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Thread: Motorized Dichro mirror mounts?

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    Default Motorized Dichro mirror mounts?

    I know high powered projectors are "sometimes" offered an upgrade of motorized dichroic mirror mounts.
    These tend to be expensive but in perspective become less of a price factor as you climb the projector spec ladder (in perspective to the rest).

    I was wondering: Has anyone build a motorized dichroic mirror mount or are there manufacturers selling these mounts seperately (and potentially not at astronomical cost) ?

    My first guesses are no due to how scarce the demand/market could be for this potentially.

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    Quote Originally Posted by masterpj View Post
    I know high powered projectors are "sometimes" offered an upgrade of motorized dichroic mirror mounts.
    These tend to be expensive but in perspective become less of a price factor as you climb the projector spec ladder (in perspective to the rest).

    I was wondering: Has anyone build a motorized dichroic mirror mount or are there manufacturers selling these mounts seperately (and potentially not at astronomical cost) ?

    My first guesses are no due to how scarce the demand/market could be for this potentially.
    Back in the day, we just used 2 part epoxy and glued the dichroic mirror onto the motor shaft of a small 12 volt DC motor. We did this as a quick and small foot-print solution for color modulation of the main output beam of a 1-2 watt krypton ion laser. The dichro dimensions were approximately 10mm x 20mm. Sometimes we used two 10mm x 10mm dichros, each with different color properties. The two 10 x 10's were epoxied together to make one 10 x 20. The long axis of the 10 x 20 was glued perpendicular to the motor shaft.

    But then, the best way to "build a motorized dichroic mirror mount" all depends on what you want to achieve with it.
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    Quote Originally Posted by masterpj View Post
    I know high powered projectors are "sometimes" offered an upgrade of motorized dichroic mirror mounts.
    These tend to be expensive but in perspective become less of a price factor as you climb the projector spec ladder (in perspective to the rest).

    I was wondering: Has anyone build a motorized dichroic mirror mount or are there manufacturers selling these mounts seperately (and potentially not at astronomical cost) ?

    My first guesses are no due to how scarce the demand/market could be for this potentially.

    I have a couple i bought surplus that I used in a lumia build to just walk the beam. I'll dig it out and get some photos.
    leading in trailing technology

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    My first thought was PJ meant motorized mirror mounts for remote alignment of a projector like I've seen offered on some higher end Kvants. And not for some sort of an effect... Could be wrong though.
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    I've bought some miniature stepper motors to make such a dichro mount but I stopt designing the mount because you have to be able to steer them somehow.
    Kvant dichros can be controlled from within QS/beyond. But I have the feeling that this is a closed feature not available for usage by other parties than kvant...
    This means that you have to provide another interface/software for this which makes it less nice than an integrated solution.
    Trying to create a good diode mount....

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bradfo69 View Post
    My first thought was PJ meant motorized mirror mounts for remote alignment of a projector like I've seen offered on some higher end Kvants. And not for some sort of an effect... Could be wrong though.
    You are more up-to-date in knowing what is current in this technology than I am, and therefore NOT wrong. ;-)

    Does anyone have a more detailed description for what is meant by remote alignment of motorized mirror mounts, e.g. using XY galvos to hit a remote mirror whose reflection needs XY adjustment?
    Last edited by lasermaster1977; 05-23-2021 at 09:51.
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    Quote Originally Posted by lasermaster1977 View Post
    You are more up-to-date in knowing what is current in this technology than I am, and therefore NOT wrong. ;-)

    Does anyone have a more detailed description for what is meant by remote alignment of motorized mirror mounts, e.g. using XY galvos to hit a remote mirror whose reflection needs XY adjustment?
    Basically, the technology is, rather than having to pop the cover off to do an alignment, (which could be a bitch if it's up on a truss in a ceiling somewhere) these dichros are motorized to be able to correctly lay red, blue green on top of each other. (Rather than having to futz with allen keys too.) I forgot how exactly but, it sounds like Pangolin has built controls into Beyond that can "talk" to those mounts and get them to move up down, left right to fix an alignment issue. I've only heard about them being in Kvant projectors.

    Actually... here. :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw6Pz2nTQVM
    PM Sent...

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bradfo69 View Post
    Basically, the technology is, rather than having to pop the cover off to do an alignment, (which could be a bitch if it's up on a truss in a ceiling somewhere) these dichros are motorized to be able to correctly lay red, blue green on top of each other. (Rather than having to futz with allen keys too.) I forgot how exactly but, it sounds like Pangolin has built controls into Beyond that can "talk" to those mounts and get them to move up down, left right to fix an alignment issue. I've only heard about them being in Kvant projectors.

    Actually... here. :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw6Pz2nTQVM
    Thanks Brad, RGB dichro projector alignment. Very cool. This idea isn't new but it seems to be for RGB projectors of the day.

    The electro-mechanics seems pretty straight forward and is still a form of 2-axis mirror control. Making it all small is no doubt the other challenge, but very doable, maybe a kind of motorized NRC MM-1 mount where the end result is to pivot one dichro mirror axis up/down and it's other axis left/right. Sending alignment commands through projector ILDA interface is the key. There seem to be plenty of user-defined pins that can be used for a plethora of control and/or serial communication methods.

    Are pins 8.9.10,11 and 21,22,23,24 of the "standard" ILDA connector still user-defined?
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    Quote Originally Posted by lasermaster1977 View Post

    Are pins 8.9.10,11 and 21,22,23,24 of the "standard" ILDA connector still user-defined?
    Best as I know.
    PM Sent...

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    Quote Originally Posted by lasermaster1977 View Post
    Thanks Brad, RGB dichro projector alignment. Very cool. This idea isn't new but it seems to be for RGB projectors of the day.

    The electro-mechanics seems pretty straight forward and is still a form of 2-axis mirror control. Making it all small is no doubt the other challenge, but very doable, maybe a kind of motorized NRC MM-1 mount where the end result is to pivot one dichro mirror axis up/down and it's other axis left/right. Sending alignment commands through projector ILDA interface is the key. There seem to be plenty of user-defined pins that can be used for a plethora of control and/or serial communication methods.

    Are pins 8.9.10,11 and 21,22,23,24 of the "standard" ILDA connector still user-defined?
    lookup open source flexure microscope. They use an odd arrangement but demonstrate how to control stepper motors with arduino and aux boards. The steppers are too big so the real challenge is to find small accurate steppers. Another thought is to see it you can limit the motion needed to one axis. Just a thought. Also use one color as the “fixed” one, now you only control two mounts. Don’t forget focus too if you want the full experience.

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