Page 2 of 6 FirstFirst 123456 LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 55

Thread: Beginning laser projector build and first post, all advice appreciated

  1. #11
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    College Station
    Posts
    28

    Default

    Finals are coming to and end and I'm getting excited to really dive into this. An electrical engineering friend of mine pointed me towards one of his favorite professors. He is possibly going to provide me with some useful reference material. (update soon to come)
    I received the FB3 from Rob a few days ago. (My Dorm complex gave us quite the scare....I had been tracking shipping and knew that it had been delivered, but the receptionist couldn't find it until the 4th time she looked) Rob was very helpful throughout the situation.
    I got the Quickshow software running and It looks FANTASTIC! Bills videos are great, I'm sure I'll be referencing them a lot here in a couple weeks.

    Draco, thanks for that link, Ill probably do the same thing except with a bench vice.

    I found a Meanwell RD-50B power supply from Sager electronics and am planning on purchasing it within the next few days.http://www.sager.com/rd-50b-3419522.html After looking at some power supply schematics, Do I need to purchase two of these, one for X one for Y? Also would it be worth it to get a bigger power supply that could power the diode drivers as well, or would it be simpler to just get a separate power supply for those?
    Last edited by tej2795; 05-11-2015 at 19:52.

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    5,704

    Default

    Just worth a quick mention - read up on laser safety. I'm sure you have it all in hand, but when you mention beam shows and no-one mentions safety, it kind of makes me a little nervous as often people come seeking audience scanning for home parties without fully appreciating how difficult it is to do safely. Stay safe.

    It sounds like a great project and keep us all informed with news and pics.

  3. #13
    Bradfo69's Avatar
    Bradfo69 is offline Pending BST Forum Purchases: $47,127,283.53
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Wilmington, DE
    Posts
    6,202

    Default

    I'm guessing that power supply will be fine. Sometimes though, I think it's perhaps best to find out what sort of power what you're building is going to require. And then find your hands are tied because the power supply isn't the correct one. The other concern I have is it says "lead time" 70 days????

  4. #14
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    College Station
    Posts
    28

    Default

    I plan on spending a considerable amount of time making sure the system before operating around anyone. Laser safety is very important to me. You only get one set of eyes!


    I'm glad you pointed that out to me Brad. I guess manufacturing is backed up or something? Looks like I'm going to have to shop around more.
    Scanners from phenix just came in. I expected shipping to take a lot more that 5 days.
    edit: I just realized a power supply was included with the scanner.

    I'm currently in a predicament. In the Quickshow setup there are three options depending on the scanner that is hooked up. The subtitle on the "high quality" scanner category says that DT-40s fall into this category. So that makes me think that choosing that option for my PT-40s would be ok. If I choose the middle option (20kpps) instead will this ease the stress put on my scanner? I would like to maximize the lifespan of my scanner but am not sure if running it in this lower category could potentially be harmful to them.
    Last edited by tej2795; 05-12-2015 at 19:04.

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    mid michigan
    Posts
    814

    Default

    Over driving them can cause over heating, i have just cheap Chinese scanners but one thing i found that lessens the strain is reducing the size of the image so they don't need as much current to move over the available scan area.
    one thing with power supplies is for scanners they need both a positive and negative rail with respect to ground, you can do this with two supplies as long as they are identical, a dual output power supply will work as long as they are isolated from each other.
    Remember Remember The 8th of November, When No One Stood, but Kneel, In Surrender
    In a popular government when the laws have ceased to be executed, as this can come only from the corruption of the republic, the state is already lost. Montesquieu

  6. #16
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    College Station
    Posts
    28

    Default

    I am typing this I my cell phone because I don't have cable/internet right now, but here is my build so far. Before I add the diodes, shutter, cooling fans, and before I mount anything, I want to make sure the galvos are hooked up correctly and functioning. I haven't powered it up yet because I am not 100 percent confident on my wiring.

    For the galvos power supply I got a regular electrical cord that has a wall outlet plug on one side and the other side has its three wires exposed. I wired them to the power supply and am fairly confident about it.

    Now for the driver board wiring...I am using the cables and convenient solderless connection joints that came with the unit.

    The connection that I'm worried about is the signal Into the driver boards. The FB3 is connected to the ILDA breakout board. I chopped off the "convenient solderless adaptor" on one side of each signal wire so that I could wire them to the ILDA breakout board. The other end plugs into the driver board and it only plugs in one way. So red is positive, white is negative, and black is ground. So the breakout board has a total of 7 connections.
    X&Y (+ - ground) and the ILDA cable.

    The only other thing is polarity. "NO WARRANTY IF WRONG POLARITY IS USED"
    Is this talking the polarity of my wall outlet???
    Last edited by tej2795; 05-24-2015 at 16:46.

  7. #17
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    College Station
    Posts
    28

    Default

    Here are the pictures






    Last edited by tej2795; 05-24-2015 at 16:43.

  8. #18
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    College Station
    Posts
    28

    Default

    Good news, it works.
    I'm gonna clean up the wiring and move on with the build.
    More updates to come

  9. #19
    Bradfo69's Avatar
    Bradfo69 is offline Pending BST Forum Purchases: $47,127,283.53
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Wilmington, DE
    Posts
    6,202

    Default

    Sorry, I meant to respond and say that it looked ok to me. Although... it's not my forte. Glad it worked!

  10. #20
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    College Station
    Posts
    28

    Default

    This is that I'm looking at so far for the laser modules.
    Green http://m.ebay.com/itm/111121479941?nav=SEARCH

    Red
    http://m.ebay.com/itm/261356401213?nav=SEARCH

    Blue
    http://m.ebay.com/itm/141540138335?_mwBanner=1

    Any opinions/advice on these would be great. A possibility is building the red one instead, but I am thinking analogue modulation might give me problems

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •