Laser Vortex: Building the Prop

Oh yes…the Laser Vortex. I’m sort of panicking right now. There are only two days left before Halloween and I’ve totally procrastinated on my Halloween prop for this year! The good thing is that I have all the necessary parts to build the prop. And I’ve already soldered some of the wires together. I feel like a mad scientist putting this thing together at night in the hopes that it will work beautifully and I can cry out “ITS ALIVE!”.

Remember, I haven’t wired a thing since my engineering labs back in college. So here we go…this wire to that, this resistor to this wire…there. Hoping all the connections are now made. Next step, to set up the motor and mirror. I have my dremel tool and am supposed to grind down the pinion to make about a 10 degree angle. I’m a little worried because I only have one gear. Oh well, here it goes. Now I’m going to solder a dime to the pinion gear. I think that using a glue gun might be so much easier and safer if I had one. Now that the dime is solid, I will attach the dental circular mirror to the dime. Well that does it…hope that works. Now to wire the motor to the rest of my prop. Okay, the time has come to test this thing out… In go the D batteries. Give the motor a little push….Its turning and the laser is lighting. Fantastic! I think this thing is ready to go. My final test of the Laser Vortex to produce the green fog effect will be revealed on my Halloween night post. Stay tuned!