A new breakout board?

[DZ]

Hi all, after a break and some thought, I've decided to return, hoping that the drama around here has settled... I've also returned because, with a new office/shop, I wanted to see if there's much interest in the return of the ILDA breakout board. I plan on reviving a couple old projects and have some new ideas, but for now I want to start with this. I have completely redesigned the breakout board to make it a bit easier to use, instead of the ILDA IN DB-25 being attached directly to the board, it will now attach via ribbon cable. This will allow the DB-25 to be mounted on the outside of a projector case, feeding the ribbon cable thru the cutout to the breakout board. The new version will breakout all color channels as well as "Z" for Pangolin users. There will also be a DPDT switch to easily invert the X signal.

So, any interest in this? The original breakout board was amazingly popular, I remember selling out of the original order of 32 in less than 24 hours. My plan would be to sell these for $15 shipped anywhere in the world, this would include an assembled DB-25 connector and ribbon cable for ILDA in, if you needed the passthru cable that would likely be another 2.50 - 3.50. With 10% of each board sold to support PL.

So let me know if this is something that would be worth persuing or if you have any recommended changes. Thanks!

BB_V3.JPG

[Jem]

Welcome back Dave.

It's nice to have you back

[Displaser]

Dave,

Good to see you again. I've been needing a few more of these for another project. I'd like four w/all cables as soon as these are ready.

Greg

[norty303]

I'm just about to rip out 2 of the old ones to rebuild in new projectors, but if you're doing new ones, put me down for 2 with all cables

[djmatt]

Ill take 100!!!!

[swamidog]

hey dz, good to see you back in the spice mines!

here's my wish list:
invert x and y switches
10 second time delay for laser startup

[DZ]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I think I will proceed with making these, there certainly appears to be interest out there.

swamidog, regarding the feature request, I'll go back and see if I can come up with a way to add invert for both X and Y. I may need to change the switch out for something smaller, such as the micro slide switches so I can fit an invert for both X and Y. And this would only affect the screw terminal connections for X and Y, this would not invert X or Y on the passthru. I'll see what I can come up with. I'm sorry to say that the 10 second time delay will not be a part of the breakout board, this ultimately goes above what the breakout board is designed for, which is a simple way of wiring your projector without having to breakout the soldering iron. The connections for L and LR are simply direct connects to pin 4 and 17 on the DB-25. The passthru will function slightly different. If you have a projector daisy chained using the passthru cable, it's interlock loop will terminate on the breakout board in the primary projector and not run all the way back to the DAC. There's no real easy way to deal with 2 seperate projectors' interlock loops going to a DAC, unless you use a couple of relays and power the breakout board, which I'd rather not do.

Another project I'm starting to work on is a 10 channel buffered splitter. This would be very similar to the one that I made for buffo a while back. There will be some functional differences and it will be on a nice printed circuit board. Like the current buffered splitter, it will be able to detect a break between the splitter and the DAC and update each channel's interlock loop, which are isolated from each other. Unlike the current splitter, it will have individual adjustments for X and Y position. I plan to also include a built in square wave generator for easy setup without a DAC connected. *edit - I should add that this will not be an inexpensive product, I only anticipate selling between 5 and 10 and already have 3 commitments. To only have 10 boards printed will be expensive, not to mention the time involved to design and assemble. Buffo's current splitter uses 80 op-amp circuits whereas this one will likely have between 90 and 100. My goal is to have the cost be about $200, but it may cost that much just in parts due to the limited run of boards, we'll see!

[Bradfo69]

Oh yes, put me in for at least a couple! I think it's just the kind of thing that is VERY handy to have around. The invert switch capability would very much be a plus!

[ImageLight]

Hey Dave,
First...Glad you decided to come back...Your truly a valued member here my friend.
Secondly...Put me down for one ILDA splitter..
Thirdly...Wow I'm glad your back...

Best Regards,
Mark

[norty303]

I'm not convinced about the invert myself. You have to get inside the projector to use the switch anyway, so why not just remove the 2 pin X or Y header connector and put it back on the other way round? This is how I use the old breakout board and it works fine.

[DZ]

Wow, thanks Mark, got you down for 1 splitter, gonna be a while though, aside from the prototype, it's just scribbling on a piece of paper. Have a lot more testing to do before I commit it to a printed board.

Norty, you're absolutely right, I put just the X-axis switch in there for convenience even though all you need to do is disconnect +X, -X wires and swap them. It's really up to you guys, I want to make this version 3 board as easy to use as possible. Should I do away with the X/Y invert switches, keep just the X invert switch or have both X and Y switches there?

[swamidog]

what about XY invert headers so we can wire switches externally?

Wow, thanks Mark, got you down for 1 splitter, gonna be a while though, aside from the prototype, it's just scribbling on a piece of paper. Have a lot more testing to do before I commit it to a printed board.

Norty, you're absolutely right, I put just the X-axis switch in there for convenience even though all you need to do is disconnect +X, -X wires and swap them. It's really up to you guys, I want to make this version 3 board as easy to use as possible. Should I do away with the X/Y invert switches, keep just the X invert switch or have both X and Y switches there?

