LF: Kvant Clubmax disassembly guide/photos

[Melgarh]

No, I didn't bother. Instead, I just switched over to Etherdream DACs when using projectors with shutters. I rarely play any Mamba content through Mamba as I migrated most of it to LSX when I acquired that software. I do still use my Mamba DACs at home with my projectors that do not have shutters, though as they are supported by LSX. I'd be interested to hear what Medialas had to say, though!

-David

-David

Medialas response:
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Ah, ok. Mamba does not trigger Pin 13.

with best regards / mit den besten Gruessen
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So there we have it.. its time for Hardware workaround.

[dkumpula]

How hard was to migrate all of your shows from Mamba to LSX, as that is something that awaits me as well??

It's easy! Mamba and LSX both allow your to export your content as ILDA files. In Mamba, you can set the number of frames per second and some other parameters. It also does a really nice job of allowing you to export any subset of the total number of rows at any one time. This allows you to do multiple exports to reflect the various projectors you have assigned to your content. These ILDA files are then imported into LSX (or whatever program you want) and assigned to whatever timelines/projectors you want to play the content. To be fair, you are then playing back a series of ILDA frames as opposed to a smooth running show, but I have exported at 15 to 30 frames per second and gotten content that looks nearly as good as the original. Consider it recording your LP to a cassette, assuming you are old enough to know what these are.

In addition, Medialas does not protect their shows, so you can export the stock shows that you paid for and use them with LSX. (It would not be appropriate in my opinion to share such shows with others.) You could also just export your source frames from LSX to ILDA, then import them and rebuild your show manually. I've done that a couple times, but it takes a lot more work.

LSX and some other software packages allow you export your shows as ILDA files too, so if you decide to move on from one of those packages to something else, you certainly can. Pangolin's Beyond allows for ILDA import, but not ILDA export. This is probably a non-issue for most Beyond users as it is the most overall feature-rich laser software out today and generally not something people migrate from.

You cannot export ilda.. In the past some manufacturers/developers had tools which allowed you to send a file (phoenix) and upon request they'd do the ilda conversion for you making sure you really own it.. they stopped with that and many developers have dropped out supporting the ilda format with true color or ILDA at all to keep their content and it's users within the software range.

This is not true of Mamba II, Mamba MII or LSX, PJ. ILDA export works quite well as I described. I agree that ADAT is certainly an alternative for those packages that don't do ILDA export with the caveats you mentioned.

-David

[dkumpula]

Medialas response:
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Ah, ok. Mamba does not trigger Pin 13.

with best regards / mit den besten Gruessen
----------------

So there we have it.. its time for Hardware workaround.

Thanks for checking with them. That's a typical response from Medialas in my experience. Maybe they don't like responding in English.

I have thought about a quick and dirty HW workaround sending +5V to pin 13, but never bothered to implement it as I have a dozen other DACs that work just fine with LSX that do take care of the shutter.

Please let us know if you implement a work-around and let us know if it worked out for you in practice.

-David

[Melgarh]

HELP!

Well house is not on fire but i've done the modification (applied jumper) and the laser still does not project, it only makes a clunky noise now every second or so, great.

Sigh, wished to enjoy a nice clean laser, as encouraged by many, and so far only disappointment

Gonna re-run now without the jumper to observe the behaviour.

[Melgarh]

The jumper was added as shown. Did not touch the sensitivity, would have though that would not matter with jumper in place?

[Melgarh]

a bit more descriptive - LaserOS -> clucking noise with any scanfail safety setup; Mamba V3 -> No picture, safety blocks output (visible light going on)

[Melgarh]

Issue solved - got a technician to advise on what needs to be done. Solder ahoy!

[carlos3621]

What was the fix??

[Melgarh]

First sorry about the panic - I've had only literally several hours to fix this and prepare laser for show for friends & fans in 2 weeks and cannot bring it over with me to UK so its kinda blind-preparation.

DISCLAIMER: Any actions performed are done on your own and I cannot be held responsible if you damage your laser or cause damage & injury to anything and anybody else.

There are 2 safety mechanisms: The scannerMax and Kvant.

ScannerMax safety is described in previous page - it requires a simple jumper to override but it still requires 5v signal on that one lane to open up the final shutter, which is controlled by Kvant itself.

Kvant safety is held on a small PCB module, located exactly above this jumper. There is a small PCB that is slotted there and held by only one screw. Removing the screw and dislodging the module from the slots as well as disconnecting a small ribbon cable will give you option to remove it completely to find the safety trigger. It is located near a 4-pin male section, with a label: SJ3 (Solder Joint 3 or social justice 3, whatever). There are 2 square solder sections with a white rectangular border to highlight them. All you need to do, is connect them (eg. via solder blob). And that's it.

Now I've got projection with Mamba just fine and the LaserDock is not triggering the shutter like a mad man. I guess it just shows, that Kvant is not a toy but a proper piece of gear and ppl like me with silly stuff like LaserDock and Mamba should simply upgrade

[carlos3621]

Thanks for this tech info.!!