diy RGY projector with usb dac

Hi,

First post to this forum, so i hope im doing it right

So since i got a couple of cheap projectors laying around (jb systems starburst 2 and a koollight performer/ghost), i wanted to make something better.

I already ordered the much spoken of 20kpps galvo's from ebay, and i got some spare laser modules laying around:
40mw dealextreme green, with driverboard
20mw dealextreme purple/blue , with driverboard (probarly useless for this)
70mw laserworld green with driverboard and TTL
80mw laserworld red with driverboard and TTL

And i also got a mirror to combine red and green, to get yellow.

Ofcourse i already did some research myself, and i came across the soundcard dacs.
The question now is, which dac is easy to build yourself (so without SMD parts) and has the best software?
I thought of making the laserboy correction amp, but i can't find the circuit anywhere, only parts lists.

Thanks in advance!


Update
Found the circuit and ordered all the components, which hopefully arive on friday.
I also chose the soundcard: a usb creative SB0490 (96Khz, 5.1) which i had laying around.

I also got some adjustable mounts and mirrors taken from a broken projector

welcome

advice to those new to forums-
dont post back to back- use edit and add as much as you like- double posting is frowned upon-

finish filling out your profile- w/o more info help may not come

go to "Welcome' section and do a proper introduction there- see those of others to get a good idea of how we like the newcomers to introduce themselves-

check out the links you will get in the greets that will be posted in your thread.

DAC dont 'have ' soft.
Laserbot is VERY limited
I-Show sucks
if your dac build is not correct for the soft you want you have wasted your time.

did yr scanset come with a showcard?
do you have adjustable mounts for dichros/mirrors?

you will prolly need more than 'some luck'

Most planned three week PJ builds end up taking 3 months before you get results.
the 405 is useless
If we had a clue about your location we may be able to steer you to a local member that may give hands-on help-

IMO you are in for a lot of surprises..

( edit and combine the above posts)

GL hak

Thanks for the quick reply!
I've made my welcome post, and took some more time to read the stickys.

To answer your questions:
I don't got a showcard with my scanner set, i did this on purpose since i want a ilda only build.
I got adjustable mounts for dichros/mirrors/lasers from my old jb systems starburst 2, from which the 532nm diode broke.

So this are the parts i'm going to use for this build:
- AXJ-V20 galvo scanner set
- 70mw 532nm with TTL driver board
- 80mw 635nm with TTL driver board
- 2x adjustable laser mount
- 1x adjustable mirror mount
- 1x adustable dichro mount (pass red, reflect green)
- 1x usb Creative SB0490 soundcard
- 1x drlava amp correction board (selfbuild, im getting the parts tomorrow by mail)

Im going to make a prototype first in an old PC case (on the sheet where you normally screw the motherboard on) and eventually build my own case with aliminum.

When this build works, and my budget allows it, im going to add a blue diode and replace the red one for a stronger one. But let's first get the basic projector working

Wow, you're on your way. Lay things out (without screwing anything down) and snap a pic. We'd love to see a pic of your components set up.

Keep us posted of your progress.

I made some photo's, i had to resize them so the quality isn't that good.

The green laser module on the adjustable mount (on his side, can't see it well)


And the red one, on his mount (sideways again)


The driver for the green laser (spare one from a dead laserworld projector)

(Since the red one only needs +5v and a ttl connector, i plugged it in to this board as well)

The usb soundcard (creative SB0490)


The mirror (left) and the dichro (pass red & reflect green) right


The galvo set with power supply (AXJ-V20)


Now i have to wait till the mailman gets there tomorrow with my package full of components, and then i'm all ready to start building

You can build your own correction amp using the circuit Benm provided here.

pschlosser said:

Wow, you're on your way. Lay things out (without screwing anything down) and snap a pic. We'd love to see a pic of your components set up.

Keep us posted of your progress.

Click to expand...

^^ I agree-- good advice P.S.

I am pleased that this new member took my advice- not all do that-
some send me nasty PMs- wats up wit DAT!!

The pics will make helping him easier IMO.

lets give him a hand--
he gets a +rep from me already!!

