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Documentation for Laser X/Y Oscilloscope |
This project began with some cheap speakers I had lying
around the house. I glued a support tube to the center
of the cone, then a mirror on top of that. I connected
an amplifier and applied a sine wave. I discovered that
50-watts for an extended time was not good. I fried it.
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My first attempt, except I fried one trying to get a larger excursion of the cone. |
Phase 2 began with the same idea, except I got some
larger diameter mirrors and glued one directly
to the cone. These speakers have a higher power
rating than the original ones, but I hated to give
them up (although they too have been around for
years unused).
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Try #2. Better speakers; more power capacity. Still not enough excursion. |
Although I had thought of using a suspension system
earlier in the planning, I thought mirrors would be
the better plan. However, making adjustable mounts
for mirrors would be difficult. I don't have a metal
shop to build what I needed. And suspension was
intriguing. I realized that I could get some of the much-needed optical amplification by shortening the distance between the fixed suspension and the driven suspension lines. A problem I saw with the suspension system using 2 speakers was the need for a spring on the opposite side of the laser pointer. I could not find a pair of suitable springs in several hardware stores in Austin. I then decided to use 2 speakers on each axis, wiring them in a push-pull mode, yielding a more robust suspension system over the spring idea. Furthermore, the box to house the system would be a simple cube. |
The final selection
shown with a picture
hanger glued to the
dust cap, an attachment
point for the suspension.
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