Inside a spaceman laser nebula projector
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- čas přidán 24. 08. 2024
- This unit is actually pretty good. It produces an RGB nebula effect with a laser starfield.
The design is solid and functional, with a neat magnetic swivel head for aiming the output. But I strongly recommend against using the laser option where people can view it directly, as the laser is quite bright and probably has a high invisible infrared content. This is an issue where kids are involved, as there is a risk they may decide to stare directly into the laser output port at close range.
For power the unit uses a USB supply with a current of around 500mA. The circuit board is logical and the optical system uses a novel cradle for edge-driving the nebula (distortion) disk.
There is one slight design glitch. The motor should really have a flyback diode or capacitor across it to avoid damage to the transistor when it is turned off and the collapsing field causes a voltage spike.
The mystery holes that looked like a speaker grill are in the location of the infrared receiver, so probably just for that.
I mentioned Optikinetics who are an iconic effects projection company who originated in the disco era, and are still actively producing specialist effects projectors for prominent entertainment venues. (I've installed their equipment in Disney theme parks.) If you're looking for an original oil wheel, kaleidoscope effect or this nebula effect on a bigger scale, then Optikinetics are still the professional choice. (Not a sponsor.)
optikinetics.c...
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:- www.bigclive.c...
This also keeps the channel independent of CZcams's algorithm quirks, allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
#ElectronicsCreators
You know a product is great value and well made when Clive says it's 'Not bad'.
I always appreciate watching Clive tear down random gizmos that I've never seen and then thoroughly analyzing the innards. He has a unique skill level and thoroughness!
The phrase "distortion disc" reminds me of a notorious incident in my childhood. My father was washing up and my sister and I had been roped into drying the dishes for him. I had a big glass bowl. I held it up and looked through it, and saw that Daddy had gone a funny shape. I exclaimed delightedly "Look, it's a Daddy-distorting machine!" and for reasons I have never really understood Daddy flew into a rage and threw us out of the kitchen. But he never asked us to dry up for him again...
His crack bowl lol
Repressed trauma, now unlocked.
That sounded like a good plan that worked to perfection
That is a really odd thing to fly into a rage over.
@@alanscoffins3148 It wasn't planned, but it was a useful side effect ;-)
My boys got the big version of this last Christmas. They use it every night light and it still works like new. Cool to see a tear down of something similar
This looks well made. The remote looked decent as well.
It's been sold in other enclosures for several years now, I have the same remote and the same effects but it's not a spaceman
I’ve bought few of these over the years as gifts and have always been impressed with the build quality and feel of these.
The industrial design of the astronaut and mould is cool tool.
Oh optikinetics are still sort of in business, building LED versions of their classic projectors targeted a health/relaxation/austism market. They recently had a kickstarter for a new solar 250 styled projector with a wooden case .
I linked to their site in the description.
"Austism"
I respect the time you take to explain things
Honestly really enjoy the effect, not too sold on the laser as far as making a convincing star pattern but idk how I'd do any better. I really enjoy how slow the disk turns, it's relaxing instead of being distracting
This Year, I bought one of those for my nephew's birthday, the little dude LOVES it. When I tested it, I thought of you: "Thats exactly the kind of thing that will eventually pop up at bigclive's Channel" xD I share your excitement for evetything blinking and shiny
Naughty Clive pointed the laser straight at us. Lucky for me I blinked at just the right time. I hope none of the other viewers suffers eye damage.
Bit strange that, considering how well made this item is, there's no flywheel diode (or even snubber) across the motor.
C'mom mate, it's Chinese.
@@allancopland1768 What does that mean?
@@markstuckey6225 Means the manufacturer does not suffer a reputation hit or a class action when it fails. Well, who am I kidding, also that Chinese culture looks the other way about such things
@@rexsceleratorum1632Stupid Ukraine flag in profile picture checks out.
Quite an efficient PCB, concur on the danger of all the laser equipped gadgets without warning yet with obvious kid appeal. Same goes for the (awesome) automated cat laser thingy.
Well done Clive, much appreciated. The very notification of a BigClive video is a smile maker, thank you.
