General Scanning G124-PD

General Scanning G124-PD - Has anyone ever heard of this model of scanner?

I know of the G124 which is a wide angle scanner (but not much good for scanning as it has no feedback), but the one I’m asking about looks like a G120-PD.

The reason I ask is that I have two of them and I can’t find any details on them.

Even when I purchased them second hand back in the early nineties I contacted General Scanning and they didn’t even know of them. So I’m assuming that they are either OEM or a beta model that never made production.

Interestingly enough though the serial numbers range up in the 1700’s (if that’s an actual indicator of how many have been made)

BTW, I am looking at selling them with the mount, mirrors and amps (GS A600)


http://members.iinet.net.au/~tcordin...S124PD%203.JPG

http://members.iinet.net.au/~tcordin...S124PD%201.JPG

Wow, looks like a G120 but with a G124 torsion bar. Never seen that before.

These look exactly like G-138's. I wonder if they were some kind of pre-G138 model. The 138 was nice because it had a much wider scan angle than the 120 because of the longer torsion bar like the 124, but had the feedback like the 120. Very neat item, I didn't know it existed!

Wow, I never actually realised that its torsion bar was longer than on a G120, I thought they were identical.

Interesting question. The General Scanning G-124 and G124-PD models were the open loop and closed loop (PD version) of a popular scanner in the beginning days of Laserium and into the 1980's. I used a set to do shows in a local college planetarium in the late 1970' (we could only afford the open loop version). Very solid scanners for the day and small as well, not cheap in 1978 dollars for college nerds.

The current technology has made great improvements in galvos with more accurate feedback for better closed loop speeds.

Thanks for the question it took me back down memory lane to my college days.

I also have a pair of G124s with the Feedback sensor installed. The T-bar on my pair is the G138 long T bar, a bit longer then the normal open loop G124 Torsion Bar..
Steve

Hey Steve, Those wouldn't be this actual pair would it?, I sent you these back in may 2013 :-)

Troy

I used to have a set of open loop g-124s back in the early 90s. Even open loop, they were pretty damn good. That torsion bar suspension would give the scanners around 5kpps~7kpps(estimating) performance. That doesn't sound great for graphics but for simple geometrics and abstracts, they were pretty awesome. You could get some basic text out of them too. Not bad considering xy scanning systems were well over $2500 and even more when you added a 3rd blanking galvo. Thinking about those good old days really hits me in the feels! I miss it.

A local surplus place about two years ago was getting in 2 new in the box or barely used g124s a week. From X-ray film printers. I was making weekly trips. I sold some, then built up a pile of personal reserve. The galvo that works no matter what, when all else fails.


Yes, Loopee, the 124pds are an interesting part of my collection. The sensors work, too. I fired them up the other day, but did not tune them yet.



Steve

Hi guys,

Well it seems that General Scanning has completely discontinued the old G-series scanners, including the G115 and G124. That's kind of a shame... Like some of the others reported on this forum, it was actually the very first real scanners I ever got my hands on, because they were less expensive than G120s, and because I could build my own driver for them.

Once they were officially discontinued, some customers started approaching us. They initially ask us if we could build one for them, but we don't have much interest in making an open-loop scanner, when it's actually easier to make a closed loop scanner these days. Back when I first started, optical position sensors weren't a gleam in anyone's eye, while today they're pretty commonplace.

Other than their use in laser lightshow equipment from the past, current uses include paint removal (laser cleaning) and some medical systems, including hand-held systems. I made a web page dedicated that discusses how someone might retrofit our Compact 506 into the same location as a G124. I was a bit surprised to find that the height was really similar, and -- as a test, we 3D printed a kind of "plug" onto the back-end of our C506.

Is there anyone here on PL who is still using the old G124?

https://www.scannermax.com/scannerma...ries-scanners/


Best regards,


William Benner