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View Full Version : Make Your Own "LASER" Eyes (Pics)!!!

JawCrusher
10-12-2007, 05:12 PM
I posted this on the Nation but it just has to be posted here as well. Goes along with the Make Your Own Eye Cover (http://angelowners.com/showthread.php?t=68486) thread.

Make your own "laser" eyes
I didn't want to spend the $40 for eyes and found that making them from scratch ran me about $3. On top of that, I was able to buy extra eyes and have the capability of picking ANY color I want. I wanted to stay conservative so I went with red... Anyways, here it is.

Ok, so here's all that is included with the eyes:

1.) 1 3mm colored LED (I chose red to get the "laser" effect). You can find these online or at you local hardware store, hobby store, or electric store.
2.) 1 3mm "water-clear" phototransistor (I went with the Everlight EL-PT204-6C. This phototransistor works great and can be bought from mouser.com for $0.16 a piece... WAY cheap!!!).
3.) 24 gauge wires.
4.) Different sizes of heat shrink ranging from the thinnest to a medium size that can fit two 24 gauge wires in it before shrinking.

As mentioned, you'll need 1 colored LED light (you can also do IR if you want to but make sure the phototransistor is in the nanometer range to accept IR light). You'll also need 1 phototransistor.

I only show how to do one set of eyes but it's identical for each side.

1st step is to bend the leads on the LED/phototransistor.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/eye2.jpg

I used a vice to start the bend then continued with a pair of pliers. Here is the result:

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/eye3.jpg

You'll notice that one lead is longer than the other. This is so you can determine polarity (longer lead is positive while the shorter is ground/negative).

Next you'll need to trim the leads. I kept the length of the positive/negative leads intact. I cut the lead at an angle so the positive lead would be slightly longer.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/eye4.jpg

The next step is to solder wires to the leads. A trick I learned from R/C cars is to tin the leads and the wires. Tinning makes it easy to touch solder parts so not a lot of heat is needed. To tin you'll need flux, solder, and a soldering iron. Coat the wire and leads with flux, get some solder on the end of the soldering iron. Then touch the iron with the solder to the "fluxed" wires and leads. You'll notice the solder attaches to them VERY quickly and easily. I chose to solder on the bottom of the leads to keep them covered by the leads.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/eye5.jpg

The next step is to get the wires covered in heat shrink to protect them a bit and to help hold the solder joints in place. I used solder around the solder joints of the leads and wires. i also used heat shrink around the two wires so they would be slightly more protected traveling down the eye channels of the gun.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/eye6.jpg

Final Product:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/eye1.jpg

After finishing this step it's a matter of running the wires to your board and attaching them using a plug or a different method. I currently use a stock A4 Fly board with my own eyes. I used pins found in a computer micro plug. With the pins attached to the ends of the wires, I had to individually connect them to the Angel Ribbon Eye slot.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/pins.jpg

Looking up above at my eye cover mod, you'll understand how I mounted the eyes. Doing a quick eye test on the board and doing some much anticipated visual tests (that red glow is just so cool), I am happy to say that all is functioning great!
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/eye7.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/eye8.jpg

There's a slight unforseen added benefit with my eye cover/"laser" eyes. When turned on, you can see the red glow from the outside of the gun. No need to open the breech or removal of hopper to see if the eye is on. It's a complete visual test from the outside of the gun. Pretty cool in my opinion (Click on link due to over-limit of pictures per post)...
Eye On (http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/cover12.jpg)

NEW 1.8MM TESTING FOR STOCK RIBBON EYE REPLACEMENTS
Ok, well, I finally tracked down a 1.8mm (stock size) phototransistor that would be sensitive to red light. Here is what I found...
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/18mm.jpg

