First Light on the Projector Build

[danielbriggs]

After popping round to Rob's place this afternoon to pick up a couple of laser related bells and whistles, I got back and threw a very quick green projector together on my laptop desk. Several cuppa's later and a couple of hours of fiddling did the job.
I'm sure the following pictures will make some of you gasp at the severe bodge job going on, but it was just a quick mess about to see if things worked. More of a proof of concept sort of thing. T'is my first build

It's a LaserWave 300mW Green with a set of DT25's (large mirrors), and an FB3 hiding away in its little box somewhere.

Yes, I used blu-tac to keep things at bay (learnt from the master then, eh' Rob! )
Yes, I used post-it notes to jack up the scanners as a shim.
And Yes, the cables are a complete mess.
Guilty as charged...

Still a few 'kinks' e.g. everything is t'upside down... (working on that one tomorrow night) I'm guessing crossed wires somewhere.

But it gives nice and clear graphics, and the test pattern looks good (not that I know what I'm looking for) But there was a grid of some sort that looked square

I fashioned a make-do heatsink from a spare square of aluminium bar lying around, polished, drilled, and tapped, then gunked on the thermal compound and screwed to the scanner amp board. Need to make something better for when it goes in the case, but it'll do for now.

To do list:
-Add Red
-Add Blu-ray
-Sell kidney and put some proper blue in
-Build a house for it
-Dichros and Optics galore
-ILDA Breakout board
+100 other things that will consume 1000's of hours...

All in all, I'M HOOKED, and this build has now offically moved from the "idea" stage.

Also, I've learnt a couple of things:
- Scanner Amps get fookin' hot LOL
- Alignment is important LOL

Now for a few pics, and the mandatory dolphin video:


Cheers for all your help 'n that Rob, much appreciated.

Ta,
Dan

[aijii]

how do you mount that to a lighting truss ?

[dave]

More blu tack maybe

[Insanity]

You guys never heard of gaffa tape?

[danielbriggs]

I could duck tape it all together if you want!
The laptop table is on a pivot, so I can spin it round and project anyway
*Dutch accent* Crazy times!

[Yag]

*heheh*

My prototypes are much more high tech!

I use double sided tape!

[Carl B]

Hey Dan

You could just Hot Glue the lot together.

What do you make of the DT25's. Good set of scanners or what? What scan speed have you set the output of your FB3 to?

Carl

[danielbriggs]

Glue gun = Urgghh!
It'll all be done properly eventually on a fat milled aluminium base with cable runs, the lot.

As bizarre as it sounds, I'd get just as much pleasure from building a bespoke case from scratch, as I would from tinkering with the electronics and whatnot. But that's just me I guess!

Well... I REALLY like the DT25's. I have nothing to compare them to, so take what I say with a pinch of salt.
I have them set around 20K. This is a rough figure I chose for two reasons; 1.) It's a 25K set, and with the larger mirrors, I thought it best to step them down a gear to 20K. and 2.)They change the noise they make slightly if I crank them up to 25K, which I assume can't be good for them, so 20K seems good to me.
There is minimal flicker on most stuff (regardless of what the videos show)

What do you run your sets at?

Cheers,
Dan

[Carl B]

Well as my PM25 desk only runs at 13k I have a bit of catching up to do. But with DT25's the image quality is far better than the SP20's I had before even at just 13k. Looking forward to seeing your progress with the build.

Carl

[danielbriggs]

Grab another PM25, duck tape (or glue gun) them together; job done.
You have 26K to play with