Planetarium Star Projectors

[DZ]

According to Mark Zellers at AVI, per the science center director, "this Scan Tower Head is a one-of-a-kind, with about 10 effects the new lasers cannot do, like multiple images, cloud effects and others." It will be interesting to get it running again, and put it back to work. I am sincerely hoping that I can get some help in testing it out. I have spent all of my time restoring star projectors and this is completely new territory for me. Is it O.K., to post a shameless appeal, for assistance? Free beer and chips for any takers.
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Hmm, I wonder what's unique about this one. The scan thru effects were on all the Omniscans that I've seen in the field. Interestingly though, the scan thru effects don't seem to be a standard part of the Skylase even though the shows haven't been changed. I saw a show the other day and the part where the Omniscan would have projected lumia all around the cove area of the dome, the Skylase just had a few solid lines around the cove area. Kinda sad really.

[SpitzSTP]

Hmm, I wonder what's unique about this one. The scan thru effects were on all the Omniscans that I've seen in the field. Interestingly though, the scan thru effects don't seem to be a standard part of the Skylase even though the shows haven't been changed. I saw a show the other day and the part where the Omniscan would have projected lumia all around the cove area of the dome, the Skylase just had a few solid lines around the cove area. Kinda sad really.

Unpacking the boxes.. picture of the electronics that were inj the pit area, and the HD24 loaded with show material. I put the ADAT in the Minolta rack. A PC came out of the control room, just an old Pentium II Dell desktop loaded with a few PCI cards. I plan to get a PCI Expansion chassis, abandon the old Dell and put the PCI cards in a rackmount enclosure and run it off a 1U server (where the blank space is, above the ADAT). I have MP3's on the top 1U server. A KVM switch to swap between PC's.

[allthatwhichis]

Unpacking the boxes.. picture of the electronics that were inj the pit area, and the HD24 loaded with show material. I put the ADAT in the Minolta rack. A PC came out of the control room, just an old Pentium II Dell desktop loaded with a few PCI cards. I plan to get a PCI Expansion chassis, abandon the old Dell and put the PCI cards in a rackmount enclosure and run it off a 1U server (where the blank space is, above the ADAT). I have MP3's on the top 1U server. A KVM switch to swap between PC's.

x3

[cybertoyz]

I know there are a lot of people who would be very happy to hear that the Spitz is in good hands and has been restored. Do you mind if I share this story with the other members of the Saint who are still alive?

[SpitzSTP]

I know there are a lot of people who would be very happy to hear that the Spitz is in good hands and has been restored. Do you mind if I share this story with the other members of the Saint who are still alive?

I will be honored, yes, please do get the word out!! A few already know about it, M. Fierman, R. Leslie, S. Pevner and a few others I have corresponded with. It only needs one more power supply to be fully functional and about 20 hours of work. Over 500 hours have already been invested in it and many thousands of dollars. I recognize this star machine as being a very special piece of american history. Though not many seem to care, there are those that do. On a side note.. I went searching for the dome a few years ago. I talked to alot people and finally one day tracked down the one person who knew what happened to it.. it was sold to someone who shipped the whole thing to Japan. The hydraulic truss is rumored to still exist, somewhere in a warehouse in NJ or PA perhaps rotting away. I have been trying to find the truss for over six years now. Most of the other artifacts were sold at public auction after the club closed in the late 80's. The star machine was reportedly purchased by John Yamula, a club patron for use in another venue, reportedly a restaurant. That vision was never fulfilled and it sat in a warehouse in about nine crates. A well known planetarium vendor out of Florida purchased it next, and legend has it they tried to sell it to Disney for use in one of their theme parks. However, it just sat in the crates and was then sold to a private party in Utah where it was briefly re-assembled in a bowling alley. I then acquired it from the person in Utah after looking for it for a very long time. Over all the years it had never been fired up, not even once since that famous party lasting two days right before the club closed. It is a fascinating star machine, parts of which are rumored to have came from the Spitz model B formerly owned by the U.S. Air Force where it was installed at the Air Force Academy in Colorado. It has a rich and colorful past and I thank you sincerely for posting about it here. Are there any particular experiences you recall, about this star machine ? Please do tell ! I heard that the old Fillmore East theater was gutted and converted into a bank branch and some condos. What a shame, this place was like no other before it, or since.

[SpitzSTP]

x3

The PC from the planetarium has a number of software apps on it, including (from what I can see so far), "Lasershow Designer for Windows Professional 3.10", "Showtime Professional 3.10", "MQX SMPTE Reader", and a bunch of Omniscan utilities for controlling the laser functions such as the shutter. Can anyone tell me, what these apps are used for? (as I reveal just exactly how much I don't know). There are also several cards in the PC but I cannot tell what they are yet. Many thanks !

[DZ]

The PC from the planetarium has a number of software apps on it, including (from what I can see so far), "Lasershow Designer for Windows Professional 3.10", "Showtime Professional 3.10", "MQX SMPTE Reader", and a bunch of Omniscan utilities for controlling the laser functions such as the shutter. Can anyone tell me, what these apps are used for? (as I reveal just exactly how much I don't know). There are also several cards in the PC but I cannot tell what they are yet. Many thanks !

Looks like you have an old QM32 card. Basically, Pangolin's older DAC for the ISA bus. The newer QM2000 runs on the PCI bus. Pangolin may still offer you a special upgrade price to convert the QM32 to the QM2000 or maybe even the FB3. On second thought, you may be better off just running the QM32. I'm going to guess that the scan thru speciall effects are actuated via the TTL lines out of the QM32.

[polishedball]

I'd agree probably no real reason to upgrade, if the hardware were to change it wouldn't really be as it was when in action. However if it was upgraded to the QM2000 with dmx you could always use a DMX to TTL converter, as I did for my old school beam table.

Looks like you have an old QM32 card. Basically, Pangolin's older DAC for the ISA bus. The newer QM2000 runs on the PCI bus. Pangolin may still offer you a special upgrade price to convert the QM32 to the QM2000 or maybe even the FB3. On second thought, you may be better off just running the QM32. I'm going to guess that the scan thru speciall effects are actuated via the TTL lines out of the QM32.

[polishedball]

I have spent all of my time restoring star projectors and this is completely new territory for me. Is it O.K., to post a shameless appeal, for assistance? Free beer and chips for any takers.
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So has anyone been able to help SpitzSTP out yet? I'd love to see some pics of this in action.

[Laser Wizardry]

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