Quality or Quantity?

USPS recently destroyed my RGV projector that was (Thank God) insured for $2,000. Hopefully there wont be problems getting that 2k, but I was wondering what yall think I should do with that money. My 2 ideas are as follows:

1) Build a RGB with something like:
1 * CNI 532nm 150mW
1 * CNI 473nm 100mW
1 * CNI 635nm 300mW
1 * ScanPro20s

2) Buy 2 cheaper RGB's like this one here
330mw RGB DMX512 ILDA dj Laser stage light lasershow - eBay (item 170372060390 end time Sep-13-09 01:16:59 PDT)
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]red 650nm@200mW
green 532nm@100mW
blue 473nm @30mW[/FONT]


Now I am WELL AWARE that these lasers suck . I'm sure that they are under-spec and that they probably cant scan at 30k but Its the idea of having one stage left and one stage RT that gets me. These would never be for graphics either.




Now I am not any kind of "laser professional" and I don't really do shows in clubs anymore, but once and awhile There is a house party or a party in the woods that I usually bring other types of lighting equipment to. I really like the idea of having a complete stage setup of lighting and lasers with a center more powerful 1.2W RGY laser and these 2 less powerful(330mw) lasers on either side.

So what are your opinions on this?

If all you're doing are beam shows, the scan rate doesn't matter too much. Do you have any info on the brand of modules that those RGBs use (couldn't find any on the ebay listing)?

I recently picked up an inexpensive 500mW RGB made by LKI (LK-MC2 is the model number). I believe they run about $1300. They are a little more expensive, but they use great components (all CNI) and they have a fairly inexpensive analog option (extra charge of 8% of $1300, so ~$100). All the modules exceed specifications (before optics) and the scanners (30k) are quite good. I would recommend looking in to buying one if you can find it. You could shoot an email to LKI with an offer, since many times the prices aren't rock solid. Here's a link to their site:

Hongkong Laserking Tec Co.,Limited.

Pretty decent deals for RGBs..

You could use one of these as a centerpiece, and flank it with two greens, or two RGYs.

Thanks, I sent them a request for a price for 2 of them.....they are a little more expensive but I love that they use real CNI modules. $2,600 is a little more than I was hoping to spend but for "quality" parts I would do it... Thanks for the lead....



anyone else

I'd contact andy_con to make you one ^^.

rangedunits said:

I'd contact andy_con to make you one ^^.

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Yes I thought about that but thought that it would be to expensive for my budget. :thinking: I guess I should just ask and see what he says. :beer:

EDIT: So andy is just too far away to make shipping economical

Bad move. Make it yourself or get it from a reputable source (kvant comes to mind)

Big cost difference in the case of Kvant (although their products are badass..), but building it yourself would be a good idea..

I have one of the scanners KGB is looking at there, cyparagon, and I actually like it a lot.

At that price point I was highly impressed by it. Mine has all CNI analog modules that are each overspec, the red module does lose a bit of power off the sides of the galvo mirrors due to the fat beam though. The scanners seem very decent to me, and the overall construction is not incredible but not bad. Keep in mind we are talking about a Chinese sytstem and someone on a budget.

here's a pic of the interior of mine:




you can see that the optics mounts aren't the best and it's not a stacked design (power supplies and fans below, laser heads on top) but at that price point I really don't feel even slightly ripped off.

Before optics the power of the lasers were:

86mW 473, 153mW 532, 324mW 650nm.

last time I had them on a meter.

Datasheets for these CNI lasers:

http://cnilaser.com/PDF/MBL-III-473.pdf

http://cnilaser.com/PDF/MRL-III-655.pdf

http://cnilaser.com/PDF/PGL-V-H-532.pdf

Hey EF, do you have a pic of the ILDA 30k test pattern from this scanner set?

Lol, I could buy like 10 of these for the price of a Kvant. I would build it myself but I dont have the time for a project like this. The whole reason I am considering just buying it is mainly that I have been working at getting a nice projector for over 6 months and the last one I had was Destroyed by USPS after 5 months of work on it

KGB_Productions said:

Hey EF, do you have a pic of the ILDA 30k test pattern from this scanner set?

Lol, I could buy like 10 of these for the price of a Kvant. I would build it myself but I dont have the time for a project like this. The whole reason I am considering just buying it is mainly that I have been working at getting a nice projector for over 6 months and the last one I had was Destroyed by USPS after 5 months of work on it

Click to expand...

Not yet.. I haven't had it too long and i have yet to plug it into a DAC, but that will be changing this weekend if I can find the time. I need to tune the red and blue channels of my soundcard DAC (I've only used it with monochrome systems so far) and I'll take some pics then.

I can take other pics if you like, and I have some video here:


Video by Yobresal

I would love to see all the pics you take, no such thing as too many
Also, was the laser in that video TTl or Analog?

KGB_Productions said:

I would love to see all the pics you take, no such thing as too many
Also, was the laser in that video TTl or Analog?

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I bought the system from Yobresal not long ago and he assures me it is analog, but apparently the DMX card's programs only provide TTL signals.

I'll take some more pics and video over the weekend whether I get the DAC tuned or not. It does pretty well with the built in programs, definitely doesn't seem out of tune. I'll know better once I the DAC tuned, but I'm pretty confident it will be good enough..

yobresal said:

.... I just tested the laser much to my dismay. After all mirrors and optics and everything the green is 70mW, red is 100mW and blue is 40mW....

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210mw White? Hey EF, Is this the same scanner we are talking about? And is the loss really that bad on the blue and red?

That is the same system, but I have only measured the lasers before optics. I don't have a true LPM myself, so when I need accurate measurements I use one at a local university since I have a good friend who teaches there. I did measure the output after optics using a laserbee laser sensor at ~50mW 473nm, 120mW 532nm, and 190mW 650nm, but those are only rough estimates since these power sensors have a 120mW limit and read well on the low side below 500nm.

You're always going to have some optical losses, and these are budget systems. If you feel that you need better performance, you would need to spend more. They're decent systems, but they're not miraculous or anything. The color blending is not bad at all in general, so I don't believe the system is too out of whack.
My long term goal for my system is to tear it down and rebuild it in a new case using the lasers and the galvos, but replacing the dichros and mounts with better units.

To help put it in perspective, just the red and blue lasers are over $1000 from lasershowparts.com and other suppliers

ElektroFreak said:

....My long term goal for my system is to tear it down and rebuild it in a new case using the lasers and the galvos, but replacing the dichros and mounts with better units.

Click to expand...

Same here.

Back to the original Mierlight projectors..... I found these pics and some info if anyone is interested.... Meierlight - Photonlexicon