From the picture you'll notice a clear LED and a diffused LED. The clear version with the flat top is the phototransistor. It's made by a company called Vishay and the part number is BPW16N (Datasheet (http://www.vishay.com/docs/81515/bpw16n.pdf)). The red led is also made by Vishay however, after doing some testing, it is definitely not bright enough. I had a similar issue to Newball where the distance to get the eye test to pass was about a cm away from each other. I used a 3mm super bright red led and tried the test again. This time the length was definitely far enough away to work as a paintball breakbeam eye. So, here's the issue. I was able to find the PT as seen above. I'm not overly impressed with its senstivity (or lack there of) compared to the 3mm PT mentioned higher up. However, seeing as how the 1.8mm PT's are hard as heck to find, this one just may have to do. I'm currently looking for a super bright 1.8mm red led (another hard thing to find). One thing to keep in mind when searching for a colored LED to use in a "laser" eye mod is to make sure it does NOT have a diffused lens and instead has a "water-clear" lens. The clear lens allows it to radiate a brighter light giving you a farther distance for the PT to still pick up the red light. In any case, it looks like this may be a solution to replacing the stock ribbon eyes. I will keep everyone posted as to what my findings lead to. Please don't hesitate to PM me or post here if you have any questions.


So, this shows it all. How I made eye-covers and eyes themselves.

Please remember there is no such thing as true laser eyes. "Laser" eyes are simply red LED's set up with a phototransistor that is ranged for LED red light (around 700 nanometers).

I hope some will find this useful and interesting. Feel free to ask questions if you have any. I may have skipped some of the nitty gritty.

Lates!
SPECIALNEEDS
10-12-2007, 06:22 PM
will you stop with all of the geniusness.

if you do anything else i might have to call you my hero

also do you know where i can get one of these micro plugs?? or something like it?? radio shack??
JawCrusher
10-12-2007, 06:28 PM
will you stop with all of the geniusness.

if you do anything else i might have to call you my hero

Eeek! You call me your hero and I'm done!
GMG Force Fly
10-12-2007, 07:40 PM
Try 1.8 mm tower led's. they're smaller, would fit better.
Usurper
10-12-2007, 07:46 PM
Would these fit under the eye covers and straps of an A4 Fly? I need 2 new sets of eyes, and $5 sounds alot better than $90+.
JawCrusher
10-12-2007, 08:35 PM
Try 1.8 mm tower led's. they're smaller, would fit better.

My LCD was drilled for 3mm eyes. 1.8mm would be way too small.
JawCrusher
10-12-2007, 08:37 PM
Would these fit under the eye covers and straps of an A4 Fly? I need 2 new sets of eyes, and $5 sounds alot better than $90+.

Funny... I think the post about the 1.88mm tower eyes is around what you're looking for. I believe the stock eyes are around 1.5mm. Please, someone correct me if I'm wrong. Regardless, if you find out what size the stock eyes are, you can most likely get a hold of them and they would work just fine. I chose to go with a place called mouser.com. Great place with a great selection. G'luck and let me know if you have any questions.

One other thing. Most of the time when eyes go bad it's because of the ribbon portion itself and not the eyes. You could de-solder the eyes on your "broken" ribbons and attach wires to them and do as I did. I just got word from a source that Bob from FMA says the stock ribbon eye covers will cover wires but just bulge out a bit. So, you definitely have options to avoid spending money on new eyes.
JawCrusher
10-12-2007, 08:44 PM
also do you know where i can get one of these micro plugs?? or something like it?? radio shack??

Are you talking about the plug/pins that I have individually connected to the wires? I extracted those from a very small computer plug. See if there's a custom computer shop in your area that caries small computer/electrical plugs. Pretty much any of those will be fine. Just twist the metal parts out until the plastic housing breaks and you should be able to use them.

I'm currently planning on replacing the eye plug on the board all together. I need to look at the board and see how it connects to the board. Then I can get a standard plug and connector set up. I'm sure I'll post up on it whenever I get around to it. Right now I'm super stoked about my new setup and need to get out and play with it!
GMG Force Fly
10-13-2007, 12:54 PM
The stock led's are 1.8mm tower led's.
JawCrusher
10-14-2007, 11:59 PM
The stock led's are 1.8mm tower led's.

