new to scanners

[Bionic-Badger]

Thanks for everyone's help thus far, I've got a very rudimentary scanner up and running in my enclosure - while I wait for a friend to CNC up a alu plate with grid of tapped holes (that's when it'll get real serious).

So I have a quick question today - 500mw 635nm vs 1300mw 650nm - which should I go for?

Thanks!

From the efficacy tables it's about the same brightness. Might just depend on what beamspecs you can get out of each. Also the 650nm has a deeper red which might be nice.

 

[bennett326]

i dont know where i should post this but ti think it needs to be in one of these threads. i made the mistake of scanning at 30k with a full scan angle luckily im pretty sure i didnt so it long enough to damage my galvos. from what i have heard pt30ks can scan at 30k at a 8 angle. so make sure you set your scanners accordingly guys :beer:

 

[trioxide]

A follow on from the last poster - if you use one of those PT-Itrust boards - what "angle" are they projecting at? (Or does my question not make sense? - I'm new to this )

 

[bennett326]

pt itrust? not sure what your talking about. you set the angle in whatever "player" you are using

so what software are you using and i can probably help you
also what scanners do you have

BTW i love links....

 

[trioxide]

Ahh sorry, this is them here : http://www.spacelas.com/pic/other/2011-09-01-09-18-162.pdf.

Just a crappy showcard thing. Which is where my question lies - it's not playing from a player (of course there is some embedded player..) so what angle is it projecting at? I'm guessing it is fixed at some industry minimum?

 

[bennett326]

hmmmm i dont see any info in that pdf about scan angle.....what galvos are you using i see you mentioned dt30s?

 

[trioxide]

There is nothing in the PDF about scan angle - so what angle does it drive at?

I ended up getting these scanners : http://www.te-lighting.com/eng/supports/specifi/40K-Scanners.pdf

Which I understand are spacelas "PT-40K's".

 

[trioxide]

Hey Everyone,

So I have my set of PT-40K's running. I'm currently feeding it with a 150mW green - from Spacelas too I believe.

As a signal source I'm using one of those PT-Itrust cards - and while everything looks "OK" there is significant flicker and "dotting" of lines.

I have a feeling this is because of the mediocrity of the Itrust card - one or two of the "gobos" actually look OK..

Will my image quality improve with something like a Pangolin Flashback SE (I'm about to order one)? ...(and get better lasers?)

I'm thinking flicker is more a function of signal generation (source) and laser response - rather than the glavos - am I right?

Thanks!!

 

[ElektroFreak]

Your image quality will be literally worlds better using the FB3 yes.

Sorry, that last part didn't register for some reason. The flicker in the images produced by all galvo-based laser projectors is a function of the fact that there is only one beam coming out of the projector at any given time. This beam is tracing an image at a high rate of speed, but usually not high enough to eliminate all of the perceived flickering as persistence of vision only lasts so long..

 

[trioxide]

Another question - sorry If I should be asking these elsewhere.

The amplifier for the X axis seems to run significantly warmer than Y, is there some logical reason for this, is it just variance in components or should I be checking something to correct this?

How hot should they get (PT-40K's)? Sitting on a good piece of aluminium one gets almost too hot to touch, the other is just warm?

Thanks again!

 

[ElektroFreak]

are you projecting a full image? As in the same scan angle on the x-axis as the y-axis?

 

[Things]

Could be simply that there is more X movement required in the frame you're projecting than Y.

Sometimes you can get away with just mounting the amps to your baseplate for heatsinking, works fine for my DT25's, but for others you sometimes need active cooling and a heatsink. Galvo amps are basically audio amplifiers. Infact, most even use stock standard audio amplifier chips, they'll get hot.

 

[trioxide]

OK - thanks guys. I was projecting something roughly equal in both axis;

I have since adjusted the tension on the galvo in the mounting block (unsure if this actually has any effect) and added a large piece of L shaped aluminium against the amp heatsinks which keeps both amplifiers wayyy cooler.

Thanks for all your help

 

[Things]

Galvo mounting tension could have been having an effect, but usually you'd hear them scraping/screeching and just being generally unhappy if it was that bad. good to hear you got it sorted.

 

[trioxide]

Can anyone suggest the best safety goggles/glasses for aligning RGB systems? Are there good goggles that cover the entire 450-660nm? And what is/are the accepted best brands for these?

Thanks!

 

[Bionic-Badger]

There really isn't one that is good for all of them. The closest goggle is probably the ML7 at OEM, which is good for general purpose alignment of low-powered reds, (< 1W) greens, and even violets; however, that does not cover 445nm lasers, and red lasers are only protected up to 150mW. I was able to get protection for 445nm by putting some YLW goggles in front of the ML7s (as the laser was TTL controlled, not analog), without losing much vision.

In general, you should reduce the power of the individual lasers to a safe level (the minimum lasing power) and use the goggles you have to align with. You should also be able to align one laser at a time with an alignment target (i.e. some piece of paper that lets you see where the individual beam hit), and swap out goggles as needed.