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Galvo testing
Alright, this must be something very simple, but I probably am that much of a novice at this too. So here goes... I managed to come across a few galvos for damn near free! at $5 a pop, I really think something has to be wrong with them. They came complete with the mirrors which are chipped a bit but still very functional, and absolutely no identification, datasheet or anything. There were a few numbers on the galvos themselves but I couldn't identify them being the beginner I am in this field. As a matter of fact I hadn't even thought of doing a scanner until I came across these galvos now. Therefore the questions now follow... What would be the absolute easiest way to test a galvo? Or how would be the easiest way to drive a galvo temporarily? I have a USB device that converts signals to a somewhat of a high-speed RS232 port. I have previously used it to drive a stepper motor using a motor driver. Although, with galvos, they sense current change instead of voltage, right? And to control them you pretty much have to create a sine-like current wave. At least that's how I think of it. Does that make sense at all? Any beginner advice and guidance into where to look for a quick and dirty galvo test would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you;
DDL
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So, I after thinking about it long enough I managed to understand the principle of these things... and get a working pair of Galvo's for $10. :D:D Now on to the art...
--DDL
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You went from clueless to having them working in 1 day? That's pretty darn good. What are you using as a driver?
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I got them wired up to an amplifier... ;)
I just wanted to test them, and I did just that. I had to redo some soldering inside the galvo's themselves, but I managed to get them up and running. At $10 a pair, you can't really beat that... :P
I'm thinking now of setting up one of the older laptops I have and use it as my driver. I'm not sure how good it'll be considering the noise levels and all that. But going from nothing to a working project in a week's time should be a good accomplishment. :D
--DDL
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ROFL!!! Love the smilies!
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ROFLCOPTERS!
You are the undisputed king of the smileys, Aaron!
Adam
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F*ckin hilarious Aaron--even the 2nd time.
DDL- May I inquire where you acquired a set of $10 galvos?
That's right in my price-range:)
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if you take a picture, we can identify them, there are only a few makes on the market and hooking up the wrong leads can sometimes do damage. or in the case of some products, you need to wire the coils in series or parallel with the correct polarity, show us please a closeup or tell me any numbers on them?
Steve
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Alright... Sorry been away from the forum for a little while. It's late here right now and I'm about ready to hit the sack... I'll post a set of pictures tomorrow as soon as I get the chance. I just need some help with getting the galvo's working right if someone can advise of a good and reliable method. For the record I tried running them from the headphone jack of my Dell laptop and they worked fine. The range on them was not the full scope though as I was just playing random music... I tried to boost it by using a cheap set of speakers and plugged the galvo instead of the speaker, it seemed to work better, and I get a good response, only problem is the speakers are cheap - as I said - and there was too much noise. My desktop has the Audigy 2 24-bit 7.1 soundcard in it, but I have not tried using that yet.
P.S. Aaron, you might know the place I got these from. At the price I mentioned, you can easily guess ;) Also... the smilies are... priceless! I fell off my chair once I saw it... it's definitely still really funny even the second time around.
Any help and advice on how to operate them would be greatly appreciated;
DDL
