First laser scanner

Things · Jul 22, 2009

Just to clarify, if you are using a sound card DAC, you can't adjust the balance very accurately in the software. Spaghetti has the option, but from my experience with the sound card DAC, you don't get many analog steps.

That setup is the best way to go yes, and the dichro's from LSP are nice, I recommend them.

The_Muffin_Man · Jul 22, 2009

things said:
Just to clarify, if you are using a sound card DAC, you can't adjust the balance very accurately in the software. Spaghetti has the option, but from my experience with the sound card DAC, you don't get many analog steps.

That setup is the best way to go yes, and the dichro's from LSP are nice, I recommend them.

if i am just making a RGY i will keep them TTL. If i choose to create a RGV I will turn the R and V to analogue and the green is TTL. Is that even possible? Also if i choose to make a RGY i will probably upgrade dacs. Could i run spaghetti on pango or mamba or RIGA ect.?

Has anyone heard of CW20's? I asked the seller of the galvos i was looking at if they were SP's and they said they were CW...They said they generally do over 20k..This is their message to me:

"No, we call it CW20, the speed is 20Kpps. ( above 20kpps generally)
Their performance stability, large scanning angle available.( above 50 optic angle )"

the galvos are only 140 shipped so even if they do less than 20k it still seems like a good deal...

Ill check that out things

Thanks

Things · Jul 22, 2009

Yes you can convert lasers to analog, although if they are cheap, sometimes they will have jellybeaning issues when running at low power.

I believe the MLD driver works with the FB3, and I am interested myself, however I haven't bought Spaghetti to know. If it does supposrt the FB3, I would more than likely buy a copy, however Pangolin hasn't released a SDK for it yet, so it'd be like magic

Maybe Gary could jump in here?

The_Muffin_Man · Jul 22, 2009

What is "jellybeaning"?

Do they all have to have the same modulation?

@elektro: how did you tune your DAC? I heard you could plug it into the computer like your were going to play a show but then not play anthing. Then tune each channel to 0V. Would this be a good way to do it..?

The z-bolt heatsink's (i already have one) aperature is 17.9mm from the base. The o-like green is 15mm. Should i just put a little piece of aluminum under the heatsink when bolting it down?

If anyone has a z-bolt heatsink will you check the aperature height? I wasnt totally sure where the beam exited...

Thanks

Things · Jul 22, 2009

Jellybeaning is when the laser doesn't stabilize, so you get dotty beams.

Tuning the AudDac requires connecting your computer, and adjusting the offset pots on each channel while it's not playing anything, to 0V.

Then you play a file called "max.wav" at full volume through the sound card, and adjust the gain so it reaches 5V. So when max.wav isn't playing, 0V, when it is, 5V.

You can get the max.wav file here http://files.getdropbox.com/u/203420/max.zip

-Dan

The_Muffin_Man · Jul 22, 2009

Ok thanks. Do i just play that .wav file in spaghetti? Laserboy?

About the sound card DAC. There are 9 wires coming from the soundcard. There are 10 ports on the amp. I know what to do with channels 1-6 but i dont know what to do with the 3 grounds. I assume the 5V is from the far left on the top of the sound card dac.

There are 3 grounds. What do i hook up where?

Is there a certain way i change between TTL and analogue on the flexmod? It probably says in the manual. Ill read it once i get it...

Thanks

Things · Jul 22, 2009

Just play the .wav in Media player, and make sure the sound card DAC sound card is set to default when you do it, FOR NOW. When you use Spaghetti (Laserboy is just a frame creation app, it doesn't actually display anything, although you can export the files as .wav,s, so you can play laser frames thru media player), you will need to switch the sound card DAC sound crd back from default, or you'll get laser signals through your regular sound card, which don't sound pleasant

Grounds are grounds, so just solder them to the USB plug casing itself on the sound card.

Not sure about the flexmod sorry.

Here:

Grey, purple and green are all ground, blue is +5V, and the rest are the signals.

