New new build

[absolom7691]

After successfully cutting glass discs instead of using awkward squares, along with finding a smaller motor solution, I decided to shrink the size of my lumia projector. Moving over to Arduino has drastically reduced the size of the controller as well, since I'm able to program specific functions and customize a DMX interface with ease. Being able to precision etch custom PCBs reliably has also added to the miniaturization of the build.

And now, for the pics!

Optical deck so far. The laser head, effect selector and motors mounted. I still need to add the beam steering mirror assemblies and get the deck mounted to an enclosure. I have two overlapping effects (eggbeater style). For the steppers, I'm primarily using NEMA 8 motors. For one of the overlapped effects, I needed a severely reduced speed, so that is using the 64:1 gear reduction steppers. It's amazing how much the overlapping of effects amplifies the speed of the undulating projection. I'm also using the open edge of these effects for a total of six on this device. I'll have a second device that will have my torture tubes, hobnail glass, and a few other effects. Yay, future build!
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Controller for the projector. I'm using two Arduino Nanos. One is simply looking at the step signal and triggering the enable pin on my TMC2209 drivers. This means, when a particular motor is not spinning, the coils are not kept energized in a hold position. This keeps the heat low and also frees up the load on my power rail. The other Nano handles everything else. DMX signal processing, stepper motor speed and direction, controlling the effect selector mirror, and also feeding an I2C 12-bit DAC to send the modulation vref to my laser drivers. I have an 8-bit to 12-bit interpolation ramp coded so I avoid seeing the 8-bit steps when fading each laser on and back off. Lastly, I'm using an RS485 to TTL decoder for the DMX. My entire Lumia will be mapped in Pangolin Beyond. I'll have a few live elements for Lumia control, but a lot of it will be cues in a timeline.
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The driver board. This houses the TMC2209 drivers for the steppers. Virtually silent and very smooth rotation of the steppers which makes for very fluid and flowing patterns, even down to .05 RPM.
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More pics to follow. Just broke ground on the fabrication this last weekend.

[buffo]

That looks great, Bryan!

Are you going with standard RGB for the lasers, or do you plan to add some extra, more exotic wavelengths too?

Adam

[absolom7691]

That looks great, Bryan!

Are you going with standard RGB for the lasers, or do you plan to add some extra, more exotic wavelengths too?

Adam

I have been thinking about adding a few more. I have some 490nm, 505nm, 571nm, and 593nm lasers in my arsenal. The problem with those is the meager brightness. Most of those are 55mw or lower, which is nothing to scoff at but against the 120mw 520nm, 200mw 638nm, and 250mw 450nm.... It might not compare. The RGB unit I have is misaligned purposely to isolate the colors, if I ever have more than one on. So the brightness of of the other lasers might get lost in the shuffle. But it's something to play around with!

[absolom7691]

Yes, looks like a great start, Bryan.

🤗
Laserium I opening track, Neptune, cloud fades into a lingering wisp of Kr deep red against a black dome, then pitch black total darkness.
Audience in unison,"Wooow..."
😎

Not sure about the blue/green diodes... The 490nm is probably more like 492ish, it definitely doesn't look like the argon 488nm of old. The 505nm is a weird mint color. It's fun but I think would look harsh in a lumia. The 571nm... that nears the Kr yellow, that might be interesting and the 593nm, that has a fire orange/yellow that might look good. Maybe I'll through those in.

[absolom7691]

Good decision. Wifi is very crowded at modern gigs, with audiences, remote audio mics, headsets, etc. Been researching the RS485 alternative VS shorter range USB & WIFImidi.
DMX conveniently fits to the Beyond ecosystem.
I'll be using OSC to connect the ESP32's webpage GUI over wifi to Reaper's timeline, like the Lone Ranger of old school 'visual music' production.

Try looking into LoRa. It isn't a fast bitrate but if your value changes are slow enough, it works well. Real time DMX is probably too fast but again, if the values are ramped slowly, it might work well.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B099RM1XMG...d_asin_title_1

I use these exact transceivers for triggering wireless effects during Halloween. Transmitting "keyboard" data to wirelessly trigger cues on the Beyond workspace. The Beyond grid squares are mapped to keyboard inputs natively and I simply have an Arduino Nano transmit "keys" to an Arduino Leonardo (which has HID USB capabilities), which acts like like a mini keyboard. The range is incredible, outdoors, I can get almost 1km away and it works.

[absolom7691]

Yes purchased these from Amazon a decade ago, but never got around to using them.
SX1276 LoRa Radio Wireless 862-930MHz 915MHz UART Serial Module Transmitter Receiver
Dragino LoRa Bee Module 915MHZ Ultra Long Range RF Wireless Transceiver SX1276
HiLetgo ESP32 SX1262 LoRa Kit 863-928MHz Bluetooth 4.2+WiFi+LoRa LoRaWAN Wireless Communication Development Board with 0.49" OLED Display
LG02 915MHZ Dual Channels LoRa Gateway Long Distance Wireless Built-in web server
Yours for the asking.
"What comes around, goes around."
(aka 'karma')
😎

Thank you for the offer! I have two pairs sitting in my workbench drawer at the moment, so no need at this time. Seriously though, thank you.

[laserist]

For lumia having the rgb combined into a single beam is less than ideal. IMO

[buffo]

For lumia having the rgb combined into a single beam is less than ideal. IMO

Agreed. Better to have each color strike the lumia wheel in a separate spot. They can be clustered close together, but if they are perfectly aligned, the effect is not nearly as impressive - in my opinion at least...

Adam

[laserist]

If you space the beams in a line radially the patterns are independent of each other. If spaced in a line (technically an arc) at right angle to the radius the pattern evolves "in sequence" as each beam transits the part of the wheel the last beam transited a moment before. (The "moment" depends on beam size, spacing, rpm, and beam distance from center of the wheel.)

[absolom7691]

For lumia having the rgb combined into a single beam is less than ideal. IMO

Agreed, combined beams into a single beam look awful, like a mottled mess. The only time this works is if each beam is offset and colinearly aligned so the edges of the beams are overlapping for a beautiful rainbow effect. For me, that typically takes two kinematic stages per laser, for two of the lasers to perfectly align next to the base laser. I have managed to pull this off for my torture tubes but it takes a lot of room on an optical deck and my god, a lot of tweaking, the results are awesome though. The camera fails to grab the richness of the colors.
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The dichros on the module for this lumia box are misaligned. The only reason for the module is to save physical space and allow for future expansion. By the time the beams hit the glass elements, they're each about 3mm apart in a triangle. Each color has it's own distinct pattern.