We have all heard of the 'angle-in vs. angle-out' concept for shooting bank and kick shots. I was thinking about this awhile back, while I was really bored and needed something to do, and it occurred to me that light travels in a straight line. (Sometimes I really surprise myself with great insights...) Of course, most of us already know that, but there are some clever uses for this fact, as I will show here. I had heard of laser cues and other devices but they are pretty expensive and I already have some expensive cues. I wanted to somehow use a light beam to help line up bank and kick shots and do it for as little money as possible, so I came up with this idea to build a 'Laser Aimer'. As the idea developed and I used it, what was most fun was discovering new ways to use my new toy.
Have you ever seen the laser beam devices used in construction that use a laser light line to align and measure a whole host of things? Well, as I combined my straight line light fact with the laser device I came up with something that can be used on a pool table and will help with aiming shots.
Curious? Read on...
How to build the Laser Aimer
The first thing I needed was a laser light source. I started looking at those pointer pens and discovered they would be really hard to adapt to my uses and while looking at different laser pointers I was really fortunate when I found a device called a "Strait-LineR Laser Level 60" (see Figure SL-1 below) Laser Line device, and on sale for $19.99 at Home Depot (unpaid plug). (I really should contact the Strait-LineR folks for royalties, yea right!) See info on the Laser Level 60 at:
http://www.strait-line.com/irwin/consumer/straitline/jhtml/laser_level_60.jhtml
The Strait-Line doesn't 'just' put a laser dot on something, like a pointer would, it does something better! It has a small lens in front of the laser light source that actually makes a red laser line between the Strait-LineR and whatever you are pointing at. It is (normally) used for making a line on a piece of wood or other construction material so you can mark it then cut it. At the end of the line is a 'red dot' so what you end up with is a line of laser light and a 'target dot'. How lucky is that? I found a device that was exactly what I needed! Note: I contacted the company that builds the Strait-LineR and they strongly suggested I include their disclaimer, so here it is: Don't look into the laser light it may damage your eyes. I, also, WOULD NOT recommend getting clever and pointing it at people, there might be a policeman around and they are trained to beware of 'red targeting guns' with lasers. You might get an ugly surprise and get arrested, or worse, if you put the light on someone! It is possible to shine the light off the table, and the light goes quite a distance. Be Careful how you use this device! You might want to tell everyone what you are doing so they know about the 'red light'.
Now with that legal stuff out of the way, do you remember the 'angle-in vs. angle-out' I mentioned before? Well how do you think a laser light can be made to show that 'angle-in vs. angle-out' concept? It's really hard to figure out...think about it...go to the library, research it...and you will come up with this fantastic device called a mirror. (Sorry for the dramatics but I just couldn't resist...this was so simple even I figured it out!)
Anyway, back to the subject...In order for this to work I needed the laser light to go over a pool ball so it would show the path of the ball by following the laser line. I tried several methods until I came up with this simple solution. The Strait-LineR sits flat and is about 3/8" too short to project the light over a pool ball, so I cut some 3/8" thick, wood blocks to fit the Strait-Line'sR footing. I used two pieces of wood because I didn't want to block the battery door on the bottom of the Strait-LineR. I used double-sided tape (the 3M type with the 1/16" foam space between sticky sides), and stuck the blocks to the bottom of the Strait-LineR. (see Figure SL-2 below, note battery door -- it uses 2, 'AA' size batteries) The front of the Strait-LineR is shown in Figure SL-3. Note the 'yellow' window in the center, this yellow piece slides up revealing the Laser Light and also turns on the Strait-LineR's Laser when lifted. (There is also a sharp steel pin you can push down with the black indented piece just below the yellow window, but I didn't use that.)
Figure SL-1
Figure SL-2
Figure SL-3
Credits : Contents, and images Copyright 2004, Mick Turner.
This information may be shared freely so long as the Copyright notice is included. If any contents or images are used in any commercial way, permission must be obtained from either the product owners and/or at: mick.turner@sbcglobal.net. I accept no responsibility for the misuse of this device. If you build it and use it the responsibility to use this device safely is yours alone.
Credits: Strait-Line, Trademark of Irwin Industrial Tool Company, subsidiary of Newell Rubbermaid, Hobby LobbyR, Home DepotR and most of all, Clicks BilliardsR, at 281 & Bitters Road, San Antonio, Texas for letting this crazy person in to do the pictures (even though I paid for the table and liquid refreshment -- which might explain some of the fuzzy pictures).
