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Thread: bare bonz laser projector

  1. #1
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    Default bare bonz laser projector

    Excuse my ignorance. I know nothing about lasers. However, I want a projector that will put simple shapes on a wall. I would like to program this in the most basic form that I can. I'll use a square as an example. I'd like to input onto a spreadsheet or csv the 4 points 0,0 10,0 10,10 0,10.


    Where do I find a laser kit so that I can do this?

  2. #2
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    Your mid 1970s concept is way outdated. What do you really want to do? Modern controllers are a lot more sophisticated then what you describe. Besides, four points does not a image make, you typically need more data then that.

    Steve
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    LaserBoy reads and writes white space separated values. In other words there is a fairly simple TXT file format that LB knows how to read. Once you have your art imported into LB you can save it as a standard ILDA file or a CTN file for those SD card readers.

    http://laserboy.org/forum/index.php?...sg2188#msg2188

    Also, once you are in LB you can easily draw simple shapes.

    BTW, it takes 5 points to draw a square. The last point is the same as the first point to close the square.

    James.
    Last edited by james; 05-28-2017 at 14:32.
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    Five points gets you a square with faint sides and hot corners. What do you really want to do?

    Steve
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  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by mixedgas View Post
    Five points gets you a square with faint sides and hot corners. What do you really want to do?

    Steve
    Five points is all you need to draw a square. You need the aid of some kind of laser display software to turn that into a time optimized frame suitable for display.
    Creator of LaserBoy!
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  6. #6
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    Thank you all for your help. Of course, I want to draw more than a square. I used it as an example that I want to define each point. I want to define the points in a csv file and then have this drawing projected into a wall.

  7. #7
    mixedgas's Avatar
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    One of the problems of specifying bare bones/cheap is most [95%] of new users who try to go cheap and use things like sound card control of very Dim 200$ projectors, end up being stuck with cumbersome kludges they can't resell, that do not do what they really want long term. They end up with things they spend more time tweeking then actually using.

    I've seen that happen more times then I can count.


    IF Cheap means csv manually converted using a obscure utility [there are three such utilities] to an ILDA format file manually copied to a sd card, then placed by hand in a weak 200$ projector, rebooting the projector to display the image off the SD. Then projecting the image using cheap galvos that will last maybe one to three months, your probably wasting your time.

    You want to convert CSV to an image, now please tell me why so I and others on here can point you to modern, application specific hardware that is low cost and can accomplish what you want.

    What is your budget? How fast do you want to update your image? Are you familiar with microcontrollers? Are you familiar with analog electronics?

    Steve
    Last edited by mixedgas; 05-29-2017 at 14:49.
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  8. #8
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    Lasers projectors are more focused on entertainment. This is not what I want it for. I want to download a cad drawing as a csv. I then want the laser to read the csv. Note I don't want to skip this part. I don't want to go straight from cad to the projector.

  9. #9
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    Then you will spend a lot of time editing the CSV, because
    almost all laser projectors, entertainment or otherwise, use Galvanometer Scanners, they are analog, except for the very best ones, and thus have inertial characteristics that need to be understood and compensated for. If your doing CAD based artwork, you need really good galvos, and expect to be limited to 750-1100 vector points depending on your scan angle.

    What size image do you want to project, and where? Indoors/outdoors? Customer demo or something like carbon fiber layup where the laser tells the worker where to place things? Day/night?

    If you tell us your location, we can probably pair you up with some one who can give you time on a high quality projector to play with, before you possibly end up getting burned.

    Steve
    Last edited by mixedgas; 05-29-2017 at 15:09.
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  10. #10
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    With LaserBoy you can read white space delimited ASCII numerical data tables and convert them to laser vector frames.

    As far as I know LB is the only application that can do exactly that.

    I'm not sure what your CSV files look like but there might be a simple way to edit them so that they open directly into LB.

    Requirements for laser vector art are quite different than for CAD drawings, even though both are types of vector art formats.

    BTW you can also directly import DXF files into LB as laser vector art frames. DXF files are also plain ASCII text files with a different format. But you just said you don't want to do that.

    Once you get your art into LB you can optimize it and save it as a standard ILDA file and use that with just about any kind of laser projection application.

    LaserBoy is free. That's hard to beat. It runs in Windows and can be compiled for MacOSX and Linux. You might as well give it a try.

    James.
    Creator of LaserBoy!
    LaserBoy is free and runs in Windows, MacOS and Linux (including Raspberry Pi!).
    Download LaserBoy!
    YouTube Tutorials
    Ask me about my LaserBoy Correction Amp Kit for sale!
    All software has a learning curve usually proportional to its capabilities and unique features. Pointing with a mouse is in no way easier than tapping a key.

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