PT-40k Mini Review - Purchased through Omar

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08-05-2015, 05:54
JasonB

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PT-40k Mini Review - Purchased through Omar

Hey Guys,

Whiteg's PT-30k review really got me thinking. So I thought I'd share my experience purchasing PT-40 scan set from Omar. Since I can't make SELEM this year needed a "pick-me-up". I ordered the scanner this past FRIDAY afternoon (that is 11 hours later Guangzhou, China). It was shipped DHL the following day, and arrived MONDAY shortly after lunch. Last night I installed the PT-40s in my PJ. Attached are pictures of the performance of my PT-20 scanner compared to PT-40. The third picture is a photo of PT-20, PT-40, and ScannerMAX 506s, left to right.

The ILDA test pattern projects much better, but I still have to optimize everything, the blue circle is painted outside the box, that is why no pictures are posted of that test pattern yet. Think I have to adjust scan rate to correct it.

I was running LSX with XY size set to 0.32 for both 20 and 40k images. Please forgive the fact that the pictures stink for comparison purposes, I was really excited when they were shot. :rolleyes: The PT-40s are really 'tight' compared to the 20's. Corners are crisp and I have not even started to explore wider scan angles yet, although they project wider than the 20s with the same DAC settings. If anyone is really interested, I can take some projection distance/scan angle measurements and dig up old pics of the ILDA test pattern with the 20K, and post 40K after I get my system dialed in. But I'm guessing this is old news and common knowledge around here.

The 506's were purchased 16 months ago and are not yet in service for various reasons, so I decided to treat myself to a PT upgrade. The scanner was a drop in replacement. The power supply and amp boards are slightly larger. So far I am very impressed with the performance. It does not look as good as WhiteG's 30k yet, these pics were taken 'right out of the box' with no DAC settings changed or amp tuning.

If anyone has any advice on what DAC settings to change in LSX when your scan set is all in the sudden twice is fast that would be really appreciated. :)

Thank you Omar!

-Jason
08-05-2015, 08:16
rns0504

Hi Jason,

Thanks for the informative review! What was the advertised mirror size for the PT-40k scanners you received?
08-05-2015, 08:21
swamidog

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonB

If anyone has any advice on what DAC settings to change in LSX when your scan set is all in the sudden twice is fast that would be really appreciated. :)

-Jason

click on the "scanning optimization" icon along the top menu bar (it looks like a little speedometer).
08-05-2015, 11:21
JasonB

Advertised mirror size / Scan Speed Setting

Quote:

Originally Posted by rns0504

Hi Jason,

Thanks for the informative review! What was the advertised mirror size for the PT-40k scanners you received?

Hi Ryan, the advertised mirror size was stated as: "Mirror Aperture: 6mm*10mm*0.8mm". I'd like to note that I specifically asked Pangolin to sell me the 506's knowing there was not a matching amp available, so I'm not faulting your company in any way.

@ Swami, thanks for the response, I was having trouble locating that setting!

-Jason
08-05-2015, 17:00
rns0504

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonB

Hi Ryan, the advertised mirror size was stated as: "Mirror Aperture: 6mm*10mm*0.8mm". I'd like to note that I specifically asked Pangolin to sell me the 506's knowing there was not a matching amp available, so I'm not faulting your company in any way.

I like that they're specifying mirror sizes like that rather than just saying 6mm or 7mm or something without any basis in fact and physics! If my calculations are right and the mount is designed properly, that mirrorset should be able to project a 3mm beam through a full 60* optical (negating any chip margin). The thin mirror though, does lower the resonant frequency without saving much system inertia. A better way to reduce the system inertia (while keeping the X and Y mirror inertias the same) would be to shorten the X mirror from 10mm to 6mm-or much less, and integrate a setback into the mount to be able to make the Y-mirror 'narrower' without losing any optical performance. Overall system performance should be increased due to the lower inertia (depending on the inertia of the rotor, or course...). Then the mirrors could be made thicker without increasing inertia much, and raising resonant frequencies, which should offer an overall better user-experience and possibly greater performance.

And of course not Jason, I didn't mean to imply that in any way if it came across that way. I really do enjoy reading and seeing "real world" reviews of everyones (including our!) products to see what the public experiences in practice vs. what a data sheet or forum posting says it can or cannot do.
08-14-2015, 09:37
colouredmirrorball

1 Attachment(s)

A bit late perhaps, but to properly tune scanners in LSX, go to scan parameter settings, open up parameter number 31 (marked 1 on the picture), save it, then carefully dial all interpolation sliders to max and extra point sliders to min. It's best to keep the test frame playing while doing this to see if the scanners can handle it (they should). Doing so will remove/minimize any optimisation and that is how scanners should be tuned.

Attachment 48129

WARNING: only use this for test frames! Some frames in LSX are not optimised and result in huge distances for your scanners to draw, which is not good. Don't use the disabled optimisation settings for the default test frame in DAC settings as well (the horizontal lines in for example the safety zone settings) because this is what will happen: https://youtu.be/FQznNuwFwOA?t=39s O_o (those lines are only a dot at either end of the line so without interpolation, only those two points are sent to the dac resulting in a large signal which the scanners can't make and causes such a huge current that the poly switch fails).

If you're using an Animation event on the timeline to display test frames, don't forget to set it to use the scan parameter with optimisation disabled. If you're doing this you can use any scan parameter instead of number 31 as scan parameter 31 only affects the built in test frames. If you have Intro, I don't think you get the optimisation scan parameter so you'd have to use the main one anyway.

Don't forget to set it back to normal settings/reload standard settings after you're done!

While tuning, only care about the shape of the patterns, blanking delay can be adjusted later. There should really be an option to disable blanking in LSX... (there isn't one is there?)
11-30-2015, 12:07
JasonB

Quote:

Originally Posted by colouredmirrorball

A bit late perhaps, but to properly tune scanners in LSX

Colouredmirrorball: Not late, however my thank-you note is! Thanks, I appreciate your help :)

-Jason