Laser Projector (Red, Green, Purple) "Laser 3D Party Light" from Spencer's

[DogP]

Success! I got the 445nm diode installed in place of the 405nm diode, and it works great. I'm using it just beyond the lasing threshold, and the diode was a little bit brighter than the others, so I had to turn the others up a little bit to match (so it's probably no longer a class IIIa, if it ever was). Also, the existing lens doesn't focus the blue to quite as nice of a spot as the others (certainly doesn't look bad though). The 445nm diode I bought came with a lens, though I'm not sure how easy it'd be to use in this housing... maybe I'll look into it if I get bored some time.

Anyway, here are the details of the mod (or, how to mod it to run the existing diodes hotter). Of course all the usual precautions must be followed... make sure you're well grounded, wear an ESD strap, don't look into the lasers or reflections of the lasers, don't point them at people or animals, wear laser safety glasses, etc. I take no responsibility for anything that you do in following this post.

First, you need to modify the driver to drive more current. You need to find the resistor R21, which is an 8.2K 0805 surface mount resistor. The equation is Iout=910V/Riset, so you want to set this resistor to give you the maximum current you'll want (the driver claims it's good up to 800mA, but I don't know how much current is available before you overload something upstream). There's a potentiometer in series, so that's how you'll do your final adjustment. In my case, I replaced the 8.2K resistor with a 3.3K resistor, to give a maximum current of ~250mA. I used an 0603 resistor since that's what I had laying around, but if ordering the resistor, you might as well get an 0805. You can get them for pennies at Digikey, and they offer USPS shipping for ~$2.50.




To replace the actual laser diode, there will be some glue globbed over the wires on the end of the laser. Remove this and the heatshrink, and you'll see the diode, and a threaded brass ring holding it in. It's not necessary to remove the brass housing from the heatsink, though I did. It's not easy to get out the first time... there's a set screw and adhesive holding it in place, so if you want to remove it, you need to loosen the set screw (small allen wrench), and use something to press the brass housing out of the heatsink (I used a Quick Grip bar clamp). Either way, to get the diode out, unscrew the ring and remove the diode. Desolder the wires, and put that diode away.






The new diode has the pins jumpered to prevent damage from ESD. I'd keep the jumper on as long as possible. Stick it into the housing, slide the ring over the diode, and tighten. The diode I got had some plastic around the pins, so I had to use a little bit of force and maneuvering to get the ring over the diode. I then tightened the ring, using a small pair of needlenose pliars to turn the ring while spanning over the diode. Make sure you mount it in the housing before soldering the wires, for better heatsinking.






Then I put the housing back in the heatsink, slid some heatshrink onto the wires, soldered the wires, and heatshrinked the solder joints. I adjusted the focus by turning the lens in the front, and tightened down the brass housing into the heatsink once I had it focused and converged with the rest of the colors. Converge it by sliding the brass housing forward, backward, and rotating... and when close, you can turn the tube a little bit side to side to get the last bit of adjustment (in vertical alignment). If you didn't remove the brass housing to install the diode, the convergence may still be satisfactory, or you may need to remove it to get it adjusted.






And then, enjoy!


DogP

[DogP]

And whether or not anyone's still reading this... I figured I'd go ahead and use this thread as some sort of documentation at least. I looked at the color test points (like CN14, labeled BLUE)... the pin closest to the SD card edge is connected to the input of the laser drive circuit (470 ohm series resistor into a transistor, etc), and the other pin is connected to ground. The signal comes from the microcontroller through a 2.2k ohm series resistor, so you don't need to worry about blowing out the microcontroller I/O pin by driving the lasers externally through this pin.

The laser drive is active low... and you can get a little bit of analog dimming on this pin, though I imagine modulating the pin is the proper way to adjust the brightness of the laser.

DogP

[mixedgas]

I'm enjoying this thread.

Steve

[BazookaBo]

Here are some quicky frames with well defined numbers of points per our email. Saved with optimization turned off on most of them. Plus a DOG_P or two for fun.

I'll get the standard test patterns to you in the morning, I'm doing a double shift.

It is no where near equal rads/second in most graphics, vector processing in modern show software did away with that. The Galvo core does not respond that way except on very carefully constructed objects. Even more so, better galvo amplifers change their feedback based on command magnitude. If you want to get from location A to location B in the fastest manor, physics says you go 1/2 the way with full acceleration and slam on the brakes with max deceleration. Scanner speed these days is determined by torque and resonances on the better scanners, which is the limiting factor.

These frames are set up for a slow system, they are not what I'd use on 30K scanners.

One oh three is for measuring speed on your scope. One hundred point circle plus a three point marker.
10x100 should let you do the stopwatch.
You should see a visual difference in 150 vs 150 optimized.

X-Y match lets you check and see if your mirrors are at the same speed.
If the diagonal lines "bow" outward the mirrors are not moving at the same speed.

Steve

Hi, I have recently started down the path of lasers... and as a starter one i have a very similar unit to the one described in this thread (http://www.chinavasion.com/china/who...aser_Projector)

But... It's a pain to get showing files except the ones that was included... It only shows 5 of the files in this post. it shows:

DOG-P.ild
500pts.ild
XY-MATCH.ild
103TEST.ild
150OPTIMIZE.ild

The others it just skips, I have also tried loads of other files from here but most if not all don't work i my projector.

From what I figured by looking at the included files it only shows ilda 0 files...(as the unit in this thread) but even when I make a file with bmp2ild_v2 and then LaserBoy to switch to version 0 (3d frame) i only managed to make it show a tiny red dot once!

Anyone have an idea on what format it can show? or what limitation I have to follow to make it show my own files?

