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Thread: My new homebuilt 1.5W projector

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    163

    Default My new homebuilt 1.5W projector

    Heya All

    just thought i'd put up a few shots of my home built projector
    it's a total of 1.5W, of red(1W), green(0.25W) and blue(0.25W).

    it took 3 days to assemble, i got it to the first gig it was due to
    be used at and it would'nt go...lol

    I took it home and switched it on and it worked prefectly, i've
    discovered it ca'nt share it power with anything or it 'beams'.


    In the first pic here you can see i've replaced the diodes with an
    empty can of bourbon and cola......lol




    this is it with all it's 'guts' in



    and here it's ready to go...




    cheers

    Tinker

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    5,704

    Default

    Nice case.

    What are the wavelengths you've used?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    163

    Default

    heya white light

    Thanks for the comment about the case, it's my design i made all in my garage
    except the brake press work which was done by a local firm.


    The wavelenghts are i think, i might be wrong about the blue i have to check, there all CNI diodes.

    250mW/532nm (green)
    250mW/473nm? (blue)
    1000mW/650nm (red)

    the green and the blue are analogue and the reds TTL, i'm hopeing to
    upgrade the red to 1.5W with a.m in the future.

    cheers

    Tinker

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Wisconsin
    Posts
    449

    Default

    Have you looked into the 642 for an upgrade? Or is that too orange for you?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    163

    Default

    Heya Xytrell

    yeah, i did consider a brighter red but i really like dark colors, i know that sounds weird but there's something mysterious about them. Where the brights appear too gay (i mean happy and cheery not homosexual) for me. Even with all the colours it puts out my favour color is the deep purple it makes.

    I was just thinking, i think the gay teletubbie was purple..... lmao

    Cheers

    Tinker

    p.s i'll put some videos up soon.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Central Florida
    Posts
    7,067

    Lightbulb

    Very nice projector you have built there.

    I must defend the 642nm red; you will be impressed once you see it. I too am a fan of the extreme wavelengths, and much prefered 660nm red but once I got my 1W Kvant and saw the 642nm red I was sold. You can't really see a difference and the beam is almost just like the 660. I have compared the two side by side and it is hard to see the color difference in the beam or scanned.
    Love, peace, and grease,

    allthat... aka: aaron@pangolin

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    163

    Default

    thanks mite,

    It's only the second one i've assembled, the process has been a step learning curve.

    The process started after i got fired from my job as a trolley boy at the local
    mall(bayfair in Papamoa), About 2 and half years ago. A friend of mine lent me a laser the you put 4 AAA batterys into, for a party i was holding, so I brought a smoke machine and some purple lights(the energy saver type). Next party i had borrowed anything and everything i could find, i had like 6 little laser scattered around the room, every 30 minutes i'd run around it and replace all the batterys. Even so it looked cool.

    Then i e-mailed a company in China and they replyed back with a price list,
    so i started to import lasers, i probably sold 10, i still have about 8 left.

    I didn't know anything about lasers but these made so much noise i started
    dissembling them and assembling them so the handles did fall off and they did'nt
    make the same noise a hand cranked pencil sharpener makes when in operation.
    Once i made the changes i would use the laser for at least 20 hours then check for faults and repair if required.

    Of the lasers i sold i never had one come back or a complant. I had problems with one customer where the he open up the power unit voiding the warrenty and in his own words "cranked it up" , it lasted about 2 hours before burning out. But nothing due to assembly, the components looked top notch nothing like the recycled crap i've seen in other lasers, it was just assembled by people that did'nt understand what they where doing

    I told the Chinese of the improvments i made and why. Every time i got another shipment i noticed that my changes where now how they assembled then. I never expect a pile of cash or some free stuff for the information i passed on to them about my observations, but they refues to acknowledge my efforts, and this pissed me off. A small thanks goes along way with me. ("Good manners don't cost nothing" a bit of pink floyd there). Then they started to sell to others in my country, so my compertion was benifiting from my knowledge that the manufatures refused to acknowledge.

    The 2nd to last shipment i got had loose fittings inside the case in 5 of the 6 lasers and i had to open them and shake them out before useing the laser. I kid you not. Once in front of a customer i was doing a show for.

    In the last shipment of 3 lasers, 2 of them had defective boards and wouldn't blank.

    I explained to the factory that they needed new i.c board and would fit myself, they where aware of the problem but refused to send anything till i brought more product......final straw.

    So i guess i got ripped off, but if that was the price of the laser education i have now
    and i would gladly pay it again. It's funny, cause if their products where put together
    properly, i would'nt know anything other then how to turn them off and on......

    cheers

    Tinker
    Last edited by Kiwi Tinker; 08-04-2009 at 00:20.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    The Woods, CA, USA
    Posts
    534

    Default hehe

    Nice looking projector. Lets get some top down shots.....and who sleeps on the pool table? The kids?

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Wisconsin
    Posts
    449

    Default

    From what I've heard, the difference in color is only discernible when it comes to graphics. Beams look identical.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    163

    Default

    Heya Picsso

    Thanks. It's been a week since but it together. I already want to take it to bits and change a few things, the wiring on the top looks decidedly dodgy. I've run it for max of three hours continuously and it get's warm a little to warm for me.
    The feels around 35 degrees C on the out side of the case. It needs better fans. I'm fairly sure two fans will be enough. I'm also fairly confident that there's still enough air in the casing to move the heat from the hot bits.

    There's a cable hanging out the back because i had a plug failure. I've never heard of a 'power cable in' plug failing in my life.
    I was tuning the alinement of the beams, i turned the laser off so i could adjust it and when i tryed to turn it on nothing happened. For a terrible moment i thought i had blown every single component up. My imagination is a terrible thing some times.

    I thought it must be the power on switch, after is came from a device that consumes fraction of the power the projector uses. I by-passed it and still nothing went.
    I changed leads then power points, still nothing.

    In a last atemp to determine the problem i did a resistance test between the front and the back of the plug the power in cable plugs into and there was infinite resistance on one of the phases. So as a short term solution i used the power cable i cut off the blue diodes power supply unit.

    I need to shorten some of the cables,but this will involve opening cases and voiding warranty. lol

    Manufatures always seem to use the longest plug available which causes me no end of stress.

    My unit is about 35% of the size of other units i've seen. Things are real tight in there. even putting the lid on requires care to not damage anything.

    I still think i'll fit the 1.5 watt red in there when i get it.

    As for the sleeping blanket, for some reason i did'nt want to dent the pool table so i put the blanket on it and newspaper on the top. There by creating enough hiding places to lose most the components in during the build.

    Regrettably there are no kids, i've failed to find anyone dumb enough to breed with me. Any available women out there who are looking for love, PM me and we'll discuss if laser beams really have no nutritional value.

    cheers

    tinker
    Last edited by Kiwi Tinker; 07-23-2009 at 22:06.

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