Ilda Gem by Stanwax

Hello all,

Last friday i got my Ilda Gem in from Rob.
Thought i'd write a review to give you all an insight in the workings of the Ilda Gem.
Pictures will follow, the batteries in my camera went flat after taking 3 or 4 pics.
Will pull the pics of and place them here.

The contents of the package:
1 ILDA Gem (measuring 72x56mm)
1 Lead 2,5m long, DB25 on one end, USB on the other end.

The Ilda Gem is a small pcb with a DB25 Male on one end, and a DB25 Female on t
he other end. With this device you are able to adjust a projector without needing a laptop or pc with DAC. Standard it has support for 3 color channels RGB, but there are 3 userdefined postions where you can easily "route" 3 other color channels to the RGB channels. You duplicate then 1 of the R, G or B signals to a 4rd, 5th or 6th UD (UserDefined) colorchannel.

The blue pcb board itself has got very clear markings on them, every pot or switch is clearly marked with nice white silkscreen printed text.
On the board are 3 small switches and 3 Potmeters clearly labeled for each color R G or B.

You connect the DB25 to the input side, the other end with the USB you can plug into the laptop or a USB charger. I did the latter.
On the output side you connect a cable and connect that to the ILDA input of your projector. If you connect it like this, without ILDA signals coming in, the internal signal generator (Quadrature generator sp ?) will kick in and display a square, with my firmware (Q1P) this is displayed at 18K. However Rob has already developed new software (Q3P) and this will allow you to display it at 12,18 or 30K !
With a simple switch you will be able to select the display speed. A handy device already developing into something even cooler !

If you put the switches the Output 5V position (towards the Ilda Output connector) all colorsignals will display fullpower, and if you have a RGB projector you will see a WHITE square (if your projector is balanced correctly).

If you put the switches towards variable level, you guessed it already.... you can use the 3 onboard potmeters to control each color signal individually.
Very handy to make adjustments without the need for a pc and still having control of the power of each individual color. This way i was able to see easily that my Red Kvant has a shifted diode (again...).... turning down the other colors clearly revealed green and blue being nice aligned and the red on the horizontal lines be twice as fat.

The next thing i did, after verifying that everything worked ok, is connect the laptop with FB3. When replacing the USB charger and supplied DB25->USB lead for a normal ilda lead from the fb3 to the ILDA GEM, you are able to use the PC to display ilda files and X and Y size and position, but still have easy control over each colorchannel being able to turn them on or off. Very handy if you are working on the projector.
How many times haven't you opened your projector and wanted to quickly check something or quickly disable the red or green to align something ?
Now you can, with the ILDA Gem.
When the ILDA Gem "sees" a ilda signal coming in the internal quadrature generator shuts down and it displays what you feed it. One word of warning, if you put the size all the way down in the software (in my case Quickshow) you are displaying a full power beam with all lasers on full power, cool if you want to see what the projector REALLY outputs, but also dangerous, so keep this in mind. It outputs a static beam then (and a burn on your wall if you didn't terminate the beam and have enough power).

So all in all i liked it very much, it's like the swiss army knife for laserprofessionals AND hobbyists. It's affordable (only 28 pounds incl. UK shipping), but Rob sends them over the whole world, so if you want one, just contact him and he'll give you a shipping price.
Finally something that is handy AND affordable.
If you remove the nuts on either side of the DB25 output plug, you can plug it directly into your projector, very handy if you just want to do a quick check.
Also saves you an ILDA lead ;-)

I liked it in the "laptopless" mode. Since i was able to project something and have control over the colors. Especially for those people with those higher powered projectors it's handy to turn that biting blue down, which burns your fingers everytime when aligning the projector ;-)

The package comes with clear instructions, so you can't go wrong with this one ;-)

If i have to name one drawback it's that to keep the price down it's just the pcb, you need to house it yourself. But if you put it in a small box or a seperate space in your toolbox nothing will happen to it. I will try to mill a casing from HDME500 plastic and put it in there (but that's just because i look for lessons to learn to control my cnc and i drag my stuff from LEM 2 LEM, so a bit of protection is always nice ;-)

Since it's such a small device people might combine it. For instance a Laserbee with this board in one handy box ? The board is built with both DB25s on one side of the pc, when you put it on the table none of the pins can short it (well thought out ;-)

Link for more info:
http://shop.stanwaxlaser.co.uk/ilda-...tool-294-p.asp

Hi Hobbybob, yes i had my eyes on one of those already since it popped up in stanwax lasershop, please add some photo's and for the pcb only i expect Rob to add an option on his site to get the cheap or deluxe version ;-)

Got to get one of those !!!!

I will post the pictures i made soon, on stanwax' site are also pictures of the PCB.
And about that deluxe version ? All of stanwax products are Deluxe versions hahaha...

Buy it, you won't regret it!

I would like to echo everything HobblyBob has said regarding these little Gem's!

It is an excellent bit of kit!

Thanks again Rob for your ingenuity *retardo

I received the ILDA GEM too, and I agree, that's a *very* nice and usefool tool :D

I'm right in the process of building a new RGB and will soon find it more than nice, especially since I'm running a Mac and need to reboot the computer to Windows to use the laser software... And since I have scanfails in all my projectors, I can't just put a voltage on an analog input to obtain a laser output, that's where the pattern output of the GEM is perfect.

Next step : provide a deluxe option with the board enclosed in a little case, and battery powered ;)

Bought one of Rob's ILDA Gem's at the UKLEM.

WOW! Excellent piece of kit. EVERY Laserist should have one in their toolbox. If you don't have one yet... Buy one NOW, you won't regret it :cool:

Jem