The RGB project officially begins...

Well, I have now officially "backed myself into a corner" on the RGB laser projector project! $$$!

I just became the proud purchaser of a dual-module red set from Marconi, and have some GM-20's enroute from Quazar, along with a Poly-20 wheel from Laser Visuals. Great "toys" standing by to get me started when I get home from my latest "adventure"!

Meanwhile, the Pangolin FB3 (sans lasers!) is getting a good "breaking in" on the laptop. LivePro is awesome - I can't wait until I actually get to use it with lasers!

Next up - a decent set of scanners, 100(+)mw of blue, 300(+) mw of green, breadboard, optics, case, DMX controller, hazer, etc., etc.

So much for the initial budget - it's a good thing I've been saving up all my "beer money" over the last several months!

:D

Heh, you have found pit to throw money into. :D Good luck man and remember...

http://www.technfun.com/smilies/nopics.gif

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Next up - a decent set of scanners, 100(+)mw of blue, 300(+) mw of green, breadboard, optics, case, DMX controller, hazer, etc., etc.

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Ha! yep, complete money pit isn't it?! But it certainly is alot of fun, mixed in with alot of good folks here on the forum. I gotta say, I really like your avatar, does it represent something in particular?

David - I'm guessing that it's his unit insignia... Sort of like how Navy fighter squadrons will paint a funny graphic on the tails of their aircraft, or how airforce bombers in WWII painted elaborate nose art on their planes.

Ray, just a precaution: Remember to watch out for back-reflection with those Maxyz modules. You can even get some back-reflection from that poly-effects wheel under the right conditions. Might want to dial the power back until you're certain it will be safe.

Got any idea when you'll be back home? Sure would be great to sit down over a beer or two and see how your projector is coming along...

Adam

if it's a unit insignia,i think it has been modified.

the motto appears to be-

aim your lasers.

charge!

Good eyes, Wes! I couldn't read the text up top. (Though I guess I never really looked at it closely though.) Figures that I'd be stuck at work just now with a cheese-ass 17" monitor.

Edit: I just checked the file name, and it's titled "Air Cav Avitar"... So yeah, probably a unit insignia that was modified to be more relevent to PhotonLexicon!

Adam

Yep, that avatar goes back a day or two!
The original patch was designed by a fellow Cav aviator when I was flying with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in the Fulda Gap (on the former border of East / West Germany) during the last few years of the Cold War. (Late 80's, early 90's) It "resurfaced" (modified) with my unit back home prior to my departure for this latest trip, and I modified it again for my avatar. It will probably be one of my first "TraceIT" projects to convert for laser projection!

By the way - the ORIGINAL caption for the patch reads:
"AIR CAV - SUCK ME UNCONSCIOUS" :D
Cool, but not politically correct in today's mixed-gender military!!

No pictures of the project yet - unless someone is interested in seeing a FB3 hooked up to a laptop, 'cause that's all I've got available to me right now! I'm slowly but surely gathering up the major components (hopefully they're waiting for me at the house when I get home!), and I plan on posting some "before...during...after" photos once I get started. I'm sure I'll have plenty more questions to go with the online photos!

Buffo (Adam) and anyone else in the area - I should be home by mid-October, and will probably have a few weeks of downtime before I head back to my "normal" job. Hopefully, during that time I'll have the chance to roadtrip and take a look at some of the projects you fellows have worked on before I take the hammer & chisel to my first projector!

Beer will not be an option - after spending most of the last year in the desert, it's mandatory :)

Randy

Mid-October, you say? Hmmm. Well, it might get you in a lot of trouble on the home front, going on a trip so soon after arriving home, but the Florida Laser Enthusiast's Meeting (version 1.5) is scheduled for Saturday, October 20th in Orlando, Florida... That's a hell of a trip from Knoxville though. (Roughly 10 hours by car!) But if you can manage a cheap flight, maybe you could make it... I'm sure you'd enjoy seeing the various projector designs that we'll have there.

If that's not an option, then perhaps we can set something up later on (in November, perhaps) that would be closer to your area.

Stay in touch as your return date approaches...

Adam

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"AIR CAV - SUCK ME UNCONSCIOUS" :D

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Ha! Very cool! Good luck over there on you latest "adventure", I certainly hope that you and the rest of your crew return home safe. And many thanks from me and my family for your service. With regard to Adam's post, you simply must join us for FLEM. I'm sure we will have another fantastic event and learn plenty from each other. Heck, I'll even buy ya a beer!

Schedule permitting, I think a FLEM trip could be in my future!

I'm sure my wife will be less than enthusiastic about participating in another one of my "geek hobbies", but I'm sure I could find SOMETHING to keep her occupied in Orlando while I play with lasers!!

:D

PS -
FLEM 1.5 includes beer too, doesn't it?

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Originally Posted by Stuka

FLEM 1.5 includes beer too, doesn't it?

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Is the pope catholic? :D

Adam

Last I heard!!

Any tentative "schedule of events" available for the FLEM 1.5 weekend?
I think I have the missus interested in a vacation trip in that direction if I get back in time!

Tentative schedule is to start at 10:00 AM on Saturday, October 20th, and run until midnight, or later... Whenever we get tired and decide to pack everything up.

