Galvo/Amp Upgrade

[jdavis7765]

Hey everyone, I wanted to start a new thread which is somewhat a continuation of https://photonlexicon.com/forums/sho...ion-Help/page5.

I will have my new Compact 506 Scanners today and have a few questions on the upgrade as I really do not want to fry anything. So to sum it up, i have a Chinese laser from aliexpress (Emma Laser EM-RGB24B) in which I am replacing scanners. I have been looking at this thread as a hopeful source of information among others and have started to ohm back from the ILDA referring to ilda pinout but I have a few questions.

1. I can attach the new amp boards directly from the ILDA connector, correct? I have been trying to ohm back and I get beeps on multiple pins going through the onboard ilda connector. Not sure how best to explain it.
2. When I disconnect the ribbon cable from the back of the ilda port board which also has the RGB connectors for lasers I get no laser output which I am sure has to do with the laser key switch. How could I still utilize that? Connect all the lasers common grounds to it and back to lasers?

Thanks everyone for the help and let me know if I need to give anymore information that could help.

[aberry]

I bet the reason you lose output when you unplug the ribbon cable from the ILDA board is because the ILDA board is powered from the SD card board via that ribbon cable. The best way to hook up the new scanners depends on how all of the components currently connect and what you want to achieve with the whole projector. Are you looking to keep the SD/DMX board in there and usable, or do you only care about ILDA input? If the latter, you can rip out most of the electronics in there and replace them with a simple ILDA breakout board. Either way, start by tracing out the physical wires from component to component, and if you can make a diagram to share here that would certainly help get you useful advice. A photo of the SD card board and the other side of the ILDA board would help, too.

[jdavis7765]

I bet the reason you lose output when you unplug the ribbon cable from the ILDA board is because the ILDA board is powered from the SD card board via that ribbon cable. The best way to hook up the new scanners depends on how all of the components currently connect and what you want to achieve with the whole projector. Are you looking to keep the SD/DMX board in there and usable, or do you only care about ILDA input? If the latter, you can rip out most of the electronics in there and replace them with a simple ILDA breakout board. Either way, start by tracing out the physical wires from component to component, and if you can make a diagram to share here that would certainly help get you useful advice. A photo of the SD card board and the other side of the ILDA board would help, too.

Thanks for reply. I actually have no care to keep the existing sd card setup. I primarily just want ILDA control I was thinking i could just use the current ILDA breakout board and solder the connections directly to the back (maybe not the cleanest)? My hopes were that I would only need to worry about Y+ Y- and X+ X- but the lasers not outputting when the ribbon is disconnected threw a wrench into that. It looks as if the laser signals or grounds are transmitted from the ILDA board, through the ribbon to the display/sdcard board and then possibly back to the ILDA board again. The display/sdcard board has a two pin connector from the key switch so I would assume that the laser signals have to pass through it and then back? If any of that makes sense. I will try to work on a diagram if it is needed.

[aberry]

From the back of the ILDA PCB it looks like there's circuitry on the front, so it depends on what functionality that board contains. Your minimal effort solution to get the new galvos working is probably to leave all of the existing electronics in place and just connect the new galvos exactly how the old ones were connected. If you want to get rid of the SD/DMX boards then it's probably easiest to remove and replace the existing ILDA board as well rather than trying to make it work without the other bits, but that may require hacking up the case a bit.

[jdavis7765]

Here is my diagram, sorry its not the greatest.

[jdavis7765]

Looks like I may be pretty stuck. The lasers will only light up, ILDA or SD, when the existing amp and galvos are plugged in. I know this laser has a beam safety mechanism when the laser scan angle is below a certain degree. This may be preventing the lasers from firing up. So I suppose my next line of questioning is, if I get another ILDA breakout board, what are all the wires I need to worry about? X+ X- Y+ Y- Ground, R+, R-, G+, G-, B+, B-? or will I also need Intensity + and Intensity - as well?

ILDA Standard Pinout


Pin Number Signal Name
1 X+
2 Y+
3 Intensity +
4 Interlock A
5 R+
6 G+
7 B+
8 User-defined signal 1+
9 User-defined signal 2+
10 User-defined signal 3+
11 User-defined signal 4+
12 Projector return signal
13 Shutter
14 X-
15 Y-
16 Intensity -
17 Interlock B
18 R-
19 G-
20 B-
21 User-defined signal 1-
22 User-defined signal 2-
23 User-defined signal 3-
24 User-defined signal 4-
25 Ground

[aberry]

Your diagram only shows part of the system. It's possible that the galvo driver is providing a +/- 15V supply to the rest of the components.

[jdavis7765]

Your diagram only shows part of the system. It's possible that the galvo driver is providing a +/- 15V supply to the rest of the components.

That makes sense, not sure what the 4 pin wire is, cannot see any writing.

The post I linked to has almost an identical board. Just need to know how he set everything up lol. Here is the rest of the diagram, wasnt sure how much was needed but I supposed the whole picture is good.

[jdavis7765]

To add a little more about the laser 2 pin connectors on the ILDA board. The positives do "ohm back correctly to their respective R, G, B + pins on the ILDA connector. The Grounds for each seem to have commonalities amongst a few pins (not sure if this is as intended). This was done without the ribbon cable connected.

[jdavis7765]

I think I am progressing along here, not too sure. For the laser shut off key, can I route the gounds from the ILDA RGB negatives through this to work it properly or does it need to be controlled by a relay of sorts?