Ever wish you could do a little target shooting in a galaxy far, far away? Well then you’re in luck, as the Star Wars inspired GlowBlaster designed by [Louis Abbott] can help you realize those dreams with a real-life laser pistol — albeit a much weaker one than you’d want to carry into a Mos Eisley cantina.
Inside the 3D printed frame of the GlowBlaster is a 5 mW 405 nm module, an Arduino Nano, a speaker, a vibration motor, and a 9 V battery. When you pull the trigger, it pushes down on a 12 mm tactile button which causes the Arduino to fire the laser and sprinkle in a bit of theatrics by way of the speaker and vibration motor. There’s also a second button on the side of the blaster that lets you pick between firing modes.
The idea behind this project is that even a momentary blast from a 405 nm laser will excite a phosphorescent material enough that it will show a hit. So all you’ve got to do is draw a target on a glow-in-the-dark sheet, and you’ll be able to see where your shots land from clear across the doom. Admittedly it will have to be a dimly lit room, but still.
Technically that 5 mW figure puts the GlowBlaster’s output on par with a laser pointer, but in the documentation, [Louis] cautions that laser modules sourced online are often more powerful than their labels claim. So you, and anyone else around, would be wise to wear eye protection while the laser is being fired.
This is a far simpler so ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
