Pat B
laserman532 on ebay
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt & selling it in a garage sale.
After further consideration, I'm not sure this will work. The actuators in the beam-rail are *NOT* GM-20's, as I had originally thought. They appear to be simple stepper motors. Also, the mirrors are no larger than 5 mm square. Now, in theory I could mount larger mirrors on the arms, but the problem is that the mirrors on the turrets are the same size as the ones on the arms, and mounting larger mirrors on the turrets would be a lot more challenging.
I guess I need to think about this one some more. I *could* re-fit everything to work with an 8mm beam, but maybe should start thinking about scaling this project back to just a 1 or 2 watt beam, which would fit just fine on the existing mirrors.
Or maybe I'll just hook the beast up to the I-90 as originally planned and deal with the hassle of 3 phase power and water cooling.... Crap.
Adam
Tough choice.
How many actuators are we talking about?
Do you have a picture?
I guess you are using the actuators for analoge beam positioning and beam show, correct? In that case I would go through the trouble to make it work with that larger beam.
a 4watter beam show is 50% nicer then a 2Watter Beamshow
Also remember that if you have it fixed for 4Watt you could use a 50/50 Beamsplitter and make double the amount of 2Watter beams.
I would go through the trouble if i where you, although i havent really seen your project so mayby its a really big job. PICS PLEASE
with a little engineering you could build a lever arm configuration that would give you the travel...But I would shit can the whole works and pick up this little jewel http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...t=fiber+beamer
Pat B
laserman532 on ebay
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt & selling it in a garage sale.
Adam, is this an old mobolaser?
Chad
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
That ruler!
I used to work with the owner of that company at another plastic welding and fabrication company.
He had won the lottery or something like that and started up his own fab shop
The faceplate's controls give a good idea on what it does, well done!
The line of 2nd trimpots look like hell to adjust though
Last edited by LaserCo; 07-13-2010 at 06:27. Reason: trimpots
Sorry for the late reply, folks. Been rather busy lately.
This is an old Q-beam beam rail. It's similar in operation to a Mobolaser, but as I mentioned before the actuators appear to be simple stepper motors rather than proper GM-20's. However, like a Mobolaser, the mirrors on the actuators (and the turrets themselves) are quite small. There are a total of 10 turrets, each with it's own actuator. The total length is roughly 28 inches.
I don't have any pictures now, but I'll try to get some up soon. Here's a picture I found on the web that looks pretty close to what I have though. (The case on that one is much deeper than mine, and I don't have any of the double-decker turrets, but otherwise that's what I've got.)
PAT: that rig you've got is awesome. If I had the cash, I would have scooped it up when you first listed it.
Adam
Phantom Dynamics - Omnisistem Q-BEAM 100mW DPSS Green Laser Beam Projector DMX-512 Nightclub Laser
L-Q100GRegular price: $12,990.95Sale price: $8,990.95
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holy crap.. i hope this website is from 1993 couse those prices are crazy.. lol
No, believe it or not, that's the current price. Think that's expensive? Check out the price on a new Mobolaser sometime. They're just as expensive.
For that matter, have a look at the retail price of just about any commercial laser projector (not just a beam rail, but one with scanners). They're all expensive! That's why so many of us hobbyists end up building our own projectors. It's a lot cheaper...
I agree that $9000 for a bunch of actuators and mirrors plus a 100 mw laser is outrageous, but remember that it comes with a variance. That's where a lot of the money is. But the rest is pure profit for the company that sells them.
The one exception to this high price rule is the illegal Chinese import stuff you see on E-bay all the time. But they don't have variances, which makes them technically illegal to sell here in the US. (Not that E-bay does much to police these sales, mind you.)
Speaking of E-bay though, even on E-bay those old MoboLaser rigs still bring in a lot of cash. I've seen them sell for as much as 2 grand. (Which is why the really nice one that LaserMan532 is selling is such a steal at only $1200. But I just don't have the cash for it - sigh...)
Adam