Making A Giant 100W LED Laser Gun!

Today we start building an epic LASER GUN prop!
Patreon: / nerdforge
PART 2 OUT NOW!
• I'm Building A LASER G...
SCHEMATIC: imgur.com/a/jr...
3D MODELS: www.thingivers...
All links below marked with * at the front are affiliation links that helps us out and supports the channel. Thanks!
MATERIALS:
Plywood sheet
50mm acrylic tube (www.simplyplas...)
150w boost converter: * bit.ly/150wboost
Switch: * bit.ly/heavy-s...
2pcs 60mm 12V fans: * bit.ly/12v-fan
100w LED, cold white: * bit.ly/100w-white & green: * bit.ly/100w-green
Heat sink: * bit.ly/heat-sink or bit.ly/heat-sinkk
Springs
4mm & 8mm metal rods
3D printed LED socket
12V power supply
Materials coming in later episodes:
2pcs 7V batteries + sockets (NP-F960/F970): * bit.ly/NP-F960 or www.ebay.com/i...
Arduino Nano: * bit.ly/a-nano
Buck converter: * bit.ly/buck-co...
Relays: * bit.ly/re-lay
Trigger button / momentary push button: * bit.ly/tinyswitch
RGB LED-strip: * bit.ly/5v-rgb or bit.ly/side-em...
Flat wires: * bit.ly/flatwires
EL-wire: * bit.ly/EL-wire
Colored GELs
EVA-foam
TOOLS:
Our 3D PRINTER: * bit.ly/Crealit...
Voltmeter
Ammeter: * bit.ly/am-meter
Soldering iron + soldering supplies: * bit.ly/solder-...
Heat shrink: * bit.ly/heat-sh...
Monocular: bit.ly/mono-cular
Wires
Jigsaw and other saws
Drill
Epoxy glue and wood glue
FOLLOW:
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Discord - discord.io/ner...
Facebook - / nerdforge
Twitter - / thenerdforge
Website - www.thenerdfor...
BUSINESS CONTACT: [e-mail]

[@DiablosCurse]

The little larva moving around in the garage was great.

[@HUNdAntae]

Step 1: dye your hair purple Step 2: build a lazer gun Step 3: bring on the cyberpunk Step 4: be really cool

[@京狐夢美]

Her hair is violet, not purple

[@-waffle_demon-5129]

京 *lilac

[@HUNdAntae]

@@京狐夢美 i'm a man. For me it's just purple. Neon purple if you will.

[@rubenexplains2640]

@@京狐夢美 For me it's just blue... I'd love to have your color depth, but I'm colorblind :(

[@lilypower]

The name of a color depend on which country you come from, and also whichever dialect of English you’ve been learning in the school... stop picking on such trivial things

[@hey_hey4394]

her: tests on cardboard before using the real thing me: tests on paper before using the real cardboard

[@svens.4694]

Martina , why is watching you build stuff so freakin calming and satisfying? :D You should drag Hansi more often in front of the camera though, i love to see the two of you as a team :) Next best thing to the intro in this video was the wood cutting part, where the cuts where matching the music so very very well. Awesome video, i'm excited for the next part :D Thank you!

[@annemarievanpeer120]

I recently stumbled across your channel through the model castle and the elemental tomes, and I just wanted to say a) i ADORE everything you do, it's super cool and damn u have talent and b) I am LIVING for the cyberpunk witch aesthetic 😍😭👌👌

[@GeekMustHave]

You are such a Geek. The expression on your face when you took the Clear tube out the packing was priceless. I like your truly casual presentation style. I'm looking forward to watching more of your videos.

[@KHx1GamingPlays]

if the glass tube diffused the light it would probably look awesome as a wall decoration.

[@murrayingledew8943]

I love what you do! This is such a great video. Who else stops a build to check out a weird caterpillar walking by? Can't wait for part 2.

[@jvleugels]

At the 30 V supply you are drawing about 0.7 A at most in your tests. So in reality your 100 W LED is just a 25 W LED at most. (This happens a lot when buying these from China)

[@Nerdforge]

We noticed this as well. Two theories: our bench power supply can't go higher than 30 volts. The LED i tested needs 32-34, it may draw a higher current at a higher voltage, which we will test. I remember having read someone had to drive it at over 36 volts to get it up to anywhere near 3 amps, which I guess sucks for the longevity of the chip. The second theory is that it's just a bad chinese product.

