2.1A input buck driver, 2x 750mAh 35-70c Lipo batteries, M140 445nm diode, G2 lens. homemade custom heat-sink, turn key safety switch. All jammed into a Nintendo gun. Learn how to build one at NorthStreetLabs.org. Aim it at a plane and Bubba will be glad to have you for a cell mate.

10 COMMENTS

  1. DIY fun… or trouble, depending on your opinion of such hobbies.

    Personally, this made me nostalgic to playing Hogan’s Alley on the NES as a little kid with my father. I still remember the “new smell” of unwrapping that Nintendo…

  2. To be perfectly honest….if the specs of that laser are right….It is more terrifying than a loaded gun IMHO.

    It could blind an entire crowd of people in seconds.

    • Not really. Even at ~2W, at any kind of distance, it would require significant, direct exposure to cause permanent loss of vision.

      At close range, if you stare at the thing for a minute or two, Mr. Eyeball is going to have a bad day. At 20+ feet, a relatively quick flash across the eyes is unlikely to cause permanent damage.

      One of the upsides of a small beam in that context is that it’s pretty hard to keep it focused on a given person’s eyes long enough to cause serious damage.

      With a wider beam or more power, that’s a different story, but that’s usually outside the scope of the hobbyist and becomes less and less portable.

  3. I am not enough of a nerd to understand much of this, but apparently this thing can start a fire. Can it start a fire at long distance? or does it have to be 6″ away like shown in the video?

    • The beam diverges as the distance increases, and particles in the atmosphere will begin to scatter more of the light. I don’t know the specifics of his build well-enough, but it would likely start a fire at a few feet of distance. 20 feet? Extremely unlikely.

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