We recently had a storm system that passed, bringing us torrential downpours, minor spotty flooding, and winds up to 50 mph (80.5 kph). Many homes with the Christmas outdoor laser projectors had their projectors knocked over, so as I delivered newspapers in the wee hours I'd get blasted in the eyeballs repeatedly. Have you ever tried driving down the opposite side of the road, along a curb, with your eyes closed for safety reasons? 🤣
I'm actually surprised that they splurged for the aluminum/aluminium-core PCB. I fully expected every possible corner to be cut, but it seems someone had enough sense to think about the longevity of their products! If I ever bought one, I'd yank the laser out and hack in a slow-changing RGB LED behind the white dimpled dome used on IR sensors.
My mom set one of those up. I do NOT see the appeal of having moving red dots on the house.
My kids have a super similar one to this and i had to take it apart to repair it beause the nebula stopped working. The design internally seemed quite different to yours! What had happened was the led accumulated so much heat that the pads of a connecor got unsoldered. I fixed it, added hot glue to keep the components in place, and added thermal paste between the led and the metal plate they had to dissipate heat.
My daughters stopped working properly so I opened it up and the LED1 board is just floating around inside and I have no idea where it goes, now the Lazer just flashes so I think I have broke it even more x
It's been quite interesting to see the rapid evolution of these type things from high quality with good effects to drop ship garbage
It’s life Jim but not as we know it! It keeps going even when the head falls off
Captain we can't repair it cause we don't have the powet
Space-man aint got nothin' on that Fanny Flambeaux doll.
Those 'beams of light' you drew next to the LED indicators look remarkably like a man with a massive, Doctor Watson-style handlebar mustache, grinning from ear to ear.
Just thought I'd point that out. Those are some very jovial LEDs.
You do get some nice items to take a part, Clive. The magnet isn't strong if the head keeps dropping off when moved, I'd replace the magnet with a rare earther one. I like the motor mechanics they have used to for rotating nebula lense.
I like it. Such an interesting design. Although the laser is a bit too much.
You take apart stuff I've never seen before. Very nice.
Dammit Clive, I bought one of these off temu and absolutely bloody love it! I definitely probably have mild autism, but this is still my favorite toy as a 30-year-old male.
We have a unit that does similar. I popped the lenses out of an old pair of sunglasses and taped them over the projectors because even at the lowest level, they still lit the room up far too much.
We used nail polish for the same reason...😂
@@GriotDNB Nail polish instead of sunglasses? . . . Hardcore. : )
First, a sidenote....You mentioned how you dislike the placement of lasers on products like these. I am a UPS driver....I cannot tell you how much I hate those Christmas house projectors that people put outside around the holidays. Its to the point now, I will not go onto a porch if you have one of those. I'll put it as close as I can, but I am tired of getting green and red lasers to the eye every time I come off a porch at night. Second.... thanks for this video. I have seen these advertised for like $75....I know most of these ad's are just a reseller that sourced from a nameless overseas manufacture. So I went on amazon and found the same one you reviewed for a much cheaper price. Same remote, same figure, same instruction sheet. I'll give it a go.
The Marriott Courtyard hotel near Kennedy Space Center has these in every room. Awesome.
I would be careful with the green laser star projector. It uses a IR laser to pump a crystal to make green stars. The IR, if not filtered at the output can burn the eyes. As a test, I placed a temperature sensor (LM34) at the opening of a star projector and found that the sensor's temperature raised by several degrees. Could be powerful enough to harm the eyes. Nice that you can turn that function off, so it's still a nice product. Good show Clive!
Interesting little device and quite a funky effect.
great. I have one of these and was thinking to get it open. I really appreciate the reverse engineering of the schematic. Keep up the good work!
Hi. let me thank you for your excellent education videos ... I lived in uk many years and have left uk twenty eight years ago videos like your helps me out with my hobby’s and it help me not to forget the English language saying that I recently had to open one of those toys and had to solder the cable inside because the tie didn’t prevent the cable from ripping the socket but I managed to solder it back in …
My problem was I couldn’t get the laser to illuminate the stars and that square plastic inside the laser holder that you pointed out was the problem it’s now working 100% thank you wish you well
ooh. i love lasers. i never gave them any thought before really. but a month ago i ordered some 2w light output blue diodes and some 500mw lo red diodes. they are great! the way to learn about using voltage regulators as CC supplies is by knackering cheap laser diodes. i killed a few, but now i have an x-cube with a red laser diode, a blue laser diode, and a green pointer i bought. i have done all the usual balloon popping, and blasting holes in cd inlay cases. now im trying to make a white laser using the x-cube. it is hard though, as the red and green are single mode, and the nichia 445s are multi-mode. i even, after watching clive's fog machine vids, bought a cheap 30 quid unit from amazon, it was crap with the juice that came with it. so i got some vegetable glycerol and some distilled water and made my own, around 30/70. wow it fills my study with fog, and my lasers look awesome. i glued some fragments of looking glass to USB PC fans, and aimed my lasers at that. wow again. my study looked like a nightclub. i then bought some diffraction gratings from ebay and some fluorescent markers. all utterly intriguing. lasers are ruddy ace. i'd like to point out after the diodes the second thing i bought was some OD6 goggles. don't fuck about with lasers in an unsafe manner!