I did a quick search online for the 1.8mm phototransistors and the only one's I could find were for an IR wavelength. They're definitely a little more rare at least here in the US. Search for a 1.8mm phototransistor online. You're looking for a "Thru Hole" or "Through Hole" version.
Tre Thompson
10-17-2007, 06:33 PM
Hey clean out your inbox!
JawCrusher
10-17-2007, 06:56 PM
Hey clean out your inbox!

haha... sorry man... I was in the process of doing it. CLeaned!
GMG Force Fly
10-17-2007, 08:55 PM
A LED is different from a phototransistor. A LED emits light (light emitting diode), a phototransistor is a transistor that is sensitive to light. There are 1.8mm LED's in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and white on Ebay. There is another thread on here somewhere discussing this, stay to wards the red end of the spectrum. I never had any problems with other colors, but i didn't use them for a great deal of time, just enough to test to see if they worked. Check digi-key.com for the phototransistors.
JawCrusher
10-17-2007, 11:06 PM
A LED is different from a phototransistor. A LED emits light (light emitting diode), a phototransistor is a transistor that is sensitive to light. There are 1.8mm LED's in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and white on Ebay. There is another thread on here somewhere discussing this, stay to wards the red end of the spectrum. I never had any problems with other colors, but i didn't use them for a great deal of time, just enough to test to see if they worked. Check digi-key.com for the phototransistors.


Yes, LED's are different from phototransistors and photodiodes. You can actually use any color light as long as you have a phototransistor that is ranged within the wavelength of the color you pick. Red being the highest on the spectrum (~700nm) and Blue/Violet being the lowest on the spectrum (~400). IR would be around 900-950nm I believe. If you can get a phototransistor that covers the entire range, that would be your best bet. The part number I listed for the phototransistor up above is the one I recommend if you have a 3mm hole (non-stock). If you're looking for a 1.8mm or 3mm phototransistor, make sure you get one that has a silicon casing and is a "water-clear" or similar lens.

If you're looking for 3mm "eyes", I'd highly recommend mouser.com. Great price and a HUGE selection. VERY fast delivery, too. As far as brands go, I'm currently using everlight LED's and Phototransistors.
GMG Force Fly
10-18-2007, 01:38 PM
The other thing you have to think about is making sure that the LED isnt too bright. If its too bright it will penetrate the ball, or if the wavelenght is too low it will also penetrate the ball. Might with one color of ball but not another.
JawCrusher
10-18-2007, 05:53 PM
The other thing you have to think about is making sure that the LED isnt too bright. If its too bright it will penetrate the ball, or if the wavelenght is too low it will also penetrate the ball. Might with one color of ball but not another.

Yeah, I already tested that theory as well. I ordered a set of super bright LED's (I believe they're the brightest conventional LED's you can buy) and not a problem. I'm actually using them in my gun now. Passed the eye test and all. Nice thing about the phototransistor I mentioned above is that it needs a direct light source so reflection and what not off/through the ball isn't enough to complete the beam. As far as wavelength being too low... the only way that would be possible is if the emitter LED you use is below 410nm. At that point you'd be getting into the violets and a little lower would be UV. It would be an excellent setup for glow in the dark balls! You'd just have to make sure you had a phototransistor that would be sensitive to the UV light wavelength.
Shibbykins
10-18-2007, 11:26 PM
im personally curious about the technical data of the phototransistor on the stock harness's. any ideas ?

also whats the operation voltages for the leds

J
JawCrusher
10-19-2007, 03:21 AM
im personally curious about the technical data of the phototransistor on the stock harness's. any ideas ?

also whats the operation voltages for the leds

J

I'm not sure about stock. Since they are 1.8mm sized phototransistors it's hard to find anything comparable online. The 3mm LED's I use operate at .4 volts I believe. I'll double check that tomorrow to be sure.
Shibbykins
10-19-2007, 04:27 AM
i did a little research and i have found the 1.8mm pt's only bad thing is you have to buy in MASS quantity
JawCrusher
10-19-2007, 10:45 AM
i did a little research and i have found the 1.8mm pt's only bad thing is you have to buy in MASS quantity

Good find... how much is "mass". Care to link me?

