Laser repair

[colouredmirrorball]

I did something stupid today...

I was studying my Latin. I had just finished Horatius so I tought I should give myself a break and put the laser on (that is sitting next to me on my study bench for... educational reasons ). The laser just gave some random patterns in auto mode (DMX was too much work) and I noticed that the image was incomplete: the Y-axis was only half shown. There was something wrong with the Y-galvo so that the mirror didn't came down completely. I tried to fix it by gently twitching the mirror down (see it come yet?) With no result, the twitching went a bit less gently and, indeed, crack. So now I have two problems, broken Y-galvo and broken mirror on the Y-galvo. When I tried to open the cover, there were four screws that simply refused to move, so I can't give more details now . The case was probably bad made so that the screws are blocked.
The scanners are 5K pps, probably cheap Chinese crap. Wait, did I said probably? They ARE just *very* cheap Chinese crap.
The brand of the laserprojector is Koollight, so it isn't really strange that three things went wrong at once, with the well-known reliability of Koollight (for instance, the text above the dipswitches read "CONTORL SWITCH" and on my very wobbly Koollight DMX-controller are several scratches that were very probably made in the factory).
So, three problems to fix. That screw-problem should be fixed in the next week-end and otherwise, pity of the case.

Any suggestions about repairing the galvo (or just throw them away), re-sticking the mirror or unscrew that screwed screws?

Now, I'm off to study Catullus.

[ElektroFreak]

I broke one of the galvo mirrors from a set of Scanpro 20s and I was able to repair it with a large magnifying glass and a tiny amount of super glue. It has held fast for over a year now.. In order for it to work, you must glue the mirror in exactly the same position as it was before breakage. I doubt that it would be worth the effort in your case, since your galvo itself is broken..

[shrad]

this could be the centering spring which would have fallen inside, or the masking pad on the other side of the axe, in the optical position detector, which would have do the same

this could be repairable but what a pain!

better get some other scanners, this will be cheaper in time, and perhaps in money too

[buffo]

If they are 5K scanners, I'd say they're not worth fixing. Buy a set of ScanPro 20's or DT-25's and you'll be happy for a long time to come.

As a general rule, if you snap a mirror on a scanner, you can re-glue it to the rotor shaft, but DON'T USE SUPERGLUE! Instead, use quick-drying 2-part epoxy. Superglue will out-gas, and the cyanoacrylate fumes will coat the bearings in the scanner (causing them to stick) and your mirrors (causing them to frost over).

Finally, after you replace the mirror you'll need to re-tune your scanners for best performance.

Adam

[ledfreak3d]

Yea i agree with adam there not worth fixing
there are more then enouch cheap good performance scanners found on ebay.

[ElektroFreak]

If they are 5K scanners, I'd say they're not worth fixing. Buy a set of ScanPro 20's or DT-25's and you'll be happy for a long time to come.

As a general rule, if you snap a mirror on a scanner, you can re-glue it to the rotor shaft, but DON'T USE SUPERGLUE! Instead, use quick-drying 2-part epoxy. Superglue will out-gas, and the cyanoacrylate fumes will coat the bearings in the scanner (causing them to stick) and your mirrors (causing them to frost over).

Finally, after you replace the mirror you'll need to re-tune your scanners for best performance.

Adam

I really thought that would happen in my case and it made me a little nervous at first, but I didn't have any epoxy handy. There was no visible outgassing, and I attribute this to the nearly infinitesimal amount of superglue that I used.. Epoxy is by far a better choice.. I got really lucky in being so precise with the positioning. No retune was required.

[colouredmirrorball]

If they are 5K scanners, I'd say they're not worth fixing. Buy a set of ScanPro 20's or DT-25's and you'll be happy for a long time to come.

Agreed on buying another pair, they are probably a few ten €'s. I can't buy ScanPro 20's or the sort as they won't fix in the case, it is very small and not worth the laser that is in it. After all, the whole projector costed me only €129 (however, had a discount of €30 but still) and that includes case, 40 mW laser, DMx-board etc., so the scanners are probably cheap (regarding the quality, they are obviously very cheap ).

Anyway I will try to refix the scanners, I see it as an opportunity to understand how they work.

I'm a bit stressed now because it was the only projector I had running and with the exams I just need my daily portion of coherent photons. Still have that 300 mW red laser + mirror on a fan for my quick fix.

Thanks for your help, all! Now off to study geography and English (well at least my laser vocabularium and reading comprehension shouldn't be a problem after nearly a year on this board)