Consider my mind BOGGLED!

[EpicHam]

So its just basically one of those RGB lasers that goes for about 300 each fitted with a RGB analogue control board , a DAC board and a set of galvos + software.

So bringing the total to about 600-700 usd right?

How hard can it be?

 

[vk2fro]

Yeah but those RGB units have horrible beam specs - the red laser is huge, and so is the blue.

 

[EpicHam]

Yeah but those RGB units have horrible beam specs - the red laser is huge, and so is the blue.

So what I want will be a RGB lasers with more or less the same beam diameter and divergence while maintaining the balance to produce a good white beam?

 

[vk2fro]

That is correct. You use beams with vastly different beam sizes (e.g. a 3mm green, a 5mm red and a 4x2 blue) yes the blue will line up ok, but anything using the red will have red tinges to it because its so big. And since its so big, you'll need more power to even out the color balance.

Alignment of a projector is probably the hardest bit, seconded by wiring it

 

[swamidog]

the "lite" version of LSX plus a riya lite dac is slightly less than 1/2 the price of Quickshow/FB3. (274$)

the "pro" version of LSX and a etherdream dac is *slightly* more expensive than Quickshow/FB3 (619$ vs. 595$).

lsx is more complex, but considerably more powerful than quickshow,

Not anything decent, no. iShow is the cheapest, but it's also a heap of shit and shouldn't even exist, LSX is probably the next cheapest, but you also need a DAC for it, I think LSX + an Etherdream and the FB3/QS end up roughly the same price, with LSX a little cheaper. Good software is not cheap.

 

[EpicHam]

What's so special about their DAC that's worth $400?
Can't I just build one out of Arduino?

 

[swamidog]

you can, they just won't have the resolution or speed of higher quality DACs.

here are some examples: http://www.fab-favreau.com/index.php/Main/OpenLaserShowDAC

notice the top speed is 30kpps and the limited color resolution.

on the other hand, they're quite inexpensive. i could never use them for my laser shows, but they would be ok for beam shows. especially if your lasers were just TTL.

What's so special about their DAC that's worth $400?
Can't I just build one out of Arduino?

 

[EpicHam]

you can, they just won't have the resolution or speed of higher quality DACs.

here are some examples: http://www.fab-favreau.com/index.php/Main/OpenLaserShowDAC

notice the top speed is 30kpps and the limited color resolution.

on the other hand, they're quite inexpensive. i could never use them for my laser shows, but they would be ok for beam shows. especially if your lasers were just TTL.

so.
If I want to have a show similar to that of the Ministry show.
Why cyclic rate do I need?
Is 40kpps any good?
Cos above that it start to get expensive.
VERY EXPENSIVE ....

 

[swamidog]

40kpps is probably fine, but generally that's more of a restriction due to your glavos than your DAC.

What's so special about their DAC that's worth $400?
Can't I just build one out of Arduino?

so.
If I want to have a show similar to that of the Ministry show.
Why cyclic rate do I need?
Is 40kpps any good?
Cos above that it start to get expensive.
VERY EXPENSIVE ....

 

[vk2fro]

Yep 40kpps galvos will do that show, and quite a lot of graphics shows as well.

There are two more popular examples - the Dragon Tiger 40's (or DT40's for short) and the Dragon Tiger 40W's (or DT40W's for short). They are almost always referred to by their short name e.g. "I have a set of DT40W's in my projector, whats in yours?".

The two differentiate in one aspect - the DT40W's have smaller mirrors than the DT40's (which can be bought with the small mirrors or the larger mirrors which fit fatter beams - the smaller mirrors will take up to a 3mm beam without overspill, or 4mm beams with only a small amount of overspill), and the 40W's can do beam shows at stupidly insane angles like 90°! Note that I mentioned beam shows. Doing a graphics show with a set of DT40W's at over the normal angle (into their "wide territory", or where their scan angle exceeds that of normal scanners) will ruin them.