DIY: Easy Action Switch for Green Laser Pointers

[iceman]

Hi all

Darryl (Kokatha man) has written a how-to article on making an Easy Action Switch for Green Laser Pointers.

You can read the article on the IceInSpace Projects & Articles (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/?projects) page, or directly by clicking on the link below:

Easy Action Switch for Green Laser Pointers (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.php?id=63,469,0,0,1,0)

Thanks to Darryl for writing the article. If you'd like to submit an article or review to IceInSpace, please Contact Me (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/?contact).

[iceman]

Article uploaded.

[JohnH]

Not as elegant but I use a clothes peg clipped on the barrel of the laser where the switch is located. All that is then required is you rotate it to depress the switch - the touch required is so light you will not disturb your allignment and for added finesse I use a neon green translucent peg - it matches the laser output!

[Kokatha man]

Thanks for uploading the article Mike.

I'd certainly pay that method you've devised John: I found that in the Lumicon mount with its' plastic alignment screws that the very smooth surface of the laser pointer made accurate alignment of the laser very difficult to achieve and hold due to the (almost) frictionless contact between the aforesaid screws and the laser body - so I tackled the "no-disturbance" switching solution first and then in Mk2 addressed the "grip" of the mount to the laser.

Your "lo-tech" solution certainly is a simpler way to overcome the first issue, and the matching colour scheme is a real bonus - congratulations!

My Mk2 version saw me discard the "coiled" speaker flex and requisition an obsolete phone charger flexible lead for more panache; and I used short sections of large diameter "shrink-fit" insulating spaghetti from Dickies that I heat-shrunk onto the pointer body where the Lumicon's alignment screws held it - result, no slip and stable/rigid alignment.

Regards, Darryl. - ps, I'm not an undercover "spruiker" for Dick Smith" by the way!

[citivolus]

I'll have to try the heat shrink tubing. Right now I'm using some flexible poly tubing with a slit in the side, cut into two pieces and slipped over the pointer. It has a little to much flexure, which the heat shrink tube wouldn't have.

[Kokatha man]

One thing I forgot to mention in my reply to JohnH: I've only "had" 3 laser pointers (sound like some sort of kleptomaniac!) and "having" 3 was because the 2nd one I purchased for the dob scope had to be returned because of a faulty switch.

But 2 of the 3 (my first and the faulty one) have/had very stiff action button switches and wouldn't have been amenable to the peg type switch; they really do require considerable pressure to operate, though the 3rd one has a "freer" switch that I've just checked for "peg-op" compliability - and it works.

But you obviously have access to a better quality peg John; not only do my pegs exert too much force to operate without the real likelihood of alignment interference - I have my lasers very accurately set-up because they're integral to my fast polar alignment process; but they're also hopelessly inadequate in terms of their colour-compatibility!!!

Regards, Darryl.