Building of THOR has begun

Actually the 500mw version of this. Meierlight sell DHOM modules in this power range, and they are well regarded on PL.

That avatar is a saddening reminder that I owned a laser show projector for about 2 months.

I now crave those awesome beams, and look forward to getting this project finished. (but I also want a yaesu ft 950 for my radio shack!!!).

I think the new rig can wait - this project is way more important. I can then hire it out and money made can go to getting the base ham radio.

You may all notice that nothing is drilled yet. Until I have the green laser, I wont be making any further progression. I need to have at least the green laser so I can shuffle stuff around and see what fits best. Then get the soldering iron out, hook it all up and fire it up. At least when I have green, blue will follow REALLY quickly (love those cheap 445's) and red (mega expensive at $1500), will trail the pack.

the bad beam profile of the 445's will not make a difference on the projector output?

no, as I will be using anamorphic prisms to correct the beam profile. The diode is already sitting in my laser bits drawer.

I wont really need to be uber anal about the beam profile on the blue, as I'm a beams guy, not into graphics (thats why I shelled out for the DT40 wides.). Also my blue should lead a long happy life loafing along at 500-600 mw

btw Leodahsan, a pair of op amps and a thermister should cover your fan/driver controller. The op amps share the thermistor, and can be setup with a 10 turn pot to accuratly set the temperature.

vk2fro said:

Actually the 500mw version of this. Meierlight sell DHOM modules in this power range, and they are well regarded on PL.

That avatar is a saddening reminder that I owned a laser show projector for about 2 months.

I now crave those awesome beams, and look forward to getting this project finished. (but I also want a yaesu ft 950 for my radio shack!!!).

I think the new rig can wait - this project is way more important. I can then hire it out and money made can go to getting the base ham radio.

You may all notice that nothing is drilled yet. Until I have the green laser, I wont be making any further progression. I need to have at least the green laser so I can shuffle stuff around and see what fits best. Then get the soldering iron out, hook it all up and fire it up. At least when I have green, blue will follow REALLY quickly (love those cheap 445's) and red (mega expensive at $1500), will trail the pack.

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What happened to your previous laser show projector? I am also curious who would rent a laser show projector, do they go for a good rate?

Sparkles said:

What happened to your previous laser show projector? I am also curious who would rent a laser show projector, do they go for a good rate?

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Yes, people do actually hire them, most times just leaving them running in Auto mode in a corner of a room.

Green only (30-50mW units) go around $50-$75 per night, while RGB projectors with ILDA support (and a DAC) go for up to $300 a night.

It's not bad; it could be worse, and given these power levels, they might also elect to hire the operator. This would be an additional $25-100 per hour.

Please explain your statment !

Leodahsan said:

combined red cannot be used?

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@Flaminpyro
Red laser combined thru a PBS, or maybe a knife edge system.

To answer your question sparkles, basically it was a rather expensive, but poor quality build chinese projector whos lasers kept failing. The straw that broke the camels back was when a galvo mirror just dropped off. I've actually had 2 of these projectors, when the first one failed 2 hours after it was switched on, the seller replaced it with a "better" model whos red laser also failed hours into its first show (thank god it was just a fun party with a couple of us laserists). I replaced the red and that too failed (seems their driver boards are crap) within hours.

Since I now have most of the major components apart from lasers for my own projector, I will be much happier with the result from my own projector which I know will have good quality lasers with a warranty on them. I intend to control the system from its own SFF computer, wirelessly controlled by an ipad, this making setup so much easier - no need to run control lines to the dj/lighting guys area, as my machine will only be operated by myself, so I can concentrate on eye saftey and putting on a great show, not a dj trying to juggle control of lights, music and a laser projector. DAC will be the pangolin FB3 system. This setup (ipad wireless control) also means I can be anywhere in the venue, and if I'm concerned about power output to certain areas of the venue, i can set up a BAM to lower the power in that area immediatly, right from the area in question.

Using a small formfactor PC (aka shuttle PC), means I'll be able to put a truss hook on it so it can be hung next to the laser; keeping the ilda lead short. This also means the system will be pretty much self contained, and not look as "messy" as a laser = long ilda lead = pc setup. (not to mention another thing, controlling the show from the ipad should have a wow factor all in its own). It will mean I'll need to incorporate some kind of deadmans switch to shut off the projector should the link between the ipad and the SFF die, or simply the batteries go flat in the ipad (not likely, they go for ages).