[@SianaGearz]

@@Nerdforge Honestly 25W is a comfy enough value and quite a good amount of light, i don't think you necessarily want to push it much further than that. Let's say it's a 10-series LED (i remember bigclivedotcom looking at these, should be about right), you're driving it right around the bottom of the threshold range and i'd say looks about right to me. Tried it with a super low current, seen whether it lights up consistently at all? If it does, and you can tell that there's 100 LEDs in there, 10 rows, 10 columns, all lit up, then i'd say it's a perfectly great product, but you might have a bit of difficulty finding one that isn't made out of junk LEDs. Banggood stuff sure usually isn't the worst though. I mean neither your LED mount nor your cooling arrangement nor the spring contacts seem even borderline fit for a 100W heater. And the further you push it beyond the threshold, the less efficient it will be, so it may not even be necessarily worth it.

[@Nerdforge]

@@SianaGearz Thanks, that's a good tip! I'll explain a bit more in the next video, but the idea was never to have the gun permanently powered. The arduino will control how long you are allowed to hold the trigger button down, before having to do a cooldown period. Hence we can carefully adjust it so it's allowed to cool enough before blasting off again! The brighter the better!

[@farbenformenlicht]

You have to drive those leds with a constant current instead of constant voltage. Otherwise you can destroy the led.

[@SianaGearz]

@@farbenformenlicht Constant current and constant voltage are strictly equivalent to each other - if they're actually constant. You have more leeway to get the current regulation wrong than voltage regulation, but with these 10x10 array LEDs, it balances out anyway. According to how these LEDs usually react to voltage (like they light pretty brightly sub 30V and don't reach full brightness until 36 or 38 or so) there's probably plenty of resistance in the bond wires within the LED package which contributes to current limiting. It should be just fine, and if the LED unit dies, well that's just the quality of individual LED elements, nothing you can do about that other than underdrive it on the whole. There is some temperature dependence, with bond having PTC characteristic and LED having NTC characteristic, but that's like tens of millivolts, not enough to matter.

[@Rainbow__cookie]

8:29 i came here for the Caterpillar

[@Verliet427]

10:50 goodtimeswithscar here~~ xD That song always reminds me of his timelapses lol

[@Travelinmatt1976]

It's a little late now, but you could have frosted the tube by sanding it so the whole thing would light up. Great project, can't wait to see it finished!

[@lucatosatti7071]

Very nice job! But a little tip for the led mechanism, about a possible thermal issue: now, when you want change color of the led, you disconnect it from the heatsink. This mean you don't use a thermal paste, usefull for the thermal exchange from the led to the heatsink. Without the paste, if you will running the led at maximum power (how the other guys said, with the actual voltage and courrent, the power is under 30 watts), it will risk to overheating. So, if you can, change the mechanism, so that the heatsink is permanently connect to the led, with the thermal paste.

[@InformationIsTheEdge]

You: "I'm a big boy now." Look off screen. Me: Roar with laughter! Loud, long and hard! Thank you!

[@abdorizk2108]

100W lazer, you must be crazy. But a 100W LED that is doable

[@PCr4zy]

same. I was like *100W laser* THATS CRAZY... does she want to cut thru things??? ..., ofc its just 100W LED light... that is not even running at 100W (1:13)

[@Enderkruemel]

Styropyro has a 100w Laser. This is extremly Powerful.

[@JAKOB1977]

anybody can make a 100W laser gun.. you just need to lay down the 170USD for the NUBM31T (95W) and then overdrive it a tad.i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ZpIAAOSw17lecafX/s-l400.jpg It's 20x 455nm blue lasers in a sink array.. www.opli.net/media/3597/laser-multi-chip-package-osram-june.jpg the biggest issues are to get them to align in a single beam with a decent divergence as the ball-lens top layer will splash it, to the moon and back... can purchase one atm for 170USD incl, delivery to Denmark, but simply don't have the optics to make anything beautiful out of it. and yeah, nothing laser in the above video, just tacky clickbait but whatever some people roll like that for attention and get strangers to nurse their weak ego online. Tired of misleading click baits and seeing videos that has nothing in common what their title..

[@idontcare7961]

@@JAKOB1977 What kinda heatsink would you use for such a powerful laser diode? Could you link a few with a fan that arent too expensive?

[@redleader6144]

@@JAKOB1977 Wtf are you talking about it says in the title 100W LED no clickbait. Just pay more attention reading stuff

[@jayzo]

I don't know if you've already filmed Part 2 or not, but you can get switches shaped like triggers so you can activate the laser just like you're firing a gun. You could have a separate switch for the EL-wire and LED strips.