(also if someone ells have the same unit, it wont show files from katalogs that you make even if you put a correct .prg file, don't get stuck there like i did for a week)

Best regards.

/Bo

[DogP]

Ah... that looks very similar. I wish mine had easier access to the SD card (I'm planning to cut a hole to get to the SD without having to open the back), though with the display and buttons, I'm guessing that's like the old Spencer's model I originally had (the new one doesn't have the headers for the display and stuff).

Anyway, yeah, it probably only supports version 0 files like mine. LaserBoy can convert it, though you have to jump through some hoops. If you have the settings correct (not set for version 4 or 5, don't minimize on ild save, etc), you can save as version 0 by forcing a Z dimension. If there's no Z, LaserBoy saves as 2D art (version 1). I PM'd James about it, and here's how he said to do it:

First you need to switch your viewing window to the side of the images by hitting '6' (digit 6). Then apply the angle of the view to all the art. Go into menu 'v' (view) and hit capital 'O' (letter O not zero). This will rotate all of the frames to the side view. It will actually change the vector values, not just your view of them. Then you can press and hold the letter 'q' to pan the view to the right (positive). Any amount will do. Now apply the offset to all the art with the letter 'T'. Then switch the window to look at the other side of the art by hitting the '^' (shift digit 6). You should now be looking straight at the art again, but the whole thing is moved forward in 3D space. Finally apply the rotation to all the art with the letter 'O' again.

That worked for me. I think if you hit the '/' key, it'll tell you stats in the corner... you should see that all the frames are 3D frames, not 2D frames. I can't run the program right now to check though, so I might be wrong on which key it is.

There are other programs that'll simply convert formats as well... I've heard that ILDSOS is good for that (though not free).

DogP

[BazookaBo]

That worked! thanx... and like magic after i put the SD card in my PC after been fiddling with it in a mac the other 3D files also started to run fine

I hear you like images of cheep laser systems.. so i put some in this post!





Best regards

/Bo

[BazookaBo]

If you open the files that came on your SD card in LaserBoy it can tell you the max and the average span in points (relative to short int) between the vertices. The distance between the vertices is what the galvo is expected to travel in one DAC sample. That distance translates to rotational angle, per sample, in other words rotational velocity or radians per second. That's why overall scan angle 3, 8, 15 degrees, etc... is absolutely always relevant.

If you find an image that looks pretty good at a certain scan rate with your system, then you can set the LaserBoy parameters to optimize any ILDA file to a similar velocity by setting the maximum distance between points.

Some frames might contain dwell points. These are points at corners in the drawing. There might be several samples all at the same coordinates to allow the scanner to get there and come to a complete stop before taking off in another direction. This messes up the average distance calculation because they are zero points apart from each other. In menu h, you can strip out or add dwell points, lit span or blank span independently for further analysis.

James.

Any hints on how to find that data in LaserBoy? and then where to set it for the optimizer?

My frame looks amazing now in LaserBoy with the palette transform... mmmmm...

[DogP]

That worked! thanx... and like magic after i put the SD card in my PC after been fiddling with it in a mac the other 3D files also started to run fine

I hear you like images of cheep laser systems.. so i put some in this post!

Nice! And that's pretty interesting. It looks like my old Spencer's motherboard, the same driver, the smaller galvos, and then ribbon cables connecting the display, buttons, and SD to those headers that were unused on my old board. So, most likely if someone slaps an HD44780 based LCD and some buttons on the old motherboard, it'll probably just work. I see yours doesn't have the "Music, Pause, Auto" switch... I assume the menu allows those functions?

Any hints on how to find that data in LaserBoy? and then where to set it for the optimizer?

I think '?' will show you the stats, and you can set the settings in the [Tab] menu. And don't forget to uncheck 'a' (minimize ild when saving) in the 'x' menu. Oh, and so you don't have to keep entering the settings every time you start the program, output the wtf file. This holds all your settings. You can either overwrite the default LaserBoy.wtf, and it'll load by default, or you can save it to your own, and load it manually. And James recently posted a new LaserBoy version, so make sure you have the latest build.

DogP

[BazookaBo]

Yes, all those functions are in the menu on mine.

I'm getting closer on my laser art... It actually looks quite good, but a bit slow at speed 5 when it looks it's best, and my phone camera cant really show it.


gbaz.ild

I'm playing around with the optimize in LaserBoy to optimize it for speed 15 where it looks like crap but don't blink as much

I'm also lookin in to makeing it a wifi laser!

A hacked http://www.eye.fi/ or something similar but not locked to there server and only images... might do the trick!
I'm also looking into those SDcards that have a USB connection on the backside... and just hooking it up on both ends.

/Bo

[DogP]

Cool... yeah, getting it to look good and not flickery is the trick that's hard to achieve (especially with non-simple gfx). I try to run everything at speeds around 15-20... there's definitely a difference in quality as I go 20+.

And yeah, I've looked at both of the SD cards you mentioned in the past, but I don't think either will work like we want. I want the equivalent to the Eye-Fi, except one that just looks like an SD card plugged into my computer, except wirelessly, or running an FTP/Samba server. And I'm pretty sure the SD cards w/ USB port will only work on one port at a time... if you find out differently, definitely let me know! Also, I've never verified, but I think our devices will only read SD cards (not SDHC), so you'd need to get an old model of any of those cards. And my new Spencer's model seems very picky on which SD cards it'll read, so it may not even read any of those cards anyway. :/

I'm thinking about interfacing a USB sound card DAC to this... if I can do it small enough, I may stick it, and an MK802 or Raspberry Pi inside the case, so I could do everything remotely (and better, with a higher sample rate, better DAC, supporting more formats, and more configurable). We'll see if I get around to doing it though... the SD card player is really convenient for simply playing animations for ambience/effect.

DogP