Not another build thread!!!

[norty303]

Marc, are you doing anything special with the cooling on the Laserwave OEM heads, or are they just fixed directly to the baseplate with thermal grease/pads?

I saw on one of the recent Goldenstar threads that they mount an additional heatsink under the baseplate with a fan, and wondering if they need this extra cooling? I do use GPU processor heatsinks on the underside anyway, but only passive.

[RGbee]

Interesting Point Adam,
Mike had a couple of projectors running the OEM heads at the last LEM. I'm pretty sure they were bolted directly to the optics plate without any extra forced cooling.

[Insanity]

They do get very hot, very quickly, as do the drivers... Mine are on a 10mm baseplate with a 40mm thick heatsink under it, then I have 4 C@sio fans blowing across the heatsink, but they are only running 5v. At 12v the projector almost takes off

P1020198.JPG

[norty303]

Hmm... thanks for that info. That might make my next plans a bit more complex. I'm wondering if the extra cost/hassle of cooling the OEM heads is worth it over just buying a properly TEC'd head in the first place.

[andy_con]

the LW OEM modules are tec'ed

[Insanity]

the LW OEM modules are tec'ed

Yes they are, but I would still suggest adequate heat sinking etc as they do get hot... My level of cooling might be overkill for just an OEM on its own, but these are 5 watt RGB's so there is a lot to warm up in there and I don't really want stuff moving about with heat... Been there, done that, got the tee shirt and the massive headache

[andy_con]

i think your bang on mark, a single OEM green on its own doesnt generate huge amounts of heat, but add up everything in aprojector and there is lot of heat.

[norty303]

I find the worst culprit is the scanner amps, and on a small baseplate (e.g. compact projector) the heat can travel to where the modules are mounted quite quickly. I guess one option is to separate the amps thermally from the module baseplate.

[swamidog]

i built a double decker system with the psu's and scanner amps on the bottom level and the laser heads on the top.

it's heavier, but it minimizes the thermal loading on the laser heads.

I find the worst culprit is the scanner amps, and on a small baseplate (e.g. compact projector) the heat can travel to where the modules are mounted quite quickly. I guess one option is to separate the amps thermally from the module baseplate.

[norty303]

Yep, mine are all double decker too, but with amps on top deck as space generally dictates that on the smaller builds. I was just thinking if it would be worthwhile to create a 'scanner amp island' on the top deck, but then the smaller plate would affect the amp cooling.
Suck it and see I think.

Are you happy with the OEM heads, those of you that have them?