Laser galvos

Hi I'm new to the forums but I've looked around a good amount.
I was wondering if anyone knew of where i could get really cheap galvos or an old laserdisc player (with galvos in it)
Also, what are these SenKat diodes I've been hearing about?

Thanks a bunch

Welcome to the forums! If you're a big fan of lasers, you've come to the right place.

SenKat is one of the moderators here. He has been gracious enough to support our laser addiction by arranging and processing bulk discounts on laser diodes. (See Group Buys) The diodes you've been hearing about are a high powered (<250mW) 650nm red diode that was recently ordered and shipped to those participating in the group buy. He has quite a few extras at last count, so if you're interested in building a laser from the ground up, he's the one to talk to for the diode and maybe a housing for it, too.

Cheap galvos? Good question. eBay sometimes has them listed, and many of the members here will post notices if they either have them or find a good deal for them.

If by cheap you mean less than $100, good luck. Laserdisc players don't have real galvos, they're more like mirrors with a response of only maybe 5k PPS.
eBay MIGHT sometimes have galvo sets for ~$300 but if you want a decent set, www.chinesedepartmentstore.com has 2 30k PPS galvos + drivers + psu for $599.
Mirror galvos are NOT cheap, because they are precision instruments, and demand worldwide is only on the 1000's per year. And welcome to the forum!

look on ebay unser seller lasershowparts.

they do 10k scanners pretty cheap

andy_con said:

look on ebay unser seller lasershowparts.

they do 10k scanners pretty cheap

Click to expand...

true and those wil run at 15-20 k just fine after some fine adjusting

sure will

Alright thanks a bunch guys.
I may have found a few Laserdisc players to use.
My actual project idea is to use a green diode laser with those Laserdisc galvos, run by a simple audio control program called LaserLine (for mac only I belive). I'm going to try to make a nice little box, house my laser and galvo's in it and attach a portable cd player. This will make it possible for me to edit together simple laser shows using LaserLine, a program called WireTap Pro (also for mac only, it records all sound coming out of the computer), and Garageband to splice it all together. Then  I can send my shows to iTunes, burn a disc, pop it in my cd player thats attached to the galvos in the box and i should be all set. I'm also planning to have the cd player be able to be controlled by foot so i can change songs (laser shows) while I'm playing bass in my band. Also, I'm trying to do this all with an extemely small budget, as I will get most parts from a computer reycling shop for free.

What do you think?

Sounds interesting, post some pics once you've finished