Try getting you hands on an old laser DLP projector, usually they have a bunch blue diodes, and a load of other optical components that can be quite fun to muck about with
2 watts of 405nm violet is EXTREMELY dangerous to be messing around with. even diffuse reflections off matte surfaces are hazardous at that power.
Make sure you take precautions to avoid direct eye contact from the source or reflections. Lasers are not great for your eyes.
@@Muonium1 too right. as part of my laser fun i put reed switch interlocks on my study door, which disconnect the power to my bench supplies which power my lasers, so my wife doesn't get hurt. this was also good fun too. thank you for your concern!
Oh the humanity. I guess the dissection of this poor little guy means Major Tom is never coming home. 😢
Spaceman has been fully reassembled.
@bigclivedotcom Peter Schilling thanks you for your medical service to your country!
The projector reminds me of the scanners used in the 1960's TV series, The Prisoner.
I found some old 8mm footage from Germany I wish to restore. To bad I don't have the original 8mm film stock. I would have had so much fun restoring the footage.
I wonder if Torque Test Channel tests that laser if it would exceed the regulations for eye exposure.
Pretty cool little thing - glad you can easily get in to it to disable the laser if you were to use it say in a kids room.
You’re the man, clive. Thank you!!
My 8yo daughter would love this, my 2yo daughter would love looking directly into the laser so I’ll give it a few years before getting one
We had a similar product as a night light for the kids. Worked very well, it sent the kids to sleep and we had a timer on it too, it went missing when we moved, sadly. Fascinating, simple product, I'll get one for my recent Grandson, thanks for reminding me of them Clive 👍
Perosnally I think for young kids it would be better to get a non laser version, to remove the risk of them blinding themselves
I'm decorating my 6 year old Niece's room. I plan to use IKEA like methods of holding things down in place to make sure they stay there where I put them!
My sister and her husband are as much in organization as they are into saving money for a rainy day.
Meaning none.
Same with design & Decor.
@@User-es9vp Yes, I agree. The one we bought for our sons was non-laser. Thanks for the heads up 👍
For interest, the glass wheel the light goes through is called a "gobo" in lighting.
A gobo is either a metal or mirrored glass disk with an image. This is a distortion wheel. Search my videos for PRG to see some gobos in a best boy light.
@@user-gx6jb6wc5g Distorted glass disks are also gobos too, it just really means anything that goes in front of a light source.
Might be nicer to put a screen inside the visor, or have it set up as a webcam or home security camera🤷
So basically you only like the astronaut and want to turn it into a completely different product 😂
@@Ni5ei what else would you do with it, insert it rectally? 🤣
@@phonotical That's what I asked myself once, when I noticed warnings on Christmas lights saying "For Indoor Or Outdoor Use Only."
@@dashcamandy2242 🤣
I think the word you were looking for is 'Gobo'
I remember the optokinetics days, we had an optokinetics projector with several gobo's for our mobile disco, or it could take the colour wheel
Thats the magic of MCUs. They do all/most of the work and let you simplify the circuit. Imagine how complicated that would be if you had to implement the logic manually.
Thanks for the close-up.
Nice construction and reuse of a spy/babysit camera housing. That's why there is a speaker placement option for talkback. Like this product more though as its more fun.
I feel that this could be combined with the Fart Ninja for maximum illuminated effect, a nice display of nebulous clouds of bum-gases... :P
Thank you for sharing to me how it works. I was going to take apart the one I bought but felt like I would fuck it up.
Everybody wants a longer shaft. 😁
Quite nicely made
Super simple. The distorsion disk was quite cool though.
"One small step for... shoot, my head's fallen off."
