445 experiments

[norty303]

The real issue is collimation, that and what to do with 21W of coherent white laser.

Sorry if I've missed this, what lens are you using there?

[andy_con]

just run one of these diodes at 900mw and fook me its got some power.

very very bright!!

shame the driver over heats in about 10 seconds and i have to turn it back down

[White-Light]

Does the soot stay on the tube? I´d be affraid of contaminating the optics. Or can you fixate it somehow?

I'm suggesting this out of the blue as I don't know if anyone has tried this but you can buy some thermal paint thats matt black and made for coating car exhausts etc. It actually requires heat to cure although I've used it on surfaces without. I wonder if this would serve as a permanent no reflective solution?

[Doc]

I'm suggesting this out of the blue as I don't know if anyone has tried this but you can buy some thermal paint thats matt black and made for coating car exhausts etc. It actually requires heat to cure although I've used it on surfaces without. I wonder if this would serve as a permanent no reflective solution?

I don't see why not.

[OzOnE]

Does anyone happen to know what speed the phosphor wheel spins at relative to the duty cycle of the lasers?

Some posts / sites say that the laser diodes run at 120Hz (around 39% duty cycle), but Rob's o'scope shot (post 31) shows around 250Hz (could mean 250Hz falling AND rising - so is it closer to 120Hz actual frequency??)...

The reason I ask is because I'm tempted to grab one of the projectors if Dan has any left (minus diodes / lenses / LED etc.) to see if I can build an LED projector which has less of the "rainbow effect" than my current builds.

I already have a couple of spare XGA DLP projectors to play with, so it would only be worth it if the Casio switches colours at a faster rate than the "average" projector?

If anyone has the time, could they possible test the duty cycle of the Phlatlight, or hook up a small solar panel to an o'scope?

I'm guessing the Red LED is only switched on when the lasers are off, but I'm wondering if they do any fancy colour mixing at other times? (BrilliantColor etc.) Unlikely though, as the phosphor wheel can only spin so fast.

OzOnE.

[stanwax]

ozone

I have another projector in my posession - cant make any promises but if I get a chance I will see if I can get some answers for you

Rob

[OzOnE]

Great, thanks Rob.

Only if you get time though. I was mainly interested if there would be any reduction in the dreaded rainbow effect as I'm quite sensitive to it. I think this is the only real drawback to single-chip DLP atm.

I don't think I'll get much more brightness out of these LEDs though, and the cost of the brighter Phlatlights still total more than your average HID lamp would.

btw, on your Tek scope - is it 5ms per division and 4.4ms between the centre line and the cursor? So, the actual freq is closer to 120Hz?
EDIT: Not to worry. I see it's roughly 8.33ms, so 120Hz or "2x colour wheel" equivalent (probably).

Ash.

[dsli_jon]

Hey Kats -

I was actually thinking about taking everything but the blue lasers and lenses out to see what kind of blue beam I can get out of the projector...

...Hey, 'warped-minds really DO think alike'!

So, I wanted to follow this 'tack', for a bit, and see just what it would 'take' to do just-that - imagine: A compact, air-cooled laser source, with anywheres from 4 - 24W of useable 445, in this nice, notebook-size form-factor... what a concept! ...

Only at 'initial-phases' of testing, but with removing much of the unused stuff, I do-think it might be possible - however insane, with all the micro-combining, etc that will-be needed, to get something useable, if-even only-as a 'large-frame-substitute'... - we'll see...

The approach I plan to explore, is #1, find out what seems to be the 'ideal' single-lens solution, that could directly sub-in for the 'OEM' lenses, in-place / coupled-with a small 'adjustable-focus' mount, possibly...Then tackle the 'juggernaut of far-field convergence', in such a small-space... TBD... lastly, a possible 'secondary' lens / optics-set, to 'help with far-field divergence, ie:



... and yes, this is really 'GhettoFabulous' I know... but was only intended to be a 'quickie-test' (...and was done between 12am and 4am, and YES, 'PROPERLY TERMINATED' etc, etc... - it seems that even with a fairly-high divergent-result, as 'demonstrated' by the OEM lens, it might be possible to get a pretty-decent beam / spot for far-field scanning applications, with some additional optics down the line (ie: where the projectors' output lens-stage is/was...)

For this 'test' I just singled-out one beam, as-seen above, and sent it thru a simple 400mm FL AR-coated plano-convex - not-bad results.. @ ~70', 'stripe' (no, did not address 'shaping', etc yet...) was about 3mm x 19mm wide, and it held-together quite-well, when I bounce-mirrored it to a far-wall (not seen in pic) ~ 180'-out, and did some quickie mir-oscillations to very-roughly emulate a scan... really, not-bad...



