Installing an optical eye

[Ask_Alan]

Poundworld and some other £ shops have laser guided scissors. When stripped these contain a small red laser pointer and a beam splitter. Remove the beam splitter (a small lens) and you are left with a 1cm long laser module with a red and black wire - this runs off 3 little coin cells in the scissors. The output is sharp and bright.

I imagine this would be usable - locate a 5v supply from the PSU, stick a small resistor in line with the red wire and glue the laser module on. Put a switch somewhere to turn it on and off.

One brand of "laserpoint " type cutter I tested had something similar glued into the head shell, though I think it was a bright red LED in a barrel.


Alan