Laser Barcode Scanner Teardown How to hack it into Laser Light Show!

[@Zenodilodon]

That scanning mechanism in conjunction with an X mirror modulated with audio would make for a fantastic visualizer display!

[@brianboyce]

I built this model back in 2004 in New Jersey - interesting feedback of the design. Great product.

[@andymouse]

What a great idea ! the 'Fan' effect is one of my all time favourite's, especially when slowly scanned over an object or room, like the scanner at the beginning of Alien's ! and all that stuff for under 5 quid, ya can't lose !....cheers.

[@LesLaboratory]

Yep, big fan of that scene too! Those are the things I used to dream about having as a kid! (Lasers, not facehuggers!)

[@electronash]

I should have expected to bump into you here, Andy. lol How did I not hear about this channel before? It's great. @Les - Do you have a Discord server, or are you on Twitter at all?

[@andymouse]

@@electronash I've known about Les for some time now maybe a couple of years and he has some fascinating stuff, you might check out his Spectrometer project as its awesome !...cheers.

[@McTroyd]

I used to steal the spinning mirror assemblies out of old laser printers. Unfortunately (or, perhaps, fortunately for my parents), I was unable to figure out driving the laser itself back then. But even playing with a flashlight is pretty cool with those high precision mirrors.

[@TinLethax]

Those thing called Polygon mirror motor, I agree that thing is really cool (It's in my profile pic).

[@dash8brj]

We need to get Les some X-Y Galvo's and some modulated visible lasers!

[@cambridgemart2075]

The 'liquid sky' effect looks great!

[@LesLaboratory]

Sure does! I should TTL modulate the beam for more goodness...

[@tyaknitem]

That’s super cool! Glad to hear that channel

[@Stoneman06660]

That is a beautiful thing. Nicely done too.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thank you very much!

[@jhrlasers]

XY scanning... can't wait 🤩 Plus.. don't forget to add the Z too 🙂🤭

[@king_wing34]

that is so cool!!! smoke effect is epic!

[@flaviospedalieri8707]

Nice tear-down.. Back in the day use to get the polygon mirror/ motor assembly from laser printers. Also made crude X-Y open loop scanners from stepper motors. Eventually, finally purchased a set of Cambridge HP6800 and HP6210 closed-loop Galvos for full laser graphics projection. These days you can purchase some cheap 15kHz X-Y scanners on eBay.. and many cheap projectors by searching laser projector or laser light show. If you eventually make an RGB laser, you can modulate these for full colour graphics. Keep up the great videos.. Flavio Australia.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! Yes, I used to have one a few years back (the cheap ones, not the Cambridge scanners) but I had to punt it because I fell on hard times. They were pretty good; I have been thinking about picking one up from aliexpress to play with.

[@simonward2953]

Absolutely awesum mate! :-D nice video! keep up the good work ;-)

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks a lot!

[@davidg5898]

What's the dispersion in the vertical like? Does it stay pretty flat or does it get wide enough to see some depth further out?

[@LesLaboratory]

It's actually not bad. A crisp clear line across the room. The horizontal fidelity will not be great though, as the mirror is essentially sprung, so yo can't precisely position the beam say left for example, as it wants to spring back. But for a super cheap effect, it's just fine!

[@justin.campbell]

You could try driving the electromagnet with an amplifier and an audio signal!

[@LesLaboratory]

Totally! Just ordered another Metrologic Barcode Scanner today, so I should be able to do X-Y with a little dremmeling! I'm sure these wont be up to the spec of real galvo's but for 5 bucks, who cares? :-)

[@justin.campbell]

@@LesLaboratory yeah, $5 for all that cool stuff is a bargain!

[@timballam3675]

@@LesLaboratory how about using a "voice coil" from a hard drive?

[@patnutoris4054]

Nice work. Could you do a slow motion recording of the mirror?

[@LesLaboratory]

Interesting, I could give it a try. The frame rate on my camera is not super fast, but I could always slow down the scan as well...

[@axelschweier2414]

Hello, i try to build me this setup for my livingroom as an "ambiantlight" do you have any idea which part ore litle modul i can use to get this 5 Volts and 37 herz. ?

[@LesLaboratory]

Just build something with a 555 I guess? If you intend to run it in a living space, use a low power diode module so you don't blind anyone!

[@Alche987]

Yes, do xy!!

[@Adamisgood24]

They call that the "Liquid Sky" effect.

[@MichaelSmith-mb1ig]

Would be lovely to see more if you wouldn’t have your hand in the way after each spray 😂