MATilda is here

**stanwax** · 05-19-2010, 15:12

finally landed is the joint project between myself and Dan Briggs which is our modular ilda buffer board to provide a matrix of ilda outputs - MATilda
The boards are not for sale immediately but will be as soon as we can get some built, but we will take some pre-orders from now. If you are interested please contact myself sales (at) laser-wave (dot) co (dot) uk - you can place a pre order or register interest to be notified as soon as it goes on sale.
See images below that should help you to see how the device with its two variants is multiplied. The first board has a single input, power supply from a 9-12V ac input (we will be selling a suitable adaptor once its on sale) and a single buffered output. The power and XYZ RGB signals are bussed between the boards on the connectors that are used to stack the boards together. The second board has two buffered outputs so one pair of boards will provide 3 buffered outputs. Adding additional output boards adds another two outputs all of which are zener protected for overvoltage. The maximum you can stack together is 1 power and 7 output boards giving a total of 15 buffered outputs.
Price will be £25 per board inc postage within UK and Europe (we will ship outside Europe but further shipping charges will apply) - flat rate for power and output boards. We may offer larger numbers as sets for a discounted price but this will be announced as it is made available for sale - we expect in the next 2 weeks - we just need time to make some up. Around the same time we will also be offering some pre cut metal panels to mount the boards on in varying sizes to fit what you need.
We hope you find it useful - please ask if you have any questions.
Rob

**ElektroFreak** · 05-19-2010, 15:35

Brilliant work gents!

Can't wait for them to be available..

**andy_con** · 05-19-2010, 16:05

looks tops rob .

**Lasermad** · 05-19-2010, 16:11

Rob

can you clarify , if i want to power 4 or 6 projectors I need one INput board and either 2 or 3 output boards , so cost is either £75 or £100 is this correct ?

PAUL

**stanwax** · 05-19-2010, 16:19

Yes Paul thats right though as I stated I expect there will be some 'package' discount which we have not decided or worked out yet.
The other thing I failed to mention in the text above is that the ilda shutter signal is passed out to all outputs too though this isnt buffered.

Rob

**mccarrot** · 05-19-2010, 18:14

Nice build, I want to put a set of these in my QM.nets.

Is there also the option to swap XY?

**carlos3621** · 05-19-2010, 18:31

Are the xy outputs adjustable for each individual projector? or is this simply a board to be able to plug in multiple projectors to a single DAC ?
What are the features of this board?
Would be nice to be able to adjust the voltage output to each individual projector to be able to equalize the size of scan.
Also would be nice to be able to invert X / Y for each individual projector, (for ease of placement).

Carlos

**stanwax** · 05-19-2010, 18:37

The board is a 1:1 buffer thats all. It was not intended to have whistles and bells and personally I think such things are better implemented on the projector. All my projectors are size matched and have axis flips on the reapr panel. My ilda interface boards that are coming soon have this so its right there in the projector.
We never wanted this to be a complex thing, simplicity was the key and I beleive we have acheived that

Rob

**carlos3621** · 05-19-2010, 19:00

Kewl, gotcha,

1 of my projectors allready has all the adjustments,
but my other 2 dont, guess i should put them on the projector anyways...

**rfourt** · 05-20-2010, 06:16

THis is great..

I will be interested to buy some in the end of June/july.

great work m8.

**taggalucci** · 05-20-2010, 07:53

Awesome work guys!

I assume I've interpreted correctly that once you move beyond the single power board (giving 1 buffered ILDA output), you then get another 2 buffered ILDA outputs per output board. So the options are:

1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 or 15 buffered outputs per power board.

Please count me in for 1 power board and 1 output board?

Out of interest will it be technically possible to daisy chain one of the buffered outputs to a second power board, and what considerations need to be made for interlock and shutter signals?

**danielbriggs** · 05-20-2010, 08:25

Originally Posted by taggalucci

Awesome work guys!

I assume I've interpreted correctly that once you move beyond the single power board (giving 1 buffered ILDA output), you then get another 2 buffered ILDA outputs per output board. So the options are:

1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 or 15 buffered outputs per power board.

Please count me in for 1 power board and 1 output board?

Out of interest will it be technically possible to daisy chain one of the buffered outputs to a second power board, and what considerations need to be made for interlock and shutter signals?

Thanks

Yes, you got it in one. They step up in odd numbers. Number of outputs = (2n-1) where 'n' is no. of boards.

Yes is is perfectly feasible to 'cascade' boards to further expand capability.
The maximum limit to *stacking* is 7 output boards per power board i.e. 15 outputs (this is due to the current ceiling from the power supply (~1A) and on board diodes).
However there is nothing to stop you daisy chaining or cascading more "stacks" on a new power board.

e.g. If you had two stacks of boards, each (7 output & 1 PSU). Then you could get 29 buffered outputs! By feeding the signal output from 1 port into the signal in of the other stack.

I will double check about the interlocks+shutter to make sure I'm giving you 100% correct information.