If he can send me a ticket --I can help with the build--my passport is in order & I have always wanted to travel there and try the coffee they serve there....mmm --COFFEE!!

he needs to meet masterpj-( met Pieter ar SELEM 2011) he is very savvy on all things projector and creates all his own cues/frames and laser shows himself from scratch-- another dood over there is Laserwinkle he sells parts and is a Pangoilin Dealer and is also great person.

hope we have been helpful.. hak

ps your lower pics are still to big haha

resize pics to medium size

Resized the pics, should be fine now ^^
Thanks for the heads up, that was actually pretty motivating already

Btw, i bought the 70mw 532nm diode + driverboard from laserwinkel, great guy, and very helpfull

I just received all the components, so i'm all set to start building.
I'm first going to build the correction amp (etch the pcb, or if that fails just make it on a copper breadboard.)

I'll update this post when there is any progress

dooiespons said:

Resized the pics, should be fine now ^^
Thanks for the heads up, that was actually pretty motivating already

Btw, i bought the 70mw 532nm diode + driverboard from laserwinkel, great guy, and very helpfull

I just received all the components, so i'm all set to start building.
I'm first going to build the correction amp (etch the pcb, or if that fails just make it on a copper breadboard.)

I'll update this post when there is any progress

Click to expand...

^^^ please do--
we can learn a lot from your build-

Ok, small update

I just got scammed by someone over a bare drlava projectboard, so that's another delay in my project.

The good news however, i just found my old pc (old dualcore amd) and a cmedia PCI soundcard.. so i can FINALLY start building

I got a party in 2 weeks and i really want to have a working prototype by then

Who scammed you?

-- Edit --
Conflict with the seller is solved

Update!

I couldn't work on the projector for a while, since i needed some extra parts (soundcard, correction amp).

Yesterday i received everything i needed, built it (with only the green module). And, it worked!
Played a couple of shows (the riddle & enya-only time).

The riddle:
The riddle
Sad thing, when i wanted to get my camera for pictures, my cat decided to jump on the table, destroying my galvo mirrors.

So now i have to wait for new mirrors.
Good thing is, some freinds liked the video so much they want to sponsor me with money for making a better one.
So, next week i'm ordering a new set of, analog R-G-B modules to start on a better one

dooiespons said:

Update!
Sad thing, when i wanted to get my camera for pictures, my cat decided to jump on the table, destroying my galvo mirrors.

Click to expand...

You did not say how badly kitty has suffered or if he/she is even still alive, so what I would do is let us know quickly otherwise the PETA people will be over there knocking at your door.

Some people will argue with you, or try to argue out of using a soundcard DAC here and other places, you can take the advice which ever way you want to.
Me myself I have lots of crazy and wild ideas at times... I do admit pondering on that soundcard idea to the point even of modifying an internal soundcard's IRQ to enable TWO in the same PC - and somehow modifying the software to address them differently.

The way I am going now is with using an arduino dueminalove with drlava's special 168 IC on it (so I can run LSX in MAX Mode on it, it will still work without his chip) and then using cfavreau's OLS DAC idea which is DAC hardware you build as an arduino shield.

drlava's article:
Using the Open Laser Show DAC (OLSD) with LSX laser show software

cfavreau's DAC:
http://fab-favreau.com/index.php/Main/OpenLaserShowDAC


Keep us informed with how you come to your final foton fix.

What am I saying! it will never be finalized!

The kitty is fine! She was just a little shocked that she destroyed something (again ).

About the soundcard dac, when i started reading about laser shows,it seemed the fastest solution to get a projector up and running. And it really was, once i had all the parts, i had it running within a hour.

I also read about the openlasershowDAC before, and to be honest i really wanted to buy it. But the soundcard dac was a much more interesting choice (cheap, easy, and a LOT of information avaiable)

I currently use (or well, for the few hours it lasted) laserboy and HE-laserscan.
It worked perfectly, i only had some issues with blanking with HE-laserscan.
Since i mostly want to use it for live beamshows, i'll stick with those for a while.
He-laserscan is just perfect for that purpose, and Laserboy is great to do graphics and text.

Anyway, i ordered a 1W analog rgb module, and it should be here within 18 days.
I also ordered new mirrors (4 pieces, in case my cat goes on a hunting trip again) so i can experiment a little more with a left over 80mw greenie.

Yeah, the soundcard DACs work pretty well, but I've only been able to get it working for all channels on Linux, not on Windows 7.