Radial scanners?

Hey guys,
I was trying to think of some things to do with a spirograph and I though of something: would it make sense to make a radial scanner by using a simple spiro mirror to control angle and a galvo to control distance from the center? Well, all you would really need is a single spiro motor spinning at a constant speed, and then draw pictures with an (R, Ø) system rather than (X, Y). Wouldn't this both save money, and give you a faster scanning rate? Because you can have a motor spinning a heck of a lot faster than you can have a galvo moving, and I think this would allow you to draw much higher detail images along a circle. Picture it like if pixels radiated out from the center of the screen, and each individual circle was very high resolution, much higher resolution than current computers but each circle was still the width of your average pixel. If you could modulate your lasers fast enough (you probably could) it would basically be like that. Much better quality images, but only on one "axis". It would still be partially limited by the galvo. But hey, with the money you would save you could get a single really fast galvo and increase R resolution as well as Ø. I'm not sure about the optics part, but in my head it seems like this could give you a wider scan angle, too. Just putting the idea out there....

will

Not really sure how well that would work out??

I will say this, the fact that you always seem to be thinking, dwelling and creating in your mind, that's a very cool thing.

It's a sign of creativity.....

Other then its slightly patented, I hereby show you a video of a slightly different version of your idea..

This is a galvo on a arm into a mirror, but the effects are similar.

http://www.lasershows.net

He's got a cleaver scheme that prevents link copies, so goto photos,
click on 3d laser scanner...

There used to be a video, but you'll have to settle for pics.

Steve

photonaholic said:

Not really sure how well that would work out??

I will say this, the fact that you always seem to be thinking, dwelling and creating in your mind, that's a very cool thing.

It's a sign of creativity.....

Click to expand...

thanks!
here is an image to help show what I'm talking about

black=laser.
orange thing=galvo
blue thing=spiro
If the galvo was left in one place, it would just make a circle. But if the galvo were to move, you could make other designs or pictures.

LSRFAQ said:

Other then its slightly patented, I hereby show you a video of a slightly different version of your idea..

This is a galvo on a arm into a mirror, but the effects are similar.

Lightwave International - Laser Shows and Special Event Production - Home

He's got a cleaver scheme that prevents link copies, so goto photos,
click on 3d laser scanner...

There used to be a video, but you'll have to settle for pics.

Steve

Click to expand...

cool! that looks great... not quite the same though.

way back when I first started playing with my Helium Neon, I used 1 motor with a mirror that I epoxied onto the end of the shaft (with J.B. weld) and then I bounced the beam directly into a mirror I glued onto the spindle assembly I harvested out of a CD player, I then wired a flip flop with transistors to energize the coils of the CD player drive spindle, this allowed the mirror to rock back and forth, speed controlled by the repetition rate of the "clock pulses" (a 555 with a pot) I could get some wild patterns on the wall with that setup.

Heh ..... good old times ....... that resemble the first trials, with a mirror on the motor and the other on a loudspeaker ..... the result was a ring of light, with the border of the ring modulated as a "crown" from the music ..... and ofcourse, it was a He-Ne (no laser diodes for me, more than 30 years ago) .....

You're making me feeling nostalgic ..... sniff :cryyy: