Recently, I've been playing with arduino and programming games on an oscilloscope! I thought it would be really cool to recreate a classic vector screen (like the vectrex https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex) using lasers and perhaps mirrors.
Is this feasible and in what way would i tackle this? Should I use mirrors and motors? Are there motors fast and precise enough to direct the laser beam in a certain direction?
Best Answer
You want a set of "galvanometer scanners" plus driver amps, which are standard laser show technology.
The good ones are by Cambridge Technologies, and you will wince at the price, (CT6210 and the like), but there are cheap knockoffs from the usual suspects that are good enough to play with (The DT40s are generally accepted to be a reasonable set of cheap scanners).
Drive signals are +-10V differential analogue, and you will need to slew rate limit (and/or interpolate points) to produce something the scanners can keep up with (Small scan angles make for more points per second).
The MAME arcade machine emulator has been a popular target for hacking to drive laser scanners, so this has been done.
Do be careful, it does not take much laser to trash a retina, and you only come with two.
Regards, Dan.