Hi,
I want to make a seagull deterrent I can suck on my roof.
To do this I want to create a waterproof box that fires a levelling laser or flat sheet style laser that pans across the roof every morning for a few hours.
I’ve found plenty of dot lasers but not an ardunio ‘levelling laser’ any tips or ideas?
Point them below horizontal.
I wonder what the legal side of shining a laser like this would be? Maybe it's not an issue where you live.
What role do you see the Arduino playing?
Things the Arduino could do:
Both of those are straightforward. More specific advice depends on the power and voltage of the thing you want to switch, and what type of motors etc.
Commercial systems run to €10,000, I guess you are not spending that much.
Take a cheap "dot" LASER and mount it on top of a small stepper motor. Run the motor back and forth 360 degrees, now you have a cheap "leveling" LASER and any color you want.
The moving beam might actually be more of a deterrent than a static LASER.
If you mount the device in the corner of the roof, you could use a cheap servo instead of a stepper. Using the servo would be simpler than a stepper.
I'm not sure what you are looking for, but I have been using these cheap cross-lasers for aligning workpieces on CNC. Mount it on servo and you have nice repellent.
https://aliexpress.com/item/1005007823569134.html
Some dot lasers come withe a flat/line beam lens. If you had such a laser, would the plenty of dot laser solutions you have already found serve your purposes? Or if not, what are they missing?
Will your laser light go as far as your neighbor's property? If so, that is trespassing on your neighbor's property and may bring the law down on your project.
Think you might run into issues with a laser beam displaying on your roof.
But if you are in a sea coast area I will bet on the birds winning.
This may be contrary to your thinking, but I have a friend who owns a bait store a couple of hundred yards from the beach. She feeds one seagull they are territorial no other seagulls are allowed to visit. Occasionally he brings his girlfriend but no others visit.
Not so sure birds are so stupid.
After a couple of interactions with the lasers, would they just start wearing sunglasses ............................
Seagulls were documented for dropping food in fish ponds and when the goldfish came up to eat they had lunch.
Green laser + seagulls = 
(for me..) 
oh wow didn't expect such an enthusastic level of responses!
Ok to clarify my thinking...
This laser idea already exists on a commercial level - so i reckon there must be something in it.
Apparently its when the gulls see a 'line of laser' panning across the floor that it freaks them out, rather than it pointing a dot directly at them. A bunch of lasers might also work but thats more power and more hassle..
Legal issue
The laser will positioned to point from the chimney down onto our dorma roof. So it won't go into sky or roads.
I have an ip68 electical housing unit about the size of small shoebox with a transparent window/front. My idea was to create some kind of mount and get it to turn on with the laser around 4am - 7am. It would randomly pan up and down with 20-30second intervals..
Some laser options...
option 1
My main challenges :
I thought maybe the mount and servos could be done with lego which might make it easier...?
Wadda ya'll think?
Here's one more:
First laser have an temp. operating range of -10 to +50, the other +40. -10 shouldn't be a problem. Temps in Celsius of course, the only one, the most beautiful and smart temp. unit 
So will the temperature not go higher than +50 ?
Mount it to servo horn with glue or small zip tie for example.
Waterproof box with small window for laser
Best in what sense? I have few watts laser diode powered at 5V. It depends on driver.
no its on a roof in uk, so temp range around -10 to 30C max
Ok i'm thinking of getting - this one as it has 50mW which is proper bright in daylight.
It doesn't have a power controller but i thought i could just leave it on all the time, then use the arduno to turn on /off the power. However it's 12V so what would be a good way to power it? Is there a good 12V battery option? Ideally one that can recharge so I could put solar pannel on it at later stage
The fact some laser is more visible for human eye doesn't mean it's the best for some animal.
But you are right here, for birds that live (normally) in aquatic environment the peak is around 540nm, quite spot on for green laser.
You can find 12V solar battery kits inexpensively online.
