We lost another Laserist
Well we have lost another laserist. My father Tom Salt passed on Wednesday morning from complications of Dementia. He was a very humble person for how much he did with his life. He was in the Navy as a carpenter and firefighter during Vietnam. When he wasn't running fire drills and holding mattresses against the wall for fake breaches, he was building storage boxes, plaques and desk sets for officers. He was lucky that he got to travel around Europe and see a little of the world. Upon leaving the military he started learning about electronics and building his own circuits. This led to him performing and creating laser shows for Laser Presentations. He traveled mostly up and down the east coast performing at fairs and car shows using a single Ion laser with a 4 head projector. They used an inflatable dome with bean bag chairs. They did not have to use smoke to see the beam because as soon as the laser started the patron helped out with that. The shows were abstract projections using some store bought equipment and plenty of custom built boxes and control panels. They were able to record base patterns on a 4 track tape ahead of time and add to it with live laser control. Every show was slightly different so you always wanted to come back. I was lucky to grow up with this same equipment in the basement, where I could make shows for my friends. Once the laser scene moved on to beams and graphics my father started building robots in his basement. He had a robot that could pour a beer. He built a 6 legged robot that one day walked off his work bench ruining months of work. He had a domed robot called spot that would just wonder around bouncing into walls. I never fully realized how unique this was. Didn't all kids have robots wondering around their house? Through his day job as a printer tech he met a teacher that asked if he wanted to be a robotics coach for Whetstone High School. It was a new program called FIRST Robotics. This of course was right up his alley so he coached for 15 years. Through out those years the school name changed, the kids rotated through but the underling mission stayed the same. Teach students how to use their hands to build things. Many of these kids had never turned a screw driver but by the time they were seniors they servicing the robot in rapid time before the next match. Making sure it was in tip top shape for competition. I also helped out for 10 of those years as a programming coach. Those years of working so closely with my father were very special. We both decided that we wanted to move on to other projects. We both got back into lasers. The technology had changed, diode lasers made the buy in cost palatable. He built a whole new control system from scratch. Again it was a 4 head projector but this time each head had its own laser. Instead of a 4 track tape it was an 8 track ADAT. He took the system to South Easter Laser Enthusiast Meetup and performed, again live, showing everyone his style of show. The other passion he took up after coaching was helping me build a haunted house every year. Without fail around July or August he would say "So what are we going to build this year". We would talk about it for several weeks and then come Labor Day weekend it was time to execute. The goal was never to impress but always to get the most screams. If we had kids running down the driveway into their parents arms that was a success. There was a dragon chomping at arms right at the candy bowl. There was an assortment of ghosts floating through the air. A skeleton trying to break free and come through the bars to eat brains. Anything we could think of we tried to build. At its peak we had 15 different animatronics ghouls. Its hard to believe how much my dad accomplished through the years. He was always someone who had to be tinkering with something. He will be missed, but at least there are plenty of memories to keep his story alive.
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Originally Posted by lasermaster1977
bradstockdale
