Make:

Jon Singer is a DC-area mad scientist (and I mean that in the best possible sense). He gave a great presentation at the March 2007 Dorkbot DC on his work with building pulsed ultraviolet lasers using a lot of scrounged, readily-available components. The laser assembly he brought to the meeting, fashioned out of paint-encrusted rulers, chunks of wood and sheet metal snips, rows of 2000 pf/40 kV doorknob capacitors, and a spark gap he scored on eBay (as I recall), looked like something a homeless person might pull out of their shopping cart, if he were working the streets of William Gibson's Sprawl.

Jon puts up all sorts of curious and useful stuff on his website, Joss Research. His interests range from optics and lasers, to formulating crazy glazes for ceramics (florescent glazes made from rare earth elements, anyone?), to his experiments in plant gene hacking to create a true blue rose.

His latest posting, which he wanted to share with MAKE readers, is a simple technique for creating a mirror mount using angle brackets, washers, O-rings, and other hardware/home store-type parts.

A Simple Mirror Mount - Link

Related:

• HOW TO - Build a laser effects show - Link
• HOW TO - Make a DVD burner into a High-Powered laser - Link.
• Fun With Lasers (great resources) - Link.
• Transmit Audio with a Laser Pen - Link.
• Play Records with a Laser - Link.
• The Homemade Laser Saber - Link.
• Green Laser! - Link.
• Laser chess... - Link.
• The Homemade Nitrogen Laser - Link.