Build a Real Ray Gun at Home (Homemade Ray Gun or Burning Pulse Laser Pistol)

Step 2: Make a Capacitor Bank

Use a soldering iron to remove the capacitors from the camera circuits. Gather an even number of capacitors with the same ratings. Most capacitors will have a label telling you their designed voltage and capacitance. In the bank you are making, you need all of the same type of capacitor. Keep in mind that the more capacitors you add, the less life your flash lamp will theoretically have (though I have used over 20 100uF capacitors and mine continually works, but to be safe you should use much less). The amount recommended is between 4 and 10 120uF capacitors.

Use the soldering iron to wire half of the capacitors in parallel. Do the same with the other half in a different row. Tape the two rows together and connect the two rows in series.

MAKE SURE that when you are connecting in parallel, + terminals are connected to other + terminals and - terminals are connected to other - terminals! Failure to regard polarity with these flash capacitors will lead to all sorts of nasty things! A stripe on the side of the capacitors indicates NEGATIVE polarity.

Save one disposable camera circuit with the capacitor still in it. We will need it later. 

 

 

Step 3: Power Section

On the circuit that you saved with the capacitor still in it, there should be a charge button on the disposable camera circuit. Make sure that it is set to charge ON. If yours forces you to hold the button to charge, solder the button connection so that it is always ON. On another circuit with the capacitor removed, do the same.

Get a 2x AA battery holder (usually $2 online) and solder the positive end from the holder to both the positive battery terminal on the circuit with the capacitor and the one without it. The terminal is where you first removed the battery from the disposable camera circuit. Make sure that you are observing the correct polarity!

Do the same with the negative end.

Refer back to step 2 for a simple labeled picture of the flash circuit. 

 

 

Step 4: Wiring the Charging Circuits

For the raygun to work, all of the capacitors must be charged. The indicator light with the capacitor on the board that it was left in should blink almost immediately when turned on. Solder in switches to switch between charging either of the two rows of capacitors in the capacitor bank with the other board. Refer back to step 2 for a picture. The two different places the switch should switch to are labeled "Switch 1" and "Switch 2."

Remember, polarity is very important. So make sure the positive from the charging circuit is connected to the positive on the capacitors and vice versa.

NOTE: You will need to wire switches so that before switching between charging ROW 1 and ROW 2 the row that you were charging is DISCONNECTED otherwise there will be a big spark. Use HEAVY DUTY switches also. Touching the capacitor terminals at any time is DANGEROUS! Use adequate insulation. Similar insulation to what is found in disposable cameras should work fine (thick plastic).

Step 5: Ionizer and the SSY-1

You will need a laser head. I used an SSY-1 laser head off of ebay (approximately $100), but if you are lucky you can salvage it from a laser rangefinder.

Although the capacitors will be connected directly to the SSY-1 laser head at all times, the energy from them cannot flow through. First, the gas in the flashlamp must be IONIZED.

Refer back to step 1. Find where the Ionization coil is labeled. Desolder the metal on top of the ionization coil on the board that you left the capacitor in. Solder a hanging wire to it. We will use it later.

The SSY-1 has 3 wires:
1.) RED (goes to the POSITIVE on the capacitors, see picture on step 2)
2.) BLACK (goes to the NEGATIVE on the capacitors, see picture on step 2)
3.) WHITE (solder to the hanging wire from the ionization coil that we discussed)

Get a trigger button and solder the two ends of it to the flash trigger on the board in which you had left in the capacitor. Remove metal trigger bits from the other board. 

 

 

Step 6: Optional Addons

Adding in a sound bit is optional, and you can get a recordable sound module from your local Radio Shack or electronics retailer. Glue everything together how you like it, but make sure NEVER TO LEAVE THE CAPACITOR TERMINALS WHERE YOUR HANDS WILL BE. An infrared lens may be useful in focusing the laser beam and can be used to burn holes in metal or causing air to break down into a plasma at the focus point (it will appear like a ball of light the size of a BB).

http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-Real-Ray-Gun-at-Home-1/