Kinda smart by WDP... go with a rare size to make it harder for folks like me to copy...ha!
Shibbykins
10-19-2007, 10:54 AM
i know right lol

i think they ended up being like .20 cents a piece and the minimum order was like 100 bucks. i bookmarket it on the pc at work so ill see if i can get into the office on sat morning (its friday night here)
JawCrusher
10-19-2007, 10:58 AM
$20 for 100 isn't bad seeing as how you spend $40 for one PT and one LED.

I'd love to see the link to see the specs and all. Whenever you get the chance of course.

Damn, I wish it was Friday night here! I'm just starting my work day!
Shibbykins
10-19-2007, 11:24 AM
it pissed me off you had to order $100 worth of product as a minimum order to get em

ill see if i can locate em now since im bored as §§§§ and running low on beer lol
GMG Force Fly
10-19-2007, 02:20 PM
If you order from digi-key you can order one by one. I ordered intellifeed plugs and didnt have to order bulk. Think i bought 20 of four different kinds of connectors, 2 pin and 3 pin for power. It was under $40.
JawCrusher
10-23-2007, 02:22 AM
Some new FYI stuff...

I just took my LCD out to the field today with its new eyes and ran into a small problem. The problem was easily fixed and stupidly overlooked by me when I was testing them in my garage. Seeing how sunlight is ~500-600 nm, the exposed portion of the PT on my gun picked up the sunlinght when it hit the PT's exposed area directly. If you notice in the picture below, there is some exposure of the PT that sunlight can hit. If you can visualize the opposite side of the picture, the PT is exposed the same way. And, well, when the sunlight hit directly on the PT, my gun wouldn't shoot. Basically the sunlight was telling my gun that there was no ball between the PT and the sun. Large area to fill!!!

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/cover12.jpg

Anyways, the fix was very simple. I simply wrapped a small piece of electrical tape around the back end so it would no longer be exposed to the sun. After wrapping the small piece of tape around the back end of the PT, I placed it back in the eye hole and re-applied the eye covers. And wha-la, the gun shot perfect. Went through an entire case w/out a hitch.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/eye9.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/eye10.jpg

The small amount of sunlight that gets through the gun's cracks and feedneck do not effect the PT I have installed. It is only direct sunlight that will cause it to have issues. If your eye cover covers the eyes completely, you will not have this problem and will not have to bother with the electric tape wrap addition.

I was very impressed with how awesome these eyes work. It's definetly nice having a visual check of the eyes to make sure nothing is blocking them as well as making sure they're just simply working. My gun fired just as fast and just as great as ever. After an actual field test, I give this eye mod the offical :tup:
Shibbykins
10-24-2007, 04:22 AM
what was the model numbers for those i-feed plugs?
JawCrusher
10-24-2007, 10:45 AM
what was the model numbers for those i-feed plugs?

i-feed plugs? You mean the one's I have attached individually at the end of each wire? No model number. I picked up a few computer plugs that had these in them. Used a small wire cutter to extract them. If you have a computer parts store in your area, look for any type of plastic computer plug with similar pins and cut them out. That, or I can send you a few. PM if you're interested.
Shibbykins
10-26-2007, 07:13 AM
i got a few ifeed setups i picked up a while back on a massive clearout. just perfesionla curiosity lol i make my ifeeds for halos off of a MT diagram from a tech class :)

J
JawCrusher
10-26-2007, 11:21 AM
i got a few ifeed setups i picked up a while back on a massive clearout. just perfesionla curiosity lol i make my ifeeds for halos off of a MT diagram from a tech class :)

J

I'm still not sure what an iFeed is. The pics aren't working either. Sorry, man.
Shibbykins
10-28-2007, 12:16 AM
yeah the sites smilies havnt been working for a while. intellifeed is ifeed.

items should arrive soon from distro. testing will ensue shortly after.

J
tom allen
10-28-2007, 09:46 AM
Planet eclipse do a great eye cover for the autococker that would be great for this project. It has a hole for mounting and an internal groove for the wires. Also there is a wire running all around the edge to give it support and shape when bent.
JawCrusher
10-29-2007, 02:37 AM
Planet eclipse do a great eye cover for the autococker that would be great for this project. It has a hole for mounting and an internal groove for the wires. Also there is a wire running all around the edge to give it support and shape when bent.