The only time this setup will change is if full choreographed and syncronised shows are called for (as the computer will need to be connected to a sound system to play the music that the show is set to)

The wireless router handling the link will of course be wpa 2 secured along with mac filtering so people can't go "oooh I wanna have a go at controlling THAT with my iphone"

vk2fro said:

Actually the 500mw version of this. Meierlight sell DHOM modules in this power range, and they are well regarded on PL.

That avatar is a saddening reminder that I owned a laser show projector for about 2 months.

I now crave those awesome beams, and look forward to getting this project finished. (but I also want a yaesu ft 950 for my radio shack!!!).

I think the new rig can wait - this project is way more important. I can then hire it out and money made can go to getting the base ham radio.

You may all notice that nothing is drilled yet. Until I have the green laser, I wont be making any further progression. I need to have at least the green laser so I can shuffle stuff around and see what fits best. Then get the soldering iron out, hook it all up and fire it up. At least when I have green, blue will follow REALLY quickly (love those cheap 445's) and red (mega expensive at $1500), will trail the pack.

Click to expand...

meigherlight is good?
Wow there prices are also super low, so the quality is also good?

I will definatly remember them then.

I've read some good reports on PL about meierlight and the DHOM lasers they sell. I am only buying their green, still getting a k-vant for red (its the only high powered 640nm red that has a good track record).

btw mods, I had a link in my post about the meierlight laser - I wasnt advertising it or anything, but is posting ebay links against forum rules. If so, I apologise for my mistake.

DHOM? what does that mean.
im thinking about their 300mw greenie with analog modulation.
do you have a topic to the PL topic and link to meierlight?

because im also interested if their analog modulation is linear or in steps.

Search on PL for DHOM. You'll find a few posts and a review of a higher power (1 watt IIRC), DHOM laser.

DHOM is the brand name, meierlight is just a reseller.

edit: the guy who reviewed a DHOM laser on PL bought a 1.5 watt model. After warmup it was doing 1.8 watts (and no, not 600mw of green and 1.2 watts of IR LOL) They do have IR filters in them.

remeber that 532nm DPSS lasers (or any dpss laser) will not be truley linear in brightness from zero to full power - this is just one of the drawbacks of DPSS technology.

Cheers
Ben

As the diode wavelength shifts with temperature, the crystals lose their efficiency. They convert with best efficiency at 808nm and 1064nm, lets say if the diode is lasing 810nm they will lose power.

The non-linear crystals are sensitive to temperature, having a best efficiency if 25ºc (if my memory serves me well). goninanbl00d is the right person to this type of explanation.

(free bump and heads up)

vk2fro said:

Search on PL for DHOM. You'll find a few posts and a review of a higher power (1 watt IIRC), DHOM laser.

DHOM is the brand name, meierlight is just a reseller.

edit: the guy who reviewed a DHOM laser on PL bought a 1.5 watt model. After warmup it was doing 1.8 watts (and no, not 600mw of green and 1.2 watts of IR LOL) They do have IR filters in them.

remeber that 532nm DPSS lasers (or any dpss laser) will not be truley linear in brightness from zero to full power - this is just one of the drawbacks of DPSS technology.

Cheers
Ben

Click to expand...

edit:
oh by the way vk2fro.. if you need the use of chroma (color blender) to know what powers will better 'match', I have it installed.. just ask and I can post results.

so Leodahsan....are they not a good choice to buy or what are you saying....
remember the noobies here

no borg, you read him wrong. He was just explaining how we try to keep DPSS lasers as close to linear as possible by keeping them at a constant temperature. There is nothing wrong with buying a DPSS laser for your projector.

just do a little research on the brand of green laser you want to buy to see if people have had good results and you should be ok.

@bogqueenx
They are a good addition to your projector; you just need to watch its temperature IF HIGH POWERED.. commonly the <500mW ones will have passive heatsinking and work very good.
vk2fro explained it.. if you want more than 1W green you will surely want to monitor its temperature.. a little more current draw for a TEC when you're using >1W green isn't that much IMO

@vk2fro
If he wanted a green diode we wasn't going to find any at reasonable powers and reasonable prices... DPSS is the only way.. and IMO the beam quality is excellent for the power, compare with a 445 or 635 1W diodes, try they some day without corrective optics