[Stuka]

Put me down for a pair (you never know!)

I vote to keep the X-invert switch.

Also, any ideas on implementing an emergency stop across multiple projectors?

[Displaser]

Dave,

I like the breakout board as is... I am also looking for a buffered ILDA splitter. I'll commit - please add me to the list as #4.

Thanks,
Greg

[DZ]

what about XY invert headers so we can wire switches externally?

That's a fantastic idea, thanks, swamidod. So if you want to have invert switches you just wire to the pin headers, if not there will be jumpers on the pin headers. This way, you can mount the switch of you choice to the back of you projector. Thanks for the idea!

Randy, can you elaborate a bit on the estop thing? The only way I could see the estop working is by interupting the interlock loop. thinking..... Ok, if we wanted the breakout board to handle opening the interlock loop on the projector connected to the passthru cable, I would need to add a relay. The more I think about this, the more it might work, so long as people wire the interlock loop properly. Bascially, 5VDC applied to "L" on the breakout board, if connected to the DAC, the 5VDC (-losses dependant on current draw) is returned to "LR", which could also drive the base of a transistor (to limit current required on the loop to the DAC) which will drive a small relay, which will keep the interlock loop from the downstream projector isolated. Sound good to you? I'll draw up a schematic, brb...

[logsquared]

Put me down for 4 breakout boards with pass thru.

[Bradfo69]

yeah... what swami said. Only, I'm o.k with just having X. It's SO much easier having a switch mounted on the outside of the case rather than having to pop the cover when for some screwy reason, a graphic is backwards.

And... if you're doing another ILDA splitter box for Mark, similar to the one at SELEM, me thinks we needs to talk. I bought a (gulp) Laserworld one that works o.k. but, has nowhere near the adjustability of the masterpiece you created. X-Laser has a nice one too but, that "SELEM special" is a work of art.

[dsli_jon]

Glad to see ya 'back', Sire... ..PL would just not be the same without ya...

Put us down for 2 more, when you get em in the oven, again... the first two are still kickin and are a truly great bit of 'kit'..

PS -

...so long as people wire the interlock loop properly.

..not sure if you ever saw this one I had worked out in the past / we use, but I'll re-throw it out there, fwiw..

DSLS_Intlk_ILDA_v2.jpg
..perhaps, this is something peeps can use, 'outboard', with yer board, in-series... lemme know yer thoughts / welcome any simplification-suggestions, etc...

..again, fwiw..
ciao
j

[norty303]

It's SO much easier having a switch mounted on the outside of the case rather than having to pop the cover when for some screwy reason, a graphic is backwards.

To be honest, its far easier just to flip the axis in the software.
I have my 2 satelites set up as mirror pairs permanently. If I use just one, and it's the 'wrong' one, I just flip the axis in the zone or projector settings.
But I'm happy with anything.

My biggest concern is how I implement the interlock for estop. The safety/scanfail board I'll be using simply has up to 3 interlock loops that need to be closed in order to lase. Not sure how that is going to work with passthrough on >1 projector.

[DZ]

Ok, how does this work for you guys. Here's the schematic of how the interlock circuit would work (back EMF protection omitted, would be added to actual circuit). The big question is, what voltage do you guys use for your interlock loop? I may need to have available 2 versions of the board, one with a 5V relay and another with a 12V relay. Assuming 5V and 12V are the two most commonly used.

BB_V3.1.JPGinterlock.JPG


edit - Thanks for the info Jon, make that 3 types of breakout boards, +5V, +12V and +24V.

[norty303]

I've no idea what mine is I'm afraid, although it's probably 5v as it uses a 5v supply. I'm assuming nothing however...

Here's the manual if you know any German (actually its not all that hard to figure out)

http://www.mylaserpage.de/down/Safety%202010%20V2.1.pdf

[DZ]

Hmm, the relay idea I like very much, it just looks like it will be difficult to implement since there is no real standard on interlock loop voltage. Perhaps it would be best for me to add a jumper next to the relay, if a user doesn't care, they can leave it jumpered. If someone does want to utilize the feature, then they can supply the relay and choose the properly rated relay. The model is G5V-1 and it comes in 5, 12 and 24V models, exact same footprint, just solder it in, remove the jumper and away you go. I think that might work.

[swamidog]

flipping axis in software fails if you're running shows from a dat or spooling audio files through a sc dac.

To be honest, its far easier just to flip the axis in the software.
I have my 2 satelites set up as mirror pairs permanently. If I use just one, and it's the 'wrong' one, I just flip the axis in the zone or projector settings.
But I'm happy with anything.

My biggest concern is how I implement the interlock for estop. The safety/scanfail board I'll be using simply has up to 3 interlock loops that need to be closed in order to lase. Not sure how that is going to work with passthrough on >1 projector.

[norty303]

just solder it in, remove the jumper and away you go. I think that might work.

I like that idea very much

flipping axis in software fails if you're running shows from a dat or spooling audio files through a sc dac.

You can tell I'm new-school can't you?

[swamidog]

hahahah!

props to the old masters.

I like that idea very much



You can tell I'm new-school can't you?