DIY Star Trek phaser pops balloons and makes a cool noise

[Video Link] He had to make his garage smoky to see the beam, but this DIY Star Trek phaser is impressive. (Via Unique Daily)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Ito Kagehisa

That’s awesome! Does the top bit pop off and stick to your belt with velcro?
http://dailygrail.com/ Red Pill Junkie

Couldn’t help noticing the hand… without a wedding ring >:)
- Marc45
  
  obviously a smart guy ;)
- Guest
  
  couldn’t see the shirt, bet it’s not red either
- Doctor 13enster
  
  It’s his right hand…
  - http://dailygrail.com/ Red Pill Junkie
    
    It’s interchangeable, apparently. I’ve looked ;)
    - ocker3
      
      yeah, but that’s not common
      - http://dailygrail.com/ Red Pill Junkie
        
        Ok then. It’s still a safe bet though –that balloon nemesis is single I mean ;)
- http://twitter.com/EssBen Ben Rosenthal
  
  I’m actually betting married, which is why he’s hiding in the garage with his toys……if single he’d be doing this in his foul batchelor frog pad :D
http://twitter.com/roelsiebrand Roel Siebrand

Want one. Want one. Want one!
- Guest
  
  one is not enough for a landing party. Want 8.
Glen Able

Earth need no longer fear an attack by the Balloon People of Mylar 7.
- http://twitter.com/digitalArtform Joseph Francis
  
  If you took the time to understand them you’d know they are actually good people simply defending themselves.
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKp7akCjiF4
  - Kingazaz
    
    No, they’re not.
    
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpc5vgi9zbM
- Diogenes
  
  The Mylarians reply: We’re silver and you’re phazer is blue, whatever you beam at us we reflect back at you! We laugh at your puny weapon! Go frighten the softies on Latex 5. “
  - polyg0n
    
    Ugly bags of mostly water!
spacemunky

Next step: a lightsaber that can pop balloons.

Your move, Star Wars fans.
yri

Away team, set phasers to “pop”!
- nheasley
  
  Away team, set phasers to “startle!”
koko szanel

Remember to protect your remaining eye while playing with DIY Star Trek phaser
- Ben Bradley
  
  It’s all fun and games until he points it at a mirror.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Lucas-Wallace/100001885242878 Lucas Wallace

Did you guys learn nothing from the bird man?
http://ok-cleek.com/blogs cleek

if it’s hot enough to pop a balloon, i’m 10,000% sure i would not be aimlessly waving it around in my garage. there are all kinds of hyper-flammable solvents lurking around on my shelves!
Atvaark

Can it pop white balloons? :p
http://www.yazacakyerariyorum.com/ yasin sezer

Wooow! Great weapon :)
John Smith

Al Sharpton is not going to like this.
- Wingnut
  
  So you noticed the balloon was black too.
  Heartless white vulcans…
Jonathan Carpenter

You’ll shoot your eye out, kid!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Joshua-Stearns/100001494962368 Joshua Stearns

Can you say hoax?
- Donald Petersen
  
  Hoax? If the balloon was filled with hydrogen and chlorine gas, the UV light emitted by lighting a strip of magnesium across the room would set it off. I suspect that’s what happened here, rather than the laser actually burning a hole through the latex.
  - flickerKuu
    
    Nope. The dark color of the balloon helps it burn quicker, like something black in the sun. You can do this with as little as a 10mw laser – they used to sell some green ones you could crank up that high. This has nothing to do with weird gasses inside a balloon. What a pain it would be to put those gases in anyway… If you look on the net you will find plenty of balloon popping or match striking laser videos.
- HenryPootel
  
  How can you pew pew this? Where is your evidence!
- http://profiles.google.com/westcarleton Ray Perkins
  
  Similar stuff at http://www.laser-gadgets.com/mini_lasergun.php
asmodeus82

I’m pretty sure if you take the laser from a blue ray burner you can pop a balloon with it.
Physicist friend told me.
Hell I’m pretty sure you can do it with a DVD laser.
- Jorpho
  
  Precisely! A good number of years ago there were how-to videos for building something like this using the diodes from a blu-ray drive or a DVD burner – balloon-popping and all. (Of course, the DVD burner uses a red laser and doesn’t look half as nifty.)
  
  I have no idea if those videos are still around; as has been stated, these things are really quite hazardous.
jwkrk

Quite possible to pop a balloon. Also, I’d be concerned about eye damage simply from viewing the spot (not even directly aimed at your eye)…intense blue light can accelerate macular degeneration.

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/sciencentral/2674-eye-damage-from-blue-light-video.htm

http://laserpointerforums.com/f38/bluray-lasers-eye-damage-52747.html
http://twitter.com/anderalert Pat Eisel

just in time for prom! assuming it won’t set off the metal detector. can you make that thing out of soap?
Bodhipaksa

Props for the sound effect.
Galadriel Kramington

This was made by Jay Robertson, who kindly wrote instructions and also sells an almost-complete “kit” so you can have your own.

Here’s that video as posted by the original maker of the phaser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6iiNs4J5VM

Hoax? He was featured in Popular Science for it last summer:
http://laserpointerforums.com/f48/popular-science-phaser-article-64568.html

Kit:
http://laserpointerforums.com/f64/fs-star-trek-phaser-hot-option-individual-parts-46946.html

Tutorial:
http://laserpointerforums.com/f51/tutorial-12x-star-trek-phaser-mod-46886.html