New to laser shows need help building my own please! :)

[skot]

Jump in an hold your breath I say. Skip the shallow end haha.

You guys are great. Some really indepth responses filled with stacks of info a newbie needs to start running off in different tangents of investigation.

[Bradfo69]

Hey guys, thanks for all your kind and helpful feedback I think I am going to love this hobby. I am on a budget just because I want to get my feet wet. I don't want to spend more than I can handle, because that would be like jumping into the deep end of a pool and not being able to swim if you get my idea. If it means I have to start with bad quality Chinese products then that's okay as long as I am learning and progressing. Ultimately, I want to spend thousands of dollars on this hobby. Tribble mentioned a lot of what I will be doing for now. Thanks again guys. I will keep you updated with my progress and let you know how the my learning process and any questions I might consider while I wait for some parts to come in.

That's fine but.... ASK before breaking out the wallet. One of the most frustrating things is to see a new person come in, ask for an opinion, then we give a wealth of hard learned and expensive advice only to see them waste money (sometimes lots) on something they quickly find unsatisfying. We've been there... we've made the mistakes... nothing wrong with spending some money to experiment and try things out but, no sense buying absolute crap. Yes, there are things as tribble suggested that can get you in the game cheap - just be smart. Sometimes when you're spending $150... having spent $175 instead would have made SOOOO much more sense!.

[SaltyRobot]

If I could start again. I would have skipped buying the cheap parts that are now sitting in storage and just use the $600 to put a down payment on the better stuff.

PT40 scanners are around $250 and provide very nice 40kpps scanning
Etherdream DAC $200
Spaghetti since you can buy it today. $100 Get on the list to buy LSX though so when it shows up you can snatch it.
520nm green module $100. You can buy the blue, red and dichros later.
Driver for laser module $70. Two channel and can be bought today.

That comes to $710 but all of those parts will not necessarily need to be upgraded as you buy more. You will then need another 100-200 for a case but it sounds like you want to make that yourself since you are a mechanical person.

[tribble]

Sometimes when you're spending $150... having spent $175 instead would have made SOOOO much more sense!.

THIS. Yes, do come back with your selections and folks will give you any last-minute "for ten more dollars you will be much happier with X" inputs.

[VibrationsOfDoom]

Personally, I started off with one of those Spencer 3D lasers... I'm rather unique in that I don't really care about beam shows, I just wanted to project some cool abstracts, geometric designs and cool colors on the wall. This all started because I run a music magazine and needed something to force me to sit down and listen to music instead of working on it all day. But the Spencer laser kinda got old really quick, that is, until one of the lasers burned out and I found this forum. That's when I learned there was an SD card inside the machine you could program! Then I downloaded all the "free" .ild files this site had to offer (I've even made some and uploaded them myself).

I HIGHLY recommend a nice Goldenstar laser. And don't make the mistake I made; if you get a very affordable model (mine was around $325, including shipping), DON'T forget to ask them for two things: One, SD card support (some models don't have them built in, but until you get all this other expensive hardware, trust me, an SD card you can pop in your computer and transfer all the files you need to project hours and hours of images... Let the machines do all the work!) Two, and to me this is important: AT LEAST 30k scanners or better. 40k scanners are now affordable, so get them if you can: trust me, the more complex images will flicker less and look better, PLUS you have the advantage that when creating your own images, you can push up on the point counts and get a little bit more details out of your converted images. I wish I had known about number two when they put my projector together, and number one I was adamant about...

For software, BMP2ILD is easy to use, and most everything you don't understand I can explain for you. I also recommend a good copy of CorelDraw X5, as if you are creating your own laser images, you will need to be able to eliminate some of the more complex lines and unwanted graphics. PLUS, for BMP2ILD to work at it's best, you have to convert ANY image you want to "laserize" into a strict, black and white image. NO variants, shades of gray or white, just 1 or 0, black and white...

I don't have the most expensive laser in the world, but it IS upgradeable and customizable... Besides, many other people on here will attest to the reliability and professionalism of Goldenstar. Just make sure to ask the right questions, and they'll help you as best as they can (even if their English isn't always the best)...