[@francoisstevens4349]

Try using a Fresnel lens to effectively direct the light from the LED.

[@kristabellini2470]

Just ordered my Bonnie merch! I am so excited, you are the second KZbin channel that I have ever brought merch from 😁

[@Nerdforge]

That's so awesome, I really hope you like it! 😊

[@Maerahn]

You are an insane genius and this world needs more of you!

[@MCsCreations]

Fantastic work, girl!!! 😃 Anyway, get some XT60 connectors! It's much easier to use them than making connections with metal parts. 😊

[@Nerdforge]

haha, thanks, ordered some :)

[@MCsCreations]

@@Nerdforge Great! 😃

[@ashkaztra4646]

Love the video! And as a fellow Norwegian, that catepillar is some sort of bjørnespinner, though I can't say which. They're often called woolly bears in English, for their fuzz.

[@dustymiller8752]

It's actually a type of moth larvae though the exact species escapes me.....

[@NORFIE123456]

I'd love to see you guys do a collab with Colin Furze!! He doesnt really draw things up AND has excellent electronics knowledge...yet his projects turn out insane!! PLLLEEASE make it happen!

[@TheTinyrobot]

i don't understand much about this but i enjoy the creative process of making stuff :D

[@djart4715]

I LOVE her!!!! She’s the dopest creative mind out there!

[@mimime6009]

Who else loved seeing the fuzzy caterpillar just run around the ground😂😂

[@cameo86]

😊So cute

[@helenf4214]

Just started to watch this and I like how you wanted to be able to switch the LED from ‘kill’ to ‘stun’. Yes, this was the term you were looking for..😲

[@MinisterOak]

Whoa using that notepad for epoxy mixing is brilliant! Also that face at 17:22 is pure happiness :D

[@handmadeisbetter]

I like how your little dinosaur is hiding behind your rainbow curtains

[@ceejayrob]

If you made the tube opaque, it would glow when you switched on the LED. You could do that with some acetone if it’s the right type of plastic.

[@r0ckr87]

Green glowing tube as the center piece? The Void Dragon demands you build a necron gauss flayer out of this!

[@donaldburkhard7932]

Make LED holder out of aluminum as would make good heat-sink, plus plastic may melt. Put regular computer heat on back of LED. Rotational disc with different color “filters” for different colors of light?

[@erinopheim1125]

I loved the caterpillar bit :D Thank you, and fine work as always

[@MegaDeath458]

"Good morning gamers! How nice to see you here *in my basement"* [kunsern noises]

[@Travelinmatt1976]

@8:25 In the US we call those Woolly Worms, or Woolly Bears, and the all black ones come from the Giant Leopard Moth. A white moth with black leopard spots and also blue iridescent spots. I'm not sure about the ones in Norway though.

[@garageavenger]

looking forward to seeing the finished weapon :)

[@threwthelookingglass7194]

Garage Avenger ...shhhh not weapon. ... its equipment for the furture!

[@Martyr217]

The hot glue gun looks like something out of the Blade Runner movies. :P

[@Love.Yourself.1976]

So envious! LEDs and electrical are a challenge for me! Great work!

[@fishoconnor108]

Bless you. I would love to have an hour or two inside your heads. The projects and skill set you show is fascinating. Electronics and programming, also your kaleidoscopic (and most times spectacular) ideas. Maybe only a few minutes. I'd probably go nuts. Love your channel

[@francoisstevens4349]

I love the use of note pad stack to mix epoxy. Amazing idea!

[@camilat8268]

I like that you guys do things in parts so it's very detailed and thorough

[@FigmentsMade]

This is already so fabulous!! I can't wait for the next episode!

[@whazee]

Its looking coooool! 😀 You might wanna think about making a matching scifi battle armour next! 😉👍

[@Betsyschugar]

"I'm a big boy now" *immediately regrets what she just said*

[@totm2023]

That look at the camera with the zooms in time with the music around 8 reminds me of the baccano opening for some reason lol

[@recowabunga7200]

stop infecting me with your cool ideas. I still haven't finished the spell books.

[@uncletatscreativeshack1702]

I could watch your videos all day long!! They are the BEST!! Not to mention you’re wicked pretty!!

[@mandem9319]

Keep it in the pants, uncle Tat!

