Laser Show on the cheap

I've been reading over at photolexicon for a bit, and I'm still not clear on a lot of things on what kind of lasers and drivers you need to do a standard RGB unit with blanking. Do you need an "analog" laser like the expensive ones on ebay or would regular high output (up to 300mw) modules work for an inexpensive show, are there special drivers other than the standard ones from modwerx for example? Any clarification is appreciated.

theres 2 type of drivers for rgb,rgv,rgy shows. ttl and analogue. analogue is the better of the 2 with a possibility of 16million colors possible. ttl only makes up to 7 colors.

drlavas flexmod drivers work well for beginners if your looking into scanners or light shows...

In regards to drivers.. a TTL or analogue driver is needed for blanking and CMIW also adjusts intesity

For TTL you would need something like this:

http://o-like.com/b2b_cpinfo.asp?id=968
or this
http://o-like.com/b2b_cpinfo.asp?id=982
or this (lower power green)
http://o-like.com/b2b_cpinfo.asp?id=966

Those units on olike are just regular diodes w/ optics inside a box and a ttl driver or in other words, something I might be able to make myself for half that price? I thought I had read analog was necessary for blanking.

ttl is blanking. alalogue is fading...

ttl is blanking. alalogue is fading...

Click to expand...

oh my bad.. thats right!

Those units on olike are just regular diodes w/ optics inside a box and a ttl driver or in other words, something I might be able to make myself for half that price? I thought I had read analog was necessary for blanking.

Click to expand...

No its not.. as you said you want to keep the build cheap I would suggest TTL.. you can go ahead and try make the driver and optics set by your self.. might be cheaper might not.. I dont really know the prices for individual components.. but for a nice clean kit.. IMO i would go for an already built "kit" only cause i don't have as much experience in optics and electronics, then most people in this forum do!

otherwise you could go down the analogue road.. all up to you!

-Adrian

I'm liking the idea of 16 million colors (of course, who wouldn't) and I have the technical expertise to pull of complicated builds, so anyone have any sources and or price guesstimates on analog drivers? Again I may be incorrectly assuming that I can use regular diodes/optics with a special type of driver.

Search for Dr. Lavas FlexMod

here is a list another member has come up with.. he is using a dac (digital to analogue converter) for this build.. also using the same laser as mentioned above!

http://laserpointerforums.com/f47/first-laser-scanner-41973.html

I think you should decide what type of scanner you want: beamshows or anamations.

Next, you should decide how many colors you want. I HIGHLY suggest doing a 1 color scanner and adding later. I am working on my first scanner and i splurged and did a RGV(red green violet). I lost a dichro already and it will cost me atleast another 50 dollars to get another. Plus you have to align everything.

If you take my suggestion then the 100mW o-like is fine. Im using it in my scanner and it is perfect.

Ill make a short list of things you will need:

An enclosure
galvos
lasers
power supplies
fans
a base plate
a power plug
a db25 (try DZE's. Its on the thread that bob linked.)
power cord
dac(READ THE THREAD BOB LINKED ABOUT THIS. POST 85 ON. IT EXPLAINS IT ALL [/caps]
db25 cord
bolts, wiring stuff

Thats about it. Doing a single color scanner will probably cost around 400 dollars. Its not cheap but it will be worth it.

Keep asking questions. I am happy to help. People helped me (Thanks EF/Things) and i want to pass it on.

aixiz has an adjustable 50mw(actually outputs ~100mw when you turn it up) that comes with ttl thats ~60-70$ for the price, features and power you cant find a better deal...

The_Muffin_Man said:

I think you should decide what type of scanner you want: beamshows or anamations.

...

If you take my suggestion then the 100mW o-like is fine. Im using it in my scanner and it is perfect.

Ill make a short list of things you will need:

An enclosure
galvos
lasers
power supplies
fans
a base plate
a power plug
a db25 (try DZE's. Its on the thread that bob linked.)
power cord
dac(READ THE THREAD BOB LINKED ABOUT THIS. POST 85 ON. IT EXPLAINS IT ALL [/caps]
db25 cord
bolts, wiring stuff

Thats about it. Doing a single color scanner will probably cost around 400 dollars. Its not cheap but it will be worth it.

Keep asking questions. I am happy to help. People helped me (Thanks EF/Things) and i want to pass it on.

Click to expand...

Much appreciate the input, I will take your advice and start with a green 1 color, my only concern is how hard is it to add colors when I know next to nothing about optics. I'm learning alot reading the forums esp. at PL.

My main goal is animations and SIZE, i'd like to be able to have something that's really versitile when it comes to size which means I have to make sure my optic angle is versitile, most of the 20Kpps or 30kkps units on ebay seem to have a max 12 angle which seems really low.

personally i would recommend die4laser drivers.

in my eyes they are the best out there

^ adding colors shouldnt be too hard. You may have to re-lay out your scanner. Make sure to buy a baseplate that is big enough. My baseplate is 11.5X21" (lol weird dimensions). You will also need dichros. They pass one color, and reflect another allowing you to combine beams.

Which reminds me: I just found a steal on a reflect blue dichro. I am using a violet laser though. This dichro is 15 shipped and the reflect violet is 75 shipped. Will there be a HUGE(and im talking HUGE) power loss? If there wont...i am going to just use a reflect blue.

Keep asking questions!

The_Muffin_Man said:

^ adding colors shouldnt be too hard. You may have to re-lay out your scanner. Make sure to buy a baseplate that is big enough. My baseplate is 11.5X21" (lol weird dimensions). You will also need dichros. They pass one color, and reflect another allowing you to combine beams.

Which reminds me: I just found a steal on a reflect blue dichro. I am using a violet laser though. This dichro is 15 shipped and the reflect violet is 75 shipped. Will there be a HUGE(and im talking HUGE) power loss? If there wont...i am going to just use a reflect blue.

Keep asking questions!

Click to expand...

People have used PBS cubes designed for 473nm to combine 405nm lasers. There is some loss, but considering the price difference I don't think it'd make much difference. For that price, it's a steal anyway.

This may be a silly question, but is a bench power supply that can supply a constant voltage and amperage output that I can program to different settings equivalent to a driver for a laser diode? I'm assuming I can use my bench supply set to 5-7v at 200ma and have it power a laser diode without a problem, for testing purposes.