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

[james]

Who me? I don't even have one of these projectors!

I just like working with people to solve problems that are somehow in my wheelhouse.

LaserBoy has gotten better a few times since this thread started!

James.

[VibrationsOfDoom]

Actually the Tron/arcade series plays pretty well on my Spencer (well, minus the blue coloring, which only is affected by the one arcade logo I forget which one...

Interestingly enough, where there is supposed to be purple color, the green somehow switched into "overdrive," making this image all green... I still haven't attempted to replace the blue laser yet; at first attempt, I was unable to get the brass tubing out of the heatsink... I was told what diode to order, and though there's only two wires connected to the brass tubing, the diode I ordered has three pins... I'm guessing one of those is a ground? Hopefully I can figure it out, but more than likely I am just going to buy a new laser projector anyway, since the newer models apparently display the files better...


And James, I might have trouble with the drawing utility as you described in the LaserBoy forum, but as of late I haven't had a chance to test it out. Nor have I had a chance to test your newest version of Laser Boy, since music work has gone into overtime and there's several projects that demand my attention before the month's end, not least of which is this Sunday's radio show which I am showcasing several brand new tracks from albums that won't be in stores until November... The record labels I work with keep me WELL supplied with new tunes...

[christek13]

Hmm... I have the newer model. Judging from DogP's first pictures compared to what I'm getting there is definitely a large improvement in the newer model. Could a change in the firmware be the reason my projector won't load any large files, or am I just doing something wrong? Would you mind uploading a >4kb ild file that definitely works on your projector for me to test with?


EDIT: Fixed it. Don't know how it happened but somehow my Picture.prg got saved as a 'Macintosh' ANSI encoded file. Compared it to my original in a hex editor and the only difference is in the newline, the Macintosh file has an 'OD' byte (newline), where the MS/DOS file has 'OD' 'OA' bytes (newline + carriage return). Changed the file and now it works. So large files would have worked but every time I added one to my Picture.prg it saved incorrectly. This will probably never happen to anyone else but in case it does that should solve your problem.

Now that I'm able to view it I have to say I'm really impressed with how well tribble's spirograph show lines up with the song.

[DogP]

I still haven't attempted to replace the blue laser yet; at first attempt, I was unable to get the brass tubing out of the heatsink... I was told what diode to order, and though there's only two wires connected to the brass tubing, the diode I ordered has three pins... I'm guessing one of those is a ground?

I'm pretty sure the original diode had 3 pins as well, and if you ordered the same 405nm (blu-ray laser) diode, the pinout should be the same, so you should be able to just replace it as-is. There should be a +, -, and case, configured like this, for this diode (not all diodes have the same pinout):


IIRC, they connected the case pin to - as well, though that shouldn't be necessary (I think I've read that possibly improves ESD protection... dunno if that's true or not).

You probably can remove the blue diode without removing the brass housing from the heatsink, since it's all the way at the back of the projector, and uses a threaded ring to hold it in place. If you do want to remove the brass housing, there's a set screw on the top, as well as adhesive holding it in place. So you need to back out the set screw, and use a clamp, or tongue and groove pliers, etc. to pop the housing out of the heatsink.

EDIT: Fixed it. Don't know how it happened but somehow my Picture.prg got saved as a 'Macintosh' ANSI encoded file. Compared it to my original in a hex editor and the only difference is in the newline, the Macintosh file has an 'OD' byte (newline), where the MS/DOS file has 'OD' 'OA' bytes (newline + carriage return). Changed the file and now it works. So large files would have worked but every time I added one to my Picture.prg it saved incorrectly. This will probably never happen to anyone else but in case it does that should solve your problem.

Good to know... thanks for the update.

DogP

[hakzaw1]

good to see this thread is still alive- i can give any here a link to buy a 515nm diode green module- if you can supply ~3.2 vdc at 200mA and place in a better heatsink you may like the 26mW these make but I think you would lose your ttl blanking =IDKFS 85$ plus ship. PM for the link- hope they will offer from same seller(AixiZ) but as the bare diode.

[VibrationsOfDoom]

Got the purple diode installed!!! YAY! Man, it was a MAJOR pain in the ass, especially since my wire crimping tool was just slightly too big and I ended up nipping some of the wire length... Plus, I didn't have any way to attach the wires save for twisting it 'round the pins... Probably gonna go and buy some of those metal connectors to keep things secure...

HOWEVER, that being said, the laser is noticeably off... The purple lines are slightly above the other ones, so color mixing isn't working the way it should... Still, to finally have something remotely resembling the purple laser that originally came with it is nice... Gotta go back and read the settings for this thing so I can figure out how to adjust the laser to line up properly.. I didn't remove the heatsink or the brass tube, but working the pins around the groove for the screwdriver was interesting...