[@frozenthunderbolt1]

use the green gel at the back on permanently at a reduced draw. Wire up a bunch of capacitors to pulse a couple of these puppies left white near the end of the barrel when you hit the trigger. BOOM - 'Nuclear' powered pulse laser'

[@CrixJoki]

I gotta give it to yah, you´r not only awesome at arts and crafts, but you are right out BADASS in electronics and engineering too, you really have multiple skills all over the place :) it´s empowering to see that more and more females are rocking these skills too, I took electronics in High School, and I was the only female...so....this makes me SO SO happy and somehow proud! :) Keep up all the amazing stuff you do :) can´t wait to see how this turns out :D Cheers from Sweden! ;)

[@EdwardIglesias]

I wonder if you could fit a Fresnel lens in front of the led. That would certainly help you focus the beam.

[@JosiahWendell-sr8vi]

Fun fact: In the USA there is not legal limit to the size or strength of laser that you can own as a civilian. As long as you don't point them at airplanes and use them only on your property or property that you have permission to use big lasers on, you can go for it. you want a 3000 watt laser, just throw $20k at the right person and it technically isn't illegal. I think this is because no one who has that powerful of a laser has been stupid enough with it to get them banned, but I still find it a little concerning XD

[@SenhorDoTempo42]

see a nordic girl building things ... that makes me happy

[@jamesschmitt2203]

Mentions lasers *styropyro wants to know your location*

[@Mitch3D]

you can buy projector lenses for LED's on the internets, that would help you focus the light like a laser.

[@alexanderlopez4357]

I need that gun....congratulations from Chile

[@macrognsqd]

"Idk where you guys are from, but I live in Norway and lasers are illegal" hold up.. how far is Norway in the future, and how do I get there??

[@David-xu3yk]

*NOICE!* 😉 Can't wait for the next video now!!!

[@YEYE2313]

Badass 👍

[@BreeN__]

why do her ear "rings" look like Oreos ?

[@imorca1994]

Still waiting on that kitteh mecha build! I'm thinking that the laser gun should be able to mount on the top of it.

[@oaiwjebdlla]

I think It would be better if you use BEC and step down from a 6S lipo battery or higher. Because step up requires lot of current to reach higher voltages

[@Arachnos27]

Schematic was beautiful and easy to read

[@Gbriel1234567890]

How did that tube not break in transit?!

[@dscrive]

If you could get some fiber optic tubes like they use for those lights (the ones that look like glowing spaghetti) I think you might be able to fill part of the tube with them and it might help collimate the light to better simulate a laser . A quick googling on "will a bundle of fiber optic tubes collimate light" gets me some results that make me think it should work. I hear everyone else but us in the USA has ultra fast internet, so you might be able to get some scrape fiber optics from an internet company, although I think it might be too fine. I haven't messed with fiber optics so I'm really just speculating here :D

[@mr_ninj4918]

LOVE THIS CHANNEL!! You make things that we love :)

[@mr.bishops64]

This anticipation of the 100 watt led light being bright was mildly disappointing.

[@Voodoofairy88]

At the end of every year I go back to your oldest videos & just binge watch while I finish up my own projects. Well this time it finally sunk in that you said "lasers are illegal in Norway." But only because I was playing with my 5 cats & a laser toy. Then my ADHD brain went "But what about laser tag? I just played laser tag with my adult son & my brother over the weekend. No laser tag? Really?" 🤦‍♀️ Laser tag is like paint ball but without the pain. Both of which are quite common games here in the Midwest US.

[@LordZeroX]

Ohhh you´re amazing !!!. I just can´t wait for the next part.

[@turbokoni]

i love watching your Videos! You are so creative and talented!

[@wallkiller8080]

Lens(colimator) before tube and try to slide it when it's get very tight beam

[@Franzburg]

Nice video!

[@neonwitch6123]

Got a whole mustache crawlin around

[@weavelcow9596]

Super cool project, I thought it was a Necron Gauss Flayer when I saw the video, also jokes were surprisingly funny with the cuts, keep it up :)

[@SianaGearz]

What plastic is the bracket printed in? Won't it give up from the heat? What thermal interface to heatsink? The heatsink looks like a 40mm heatsink, so it's going to have... with airflow, maybe 1-2°C/W performance? Ooof that'll be narrow, i mean, even at 1°C/W, you can reach 130°C... i know, a sloppy estimate on my part, i guess you'll see in the build what works what doesn't. I'm also worried about the colour gels, i mean, when you're putting 100W of power into the LED, you'll get about 20W hitting that sheet of plastic, most of that passes through, but you filter down about 1/2 to get the tint, that's still 10W that it somehow needs to dissipate. Obviously if you underdrive the LED to about 50W, most of these issues pretty much disappear. Appropriate lens? Mhm Google Cardboard has some lenses with a known focal distance, and V2 has slightly larger ones than V1. Standard 5x loupe from 1€-store or a book store has 5cm focal distance. Usable.

