Scannermax 506s

[mccarrot]

Nice,

Autotuning galvo's and full diode lasers.

We can almost sit down and enjoy our shows without worries

[masterpj]

By the way, the layout of our new amp is almost finished. You can see a 3D view of it here.

It looks big, but remember everything you're seeing there is the size of a credit card.

Notice all of the adjustment pots. NOT!

Bill

Love the board design.
I recall there being a way to connect the amp to the computer, was this a feature for the prototype only?
If npot: will there be additional software with the amps to do this?

Just a curiousity question: Are you using one of the Analog Devices BlackFin DSP's?
Like the ADSP-BF531SBST400 (that one because it's a 400mhz DSP)

[norty303]

Love the board design.
I recall there being a way to connect the amp to the computer, was this a feature for the prototype only?

Next connector can be attached to a USB port on a computer. (The connector looks non-standard, and we have our reasons for making that way...) This connector can also be attached to a little display inside the laser projector, and the display can be used to adjust the amp, select tuning, etc.

15 characters..

[badger1666]

Hey norty there is uklem in 10 weeks how about you come and show us how these 506's perform ??
Would be nice to also meet you

[WookieBoy]

+1 what Badger said!

[norty303]

Hey norty there is uklem in 10 weeks how about you come and show us how these 506's perform ??
Would be nice to also meet you

It could be a distinct possibility.

What's it like sleeping in the hall?

There could be multiples by then too

[WookieBoy]

Sleeping in the hall is fine as long as you're not a light sleeper (or bring ear/nose plugs)

Alternatively, there's hotels close by...

[planters]

The 506 series can support very large mirrors, but with slower scanning while the Saturn series can be optimized for very high speed scanning with smaller mirrors.

I had a thought. We keep trying to up the performance of our projectors with a linear approach ie brighter lasers and faster scanners. What about using a two stage scanning technique? The first stage uses the Saturn to scan a beam over say 5-6 degrees. Such a small angle allows higher speeds and/or optimizes aperture allowing lower divergence. Then as close as possible, the large 506 mirrors scan this high resolution field over a wide angle in X and Y. In its simplest form the software determines where on the 10 x 10 grid (for 60 degree scanning) to place the centroid of the Saturn scan field and the Saturn draws the content of the field. I think it would be easy (not trivial ) to optimize this interaction.

What comes to mind is a projection of (not on) Mount Rushmore. Each face is drawn with a lot of detail, but the overall variations in the features of each face are small and the Saturn could be optimized to do this quickly and repeatedly while the 506 places each, lets say, quadrant where it needs to be, minimizing the throw of the faster scanner.

[TechJunkie]

The 506 series can support very large mirrors, but with slower scanning while the Saturn series can be optimized for very high speed scanning with smaller mirrors.

I had a thought. We keep trying to up the performance of our projectors with a linear approach ie brighter lasers and faster scanners. What about using a two stage scanning technique?

Um...money. 2 stage is fine, but its kind of like buying 2 computers to run 2 applications. Doesnt make much sense financially. If the Saturn is top of the line, you shouldn't need to buy the lesser set too. At least not from the same company. Thats not very practice no matter what your financial situation is.

Still havnt seen a ballpark price yet. Did I miss it? Talk is cheap without knowing what its going to cost. I dont know if I should save up, or just buy what's available now. I know you guys know what you want, but there are n00bs here, like me, who are still deciding. And I dont subscribe to the "Latest, greatest" theory as being always the best route unless its a major hurtle.

The drama on this forum hurts my mind. You'd think with such an intelligent lot like yourselves you'd learn to condense your points instead of writing pages of it. I mean what does driving a 5 year old car have to do with how much money you make? It just shows you're frugal, you can still be Lamborghini rich. People are allowed to have contrasting options. Slamming brick after brick of text at them wont change their mind. I want back the 45 minutes of my life I lost reading most of it.

[The_Doctor]

The 506 series can support very large mirrors, but with slower scanning while the Saturn series can be optimized for very high speed scanning with smaller mirrors.

I had a thought. We keep trying to up the performance of our projectors with a linear approach ie brighter lasers and faster scanners. What about using a two stage scanning technique? The first stage uses the Saturn to scan a beam over say 5-6 degrees. Such a small angle allows higher speeds and/or optimizes aperture allowing lower divergence. Then as close as possible, the large 506 mirrors scan this high resolution field over a wide angle in X and Y. In its simplest form the software determines where on the 10 x 10 grid (for 60 degree scanning) to place the centroid of the Saturn scan field and the Saturn draws the content of the field. I think it would be easy (not trivial ) to optimize this interaction.

What comes to mind is a projection of (not on) Mount Rushmore. Each face is drawn with a lot of detail, but the overall variations in the features of each face are small and the Saturn could be optimized to do this quickly and repeatedly while the 506 places each, lets say, quadrant where it needs to be, minimizing the throw of the faster scanner.

Wouldn't it be easier to scale up the basic notion of the 506? Draw the faces with small step response at higher speed, and move to new regions with the large step response. The 506 seems ideally placed to work like this, though at a slower small step speed than you're thinking of. I thought of an idea similar to yours once, but steppers rather than slower, wider scanners for the slower, wider shifts in position. It sounded too complex to me, at the time I figured a big diverging lens might do it better, if you could compensate beam focussing to preserve collimation. Currently I think the best way would be to optimise the scale at which small step response and large step response change over, and I suspect this might be one of the things Bill is attempting to solve in the 506, and if it works, he might be intending to scale up the speed. Or maybe he has other intentions entirely, but the 506's do seem to fit with this idea.