Venus 2 From Lightspace

[Laserguy1]

I got a chance to touchy felly a couple of these at LDI this year. It is much better than I thought it would be, nice small beam, very well aligned and graphics were impressive!! Graphics are great, nice equal beams, great color. The only thing IMHO that would make it better is a 463 blue instead of the old 445. In the lighted environment at LDI the blue looked a little weak. Mixed with the other colors it was fine but alone in a bright setting- a little iffy, best for dark room. They have installed a faster shutter now, not exactly a VRAD yet. I was so impressed, I went back to their booth 3 times to observe this incredible baby in action. I will be getting a couple of these. The beams were plenty bright, even in the well lit room, it was hanging with the 6 watt units around it beam wise, almost could not tell the difference in power.

[Bradfo69]

How is the Venus for graphics? I am considering picking up a Venus II, but I can't get any beam quality photos from Omar. She says the beam quality is the same as the Pluto. I have seen lots of Pluto's doing beams, but never any graphics. Can anyone comment on the Venus or Pluto spot quality for graphics?

The Pluto's I think, are great. I've been very pleased for graphics. Tightest divergence of anything I own. I attended an outdoor show done by buffo and others in Alexandria, VA the weekend after SELEM and he was using two of the all diode Pluto's for graphics on big, maybe 30 x 30 foot screens and they looked absolutely incredible. I would have thought they were even more powerful than they are.

Look at the photos in post 28 of this thread. http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...ighlight=Pluto They show you with a ruler at approximately 100 feet out what the size of a line is.

[drm916]

If they are anything like the plutos then they will be great. I do wish they had 462 instead of 445. You could just swap out the 445 diode to a 462 and still have very little invested.

[tribble]

Thanks for the info! But, I've already committed to a different unit. I like the 450 blue! I like the deepness of it. In a perfect world I'd have 5 lines, but not today.

[BlueFang]

If anyone is interested in what the laser module of the Venus2 looks like - I had to open mine up because mine arrived with the green a bit out of alignment... The advantage of everything getting smaller, is well, everything is getting smaller and lighter... the disadvantage is, well the components are tiny - and adjustments are a bit more difficult. Adjusting beam alignment is not as easy as turning some thumbscrews... It took some practice and some patience and I still don't think I have it 100% aligned. The problem is that you have to loosen the set screws to make any adjustments, and everything is so precise and small, that the act of tightening the set screws back up, will move the alignment off by a tiny amount - but enough to be a annoying - so you kind of have to plan ahead for this movement before tightening.

Anyway, here are some iPhone photos I snapped of the innards...






and lasing...


Also, as I think has been mentioned somewhere previously, they are not using the stepper motor anymore for the safety shutter. It looks very well designed now - and is directly attached to the scanner mounts. I didn't get a good look at the servo they are using - but it is the size of a small galvo.

[Laserguy1]

BlueFang,

Thanks for the update, these are excellent photos. So, no simple X/Y adjustment without loosening the set screws? Ouch. We all know that even with simple temperature changes, these beams are going to come out of alignment. Not to mention when the union guy MUST load your projectors in the booth for you... LOL. While this new design is cute and portable, I like something with bigger gears I can get my hands on. I think their Pluto II design is better, one can align it much easier. For the price of the Venus II, though it is hard to beat. Let us know if you find a pattern to perfecting this alignment procedure. Tweezers- Hammer tapping, small tongs... there has to be a way. Well, at least it is not glued or epoxied into place like some others I have seen.

[swamidog]

i have never seen such excellent work by a chinese laser company.

well done lightspace!

If anyone is interested in what the laser module of the Venus2 looks like - I had to open mine up because mine arrived with the green a bit out of alignment... The advantage of everything getting smaller, is well, everything is getting smaller and lighter... the disadvantage is, well the components are tiny - and adjustments are a bit more difficult. Adjusting beam alignment is not as easy as turning some thumbscrews... It took some practice and some patience and I still don't think I have it 100% aligned. The problem is that you have to loosen the set screws to make any adjustments, and everything is so precise and small, that the act of tightening the set screws back up, will move the alignment off by a tiny amount - but enough to be a annoying - so you kind of have to plan ahead for this movement before tightening.

Anyway, here are some iPhone photos I snapped of the innards...






and lasing...


Also, as I think has been mentioned somewhere previously, they are not using the stepper motor anymore for the safety shutter. It looks very well designed now - and is directly attached to the scanner mounts. I didn't get a good look at the servo they are using - but it is the size of a small galvo.

[drm916]

I don't see any small adjustment screws on the dicros. That will make aligning it pretty difficult. Weird they didn't use something that is more easily adjusted. BUT maybe the more easily adjusted ones also come out of alignment more often?

Still looks good inside.

[hitekvoop]

Could they not fit a lasorb over the last red diode due to space constraints? EDIT: DERP: Counting is hard. Nevermind

I agree with Swami though, that's beautiful work right there.

[BlueFang]

BlueFang,

While this new design is cute and portable, I like something with bigger gears I can get my hands on. I think their Pluto II design is better, one can align it much easier. For the price of the Venus II, though it is hard to beat.

Indeed... as you mentioned though, the VenusII is about 1/2 the price of the PlutoII.

I don't see any small adjustment screws on the dicros. That will make aligning it pretty difficult.

Yup... the way to adjust is using the tiny holes inside the mounts, using more of a push/pull technique (as far as I can figure out). I think it is something that I will get better at with practice. It is definitely not as simple as turning a thumbscrew.

Here is a photo from Lightspace on how to adjust X alignment :