Dry Fire Laser Target

This project will walk you through building a target that can be used in conjunction with a dry fire laser which is either bought, or made from another instructable. I will not go into putting the project into a case because there are many different ways to go about this. I'll give a couple of examples at the end.

Supplies

For this project, you will need:

Arduino Nano (or clone)

Photo Resistor

LED ** I would suggest not using red, because of the red laser from the gun**

3v Buzzer

Wire

"bullseye diffuser" I used a white cap from a oat milk container

Optional items:

3xAA Battery Holder

on/off switch

Tools:

soldering iron and solder

wire cutters

hot glue gun (recomended)

container of project

computer and cable to program the Arduino

Step 1: Wire the Arduino

Note ***I am not aware of what photoresistor I used. Most say to use a 10k Ohm pull-down resistor with it and I have only 3k Ohm listed. It worked on multiple builds, so I will stick with it. Next time, I'll try it with a 10K Ohm resistor.**

The picture shows the wiring that I used and it is also reflected in the code which you will use later on.

The (passive) Buzzer has the '+' side connected to 'D11" on the Arduino (it may just be marked as '11'

The LED has the resistor connected to the '+' side, which is the longer pin on the LED

With the Photo resistor, direction does not matter.

** Remember to make your connections with wire that will be the right length for the enclosure that you plan on using.

**Don't plan on placing the LED too close to the Photo resistor, otherwise it get stuck in a loop and continually go on/off.

If you want the target to be battery operated,and with an on/off switch, connect the battery pack's ground to the Arduino ground and the positive to the switch and from there to the 'VIN'

Step 2: Program the Arduino

Download the Arduino IDE

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main.Software

and follow the install instructions.

Plug the Arduino into you computer and find out which COM port it is on.

On the "Tool" menu on the IDE, choose:

Board: Arduino Nano (or match the board you are using)

And Port: to the port that your Arduino is found.

Download and open the file "Laser Target"

You can now upload the program to your Arduino by pressing the "right arrow button"

=OR=

read the code first.

You can change the location of your buzzer, LED, and photo resistor pins, so if you accidentally soldered your LED to A0 instead of A1, you can just change the program and not have to re-solder.

After uploading, if you decide that you don't like the tone or length of the buzzer, you can change that as noted in the file.

Step 3: Put It Together

(missing buzzer in picture)

You will need something the diffuse the light for the photo resistor. If you don't, you will have to hit that resistor straight on, which is a pretty small target.

I used a cap from a oat milk container. I've only used white lids, but you could try other colours. I bent the wire on the photo resistor to face the center of the cap and hot glued it in place. Try and keep it towards the back of the cap and not right up against the lid.

You can now either find a box to put your target in, poke a hole through a piece of cardboard and place the bullseye inside (and another hole for the LED)

Step 4: Play and Improvement Ideas

Play**

** On the video, the cardboard target does not have a buzzer connected.

Improvements that could be made:

there is plenty of space on the Arduino to add another 1 or 2 bullseyes,

daisy-chain multiple targets together to work off of one power source.

add a LCD 'hit count"

add a potentiometer between the buzzer (+ side) and the arduino for volume control

If you find an error in my Instructable, or something needs to be clarified, please let me know.