Images via scanning laser excitation of glow-in-the-dark paint
Scan a laser across a phosphorescent screen to create glowing, haunting images that slowly fade into blackness.
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LasercutChristmas classroom project in development
The original idea came from the work of several of my students in the Fashioning Tech class. Sam and Brooke were cutting images that they found online, and saw that the heavy black lines made image contours, which cut as a continuous line. What they saw as a horrible mistake, I thought looked really neat, and suggested they carefully glue the image outline to a backing sheet. They were hand cutting the background sheet, but it looks much more polished if they use the laser to cut the outline shape on the laser
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Ultra-minimalist laser microscope
The laser microscope builds keep rolling in! This one from reader Steve Davee may not look like much, but it gets the job done with stuff you’ve probably got in your desk right now. The binder clip serves triple-duty by propping the laser pointer up at an angle, holding the button down, and supporting the bent paper clip that holds the sample drop out front in a loop. There are more pictures in Steve’s Flickr set. [Thanks, Steve!]
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Rob’s laser microscope build
Rob Cruickshank built this sweet laser microscope based, at least partly, I flatter myself to presume, on my recent project. There are more pics in Rob’s Flickr set, including one of the custom screw-fitting he made to hold down the momentary switch on his laser pointer. Rob also reports that water squeezed from an aquarium filter is an excellent source of microfauna-rich samples. [Thanks, Rob!]
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Make: Projects – Laser projection microscope
A couple of weeks ago I posted about this sweet laser stunt from Teravolt.org, and I finally got around to trying it for myself. My laser is only 10% as powerful as theirs, but I can now say with conviction: Everyone should try this.
The only tricky part is getting the laser and the hanging drop of water lined up and keeping them aligned, but this simple stand I built from hardware store odds-and-ends makes it easy. The laser and syringe snap into broom clips mounted on supermagnet bases which allow easy positional adjustments, but hold strongly enough to keep everything in alignment once you’ve got it right.
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Laser + drop of water = microbial movie theatre
According to the anonymous hacker-proprietor of Teravolt.org, shining a 250 mW green laser through a hanging drop of scummy plant water will project shadows of all the little microflora on the wall and you can watch them flitter about with the naked eye. The embedded video is nothing short of amazing. I felt just like that cat.
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Turned aluminum blue-violet laser housing
I purchased a 405nm laser diode…off ebay just recently and needed a case to mount it in. So I have turned this from a length of aluminium tube for the body and two pieces of aluminium bar for the front and back closures. The front closure doubles as a heat-sink. Everything’s held together with grub-screws. Runs off two AAA batteries which just fit inside.
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