Planetarium Star Projectors

[SpitzSTP]

AVI Lift Control electronics installed in the scanner rack. I moved the junction box from its original mounting brackets on the telescope to the back of the rack. The control board activates the motor to lift the sphere, and limit switches on the telescope activate a safety interlock circuit to tell the system when it is safe to open the shutter and eyelid. I added another water feed behind the washer/dryer to supply coolant water to the HGM-8, which will be used this weekend to perform full system testing of the Omniscan system, provided I can talk Karl into dropping by. The rebuilt Omniscan PC placed in a shockmount case is a blend of old and new - QM32 card, Win98 with a fast P4 CPU. The industrial backplane has both ISA and PCI slots, making future transition to the newer Pangolin card and WinXP fairly painless when we get to that point.

[SpitzSTP]

Hooking up all of the cables today. Added an aluminum plate to hold the heavy umbilical with the conduit placed through a hole and secured with a threaded conduit nut on the back. Setup the skid on the rolling cart so the HGM8 can be placed on top to feed the fiber. I'll have to get the engine hoist in here, it's way too heavy on my own. Then run a pair of water lines to the laundry room and connect them to the Argon head. I have a 30A / 220V dryer outlet, hopefully I won't trip the breaker.

[SpitzSTP]

All of the pieces are coming together. When the startup sequence is initiated, the sphere should rise automatically out of the rack until the upper limit interlock switch is activated. Since I never saw in person how high this thing went in the Kansas City dome, it might be a good idea to roll the rack into the center of the room, under the highest point. Considering three sections in the telescoping lift, I bet it can go pretty darn high. The motor pulls an aircraft cable and winds it on a spindle to achieve lift function, like pulling a boat onto a trailer.

[SpitzSTP]

That looks good right there, bring your adjustable mirrors Karl ? The HGM8 beam is about an inch and a half too high.

[swamidog]

two mm1's on an L-bracket will take care of that. remind me to bring them next time i come over.

That looks good right there, bring your adjustable mirrors Karl ? The HGM8 beam is about an inch and a half too high.

[SpitzSTP]

AVI Omniscan testing continued on Saturday. Karl brought over some mirrors and a scrap base plate so the HGM8 beam could be aligned with the AVI fiber optic head. Water lines were connected and the front yard received hundreds of gallons of water after the laser was done with it. Karl did a great job of aligning everything and we watched a few shows from the ADAT projected full-dome on the ceiling. With the system nearing full operating capability we are able to identify strategies to increase beam power and operational efficiencies. The addition of a white light source will be within range once the generator is online.

[swamidog]

that's so cool. i can't wait to see things in action.

check your email...

AVI Omniscan testing continued on Saturday. Karl brought over some mirrors and a scrap base plate so the HGM8 beam could be aligned with the AVI fiber optic head. Water lines were connected and the front yard received hundreds of gallons of water after the laser was done with it. Karl did a great job of aligning everything and we watched a few shows from the ADAT projected full-dome on the ceiling. With the system nearing full operating capability we are able to identify strategies to increase beam power and operational efficiencies. The addition of a white light source will be within range once the generator is online.

[SpitzSTP]

Yes its very cool, Karl adjusted the fiber optic coupling and got the beam diameter down to a relative pinpoint compared to where it was before, despite being delivered through a fiber. No more fat fuzzy beam, it looks like it should. It was satisfying also to see the scanning sphere raise automatically out of the rack. I would post a picture but there seems to be a technical issue with this site that prevents the upload of another image. I will try again later.

[swamidog]

oh cool. i'm glad divergence is no longer the issue we thought it was.

Yes its very cool, Karl adjusted the fiber optic coupling and got the beam diameter down to a relative pinpoint compared to where it was before, despite being delivered through a fiber. No more fat fuzzy beam, it looks like it should. It was satisfying also to see the scanning sphere raise automatically out of the rack. I would post a picture but there seems to be a technical issue with this site that prevents the upload of another image. I will try again later.

[SpitzSTP]

It was gratifying to see the sphere rise from the top of the rack and the eyelid open up. Crisp, well-defined images filled the ceiling from one end of the house to the other. I am amazed at Karl's depth of knowledge which is clearly evident from many years of experience. I am equally impressed of your artistic ability as a laserist Swami, after viewing the links you sent me yesterday -- I am in total awe.