Also, that third "useless" pin was actually (on my board) soldered together with the negative pin, so I just pushed them together just in case... Seeing as how the laser didn't blow up, I would say for someone with zero electrical skills, I got things working somewhat well...

[VibrationsOfDoom]

Can't seem to find the info, but here's what's happening: the purple laser is projecting lines slightly above where they should be... Most noticeable on the patterns that came with the machine... I saw potentiometers mentioned, would those adjust laser position? Other than taking the brass housing out, I don't know how else to adjust the laser (and I don't have access to a soldering gun, so it would involve twisting the wires around the pins.. AGAIN...

Someone said that the front of the lens was adjustable?

[james]

Look for the dicroic mirrors. Those are the semi-reflective pieces of glass that combine the laser beams together. Notice that one beam shoots straight through the glass while another beam bounces off the surface. With three lasers, you need two dicroic mirrors. I'm going to guess that one of them mixes the combination of red and green with the violet. The position of that mirror has everything to do with the alignment of your violet laser beam.

James.

[DogP]

good to see this thread is still alive- i can give any here a link to buy a 515nm diode green module- if you can supply ~3.2 vdc at 200mA and place in a better heatsink you may like the 26mW these make but I think you would lose your ttl blanking =IDKFS 85$ plus ship. PM for the link- hope they will offer from same seller(AixiZ) but as the bare diode.

I've seen a few 515nm lasers for a little bit cheaper, but all in modules with drivers. The drivers are completely useless for us, since we need the TTL blanking (I want to get rid of the DPSS mostly because it doesn't turn on/off as nicely as a direct diode... on/off would be horrible by driving a driver). I don't care too much about whether it's 515nm or 520nm, though the 515nm seem to be lower power, and cheaper. I was tempted to drop a bid on this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/161106335905 , but it claims to be only 5mW. I don't know if that means the diode is actually only 5mW, or if the driver is limiting it to 5mW... but since they also sell a 15mW ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/161105895757 ), I'm thinking it's actually a weaker diode. I know Aixiz also sells this one: http://www.aixiz.com/store/product_i...roducts_id/446 , which they say is the 30mW OSRAM diode that most people sell. I may ask both of them if they sell it without the driver... though I know at least the OSRAM is gonna take some work to make it work with this driver circuit, since it requires a pretty high voltage.

Got the purple diode installed!!! YAY! Man, it was a MAJOR pain in the ass, especially since my wire crimping tool was just slightly too big and I ended up nipping some of the wire length... Plus, I didn't have any way to attach the wires save for twisting it 'round the pins... Probably gonna go and buy some of those metal connectors to keep things secure...

HOWEVER, that being said, the laser is noticeably off... The purple lines are slightly above the other ones, so color mixing isn't working the way it should... Still, to finally have something remotely resembling the purple laser that originally came with it is nice... Gotta go back and read the settings for this thing so I can figure out how to adjust the laser to line up properly.. I didn't remove the heatsink or the brass tube, but working the pins around the groove for the screwdriver was interesting...

Also, that third "useless" pin was actually (on my board) soldered together with the negative pin, so I just pushed them together just in case... Seeing as how the laser didn't blow up, I would say for someone with zero electrical skills, I got things working somewhat well...

Good to hear you got it working... but you didn't solder it!?! Did you at least heatshrink it, or somehow keep it from shorting out? And did you make sure to tighten the brass ring enough? You don't want to burn up the diode by not having it in the holder tightly enough. I used small needlenose pliers to span the diode pins, rather than trying to use a flathead screwdriver.

About getting the dot aligned... to move the dot up/down, you move it left/right... and vice versa. Luckily there's a little bit of play in the heatsink for the brass tube to turn left/right, so you may be able to get it aligned by just turning the brass tube a little bit to one side. Moving the dot left/right is a little bit tougher, because you can't really tilt up/down very well (because the set screw clamps it down). So that requires sliding the brass tube in/out, rotating, etc... and getting lucky to find the right spot.

Someone said that the front of the lens was adjustable?

Yep... there's a slot in the front, which you can turn to adjust the focus.

DogP

[djwillwtrpb]

Im looking to PAY someone "paypal" to HELP ME!! ive got a laser similer to the spencers laser "china version" im looking for someone to give me step by step directions on how to make custom logos i cant seem to figure it outIF YOU CAN HELP ME CONTACT ME at 417 597 8256 or djwillwtpb@gmail.com . Im Pretty new to all this laser stuff but really need to start learning it thank you!!