Here's the Youtube video for the Star Trek Phaser sound: Phaser sound

BUTTON FUNCTIONS:

Button1 is the trigger button

Button2 when pressed once, turns off the laser until the Arduino is reset. It does not turn off the Piezo Buzzer though. This is just in case you want to show to someone without the dangerous laser. But don't trust this button with yours, or someone else's, eyes.

The other parts' functions should be obvious, but if not, ask questions in the comments.

Code for Arduino: