How To Turn a Mini Maglite Into a Laser

Lucas123 writes "Using the laser from a DVD burner, this instructional video shows you how to create a hand-held laser that is powerful enough to light a match and pop a balloon. There's some soldering involved and the Maglite's bulb housing needs to be drilled out to fit the new laser diode, but with some basic skill, most people could do this. Just plain cool." Update: 07/09 12:23 GMT by KD : Warning, the device that results from following these instructions will blind you if you look into it.

Comments

Re:Uhhh...

[Curien]

Yes, thank you for repeating the article summary.

Great...

[sRev]

Now when I go to the movies, instead of worrying about Brad Pitt having a red dot on his face, I have to worry about the screen igniting. Good times.

Re:Sounds like fun.

[heinousjay]

Just tape balloons to people in strategic spots, I guess.

Careful with this thing.

[Anonymous Coward]

In the words of Rainier Wolfcastle:

My eyes! The goggles do nothing!

To repeat an old warning

[stox]

"Do not look into Laser with remaining eye!"

This is why I read Slashdot

[olyar]

Windows bashing? Witty comments? Duped stories? Comments about duped stories and how often they get posted? Soviet Russia and Overlord jokes? Left-leaning political commentary?

Nope. None of those things.

Articles about making lasers? Yes! Yes! It can light things on fire too?

Excuse me. I think I may have just wet my pants.

Re:This is why I read Slashdot

[Lane.exe]

I for one welcome our laser-wielding Soviet Russian overlords with a Beowulf cluster of goggles that do nothing against Natalie Portman covered in hot grits making the first post on a duped story about the Cowboy Neal option for polls.

Young Skywalker

[infonography]

I see you have constructed a new lightsaber. Your skills are complete, indeed you are powerful as the emperor has foreseen. - Darth Vader

BluRay

[VariableGHz]

Think of (all?) the people who now have a good use for their BluRay players. ;P

Re:Shark

[Pogdranaut]

and where is the manual on how to mount it on the shark ? mount -t lamniformesh /dev/laser shark

Re:Um, *excuse* me!?

[Ohreally_factor]

You're not the boss of me. I hate you! I hate you! God, my family sucks.

Oh, sorry. I was channeling a 14 year old emo girl for a minute.

Re:Dangerous

[somersault]

Pfft, it's "just plain cool" - ain't no way it can be unsafe!

Next week on /. - how to convert your BB gun to fire 9mm rounds!

Re:Dangerous

[PopeRatzo]

this foreign doctor explains to my collegues that she needs to inject a needle in behind the back of my eye.

She takes out her book of english and says slowly "This will..... hurt".

Thank you for giving me tonight's horrible nightmare.

If I wet the bed, I'm sending you the laundry bill.

Meanwhile, back at the White House, a plan develop

[MasterOfGoingFaster]

Bush: We've go to do something to get rid of all those dangerous hackers.

Vader: Perhaps we could post a video showing them how to make a dangerous weapon that they would accidentally use on themselves.

Jobs: Hmmm... there's a dangerous laser in DVD burners.

Gates: Yeah, let's hope that works better than your plan to make them all deaf with your stupid iPod, or get them run over walking across the street, playing with their iPhone.

Re:Shark

[_pruegel_]

Just turn the shark upside down before turning it upside down, that makes it go into tonic immobility for about 20 minutes.

Re:Dangerous

[kotj.mf]

This is a very dangerous toy

IT WILL BLIND YOU IMMEDIATELY IF:

- You look at it
- You shine it on a reflective surface that shines it back into your eye

Pussy.

I've got one sitting right here on my desk, and I can shine it in to my eyes with absolutely no problems. Allow me to demonstrate...

Srr?

Sbao;utelu ni orpbkens,

Re:Dangerous

[jahudabudy]

Your idea of cleaning piss stains off of sheets is hanging the sheets out to dry? I think you misunderstood what your mom meant when she said she liked having crisp sheets on the bed.

Re:Dangerous

[morgan_greywolf]

No problem. He just need to wait until a reply gets modded up +5 Informative. That's a sure way to guarantee that anything posted on Slashdot will be accurate, with correct precision, and not be filled with crackpot theories, right?

Re:Dangerous

[skeeto]

This is a very dangerous toy

IT WILL BLIND YOU IMMEDIATELY

Humbug! All my life they have been telling me masturbation does the same exact thing.

Re:Dangerous

[RealGrouchy]

It will probably be uploaded on Youtube and a lot of innocent, curious kids will end up with one fewer eye as a result of this video. Yes, but on the bright side the eye patches will help identify the willing-to-do-anything children at a distance, and we need more pirates anyway.

- RG>