Yeah, the e-blade cover. That's what places like TAG sportz uses. With Eclipse discontinuing their E2 Blade Frame for Cockers, those eye covers are a little hard to come buy.
Shibbykins
10-29-2007, 02:04 PM
§§§§ with the eclipse blades being discontinued palmers migth be a little strapped for frames for some of its custom markers.
JawCrusher
10-30-2007, 01:53 AM
New 1.8mm Stock Eye info posted. Please see original post towards the bottom. Still doing some testing/R&D on the red LED part.
GMG Force Fly
10-30-2007, 01:42 PM
I'm currently looking for a super bright 1.8mm red led (another hard thing to find). One thing to keep in mind when searching for a colored LED to use in a "laser" eye mod is to make sure it does NOT have a diffused lens and instead has a "water-clear" lens. The clear lens allows it to radiate a brighter light giving you a farther distance for the PT to still pick up the red light. In any case, it looks like this may be a solution to replacing the stock ribbon eyes. I will keep everyone posted as to what my findings lead to. Please don't hesitate to PM me or post here if you have any questions.

Here you go. 10 of each color. The blue is one of the best blue LED's I've ever seen. Orange is on ebay also, just search for 1.8mm orange led.
http://cgi.ebay.com/10x-1-8mm-red-yellow-blue-green-white-waterclear-leds_W0QQitemZ200166933162QQihZ010QQcategoryZ26207 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Shibbykins
10-30-2007, 02:20 PM
on it
JawCrusher
10-30-2007, 02:33 PM
Here you go. 10 of each color. The blue is one of the best blue LED's I've ever seen. Orange is on ebay also, just search for 1.8mm orange led.
http://cgi.ebay.com/10x-1-8mm-red-yellow-blue-green-white-waterclear-leds_W0QQitemZ200166933162QQihZ010QQcategoryZ26207 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I saw this seller. Good ratings and all but China... blah! The same dude sells a 50 pack of super bright reds. I just wish I could find a more reliable source than ebay for these things.
Shibbykins
10-30-2007, 03:06 PM
im high bidder on them right now man ill let you know my findings when i get them. i hate the china issue myself.

J
tom allen
10-30-2007, 03:31 PM
I buy badminton string and shuttles from china, never had a problem, and always fast (less than 5 days) delivery.
GMG Force Fly
10-31-2007, 03:20 PM
I saw this seller. Good ratings and all but China... blah! The same dude sells a 50 pack of super bright reds. I just wish I could find a more reliable source than ebay for these things.

I got mine from him almost a year ago, it was less then 7 days to get. I think it was actually 5. You would have to find out who the actual manufacturer is then find out who distributes them.
Shibbykins
10-31-2007, 07:58 PM
won em. will post findings when i get em
jitspoe
11-02-2007, 12:24 AM
I'm working on my own eye project and found a good alternative to sticking individual pins in the connector. Simply take apart some old electronic device, such as a printer, and there will likely be at least one flat ribbon cable. Take a pair of scissors and cut it down to 4 wires (or 4 1/2 to 5 wires if you want to be sure it fits snug and doesn't wiggle around). You can probably order the cables as well while you're getting your LED's. The one I used has "AWM E41447-SHC 80C 60V 20624 VW-1" written on it. It has 12 wires. Ideally getting one with 4 wires or 2 with 2 wires would be better. Soldering could be a bit of a challenge, but we'll see how that goes when my LED's get here.
JawCrusher
11-02-2007, 01:40 AM
Hey Shibby... how many did you get from that ebay sale?
Shibbykins
11-02-2007, 03:59 AM
10pcs 1.8mm red led

10pcs 1.8mm yellow led

10pcs 1.8mm blue led

10pcs 1.8mm green led

10pcs 1.8mm white led
jitspoe
11-04-2007, 07:28 AM
Just got all the stuff in and did some brief testing. The Everlight EL-PT204-6C seems to work great with the blue lite-on LED (859-LTL1CHTBK).