chiefcasher Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 Hi Guys and Girls I'm looking to put a lazer effect into a show and have a little bit of money to spent up to 500 pounds mark, I need it for a stage show anyone worked with small lazers...any ideas? Paul :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundiesam Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 I may be wrong but I think you have to have some kind of special license to operate lazerssam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ike Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 You are wrong, in the UK at least. Being a bit picky but it's laser not lazer, it's an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 Moderation: Topic title corrected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmills Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 Just to expand on not needing a license in the UK a little: There is no operators license as such in the UK, it is that old 'Competent person' chestnut, but many (most?) local authorities have something in their standard venue licensing terms requiring notification and giving the licensing officer the right to approve the effect. Normally audience scanning is the big concern and appropriate exposure calculations and the like will be required if doing this (together with appropriate safety interlocks (Scan fail, and hard area masking) on the laser system). There is a HSE guidance (HSG 95) note which gives some recommendations that while it is not law as such will often be looked upon as good practise by the licensing officer. The ILDA may also have useful papers on calculation of exposure for audience scanning and the like and will be well worth a look. How long is the run, what other lighting, any haze, and what effect are you trying for? You have basically got two ways to go with a £500 budget, hire a medium power green DPSS-FD affair, which does that horrible bright green colour, but is easy to rig, easy to power and air cooled, or hire an argon or mixed gas affair which can do multiple colours (How many depends on the laser), but needs three phase power and (typically) water cooling. I doubt you will get an RGB solid state rig at realistic power for that money. Regards, Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiefcasher Posted May 2, 2008 Author Share Posted May 2, 2008 Hi Thank you for all the help! Would really like to buy the laser is there any thing I could get for that type of money! Which would do the job? Thanks Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmills Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 You have not told us what effect you are going for (So I was working on a generic laser for beam effects and the like)! While £500 will buy you a cheap DPSS or straight forward diode laser at maybe a few tens of mW to maybe a 1/4 watt and dubious divergence, it will not buy you something that will look good combined with other production lighting, or that will have reasonable scanners, so, yea, you can get a mobile disco toy for that money, but I think you will be disappointed. Regards, Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenalien Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 You can just about build a reasonable 250mW laser from components for £500 - you can get a 250mW 532nm (green) diode for a couple of hundred, the same again for the galvos to move the beam and a box to put it all in. A ready-built pre-programmed 100mW that's worth having will cost you around £700 but, while just about OK as a club effect, isn't enough for a show as you are limited to the inbuilt programming, although you may be able to select specific effects via DMX from your lighting desk. If you want to design your own laser patterns / logos and cue them on time then you'll also need a computer, USB - ILDA interface and software which will cost you at least £350 without the computer - and then there's the steep learning curve. You also need to take onboard the specific Health and Safety requirements for using a laser in public.Try asking on the Photolexicon forum as you will find a lot of info there on what you can get for your money, and plenty of people who can help you. A £500 budget will just about cover the hire of an experienced professional laser show for a night or two, they can also take care of all the essential paperwork - insurance, method statement, task risk analysis, radiation exposure assessment and so on that you will need in order to comply with Health and Safety requirements. You also need to check that your chosen venue allows lasers - lots don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PocketJem Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 You also need to check that your chosen venue allows lasers - lots don't. It's not usually the lasers that are the problem, it's more likely that they won't allow fog or haze. Sadly, unless you're just projecting graphics, lasers are pretty useless without a bit of haze in the air as you cannot see the beams. As recommended by Greenalien, nip over to photonlexicon.com and ask some questions there. What area of the UK are you in? Cheers Jem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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