WTB: ILDA projector w/ +500mw 445nm

[SteveTX]

I am looking for a complete projector kit with at least 18k speed and one of the new cheap 445s so I can get a very bright display to project this onto a wall outdoors. Does anyone here offer such a kit? I only need to use it a few times, so a modded chinese system would be fine too.

Edit: If no such system exists or is readily available, are there any tutorials for modifying the diodes/drivers in the cheapy chinese ILDA's?

 

[Things]

If you are going for graphics projections, I'd stay away from 445nm, at least until a good beam correction solution is found. The divergence and dot is horrible, and your projection will just look like a big blurred mess. You'd be better off finding a nice powerful green system.

I have 150mW green and I've been able to project onto most surfaces easily.

Also, depending on the complexity of what you are trying to project, you may want to move up a bit from 18K .. Although at low scan angles you can usually push them a little faster.

 

[FlightLevel350]

Since the 445 diodes are so new, very few people have built projectors with them, with most simply swapping out their 405 for the 445. It is doubtful that any modified chinese system exists that has >500mw of 445nm and a decent color. Why are you only planning on using this a few times?

 

[SteveTX]

This system is only to be used for some guerilla artwork. Static images, relatively simple, but projected onto 30+ story buildings. Being that the projection is on such a large surface with static or simple animations, divergence may not be a large issue.

This is a very good example of what I want: http://laserpointerforums.com/f65/445nm-laser-projector-51781.html

 

[Prototype]

The bigger the projection surface, the more divergence becomes important.

@flightlevel350, there's been 445 in projectors before, it just cost $2,000 a diode, so not many had access to it.

 

[ElektroFreak]

If you are going for graphics projections, I'd stay away from 445nm, at least until a good beam correction solution is found. The divergence and dot is horrible, and your projection will just look like a big blurred mess. You'd be better off finding a nice powerful green system.

That's not true actually. While you still do want to go with green because of the visibility advantage, the divergence with these 445nm diodes is really not bad with most 405nm multi-element lenses like the ones from Aixiz or o-like. I've got one at 500mW in my RGB projector and graphics and beams both look great. I've measured it's fast axis divergence at 1.6mrad which isn't too bad.. Certainly far, far from a blurred mess.

Realistically you'd want several watts of green to project large imagery outdoors..

 

[FlightLevel350]

If you are projecting this on a 30 story building from say 200 feet away, wouldn't you want to use something besides green? The beams in the air might be distracting, but I guess it depends on how powerful the green is.

@prototype, wow that's pretty crazy. I think I'd rather have a 473 instead of a 445 for that kind of money

 

[Things]

The beam is going to be visible whether it's 1W of 445, green or red, nothing you can do about it.

 

[andy_con]

PM me if you want a custom projector build.

you can check my site for previous projector builds

 

[SteveTX]

By the way, I am entirely unconcerned about beam visibility. I am only concerned about target visibility to hit a building, so that a logo/words are visible. No crowd scanning at all.

 

[kiyoukan]

well if you want my galvos they might be for sale.
the ones you saw in my vid. i am looking to go to a pair of 30k galvos....
shoot me a pm if you want them.

 

[ElektroFreak]

By the way, I am entirely unconcerned about beam visibility. I am only concerned about target visibility to hit a building, so that a logo/words are visible. No crowd scanning at all.

Green is your only option then, and a lot of it..

 

[kiyoukan]

ohh comon Ef that is not fair!@!
if he was to get 4 445nm lasers and drive them at 1w each that would be more than enough to get logos on a building and heck 4 445nm lasers would only cost about 200$ not bad.
4 watts of 445nm is impressive. with the right lensing on my pointer style running at 500ma i can see it at the tops of hotels. i could only imagine how 4 watts would show up.
Also if i remember to get 1 watt of green is like 500$ so 4 watts of blue is cheaper.
i know the brightness decreases when on gavlos the 4% mirrors loss and then the moving speed lower brightness.
but no longer is green the only color able to be used in large scale image projecting.
if i get the time i might just rig my last 4 445nms and see what 4 watts look like but i am more than positive i will be able to see it at the top of the hotel.

 

[SteveTX]

I would be entirely interested in a 4x 1w 445nm system.

 

[andy_con]

ill say again if you want a custom made scanner PM me

 

[ElektroFreak]

ohh comon Ef that is not fair!@!
if he was to get 4 445nm lasers and drive them at 1w each that would be more than enough to get logos on a building and heck 4 445nm lasers would only cost about 200$ not bad.
4 watts of 445nm is impressive. with the right lensing on my pointer style running at 500ma i can see it at the tops of hotels. i could only imagine how 4 watts would show up.
Also if i remember to get 1 watt of green is like 500$ so 4 watts of blue is cheaper.
i know the brightness decreases when on gavlos the 4% mirrors loss and then the moving speed lower brightness.
but no longer is green the only color able to be used in large scale image projecting.
if i get the time i might just rig my last 4 445nms and see what 4 watts look like but i am more than positive i will be able to see it at the top of the hotel.

You're not taking into account scanning and modulation losses. I personally guarantee you that 4 watts of 445 will do squat on the side of anything bigger than the side of a small house.

445 is not overly visible in the first place. To do large outdoor projections with ANY blue color would require several tens of Watts. There is a reason that professionals almost always use green for outdoor projection. If they're not using green, they're using full-color and are very choosy about which colors are projected. You will want to stay away from red and blue for outdoor projection.

I'm not just pulling this stuff out of my ass here guys. This is coming from lengthy discussion with some of the top pros in the world. If you want to do large outdoor building projections, green is where you want to be.. about 5-10W should do for a starting point. I'm trying to steer the OP in the right direction here, but if you guys insist on trying to get him to waste money on a blue system for outdoor projection, that's on your conscience. Hopefully when he gets the system and wonders why he can barely make out what is being projected he'll know who to complain to.