Hope that helps.

-Dan

ElektroFreak · Jul 22, 2009

^See, Things, now you're being helpful! Posted links and everything. That wasn't so hard was it?

@Muffin Man: That pic is of the previous revision of the sound card. The new board does not look quite like that.. Not a whole lot has changed, though, other than having two more channels. The connections are the same, but instead of soldering to the USB connector, I'd solder the ground wires to the two right-most pads in the row of five just behind the USB connector (where it says "JP1") but really it's 6 of one, 1/2 dozen of the other. It's not unheard of for the Chinese to have multiple revisions of a board in circulation at once, so yours could be one of these or something different still. No matter what, the connections should be pretty much the same.

Regarding the issues with spaghetti: IMO DIY is always awesome, even with the flaws, because you can say you built the interface yourself. It may not run quite as flawlessly as an FB3, but it does cost about 1/5 as much (including software) and you get that warm, fuzzy feeling that comes with DIY. Just food for thought. Only you can make the final call on what's best for you. All I can do is offer insight. I've been very pleased with Spaghetti since i began using it. For the price, I was blown away. I still use it more than anything else except DMX.

I think you've got a pretty good idea of what's what now Muffin Man. I'd love to see pics of your build as it progresses.

EDIT: forgot to address the Flexmod issue.. The flexmod runs TTL or analog based on the input signal. You don't have to switch it from one to the other. If you feed it an analog signal, it is analog. If you feed it a TTL signal it is TTL. The main difference is in the structure of the wave. A TTL signal is a 0-5V square wave pulse (on and off). An analog signal can have any shape and any value between 0 and 5V.

Also, I just heard from MarioMaster that if you use a Flexmod, you have to make sure that the correction amp is set to provide no more than a +5V modulation signal. Apparently, if you use a flexmod and feed it a analog modulation signal over 5V, it will continue to feed current to the diode and possibly overdrive it.

The_Muffin_Man · Jul 22, 2009

ElektroFreak said:
^See, Things, now you're being helpful! Posted links and everything. That wasn't so hard was it?

@Muffin Man: That pic is of the previous revision of the sound card. The new board does not look quite like that.. Not a whole lot has changed, though, other than having two more channels. The connections are the same, but instead of soldering to the USB connector, I'd solder the ground wires to the two right-most pads in the row of five just behind the USB connector (where it says "JP1") but really it's 6 of one, 1/2 dozen of the other. It's not unheard of for the Chinese to have multiple revisions of a board in circulation at once, so yours could be one of these or something different still. No matter what, the connections should be pretty much the same.

Regarding the issues with spaghetti: IMO DIY is always awesome, even with the flaws, because you can say you built the interface yourself. It may not run quite as flawlessly as an FB3, but it does cost about 1/5 as much (including software) and you get that warm, fuzzy feeling that comes with DIY. Just food for thought. Only you can make the final call on what's best for you. All I can do is offer insight. I've been very pleased with Spaghetti since i began using it. For the price, I was blown away. I still use it more than anything else except DMX.

I think you've got a pretty good idea of what's what now Muffin Man. I'd love to see pics of your build as it progresses.

EDIT: forgot to address the Flexmod issue.. The flexmod runs TTL or analog based on the input signal. You don't have to switch it from one to the other. If you feed it an analog signal, it is analog. If you feed it a TTL signal it is TTL. The main difference is in the structure of the wave. A TTL signal is a 0-5V square wave pulse (on and off). An analog signal can have any shape and any value between 0 and 5V.

Also, I just heard from MarioMaster that if you use a Flexmod, you have to make sure that the correction amp is set to provide no more than a +5V modulation signal. Apparently, if you use a flexmod and feed it a analog modulation signal over 5V, it will continue to feed current to the diode and possibly overdrive it.

LOL thankyou things.

I'm still not sure about the extra ground. There are 6 signals on the bottom and 3 on the top (5v and two grounds). Also which signals are which? I'm not at home right now so I can't check my board but I'm pretty sure the numbers aren't in order.

