Laser Target Designator

[Dandare01]

HSE are very interested in the laser pens/pointers http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAweb&HPAweb ... 5733794576 here is a guide to what you can and can't use.

Something you may alson want to ask both BMFA and any venue's is the use of the lasers, and BB's in public, just a thought.

[Rivetcounter]

hang on so you are going to have a Lazar in the hull MG position of your tank to illuminate targets so you can fire from a rotating turret that will probably be out of centre and again out of line with the main gun ? this may work IF the Lazar is in the turret MG position but as Robert correctly says don't take and use this at a public event

[Mackem]

Hi All,

This one seems to have caused quite a stir, so I will try and answer the points that have been raised so far.

Rivetcounter: Sorry if I didn't make this clear. The laser pointer will be fited in my Leo2 and replace the co-axial turret MG. It will therefore rotate with the turret and be in synch with elevation and depression of the main armement. So hopefully, whatever is lit up by the laser will be what the main gun is pointing at.

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Dandare: Here is a direct quote from the HSE web site :-

4. What about lasers used for presentation purposes?
The power of laser pointers used in presentation work is normally equivalent to a Class 2 or the new class 2M. When used as intended, these products will not cause an eye injury risk. The simple precaution of ensuring that they are never deliberately stared at or shone into people’s faces will be sufficient control for any viewing hazard they present. In the case of Class 3A and the new Class 1M and 2M laser pointers, it is also necessary to ensure that viewing aids, such as magnifying glasses and binoculars, are never used by persons who may be exposed to the laser pointer beam. Given that the use of such devices by members of an audience is highly unlikely, Class 3A and the new class 1M and 2M laser pointers will be in most circumstances no more hazardous than Class 2 devices. 

As the target designation laser will be operating at less than 100Mw, at a height of less than 3" from the ground, and only used for a split second when I think I may be on target. It seems clear that it's usage falls well within HSE guidelines. Obviously common sense would prevail and if there was any possibility of the laser shining in someones eyes It would not be used.

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971wright : There is a reply to your thread about this matter on RCU. A member has actually tested the effects of a laser designator on his own battle unit with no ill effect.
I will of course do the same as I have stated earlier. The last thing I want to do is damage anyone's model.

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Hope this answered a few questions.
Cheers
John

[Rivetcounter]

John, seems I was a little dim in my understanding of what you where doing had an idea why don't you place it in the main gun barrel

[Mackem]

Seems as though I am being even dimmer
Placing it in the main gun barrel will be an absolute doddle.

Nice one
John

[Rivetcounter]

Only a thought but glad to be of help, I did think of shoving a battle system up the gun barrel to keep the tank looking authentic but alas that was as far as I got

[Ern]

I did this with my Tiger and it works great!  I bought the laser on ebay for about $6.  What I did is just snip the wires leading to the machine gun LED in the mantlet, pulled the LED and re-connected the wires to the laser.  As someone said, now I just press the HL transmitter "G" button for a burst from the laser to use as an aiming device.  It pulses like the original LED and gives the stock machine gun sound.  The only problem is that the laser is going to "shoot" perfectly straight, and is off set from where the barrel is aiming.  I was going to try to align them somehow, or get them to cross at a know distance, but just went for the easy install and just shoot keeping in mind that the laser is going to shoot a couple inches to the right.  The airsoft guns aren't all that accurate anyway so I didn't think it would really be worth the effort to try to sync the two up.

Here's a link to laser and the guy I bought from:  http://cgi.ebay.com/Laser-Module-650nm- ... 240%3A1318

These lasers works great.  The seller states that you should not use over 3v.  The HL electronics already reduce the voltage going to the LED to around 2.4v so there no worry about hurting the laser of the tanks electronics.  It's a very easy mod and gives a neat effect.  For installing the laser, I just super glued the piece of left over barrel that I cut when I lengthened the barrel on my Tiger to the inside of the mantlet and the laser fit perfectly.

[Mackem]

Many thanks for the info and the link Ern, that laser looks absolutely perfect to me.

Cheers
John

[Ern]

Oops!  My mistake on the link.    That link is for his 3mm laser.  It will probably work, but I went with the bigger unit he offers, 10.5mm, because I thought it would be easier to work with.  Here's the one I used:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Laser-Diode-Module- ... 240%3A1318

Sorry for any inconvenience -

[oztruck]

Hi Mackem, I put one in my Pershing a year ago, It works great as a coax MG and some as the 1/1 tanks, I use it to find my targets too.
I don't have a photo of how it is installed but this is what it looks like from the outside.




The brass tube that you can see is a piece of K&S that I have mounted into the end of the Lazar pointer.

First with the help of a friendly salesman at a local electrical supply store we worked out what resistor I needed, With the resister and my new Lazar pointer I then went home and pulled the pointer apart. the top of the pointer had a small hole in it into which i mounted a small section of K&S tube. this has to be in line with the Lazar for it to work correctly. lazar-beams wont go around a bend.
I then enlarged the hole next to the main gun so that the tube would fit through it.

I then removed the whole air-soft unit barrel and all and mounted it in a vice to keep it steady. After that I aimed it at a piece of A4 paper about 3 mtr away and fired several shots at the paper. That gave me a small pattern of BB hits to aim the Lazar pointer at.

I used a hot glue gun to hold the Lazar in place because it is easy to make small adjustments by heating the unit and moving it.

When I was happy with the accuracy of the sight I reinstalled the main gun and rewired the Lazar into the MG wires with its new resister.

Works like a charm. no more guess work, when the red dot hits the target, fire and 9 times out of 10 you will get a first shot kill