"The head has fallen off again. This... isn't a good start." 🤣
something about the nebula light show reminds me of chocky (was a TV show and also a book by john wyndham)
I got one for Father's Day! 😎✌️
Man it looks so cool, but I don’t even know which one to get , like on Amazon, tiktok, and what brand etc.and I keep seeing little complaints here and there like lights stop, something with the remote or sound is too loud.
Anyways cool channel, nice to see content thriving and unbiased on CZcams. And happy that you have a niche for yourself.
The only design flaw I can see (admittedly I am not an engineer, electrical or otherwise), is that the gear on the external drive, just rubbing against that tray, is going to wear down eventually, thus disabling the nebula spin effect.
I admire your curiosity Bigclive! 🔌
😮💨😂
Saw this pop up and freaked at first as my daughter got one for Christmas but happy now after watching your review Clive thank you
I have an electronic pop-it stim toy game that I desperately wish I could take apart and study, but I love it too much to risk breaking it. Here's hoping Clive gets ahold of one sometime.
I have purchased the bigger brother Bluetooth UFO Speaker version in Black where it makes a pattern like effect that has a USB-C Power socket & Remote. I love them. Years ago these were 100s of dollars. Today? You can get them for a Tenner.
I also got the Small units where it makes a Wave effect that is just LED's. I absoulutly LOVE IT!
Along with a Small AUKING LED projector for the Ceiling? Its truly magical in my bedroom.
Amazing how bright these really TINY LED's are! I mean they are laser bright.
The Units get warm, but in a normal 70'F room, they do just fine.
The motors are still very audible and you can hear the wine from the small black units, but with the Ikea Air filter and brown noise in the background, it's hardly a bother.
Also, a great source of cheap ready made replacement parts for your Outdoor Holiday Lasers that are plug and play if you need them like I do this year on one of my units I pull out of storage for Christmas.
The slow and soft fading of the Green laser is nice for the "Starfield effect"
It will dazzle you if you don't set it above Bookshelf level at an Angle to get coverage of the entire ceiling.
I have not checked the temp of the Laser as it does not have a finned heat sink, but since its not really being driven at a constant "ON" state, rather a fading setting for me. So heat does not seem to be an issue the few times I touched the laser housed inside that metal case.
Worthy of note?
Some of these just throw the laser diode unit inside with little contact to the metal housing they are encased in. (the laser and the silver looking metal around the laser , as it has a hole inside of it )
Some use the ones that look like a typical laser unit that back mounts. Some have the small copper looking thing with a curcuit board behind it as used in those Back-up or Motorcycle laser they sell on ebay.
Instead of a night light?
I use these in the bathroom as well.
Thank you BigCLive!
What a great video to wake up too!
Omg you pointed the laser directly into the camera and burned my eyes out!!! 😂
Safety advice: do not look directly at laser with remaining eye.
Congrats on the 1 million Clive :)
I have the standing version of this. It is actually one of just a couple things I got from Temu that actually still works. Anything with a zipper will inevitably fail.
I bought one of those little star field laser projectors a while ago, I went with purple and was pretty disappointed with how dim it was.... then out the corner of my eye it seemed bright. The anti-UV coating on my glasses was screening out about >60% of the light! Careful with lasers ehh? Oh also, I met your cousin Fiona a few weeks back at a funeral, small world!
For what it's worth, violet lasers are generally 405nm, because they're narrow band they don't meaningfully emit UV-A but they're still on the edge of visible light so your eyes aren't as sensitive to them and UV coatings on sunglasses will be broad enough to catch the top edge of visible light as well
@@bosstowndynamics5488 Good to know. This was screened out by the coating on normal vision glasses, not sunglasses. Crazy how nature do that
I might have added a protective diode to dump current when the motor turns off, but otherwise I like the circuit design.
Yeah, I did ponder the lack of diode or cap across it.
The galaxy is on Clive's b, b, b, particle board.
Big Clive is a pretty special human - A laser star on the CZcams sky, woof to that. 🔥
Let's hide in the Mutara nebula, they can't hurt us in there.
That thing would be a good consolation prize for people who's Terra Luna didn't go to the safemoon.
We have two - great fun.
I remember seeing this on LTT a few videos ago.
Oh the laser is just a standard laser diode...
It would be interesting making the spaceman burning everything wherever he "looks" with a more powerful one.
5:07 receptical - in memorance to little Donny :)
A white screen is very useful for showing off your LED projection devices.
