The mirror based PewtyBot proved conclusive enough but since the laser is reflected twice, a degradation is clear on the medium if the mirrors aren’t high quality. Clearly the cheap plastic ones I got to test with aren’t, but they served their purpose. With much research on mirror specs & bounding agents, I went ahead and spent $70 on two tiny “surface first enhanced aluminum” mirrors. Once again, I forgot everything about my high school physics lessons, but some vague notions are left to help me navigate through specs. And this being 2026, of course there’s a website dedicated to optics of all sorts I can buy any sort of mirror from. The modern world has its flaws, but access to information and stuff is definitely covered.
These new fancy mirrors are extremely crisp. Unfortunately, one of them slid on the epoxy as it cured, this won’t impact use but I’m bummed for I really did all I could to get everything perfect.
I tested the upgraded machine and it performed just as well as before, but the laser pointer was pristine as it hit the medium. This might not be a $70 improvement, but if I’m going to build a machine it’s hard to leave it lacking. The kids have been curious about this new development, it’s always fun to see the gears turn when they engage.
