We will be mounting the laser on a scrap piece of wood. The one used here is about 1 ½ by 1 inch and cut to about 6 or 7 inches. A 2 by 4 would also work well and can be found in your local hardware store. It will probably cost you less than a dollar if you need to purchase this piece.

A beam clamp was used to secure the laser pointer to the wood base and hold down the “on” button continuously. Three were used, two for securing the laser pointer in place and one to hold down the button. The one holding down the button should only be tight enough to hold the button down, if it is too tight it may damage the button. These beam clamps would be easy to find in the electrical section of your local hardware store near the electrical conduit for less than a dollar a piece. Just make sure there is a screw hole on the clamp to mount it to the wood base.

Align up your beam clamps on the wood base making sure all points rest evenly on the laser pointer. You will not need to tighten the bolts down very hard to secure the laser pointer but properly aligned clamps will hold it more securely while placing less stress on the pointer. The placement of the clamp used to hold the button down may differ from this image. Different laser pointers sometimes have the button in different locations.
Screw the clamps to the wood base. Make sure the clamps stay properly aligned. Most beam clamps have only one screw hole and will twist slightly when secured so you may need to hold them in place prior to tightening them down all the way.
Self adhesive felt pads were used on any point where the clamp came in contact with the laser pointer. In this case there were two for the clamp side, one for the bolt tip, and two for the lower portion of the clamp.
The wood was then cut to the desired length.

The wood base could be hung or propped up to point in any direction you need but mounting it to a tripod was desirable in this case. Tripod attachments for cameras are portable, inexpensive and can be found in many styles and sizes.

To screw the wood base to the tripod, a 5/16 inch Tee Nut was used. Once again this was found in a local hardware store for less than a dollar but you will usually find these in the nuts and bolts department.
To install the tee nut to the wood base, a hole about ¼ inch deep was drilled on the bottom just big enough for the shaft of the nut. It is best to center the hole to ensure a well balanced mount but be careful not to drill directly over the screw securing the clamp unless there is space for it. The tee nut is then hammered into place and ready to be mounted.
Here is the final product mounted to a small tripod. Remember when attaching the laser pointer to tighten the bolts enough to hold the laser in place but not break it. The bolt for the button should only be tightened enough to hold it down.

Lasers to use

Lasers used in the past were red key chain pointers or parts pulled from laser levels. A darkened room or low light area was needed with a red laser for the vortex to be seen but still nice for Halloween night. Red laser pointers are less visible but will work fine. You can find them in an office supply store and most department stores if you buy one locally. These are some stores that carry them online for reasonable prices.

• Discounttown
• Things You Never Knew Existed...And other items you can't POSSIBLY live without!
• ThinkGeek.com

The green laser pointer used this year is much more visible and still under 5mW output power because the human eye can see the color green much better than red. With a green laser, the vortex is visible in a normally light room. These green laser pointers can be used to point out stars in the dark night sky because you can actually see the beam reflecting off particles in the air. Green is most visible but more expensive. You can usually get a green <5mW laser pointer on eBay for around $20 to $30 shipped from these eBay

The laser vortex uses fog produced by a fog machine to make the dispersed laser beam visible. The wispy slow moving fog best provided by a low output fog machine (such as the small the one on sale for $19.99 with fog juice and about $6 shipping as of October 2006 from MusiciansFriend.com ) gives the best affect. Every angle of the laser and direction the fog machine is pointed gives a different affect. Larger fog machines will actually reduce the affect. Diffusers (misters or mist makers) can create a different affect but mostly you’ll just get everything wet from all the water particles. 

The vortex creates a similar affect to the lasers used in outdoor Halloween events, best ones I have seen were done at Halloween Horror nights in Universal Orlando. They use special equipment and higher powered lasers for their affects but I have never seen anyone else create the Laser Vortex even though it is very simple.

In part two, we will be making a simple reflector module and show off the results. 

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Related Items:

• Blue Ray Laser Vortex
• Laser Vortex In the News 2007
• Laser Vortex in MAKE Magazine Halloween
• Laser Vortex safety
• Laser Vortex Made Easy

Related Links:

• American Science & Surplus
• Laser Pointers from Discounttown\'s Stor