[@riccardofinotti1019]

The heatsink won't be able to dissipate all the heat, I had the same thoughts about the 3D printed Bracket, if it is PLA it will start to melt at 180°C, and the led will get fused to it... it would be best to print it in Nylon or Carbon Fiber enriched filament... it will give a Better resistance...

[@SianaGearz]

​@@riccardofinotti1019 The figure you're looking for in plastic usability at high temperatures in a mechanically loaded part is Heat Deflection Temperature, basically the temperature at which the material loses the bulk of its strength but doesn't necessarily begin to melt, it's directly applicable here because of the spring force that is being applied. It's generally MUCH, MUCH lower than the melting point! Here are HDT figures for some materials. PLA (L-Lactide type): 50°C PLA, after annealing: not known with high enough certainty, might be in the 60-130°C range. ABS: 95°C PETG: around 70°C ASA, SAN: around 95-100°C HIPS: around 90°C PA-12 nylon: 98°C PA-6 nylon: 160°C PA-66 nylon: 200°C Polycarbonate: 116°C Nylon filament will be a blend material, heavily biased towards lower-temperature chemistry. Carbon, glass or metal filling is likely to increase HDT. Don't kill me if the values aren't quite right, they're kind of from memory and various sources. So using PLA near heat sources is quite a difficult to recommend undertaking, but it can be done via annealing.

[@SianaGearz]

@@riccardofinotti1019 Hey turns out they're only driving the LED to about 25W at most as someone else in the comment section spotted. That is obviously a lot easier to cool, avoid melting the mount, and avoid damaging the gel than at 100W :D

[@riccardofinotti1019]

@@SianaGearz your explanation is impecable, but even with 25W... if not properly dissipated with thermal paste... the beacket will deformate... enameling PLA is not simple for those who don't have experience

[@manolodocampo7108]

Man, I love Norway... How is the climate up there, are winters really so hard?

[@NXSProductions]

4:11 Epic cuteness!!

[@USCBeastmode]

Ha ha when Nerd girl sneezes at 4:12 I yelled ahhhhh COVID!!!!!🤣🤣

[@august3777]

Very cool, cant wait to see the finished product.

[@Smallgoth]

Necron gauss flayer?

[@shilohjobst48]

She called the catipillar a hairy larva 😂

[@roweproductions9424]

A fricking LAZEEEEEERRRRRR? Sounds like a great idea 🙂

[@abidivino]

8:25 we call that piris in our country and we do not dare touch em cause they say it will make us get a fever but i think it's just poisonous

[@k.g.donathan6271]

Been subscribed for months. I only realized just now her plugs are oreos, or at the very least look like oreos.

[@Lexmanity]

I've been lost in the part for using coolers. Have you measured the heat on the circuit? Why did you use 100w led in the first place and not a 60W or 40W led instead. It wasn't powerful enough to produce the desired effect? Thx

[@mkenji79]

This is gonna look sick!

[@lissbelfort7728]

that already looks AWESOME!

[@chaosvii9459]

17:23 to be pressed repeatedly or 17:24 (like sound of laser gun ?)

[@brucevila]

Genius! The best of the best 😊

[@NEWGHOST9]

it's kinda weird seeing a project like this in a video, but with it not being completed.

[@hareeshjpillai1577]

Now this is realy turning out like hacksmith studio

[@kurtmayer2041]

you could get styropyro onboard with this title

[@mariol7725]

Good Job Fantastic Gun

[@gulag_holiday_camps7490]

That’s a really cool flashlight

[@nataliejones6626]

Where is part 3? I cant find the video where you finish

[@theythemgae9025]

Love, love this :) can't wait to watch it all in the morning! :)

[@rfresa]

Can this gun be used for laser tag, or is it only decorative?

[@SlotenS]

YASSSS this is soooo cool!

[@InservioLetum]

@Martina it's spelled laser because it's an acronym of Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

[@fuqor9247]

Great video! What would it look like if you stuffed crinkled up cellophane in the acrylic tube? Might be a cool look :O

[@maikolrodrigues]

Very nice ! Well done