[VibrationsOfDoom]

Oh, and as far as I'm concerned, and this is compared to the only other laser machine I've ever owned (that Spencer 3d Laser thing): Those Goldenstar projectors are definitely NOT, as some put it, bad quality cheap Chinese crap... Granted the newer models they make (Goldenstar doesn't seem to keep most models in stock for a long time; mine is already no longer available) look different from the one I have; they seem to prefer the bigger square models as opposed to the slightly wider, but more rectangular and slimmer, model I have... To me, the newer models just look bigger and more bulky, but then again I haven't seen the insides of the newer ones...

[james]

The "other avenue" I mentioned is to use free software, namely LaserBoy, MonkeyTools, and/or BMP2ILD to create art, put it on an SD card, and then let a showcard play the file.

What about using a modified sound card, aka LaserBoy DAC (Google it)?

James.

[edison]

Hello Kang

Good to have you here. Lasers are for sure awesome and i,m hooked for life. But doing things right from the start will save you allot of money. If you want to build your own system you need to think about what your using it for. Most people that dive into this hobby start looking at what power they can get for their budget even though they don,t need it. Since your aiming on the long run you its better to invest in something that is upgradable. Lets say you buy a good case, install a good set of scanners and just a low powered RGB with a balance of 500mw in total power but with very low divergence of lets say 0.5mrd. That will not only get you instantly good graphics but also the same brightness since 500mw/0.5mrd is the same as 1500mw- 2000mw in 1mrd. Once you have good experiance with the software, you can take out the lowered power RGB module and install bigger power modules. That way you only have to build a projector once and so spend the money only once. My advice get a good size case (or build your own), a good set of scanners (DT40 , DT30 or PT40,s ) and an FB3. The FB3 is something that you will use also later in time so that is always a good investment. It also holds it value. The scanners are also a good investment but keep in mind that if you want to sell them later most people don,t buy them because in a year Pangolin has taken over the scannermarket with their 506 scanners. The great thing also is that when you build things yourself you learn allot about yourself and the skills you have or what you like. In the past many people build their own systems but that number declines rapidly because they rather go to easy way and buy a Chinabox. If your thinking to go the china route (ready build one) you also can buy a green one and install your own blue and red. One thing is sure , your budget is too thight......

[m0f]

A laser can be built for that budget, and I think of reasonable quality just no software / dac for control. For example, a set of dt30 scanners, and single more dtr rgb diode set, a couple drivers from dave or lasertack, meanwell power supply, dtr recycled projector optics sets are sold out at the moment but I'm sure you could find some reasonably cheap dichros and mirrors on here. Goldenstar brass mounts are $5 if you need to, and while I'd recommend a better mount if you were building a bigger laser module, the cheap brass mounts are just fine for combining three diodes. Or get better mounts if you can afford to at that point. Add some aluminum for building a case and you're pretty close to $700.

The dtr single mode diodes will be nice and bright for graphics especially due to the divergence and decent beams in a dark room, and save you the complication and cost of correction optics and such, though if using in a room with much other lighting then the higher powered multimode diodes say a 1.5W - 3W build would probably be a better match, but would end up costing a few hundred over your budget by the time you're done. However the single mode diodes are cheap enough that's it's no big loss if you want to throw them away at some point and upgrade.

For control start with a sound card dac, or if you can afford it at that point grab a pangolin fb3 with quickshow and later you can upgrade to beyond without taking a loss on the quickshow purchase (around christmas you can upgrade to beyond for quite a savings)

Doing it this way there's no real need to throw anything away at a later date, just build the case a bit bigger as you'll likely at some point want to improve on the power level. I'm at the point of trying to fit 20W of laser into a case made for 10W and wishing I had gone just a bit bigger, so if you don't need to drag it around everywhere anyhow make it a bit bigger Though for home use only there's really no need for more than 3-5W, and even that is pushing the limits. Or you may just get into the business accidentally like I did

[james]

I've still got some of the real-deal LaserBoy correction amp kits available. You will not find a more precise and well designed correction amp kit. It comes from the source.

I can also make you a ready to use LaserBoy DAC.

You will never regret owning a sound card DAC no matter what BS you read. They can do all kinds of neat things that other DACs cannot do.

They play waves!

Once you realize the connection between DAC signals and waves, you will be enlightened.

http://laserboy.org/forum/index.php?topic=561.0

James.