Lighting effect - sparkles/beam splitter etc.. lenses.

[GunnerBill]

In my other thread I am building a Fallout 3 plasma rifle.

http://www.therpf.com/f9/fallout-3-plasma-rifle-build-plasmafication-200696/index2.html

I have the powerful green light source for the plasma effect but it's a bit boring. What I need is some kind of multifaceted lens to split the beam into a bunch of crazy rays along and out of the barrel.

Anyone got any ideas for this as believe me i've been hammering google in search but to no avail?

It'd need to be less than 4cm in diameter.

 

[Cadeian]

Hmm...my first thought was that you could pull apart an old CD/DVD drive, take out the mirrors/beam splitters and attach them to a small spinning motor. Those optics are TINY and could probably offer some neat effects.

My second thought went to the collection of 'crystal' beads I got at a Micheal's a few years back. They came in a variety pack of all kinds of shapes/sizes, were completely clear and mulch-faceted enough to provide some pretty cool optics when I shined my laser pointer through them! Only cost a few bucks, if I recall correctly. If you'd like I can post a pic of one of the trinkets I assembled from them later today.

Anyway, nice Plasma Rifle! And good luck with on your quest!

 

[GunnerBill]

Thanks for the tip, in parallel I just tried this. The problem here is the barrel obviously looks full of glass beads and also that the light attenuates very quickly through them so the effect only works for about the 1st couple of inches.

I guess i am looking for a single optical quality lens, I may try fibre optics...