Regards,
Dan

**stanwax** · 05-20-2010, 08:44

on each output the interlock is shorted - pins 4 & 17 are joined, so if that ilda lead should come out just that one projector will drop out. Shutter signal is passed to all outputs - unbuffered.
if you did want to daisy chain there is no reason why you couldnt split the input lead and feed 2 MATilda inputs from 1 dac ouput the opamps are high impedance j-fet input devices.
Rob

**taggalucci** · 05-20-2010, 09:06

I've notice Rob has posted while I've been typing this, but I'll keep this as is, even if some of this has been addressed!

Originally Posted by danielbriggs

I will double check about the interlocks+shutter to make sure I'm giving you 100% correct information.

That would be great. The reason I raised those queries was because of a couple of thoughts that came to mind thinking about these great boards...

Would the interlock loop be connected individually per output board or daisy chained across the entire array, effectively so that all projectors would be affected by a failure in the interlock condition between the controller and the power board?
Given that the controller supplies a shutter signal, what requirements do each projector need to conform to in order to control adequate drive power to keep all shutters open; and is there a logical maximum number of shutters that could be signalled off a single shutter signal without the current dropping below "shutter open" threshold? E.g. must not use the signal to directly drive the shutter.
Other than defining the shutter control signal as "This is a unipolar analogue signal whose voltage range is between 0V and 5 volts. The shutter signal is referenced to the Ground pin (#25). A voltage level of 0 volts shall close the shutter so that no light is emitted from the graphics scanners. A voltage level of +5 volts shall fully open the shutter. This is a high- impedance control signal NOT intended to directly drive the shutter device.", does the ILDA standard additionally define a minimum current? And if so, what bearing would that have on daisy-chained outputs?

On a separate note, for those running more than 3 colour signals per projector, how might these be accommodated?

**mccarrot** · 05-20-2010, 09:15

Will the Projector return be passed trough over the boards?

We (ab)use the Projector return to "start" the projectors

and will color output 4 5 and 6 still be passed trough, I think in the future many people will add the 4th color (445nm) to there projectors.

**FourDee** · 05-20-2010, 11:08

Ilda standard states that projector return should be shorted at the signal source (in this case the splitter) ... so I believe this is compliant

**stanwax** · 05-20-2010, 16:00

@ mccarrot - I take it that the projector return you are refering to is pin 12 in which case no its not included. The extra colour lines are not passed through - they would have to be buffered also and would have gone against our original plan of making a simple device. Adding another 3 buffered lines would have doubled the numer of chips on the board adding to the size, cost and lowering the total number that could be stacked when largely within this group its unlikely to be used.

@ taggalucci - the shutter signal should be amplified within the projector as it does not have enough drive to operate a shutter as you pointed out. The signal is supplied on each output but will need its own trigger circuit. My Ilda projector interfaces that will be here shortly have just that, circuitry to drive a shutter based on the ilda signal. My shoeboxes have this circuitry already implemented.

for someone wanting to run a projector using more colour lines the relevant pins could be joined on the power board ilda in and out to provide this(these) signal(s) . Then the powerboard would be able to operate a RGBB projector.

Rob

**stanwax** · 06-09-2010, 06:03

Just to let everybody know - production of this has been held up a little. This is a joint project between myself and Dan Briggs - dunno what the lazy bugger has been doin for the last week when he should have been making these. Bloody students ya just can't rely on them!

Rob

**norty303** · 06-09-2010, 06:04

Sack him off Rob, I expect he can afford to be out of work with all the ££$$$ he making off those diodes....

**andy_con** · 06-09-2010, 06:05

bloody students!!

what do i pay my taxes for? exams arent important dan lasers are

**stanwax** · 06-09-2010, 06:26

Originally Posted by norty303

Sack him off Rob, I expect he can afford to be out of work with all the ££$$$ he making off those diodes....

oh yeah I forgot about his profitable activities

maybe I should start to charge him a penalty for everyday he delays with his feet up!

Rob

**Jem** · 06-09-2010, 06:29

I've heard a rumour that he's bought an island in the Carribean with his enormous profits.

**andy_con** · 06-09-2010, 06:39

Originally Posted by jem

i've heard a rumour that he's bought an island in the carribean with his enormous profits.

pmsl !

**danielbriggs** · 06-09-2010, 06:58

Whoa, whoa, whoa!
What's all this!?

Talk about being a slave driver!

I've not had time to fart this last week.
I'll confess; I did go out and buy several luxury items from the mass profit of literally pence from the giga-GB. Brought home a *multipack* (yes, that's 4 full tins) of Heniz beans (not the cheap value brand, mind). You know how it is now, a life of luxury for me!

And Andy if you were wondering; the student loan is a *mega* night out and laser cash pot!
How do you think I got the scope!?

**andy_con** · 06-09-2010, 07:06

Originally Posted by danielbriggs

Whoa, whoa, whoa!
What's all this!?

Talk about being a slave driver!

I've not had time to fart this last week.
I'll confess; I did go out and buy several luxury items from the mass profit of literally pence from the giga-GB. Brought home a *multipack* (yes, that's 4 full tins) of Heniz beans (not the cheap value brand, mind). You know how it is now, a life of luxury for me!

And Andy if you were wondering; the student loan is a *mega* night out and laser cash pot!
How do you think I got the scope!?

well my view on that danny boy is as i paid for that scope in taxes i should be able to use it as and when i want

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