IN any-case, imo, I don't see these diodes *replacing* the 500mW smaller-stripe / better beam chars Nichias, that we've all been-paying thru the nose-for - I mean, when you need really 'fine' graphics work, combining-those will probably still 'reign', for awhile, yet... but for 'large-scale' graphics, and certainly for aerials / beams, I'm encouraged about being able to 'carry' a little, up-to-24-Watt blue laser-cannon around, in the not-too distant future...

I'm thinking to shoot-for ~8-10W, total output... the rest of the diodes will be used for other purposes... ...and no I won't be illuminating any choppers , no worries...

Anybody else, here on PL, do any testing with the 'much-touted' Aixis '405-lens' set-up, with these puppies?

Will enjoy hearing your ideas / suggestions...
peace...
j


...wow, my 1,000th post... do I win a 'prize' or anything? ...free projector, maybe??

[swamidog]

!!!!

Exercising my talent for understatement: Nice!

I have a 445 diode with aixiz 405 glass setup here. Is there anything you'd like me to test?

c.

Hey Kats -



...Hey, 'warped-minds really DO think alike'!

So, I wanted to follow this 'tack', for a bit, and see just what it would 'take' to do just-that - imagine: A compact, air-cooled laser source, with anywheres from 4 - 24W of useable 445, in this nice, notebook-size form-factor... what a concept! ...

Only at 'initial-phases' of testing, but with removing much of the unused stuff, I do-think it might be possible - however insane, with all the micro-combining, etc that will-be needed, to get something useable, if-even only-as a 'large-frame-substitute'... - we'll see...

The approach I plan to explore, is #1, find out what seems to be the 'ideal' single-lens solution, that could directly sub-in for the 'OEM' lenses, in-place / coupled-with a small 'adjustable-focus' mount, possibly...Then tackle the 'juggernaut of far-field convergence', in such a small-space... TBD... lastly, a possible 'secondary' lens / optics-set, to 'help with far-field divergence, ie:



... and yes, this is really 'GhettoFabulous' I know... but was only intended to be a 'quickie-test' (...and was done between 12am and 4am, and YES, 'PROPERLY TERMINATED' etc, etc... - it seems that even with a fairly-high divergent-result, as 'demonstrated' by the OEM lens, it might be possible to get a pretty-decent beam / spot for far-field scanning applications, with some additional optics down the line (ie: where the projectors' output lens-stage is/was...)

For this 'test' I just singled-out one beam, as-seen above, and sent it thru a simple 400mm FL AR-coated plano-convex - not-bad results.. @ ~70', 'stripe' (no, did not address 'shaping', etc yet...) was about 3mm x 19mm wide, and it held-together quite-well, when I bounce-mirrored it to a far-wall (not seen in pic) ~ 180'-out, and did some quickie mir-oscillations to very-roughly emulate a scan... really, not-bad...



IN any-case, imo, I don't see these diodes *replacing* the 500mW smaller-stripe / better beam chars Nichias, that we've all been-paying thru the nose-for - I mean, when you need really 'fine' graphics work, combining-those will probably still 'reign', for awhile, yet... but for 'large-scale' graphics, and certainly for aerials / beams, I'm encouraged about being able to 'carry' a little, up-to-24-Watt blue laser-cannon around, in the not-too distant future...

I'm thinking to shoot-for ~8-10W, total output... the rest of the diodes will be used for other purposes... ...and no I won't be illuminating any choppers , no worries...

Anybody else, here on PL, do any testing with the 'much-touted' Aixis '405-lens' set-up, with these puppies?

Will enjoy hearing your ideas / suggestions...
peace...
j


...wow, my 1,000th post... do I win a 'prize' or anything? ...free projector, maybe??

[dsli_jon]

Hey C -

I have a 445 diode with aixiz 405 glass setup here. Is there anything you'd like me to test?

.. not really, *test*, per-se, just more of a 'verification' / hearing others' experience with them, within-PL (cause we are all more shooting for 'projector-optimal' results, and understand 'issues' for scanning / graphics, etc vs 'other' applications / uses for these...

ie:, what is the beam-shape really-like, with the se 405-glass's at, say, 150'-200'-ish? 500'? Do they, in-fact' 'help' with 'shaping' at-all, since the 'examples' I saw, posted, seemed-to be using an integrated 'aperture' of-sorts, inside... so it does not appear to 'shape' as much-as 'chop' the beam-down, then collimate...

Findings? Other lenses out there? Who has found the 'best-overall' collim vs shaping - singular-solution (I mean, w/o prism-pairs, fibers, etc...), even if a multi-element-lens... eager to hear wide-range of opins / results..

peace...
j