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Thread: Introducing the Stupid Laser Router (SLR)

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Fort Mill, SC USA
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    1,507

    Default Introducing the Stupid Laser Router (SLR)

    Hey folks!

    I just wanted to take a moment to share a simple solution to a problem I addressed recently with my home lasering environment. While waiting for DZ and EKeefe's awesome Advanced Laser Router to be finalized, I went ahead and ordered some parts to build something to address my DMX controlled ILDA routing needs that was extremely 'quick and dirty' in comparison.

    As background, I currently use LSX for my main lasing needs. LSX like most LDS (Laser Design Studio) derivatives is limited to controlling a maximum of 8 DACs at any one time via 8 timelines. For most people this limitation is more than adequate, but I got overly excited and started building more and more projectors to incorporate into my environment. My control solution (other than harassing DrLava to add additional DAC capabilities) was to take off the shelf parts and make them into a simple DMX controlled router. Hence the Stupid Laser Router (SLR) was born.

    The SLR is simply a bunch of cheap DMX controlled relay boards that route ILDA input signals to two or more ILDA outputs.

    I took two approaches, the first two models take one ILDA input and distribute it in an AND/OR fashion to four outputs. The dumber-er version was even simpler - taking three inputs and distributing them to two outputs each using OR logic. The end result is three SLRs that allow me to control up to fourteen projectors with five DACs, although I'm currently using them to control ten projectors with five DACs with three more DACs that are directly connected to individual projectors for a total of thirteen projectors currently mounted/controlled.

    Here are some pics. "She ain't pretty, but she's cheap!"

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    The internals should make those of you with OCD a little mental! Just to make it worse, take a look at the mess that is my main signaling control closet: Click image for larger version. 

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    Anyway, what these simple devices do successfully is route an ILDA signal to the first output regardless of whether it has DMX connected or even power as that's hooked up directly to the relay's off position. This allowed me to not make any changes or add DMX controls to get my older 8 projector shows to work as they did before. Safety features are generally non-existent with shutter controls and interlocks soldered to all outputs. (By the way, thanks to EKeefe for his guidance during my build.)

    All in all, the SLRs are working well. They are nothing compared to the beauty and sophistication that is my EK-DZ Advanced Laser Router, but they are getting the job done for the moment. As proof (and for fun), here is a reworked show with 8 DACs controlling 12 projectors with several switches during the show. (Sorry for those of you who either hate Pink Floyd or are about to say how much better the version you saw from some pro was! )



    -David
    "Help, help, I'm being repressed!"

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Location
    Colorado, USA
    Posts
    170

    Default

    Great little SLR you got there, almost finished ordering most of the parts to my SLR with slightly more cable management of course xD!

    This looks great though Dk you definitely outdid yourself on this show. I like the integration of everything you have been working on recently.

    Keep it up friend!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Fort Mill, SC
    Posts
    556

    Default

    Nice Show can't wait to see in person.
    Watching Lasers Since 1981

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    Portland, OR
    Posts
    89

    Default

    Wow.. that's a lot of lighting!!! Do you host private events? Or is this just for you?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Fort Mill, SC USA
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    Default

    Thanks, guys!

    10Fenny: This is just my multimedia room, so attendance is limited to friends and family. Most of the time though, it is there just to keep me out of trouble.
    "Help, help, I'm being repressed!"

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Syracuse, NY
    Posts
    287

    Default

    Now that's my kind of living room
    LASERS!!

    1x Homemade 500mW 405nm Projector
    1x Homemade 1.2W RGB Projector
    1x Lightspace Color Ray Series 6W RGB
    2x Lightspace Venus 2W RGB

    ZPL Lighting www.zpllighting.com

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Cleveland Ohio
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    2,599

    Default

    Amazing room. I'd kill for a ceiling that high. Great job!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Charleston, SC
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    2,147,489,446

    Default

    The ceiling actually isn't that high. The camera is sitting very low in the video.

    That being said, with all the gear David has in there, it's a bit like sensory overload when he runs a show. Everything is right there, and in your face! I find myself looking around the room all the time, because he's got stuff going on in different places at the same time. The glow-in-the-dark paint is a new feature that he was working on the last time I visited. Nice to see how well that works. (I damned near shit myself when I realized you could read the lyrics THROUGH the projected video! That's damned cool....)

    But yeah, most people would kill to have a room like David has - even with the normal ceiling height. It's an awesome projection space.

    Adam

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Fort Mill, SC USA
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by buffo View Post
    The ceiling actually isn't that high. The camera is sitting very low in the video.
    Thanks, Adam. Yeah, the ceiling is only 9 feet (3M) in the main room and 8 feet in the extended bar area. If I did it all again, I would have put a dome in the main room for additional height and of course planetarium-ish content. I think the roof could have handled it, but my builders already thought I was crazy as it were. (They were right.) All of the views captured except one was recorded at the height of a sitting viewer's eyes . . . primarily because I'm too lazy to go adjust my BAM settings.

    That being said, with all the gear David has in there, it's a bit like sensory overload when he runs a show. Everything is right there, and in your face! I find myself looking around the room all the time, because he's got stuff going on in different places at the same time.
    Yeah, the 180 degree of stuff to watch was the original intent for the room. Lacking artistic skills, I'm just throwing as much stuff against the wall (pretty much literally now) to see what sticks. I've got some additional ideas in mind that have yet to be implemented. There are always projects to do, aren't there?

    The glow-in-the-dark paint is a new feature that he was working on the last time I visited. Nice to see how well that works. (I damned near shit myself when I realized you could read the lyrics THROUGH the projected video! That's damned cool....)
    Oh cool, I'm glad someone noticed that. The glow paint in the main room is the short-lived, cheap stuff, but its cool that it can be seen for a few seconds even in a lit up room. That paint in the back bar wall that you've seen previously can last for hours although from a distance, it appears to fade out within a few minutes. The other night after running glow in the dark content on that back wall, the wall was still bright enough to light up the whole room. Its impressive how well that strontium aluminate stuff works.

    Thanks again and if anyone has artistic suggestions for ways to use the glow in the dark features, I'm all ears!

    -David
    "Help, help, I'm being repressed!"

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Location
    Colorado, USA
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    Default

    My SLR does well for my purposes! Definitely not as complicated as Dk's

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