I can get a LaserWorld RS-500RGB for $1050, should I do it?

[gottaluvlasers]

there is a GREAT book...and a GREAT resource for beginers...

and its FREE!!!

photonlexicon!!!!

seriously gambel, you couldnt find a better resource and bunch of help worthy and anxious guys (and girls) than right here!!!

dont be shy to ask as many quesitons as need be. we encourage it. no matter how dumb you think it may be, TRUST ME...someone else either asked it...or THOUGHT of asking it!!

a good place to start is to come up with a rock solid BEGINING budget.

decide on a design. if it is going to be RGB start to decide your layout. and remember, at first you will prob be purchasing JUST the green and *possibly* the red. so, leave room and design real estate for the wallet busting blue down the road!

you will need immediately...

-a case.
-software/hardware control (FB3 is GREAT!!!)
-one, possibly 2 lasers.
-decide what you want your TOTAL power output to be when you are done. This will help you decide which laser(s) and powers to get now
-some aluminum pieces to build on as your base plate.
-is in the U.S.A.? if so, variance paperwork. although, if it is just for your home and NO WHERE else, than FDA/CDRH approval is not required. however, it still may be good for you to familiarize yourself with the regs and safety practices.
-optics. (dichros if purchasing more than 1 laser now.) and possibly a mirror and bracket for beam steering.
-cooling fans.

look through the user galelry here. whether its mine or anyone elses, there are HUNDREDS of pics as to layouts and design possibilities.

we'll suck you into this money pit in NO TIME!!!!

-Marc

[buffo]

Gamble901;

Where are you located? You didn't fill out your profile information...

If you're in the US, you might want to attend one of our Laser Enthusiast's Meetings (we've got one coming up on the 21st of this month in central Florida, and another one in August in North Carolina). On the other hand, if you're in Europe, then you just missed the latest meet in the UK. (They are planning another one for later this summer though.)

These events are a great way to meet other hobbyists, ask questions, and get a good look at the projectors that people have built themselves. You can also check out several different laser show software packages and controller hardware. This should give you all sorts of ideas for building your own projector.

Adam

[gamble901]

I'm based out of Phoenix, AZ, so unfortunelty I don't think I could make any of those conferences. That'd be nice though. Here's a question for you guys: How much power do I really need? I only really want a projector for home use, I don't plan on using it in commercial venues. At the same time, since I'm going to have to throw down at a minimum of $3500+ for a decent machine, I might as well throw in a few hundred more for more miliwatts. Is 900mw too much for in home use? I was thinking about going 450mw at 635nm, 200mw at 532nm, and 250mw at 473nm (yes I know very expensive) - for a grand total of 900mw. Is that too powerful for just a private application? I also need some counseling on how powerful of a blue to use. I've seen the blue on some lower power (under 1 watt) pre-fab units and its looks dissapointing; there'll be a picture of the word "welcome" projected on a wall in multi-color and only the very last "e" is in blue and its generally in poor quality. Is that a sign that there's not enough power to make more of the letters in blue? Another dissapointment is when I see a tunneling effect and it's an umbrella made up of different colors, and only one of the "segments" that make up the umbrella is blue, but there are duplicates of the other colors. Once again I don't know if that's a power issue solved by increasing mw, but if it is it's something I want to avoid. What are your guy's thoughts?

[Steve Milani]

..... Is 900mw too much for in home use? I was thinking about going 450mw at 635nm, 200mw at 532nm, and 250mw at 473nm...

Honestly I think this power is more than enough for home use!
I use my "next to 1W" RGB for venues about 250 square meters and sometimes much more than 250 sq.mts.

Looking at your bugdet and thinking about a cheap/nice solution, If I were into your shoes for to play some beamshow-lasershow into your garage or another room inside your home, well... I would think that:
250mw @650nm - 100mw @473 - 50mw @532 = around 400mw RGB, could be a cheap and nice projector.

About values you was thinking about...
Yes! It will be a very nice projector (b.t.w...... it seems like mine, before last upgrade I done ).... but your budget ($ 3,500) could be not enough cause you should also have to buy galvos, dichros etc. etc.

Take a look of my movies (link is under my signature's pic) for to see what a 700 mw RGB can do.

Here you can see some pics coming from mu upgraded "next to 1W" RGB
http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...ead.php?t=6755

Greets!

[buffo]

Hi Gamble;

Thanks for filling in your profile information. Arizona, eh? That's going to be a long haul to make it to any of the east cost events. But you might be able to make it to the west coast event that they are planning. Keep tabs on it anyway.

The other thing you might want to do is to keep an eye out for cheap flights to Charlotte. If you book your flight well in advance, you can sometimes get some crazy prices. (I once flew from Charleston to Chicago for under $200 round trip!) SELEM isn't until the weekend of August 15th and 16th, so you've got time to plan...

As for your projector design, 900 mw is a *lot* of power. It's more than you need for a home show, that's for sure. It will be absolutely dangerous to get in front of that one, unless you put a diverging lens in front of it to blow the beam diameter way up.

As a comparison, my projector outputs about 500 mw of balanced white, and it's *plenty* bright for home use and then some! In fact, I have to use a -2.75 power lens in front of the projector to get the beam diameter large enough to be eye-safe when watching beam shows in my living room. (The room is 28 feet long, and I have about a 22 ft throw.)

Inside my projector, I have 100 mw of blue (473nm), 150 mw of green (532nm), and roughly 425 mw of red (660 nm). My blue laser is the limiting factor, followed by my red. The green laser never runs above 50% power when I'm using the fully balanced color palette. I went large with the green so I could add some punch when doing beam chases and stuff, but truthfully I don't use that capability very much.

I agree with Steve's suggestion. 100 mw of blue should do you quite well. Then adjust your color balance around that. I'd put a little more green in there though, because you'll loose a lot through the optics, plus it's always nice to be able to crank up the green to full power once in a while to give your beams more visual punch. (Even though this will mess up your color balance when you do it.)

If you really want to spend more money, consider building a pair of green-only projectors to go on either side of your main projector. That's always a nice effect - having monochrome projectors running in sync while the center full color rig runs a different pattern. Or you could build yourself a second RGB of similar power... But either way, I'd build your first one as a lower power rig to start with. It's safer, cheaper, and easier to boot!

Adam

[sugeek]

I'm based out of Phoenix, AZ, so unfortunelty I don't think I could make any of those conferences. That'd be nice though.

You might be able to make PaCoLEM (Pacific Coast LEM) http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...ead.php?t=6955

I know Mixedgas has a friend in Arizona, I will be moving down that direction this summer (in NM so still a few hours away).

-Adam

[jsalopeck]

i bid on one from original auction then got second chance offer from not the same person...the person who sent me second chance offers feedback was plans to build airplanes as well... it is a fraud!!! Stay away from it..

b.t.w. i was purchasing it for a club owner who had no paypal account and asked me to bid on original for her... i myself read the reviews and would stay away do to everyone saying the power ratings are way low

Dude, my problem with this auction is I believe this seller's account has been hacked. I do not believe this seller is selling these items. I have seen it before. A seller's account is hacked and someone else puts a bunch of stuff up for sale using that account. People buy items from the hacked account, pay for it, and never get the items. The bogus seller takes the money and runs while the real seller has no idea and ends up with a bunch of negative feedback for the items he never intended to try and sell. This is speculation on my part, but his feedback and items for sale do not match well and something seems wrong about his auctions.