Saw this advertised on social media - wondered how badly it's going to blind people on a scale of a bit to a lot: thanks for the review 😉 let us know how the retinal scarring works out 🙌🙏😉
Ahh, Clive, you've taken apart my little "Naughty Astronaut. " Little thing, cute. OH MY. would have loved this plastic thing, shooting out laser lights and coloured effects while listening to "Luke Slater" 7th Plain .... Astra-Naut-E (In The Shadow) .....
My kid wants a nebula/galaxy projector, i was very concerned getting one that has lasers as back in the 90s when laser pointers were actually rare i was stupid and would stare into it all the time despite the warning (thankfully 30 years later still no noticeable effects), and that was a low power red one, despite them being smarter than i was, not sure if i can stop my kids doing the same or protect form errant beams, which as you say are likely to not have adequate IR filtering, esp from a company with no reputation.
I'd probably disassemble and remove the laser if i were to get one.
I have a different kind of projector that does a similar thing, it projects a "galaxy" on the ceiling. It has the same green laser "star" option, and on the different laser brightness settings, mine ramps the brightness up and down also. I believe this is done to ease the heating of the laser module. Even with a generous heatsink wrapped around the laser module in mine, AND the ramping up and down of the power, it STILL gets QUITE hot after an hour or two of use.
On the packaging of my unit, it says "New improved laser" on it, and I'm wondering if they had an issue with the laser modules burning out in the older units that did not ramp the laser power up and down.... 🤷
If you change the laser wit a flux capacitor you can create a worm hole to other dimmensions. Have you tried that and can you do a video on that too please
Oh nice two video for the price of one looks a strange projector lmao
I’m sat here wondering how bright that LED is and if I could use it to make a hilt-lit lightsaber.
I think some of them advertise having sound, so the extra hole is probably for a speaker. I would quite like one of these minus the laser! Is it the same effect as the cube light?
Yes similar effect.
Looks like the IR-sensor is positioned behind these holes.
@@andreasdill4329 It is. I spotted that when I was reassembling it. I should add that to the description.
11 minutes ago I didn't know this thing existed. Now I desperately NEED one...
Search eBay for solar car freshener and you'll find a wide selection at much lower cost than the scam listings.
@@user-gx6jb6wc5g Thanks!
Thank goodness I was watching wearing my laser goggles. +1M subs well done Clive
Great video, Clive...👍
Around the US towards the holiday season more and more I am seeing these star shower laser shower things that you peg in your front yard and point at your house and it projects a laser pattern. And every time I see one all I'm thinking is I hope they don't look out the window during the winter season?? So what laser safety!
The diffusion disc should have been mounted directly onto the lens. Wouldn't need the special housing for it. Motor shaft would need to be a little shorter to edge connect to the disc. Disc would need to be of smaller diameter to match the lens. That would reduce the parts somewhat and reduce the cost a little.
Of course, the disc and the lens could have been the same thing, reducing costs even further. Naturally, the lens would need to be able to spin.
This would have been a good inaugural video for launching your channel on Nebula 👀
The advert that annoyed me most was one of them saying *their's* was the original, and had special patented LED technology to make it extra vivid.
I asked what the patent number was that made it different from the $10 one on aliexpress, they deleted the comment of course.
These drop shippers that quadruple the price do my head in.
These pop up every year, I’m always interested that they cost about £40 on the social media ads but around £10 on Aliexpress and similar, I wonder if they’re the same product.
99 times out of 100 they're the exact same products that have been drop-shipped or private-labelled. 😉
3 pound delivered on tiktok bought one last week
looks like a child of Bender and Nibbler cross
Probably the holes are for a microphone.
It may allow audio control (e. g. by clapping).
A Space Odyssey "its full of stars"
(shameless movie quote)
Looks like a Baby Stig from Top gear
The star pattern looked great, but the nebula was horrid! Maybe better in person?
It looks better spread out over a wall.
The Nebula is okay but the Starfield is naff because the stars are far too uniform. Ah well, some more crap for parts and the recycling bin.
"Very straight forward, very basic". Which is to say very well designed! As long as it does the job, which it does.
I bought one because, it's just kinda cool.
The disc is a lumia wheel to give it its correct name.
I think the Chinese ones are called taikonauts, not astronauts. As the laser is very low power to begin with and split into dozens of beams you'd probably have to stare into it for hours to get eye damage.
A laser through the distortion disk would look so much cooler.
Interesting thing but are you paying more for the mould of the spaceman, because Im sure this projectors been around for a long time now. Interesting non the less 2x👍