Things to do with an UV HeCd?

[NobleGas]

After having a Kimmon 325nm HeCd in the loft for 12 years, I finally managed to get a suitable PSU from ebay; total cost has been £17 for the head and $10 for the PSU. Despite the warnings on the head about which PSU to use (not the one I have), it seems Kimmon put all the presets in the head, so you can swap PSUs and get the correct settings. The tube fired up after 90s but I just got a bore glow for about 20 minutes; I left it running and came back about 1/2 hour later and saw a dim blue spot on the wall, so I looked around for something fluorescent and 'pow', a bright spot appeared on my target
So, now wondering what to do with a 325nm laser, apart from finding things that are fluorescent; I was thinking of setting it up with some galvos and doing something like a message display on a fluorescent screen. Incidentally, the reverse side of an NCR (no carbon required) form proved to be highly fluorescent

[absolom7691]

I have seen people use 405nm lasers for Halloween by drawing a graphic on photoluminescent paint or even a photoluminescent sheet and then letting the after image hang for a bit. I imagine it would work with 325nm just fine.

e.g.

[NobleGas]

Yes, that's pretty much what I was thinking, although using galvos and running at higher speed would eliminate the fade out

[absolom7691]

Absolutely. That was the first video I found. The haunt I remember seeing had "Boo" written at 20~30kpps, one letter at a time for a second or two and then the word would fade gradually until written again.

Congrats on getting that laser working! I love HeCd's, mainly because the glasswork is a work of art in itself! Very cool.

[danielbriggs]

I've a disc of some europium doped phosphorus - that works really, really well as a long-glow small fluorescent target.