Strike 3, demo laser display keeps failing .pix.

Hey folks,
I could really use some advice. I'll try to keep this short.
A few months ago a friend whom is also an engineer employed by a major company in the Illinois had been given a project to build for a museum. The objective was to demonstrated the properties of a coherent beam inside an acrylic medium. One fiber was flexible, another cylindrical, and the last square.
The challenge 8 hour run time.
Easy enough right?? Well my friend had many things on her plate asked me for advice because, well, I <3 lasers:whistle: and she, despite being very smart, really didn't have a background in photonics.
Things to consider:
A)I don't actually work for her employer so I could only advise.
B)I wasn't privy to the details on the project.
C) I'm not there to build it, test it, measure it etc myself.

The failure.
Strike 1
Because budget restrictions were tight I recommended three LOW power modules from DTR with his aluminum mounted hs. Considering safety I advised using <50mW (RGB)options with a laser stop. This all burned up within a few hours. (Larger hs, fins & active cooling should have been used here)

Strike 2
Drastically lower power eBay 5mW modules with equal heat dissipation. These failed too and barely visible.

Strike 3. Time to spend some more money:
I recommend 3 AixiZ lab lasers with adjustable pots. Looking at just the photo Aixis had provided I had her dial down the laser until it was at the minimum threshold to be visible in the acrylic. AixiZ accidentally sent a 200+mW laser and some poor sap burnt his hand. They were swapped out and they like the rest despite fan cooled modules died after only a few days.

It's very difficult for me because I'm not physically there to see what's actually going on:undecided:

Ideally the driver could be pulsed with a 555 timer or TTL to reduce on time, or spend $$$$ on an official LAB laser.. not sure. Any other ideas? Laser pointers are my cup of tea. Not museum display grade operations.

Attached Thumbnails