First scanner advice needed, right step into scanners?

I was doing a test-run of KGB_Production's RGV scanner with ScanPro 20 galvos

Pangolin does handle the optimization a little better than Spaghetti (If you pay that kinda money for their products you'd hope so too ), but indeed it does come down to the frames.

Easylase isn't such a good option, I believe they have buffering issues.

I would consider:

Moncha, Fiesta, Soundcard DAC, FB3, LD2000 (Expensive) and maybe the RIYA DAC's.

The cheapest are the SCD, FB3 and the RIYA series.

I have played with Moncha and it is a pretty nice piece of software, although it lacks a little bit, and more expensive than the FB3

I would go with either the FB3 or the SCD. FB3 is ready to go, full functional and comes with a awesome bundle of software (Pangolin is going to release some new software for it very soon, free!), but the soundcard DAC is DIY and like Elektro said, you can be proud of yourself that it's something YOU made. Although if you buy the unboxed FB3 (If you want DMX) you would need to get a case made up for it, or you could go the XE version.

-Dan

Ok i tossed a coin, heads for FB3, tails for SCD. Three times it landed on heads! lol My wallet is laying on its back giggling!

*Things hides the regular coin behind his back innocently grinning at the tail-heavy coin in XysteR's hand*

>.>

Getting my head around wiring this lot up,

*****Snipped images*****

things said:

*things hides the regular coin behind his back innocently grinning at the tail-heavy coin in xyster's hand*

>.>

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lmao!

OK, Connect one of those grounds (The T's) to pin 25 on your DB25 connector, but only 1 or you may end up with a ground loop. The 2 centre grounds go to your PSU, although you only need to connect 1 of these too, and I assume you know where the rest goes.

Yes, you are right with the DB25 connector, but not sure on your laser, have to check the manual for that one, if it was a question. Yes, the modulation wires go directly to the DB25 connector.

Things said:

OK, Connect one of those grounds (The T's) to pin 25 on your DB25 connector, but only 1 or you may end up with a ground loop. The 2 centre grounds go to your PSU, although you only need to connect 1 of these too, and I assume you know where the rest goes.

Yes, you are right with the DB25 connector, but not sure on your laser, have to check the manual for that one, if it was a question. Yes, the modulation wires go directly to the DB25 connector.

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Spot on! i wondered if they'd go to pin 25, i'll connect 1 then. The 2 centre grounds are already prewired on the plug that goes to the PSU so that ones done already.

The laser is correctly setup for analog via info from the manual and adjusting the 2 switches.

Do i only need wire to an externally mounted 25pin (IDLA) port if i were to use the box version of the FB3? If i were to go with the internal (DMX) one would i only need a usb port out of the back?

I'm not clued up on electronics at all. It was cooking my noodle a bit when i noticed people connecting ground wires between Aluminuim plates etc, i thought aluminium doen't conduct electricity? Am i right to assume this is soley to deal with ground interference?

The grounding would be to reduce interference and maintain signal integrity, yes.

If you start a membership over on PL and inform Pangolin of this, then they will sell you an enhanced box version FB3 for the normal (internal DMX) price. I'd definitely go that route, since then you can use the DAC with any scanner(s). I started out with a soundcard DAC mounted inside one of my green scanners, but I later removed it so that I could use it with other scanners. Your best bet will be to wire up a DB-25 in the scanner. Just be glad (for now) that you aren't wiring up an RGB or anything with servos, beam stops/directors, etc..

Ah i see, thanks for that...


I just bought an Aluminium plate 270mm X 470mm X 10mm £40 and £6 postage. Seems like a nice size. My laser head is 130mm long and 72mm wide, after planning it out for future reference this should give room for full RGB later

Since y'all are on the topic of connections for ILDA I'll post this here,

I'm going the sound card DAC and drlava correction amp route and am curious what output pins I need to connect to a DB25 connector? I'm making only green scanner, so I know I hook up one of the output channels (I'm choosing channel 1 and its ground (G)) to pins 6 and 19. And then I'm guessing I need to hook up 2 more channels (I'm going to use 3,G and 4,G for these 2 channels) from the DrLava correction amp to handle the X + / - and the Y + / -? going into 1/14 and 2/15. And then I'm not sure which output G to connect to pin 25... is any of this correct?

I'm so close yet so far... per usually any help or tips greatly appreciated.

thanks,
Kendall

You need a DZE breakout board.. available here (select the link that says "DB-25 breakout boards available again"). You can do the wiring yourself, but using one of these will make the process of connecting to the DB-25 quite painless. You can also use one in reverse to wire a female DB-25 to your DAC as an output if you use it with a male-female DB-25 gender changer.

The routing has been done for you on the breakout board. You just have to connect the wires to each clearly labeled terminal.

To wire it up yourself, you need to look at the picture XysteR posted in post #53 above. There is a picture of a DB-25 with little white circles drawn over the relevant connections. Those are all you need for a green scanner. Regarding the correction amp outputs, you've obviously already connected the X,Y galvos and the modulation to the correction amp inputs. Whichever inputs on the amp you used for X,Y,mod are the same numbers as their respective outputs. For example, if you have X on input 1, Y on input 2 and modulation on input 3, then output 1 would go to the X pins on the DB-25, output 2 would go to the Y pins on the DB-25 connector and output 3 would go the the modulation pins on the DB-25.

Things, can you remember what thread size the DT25's galvo block uses?

Hey guys, just wanted to try and help clear something up a bit. On XYsteR's amp, the pin has the "sideways T" label really should be left disconnected all together. ILDA pin 25 (GND or Ground) should be attached directly to the scanner power supply, in particular to the screw labelled "COM". This will prevent a ground loop.

The wiring for the laser can also be a bit wierd. Ideally, you would only connect "modulation +" line and leave the other disconnected, and attach ILDA pin 25 to the 0V rail of the laser power supply. A laser that has the driver and power supply built together, or if the modulation input is isolated for protection (seems the Laserwave lasers have this built in) will need to have both "modulation + and modulation -" attached. However, the "modulation -" should be attached to ilda pin 25. The R-, G- and B- are really for a laser that has a differential front end, which most of them do not. Some DAC's can handle having these lines (R-, G-, B-) grounded, then you can use them if you have to. If your DAC is able to handle having the minus lines grounded, and you have a breakout board, then you can just turn on switches 3, 4 and 5 to ground the minus lines on the breakout board.

DJZ said:

Hey guys, just wanted to try and help clear something up a bit. On XYsteR's amp, the pin has the "sideways T" label really should be left disconnected all together. ILDA pin 25 (GND or Ground) should be attached directly to the scanner power supply, in particular to the screw labelled "COM". This will prevent a ground loop.

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I was wondering about that.. On my scanpros I don't connect the galvo ground at all for that reason, I just didn't know if it applied to all galvo amps.

XysteR said:

Things, can you remember what thread size the DT25's galvo block uses?

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I know I'm not Things, but that would be m-4 metric..