I like to DIY too. A fb3 is amazing but I didn't make it. I could buy a projector but the fact that I built it myself is just awesome.

I'll take pictures as I go. I was thinking of making a guide. Everyone's scanner is different so it would just give a general idea about how to do it.

Thanks for clearing that up. As long as I tune the amp to +5v and 0v then I can use TTL or analogue (depending on the software right?)

there is a lumberyard near my house that sells wood and I think aluminum. Hopefully I can get a sheet. I heard it needs to be laser/water jet cut or else it will warp as it warms up. How should I drill holes in it? Could I just use a drill press?

Thanks guys

ElektroFreak · Jul 22, 2009

^ Do me a favor, post a pic of your sound card board.. I'm not sure exactly what you're describing. Once I see it, I'll have a better idea what's going on. Based on what you're saying, I'd just use the 3 pads on top that are marked 5V and ground..

A normal drill with bits for drilling metal should work fine. Follow Carmangary's suggestion to use a sheet of wood. That way you can bolt the lasers and galvos to it, power everything up and align it. Once you've got it all aligned, then you remove all the equipment and use the wood sheet as a drilling template.

The_Muffin_Man · Jul 23, 2009

I'll have to do that tomorrow.

I have wood around the house. I'm going for an 18X12 sheet.

Thanks

Things · Jul 23, 2009

Yellow is channel 1, orange is channel 2 etc etc etc

The_Muffin_Man · Jul 23, 2009

things said:
Yellow is channel 1, orange is channel 2 etc etc etc

I meant like channel 1 is the green signal, channel 2 is the red signal, ect.

Pics in a sec. Camera is charging...

The_Muffin_Man · Jul 23, 2009

Pics(i only had red, black, green, and white wire lol. When i am connecting things to the amp i will be careful to make sure i am connecting the right things):

(^ you can barely see the black wire in this picture..)

^ the black wire is in that picture.

Is everything in the correct place? There are only 9 wires coming from the board. There are 10 inputs on the correction amp. I am missing a ground somewhere...in things's picture he has 3 grounds from the top...

Thanks

ElektroFreak · Jul 24, 2009

^Looks perfect.. You got the older version of that card. Since it's six channels it's even more straightforward to work with.

There are three ground connections on the correction amp, but two of them share the same ground source on the correction amp card. When you're looking at the input pins on the correction amp, they are labeled:

G 5V G 1 2 3 4 5 6 G

Only the first and last grounds actually need to be connected to ground. The middle ground is redundant since it shares the same ground trace as the last (if that makes sense to you) so really with the middle and last grounds you could use either one or both but you really only need one.

The first two pins (G and 5V) are the power to the correction amp, the next pin (G) is ground for the signal inputs. The numbered pins are your signals (X, Y, R, G, B, I). The final pin (G) is unused.

Hope that helps..

Since some of your wires are the same color, I'd recommend labeling each with maskng tape or something like that..

The_Muffin_Man · Jul 24, 2009

Good good...Just to clarify( g(1) = ground 1):

G(1) 5V G(2) 1 2 3 4 5 6 G(3)

G(1): this is the second from the right on the top of the soundcard
5V: this is the far left on the top of the soundcard
G(2): not used
1: Farthest left on the bottom of the soundcard. This is the X signal
2: second to the left on the bottom of the soundcard. This is the Y signal
3: Third from the left on the bottom of the soundcard. This is the red signal
4: third from the right on the bottom of the soundcard. This is the green signal
5: second from the right on the bottom of the soundcard. This is the blue signal (can it be used for violet too?)
6: farthest right on the bottom of the soundcard. This is the intensity(?) signal.
G(3): this is the farthest right on the top of the soundcard.

When tuning the signals from my computer (lets say im tuning channel 1) do i hook up the positive to the channel 1 output and the negative to the ground output? Then i do that for each one using the same ground?

This is looking a lot simpler...

Thanks

First laser scanner

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