bungy
0
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2013
- Messages
- 60
- Points
- 0
I saw a thread about this projector on another forum, which linked to another thread at PL:
Laser Projector (Red, Green, Purple) "Laser 3D Party Light" from Spencer's
I just got my own animations up and running, and I thought I'd share my experiences as this is a great starter projector at a very digestable price point of $170.
I've been itching to get in on a projector group buy, and this has only added more fuel to the fire
There is an SD Card inside the projector that contains a bunch of .ild files and another file that has the order to play the files in.
It is easy to just drop in .ild files that can be found on the net, or you can make your own. I used LaserBoy as recommended in the other thread. LaserBoy is an incredible powerful designer but it does have a steep learning curve. There are a few settings that must be tweaked in order to generate ilda files that are compatible with this projector.
There is also another program called bmp2ild that can vectorize bitmaps and export ilda files. I have found that it works best with black and white sketches. I vectorized a few cartoon characters in one of the videos below. I also used bmp2ild to create outlined text from an image I created in Photoshop.
ftp://89.179.238.101/upload/ftp/Software/bmp2ild/bmp2ild_v2.exe
More complex graphics (~1000 verticies) will flicker, but some tweaking in LaserBoy can help mitigate this.
A great enhancement for this projector is to upgrade the 405nm purple laser to a more visible wavelength. Someone on PL mentioned that DTR's 450nm Osram PL450B is a direct drop in replacement, and I can confirm that it is. The 450nm diode is much more vibrant and visible. I had to remove the bottom portion of the module since it is so close to the back of the projector.
The only problem with swapping the blue laser is alignment. I had to pry off the old glue with a razor, which wasn't difficult as the glue was brittle. Then the four screws on the heatsink mount had to be adjusted. Once I got it aligned well, I added hot glue to help hold it in place. I also had to add some teflon tape to the lens threads because the lens fit so loosely into the module. It is very tight now.
450nm Osram PL450B Diode In Copper Module W/Leads & Three Element Glass Lens
I ended up cutting a hole in the top of the housing to access the SD card without having to take everything apart. I also added some neoprene washers to the side mounting bracket knobs. It would get very tight and hard to loosen when it was just metal on metal. Now it stays in place securely, but the knobs are easy to loosen.
I used a wingnut to attach the mounting backet/stand to my camera's tripod so I have a nice portable, stable stand for it.
This is my first foray into projectors and it was a lot of fun learning and making my own animations. Can't wait until the next group buy fills up so I can get my hands on a real projector. (PM me for info on the GB)
I got almost all the info I needed from the thread at PL, but feel free to PM me if you get one of these and need help with it.
Stock animations included with the projector:
Some custom animations & graphics I made for a show I am putting together for my nephew's birthday party:
The internals:
New 450nm blue laser module installed
Old 405nm laser module
Empty projector housing
SD Card
The "business" end
SD Card access
Detail
Laser Projector (Red, Green, Purple) "Laser 3D Party Light" from Spencer's
I just got my own animations up and running, and I thought I'd share my experiences as this is a great starter projector at a very digestable price point of $170.
I've been itching to get in on a projector group buy, and this has only added more fuel to the fire
There is an SD Card inside the projector that contains a bunch of .ild files and another file that has the order to play the files in.
It is easy to just drop in .ild files that can be found on the net, or you can make your own. I used LaserBoy as recommended in the other thread. LaserBoy is an incredible powerful designer but it does have a steep learning curve. There are a few settings that must be tweaked in order to generate ilda files that are compatible with this projector.
There is also another program called bmp2ild that can vectorize bitmaps and export ilda files. I have found that it works best with black and white sketches. I vectorized a few cartoon characters in one of the videos below. I also used bmp2ild to create outlined text from an image I created in Photoshop.
ftp://89.179.238.101/upload/ftp/Software/bmp2ild/bmp2ild_v2.exe
More complex graphics (~1000 verticies) will flicker, but some tweaking in LaserBoy can help mitigate this.
A great enhancement for this projector is to upgrade the 405nm purple laser to a more visible wavelength. Someone on PL mentioned that DTR's 450nm Osram PL450B is a direct drop in replacement, and I can confirm that it is. The 450nm diode is much more vibrant and visible. I had to remove the bottom portion of the module since it is so close to the back of the projector.
The only problem with swapping the blue laser is alignment. I had to pry off the old glue with a razor, which wasn't difficult as the glue was brittle. Then the four screws on the heatsink mount had to be adjusted. Once I got it aligned well, I added hot glue to help hold it in place. I also had to add some teflon tape to the lens threads because the lens fit so loosely into the module. It is very tight now.
450nm Osram PL450B Diode In Copper Module W/Leads & Three Element Glass Lens
I ended up cutting a hole in the top of the housing to access the SD card without having to take everything apart. I also added some neoprene washers to the side mounting bracket knobs. It would get very tight and hard to loosen when it was just metal on metal. Now it stays in place securely, but the knobs are easy to loosen.
I used a wingnut to attach the mounting backet/stand to my camera's tripod so I have a nice portable, stable stand for it.
This is my first foray into projectors and it was a lot of fun learning and making my own animations. Can't wait until the next group buy fills up so I can get my hands on a real projector. (PM me for info on the GB)
I got almost all the info I needed from the thread at PL, but feel free to PM me if you get one of these and need help with it.
Stock animations included with the projector:
Some custom animations & graphics I made for a show I am putting together for my nephew's birthday party:
The internals:
New 450nm blue laser module installed
Old 405nm laser module
Empty projector housing
SD Card
The "business" end
SD Card access
Detail
Attachments
-
DSC06710s.jpg234.2 KB · Views: 2,909
-
DSC06712s.jpg137.2 KB · Views: 2,214
-
DSC06714s.jpg251.6 KB · Views: 2,098
-
DSC06718s.jpg162.8 KB · Views: 2,090
-
DSC06721s.jpg224.1 KB · Views: 2,034
-
DSC06725s.jpg171.5 KB · Views: 2,064
-
DSC06728s.jpg144.9 KB · Views: 1,972
-
DSC06730s.jpg185.6 KB · Views: 2,023