deathray – Milwaukee Makerspace https://milwaukeemakerspace.org Conceive, Collaborate, Create Mon, 22 Sep 2014 10:54:22 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.4 Updated Design- The phone with the frickin’ laser now has a trigger https://milwaukeemakerspace.org/2014/09/updated-design-the-phone-with-the-frickin-laser-now-has-a-trigger/ https://milwaukeemakerspace.org/2014/09/updated-design-the-phone-with-the-frickin-laser-now-has-a-trigger/#comments Mon, 22 Sep 2014 01:42:22 +0000 http://milwaukeemakerspace.org/?p=7712 I added a trigger and it works beautifully!

You can DL the files here:  http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:454265 and get your pew-pew on!

assembled

 

 

]]> https://milwaukeemakerspace.org/2014/09/updated-design-the-phone-with-the-frickin-laser-now-has-a-trigger/feed/ 2 A phone with a frickin’ laser! https://milwaukeemakerspace.org/2014/09/a-phone-with-a-frickin-laser/ https://milwaukeemakerspace.org/2014/09/a-phone-with-a-frickin-laser/#respond Sat, 13 Sep 2014 02:38:43 +0000 http://milwaukeemakerspace.org/?p=7680 My recent acquisition of a Meade ETX-90 telescope with computer go-to system for locating objects in the sky got me thinking that it would be nice to have a system to locate objects in the sky when you’re looking through binoculars or a telescope that doesn’t have a computer and motors to drive it.  To that end I came up with the idea of mounting a green laser pointer, commonly used by astronomy nutz to point out objects in the sky to noobs, on a cell phone or tablet running a program such as Google SkyMap or Skeye.

sky laser all parts

CAD rendering of the parts

After much thought and a few prototypes I came up with a system that allows a laser to mount on a phone and that assembly to mount on a tripod, a handle, or a telescope.  The tube that holds the laser has adjustment screws to allow the laser to be aligned with the SkyMap on the phone.  It also has to slots that fit over standard gun sight rails.  On one side I have a phone/tablet bracket that has a gunsight rail and slides into the laser tube, and the other side can be used for a rail that mounts on a tripod or a handle.  Extra rails can be mounted on telescope tubes.  I haven’t yet designed a binocular mount, but will soon.

 

IMG_0388

Parts printing on MegaMax

I printed the parts on MegaMax with Octave fluorescent red filament (that’s why the colors vary in the photos- the flash apparently excites the fluorescence in the picture with the handle).   All the parts fit VERY tightly together but I included screw holes for extra security.  The phone/tablet mounts on the bracket using velcro tape.  I think it may be better to print or buy a cheap case to fit the phone than screw it to the phone/tablet bracket.  I’ll be posting the design files to Thingiverse shortly.

IMG_0409

Phone and laser mounted on handle

IMG_0404

Phone and laser on a tripod

 

 

]]> https://milwaukeemakerspace.org/2014/09/a-phone-with-a-frickin-laser/feed/ 0 MMS Eclipse watching party https://milwaukeemakerspace.org/2012/05/mms-eclipse-watching-party/ https://milwaukeemakerspace.org/2012/05/mms-eclipse-watching-party/#respond Mon, 21 May 2012 05:38:44 +0000 http://milwaukeemakerspace.org/?p=3527 Although poorly attended (only one full and one future member) everyone had a great time observing the 98% solar Eclipse.

Using the official MMS pinhole card:

 

 

 

 

Too bad the eclipse image is so poor, what a minute – whats that on the building next door?

 

Openings between the leaves of trees are acting as pin hole cameras and giving hundreds of images of the eclipse, we felt a little silly looking at the tiny ones the card was making for the first half hour :-)

You can also see some on the leaf in the foreground (I’m writing this on an old netbook so I can’t tell how the pictures are coming out, so I didn’t clip or tweak them)

And just so you don’t think its some other effect, here’s a shot at the max we witnessed, notice the arc is at the top instead of the side:

I’m still not sure why we had such a poor turnout, after all its only a 36 hour drive to San Francisco!

 

 

]]> https://milwaukeemakerspace.org/2012/05/mms-eclipse-watching-party/feed/ 0 Popping Popcorn With A Laser https://milwaukeemakerspace.org/2011/02/popping-popcorn-with-a-laser/ https://milwaukeemakerspace.org/2011/02/popping-popcorn-with-a-laser/#respond Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:20:14 +0000 http://mm.bytedev.info/?p=773 Typical Saturday shenanigans.  …for us anyway.

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