I'll have some home-brewed beer to share again. We'll have 3 or 4 RGB projectors, and if Hayden can attend I'm going to force him to do a Live Pro tutorial. Might have a mini-discussion about CDRH variances too, if I can get that variance application software that Bill was talking about.

Will have an 8-port N-way fast ethernet switch set up for file sharing (pics, videos, that sort of thing). I'll bring my Antari Z1200 fogger, which will take care of the whole room quite nicely. I'll also bring a load center so we'll have extra outlets. Might even bring the HGM 5 argon if I get everything hooked up by then. (No promises.)

All this hinges on the availability of the room in Orlando. Will know for certain by Thursday, if not sooner.

Adam

Awesome -

I'm in the process of working accommodations now, so it looks like there's a strong possibility we'll be there if the travel from THIS side of the world works out!

So, which of the theme parks in the area has the "must-see" laser show?

None of them, really. Epcot has one that they do at night when the place closes, but it's not that great. They do shoot fireworks though.

As far as the best bang for your buck theme-park-wise, I'd say that Universal Studios and Universal Islands of Adventure are the two best. (Get a two day pass and jump between the two; they're adjacent.) Islands of adventure has 3 great coasters (Dueling dragons, which is a dual-track inverted coaster, and the Hulk) plus several other cool rides. The Studio side has several interesting (and fun) motion simulator rides, plus some other theater / display attractions that are great fun. If you get seasick or car sick, be sure to take dramamine before you go. Motion simulators will make you barf!

Seaworld is also a surprisingly fun place, and they do have one really decent coaster. (The Kraken) The Atlantis ride is also cool, but tame by comparison... But where else can you feed dolphins, watch killer whales jump in the air, see sharks, and tone of other cool shit.

MGM has one great coaster and one great thrill ride, but beyond that the rest of the attractions are like watching shows. Still a good buy though.

Epcot is not nearly as impressive as it used to be. Still fun for the kids though. Wives also like it because of the tons of shopping available around the lake. (All the international exhibits...) I found it booring though.

Magic kingdom is great for kids. Skip it if it's just you and your wife though.

Wet and Wild is a decent water park, and there are tons of other mini-parks that you can stop at for things like go-carts, bungee jumping, free-fall simulators, and sky coasters.

Adam

I thought we had a city wide Orlando Tourist theme... Come to Orlando, try not to get robbed and killed... and hopfully make it home alive. :D A true survival ride... :rolleyes:

Well, things change quickly in my business - it's looking like I'll probably be cutting the return trip just a little too close for comfort to make it to FLEM 1.5 - Bummer !:( But, I'm sure I'll be able to arrange some laser-related road trips later in the fall! :)

In the mean time, in addition to Pangolin, MaxyzModules and LaserVisuals, it looks like I'm getting ready to become a customer of Lasershow Parts, One Stop Laser, Edmund Optical, Newport Optical, Digikey, and Allied Electronics! Oh, and Radio Shack, for the aggravating odd component I forgot to order! Ka-ching $$$ !! I sure hope the missus doesn't figure out how much this hobby REALLY costs! :D

Back on the original "project" topic -
I've seen a couple of brief references to near and far-field alignment. Would anyone be willing to post 101-level information concerning galvo and optical component alignment tips for us newbies?

Thanks, as always!

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Originally Posted by Stuka

Back on the original "project" topic -
I've seen a couple of brief references to near and far-field alignment. Would anyone be willing to post 101-level information concerning galvo and optical component alignment tips for us newbies?

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I threw together a quick layout in MSPaint to show the difference between near-field and far-field alignment. Obviously, you want both to be in alignment so the images below are how you don't want it setup.

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Originally Posted by Stuka

In the mean time, in addition to Pangolin, MaxyzModules and LaserVisuals, it looks like I'm getting ready to become a customer of Lasershow Parts, One Stop Laser, Edmund Optical, Newport Optical, Digikey, and Allied Electronics! Oh, and Radio Shack, for the aggravating odd component I forgot to order! Ka-ching $$$ !! I sure hope the missus doesn't figure out how much this hobby REALLY costs! :D

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i heartily endorse this use of defense dept.funds! :)

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Originally Posted by Stuka

I've seen a couple of brief references to near and far-field alignment. Would anyone be willing to post 101-level information concerning galvo and optical component alignment tips for us newbies?

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Briefly, near field alignment is where the beams meet on the dichros, while far field alignment is where the beams meet on the wall.

EDIT: DZ's post shows this quite clearly! Thanks for the pics, David!

Let's assume that your projector has the green laser furthest from the galvos (passing through 2 dichros), and the red is in the middle (bouncing off one dichro and passing through another), with the blue laser closest to the galvos and only bouncing off one dichro.

The first step would be to mount the green laser so that the beam passes through both dichros and strikes the center of the first galvo mirror. Once you get the green laser positioned so that it's hitting the galvos square, you won't need to mess with it any more.

Now move to the red laser. The beam from the red laser needs to intersect the beam from the green laser. It would be great if the red beam is in the same plane as the green beam, but chances are really good that it won't be. No matter though. So long as they intersect, you're OK. This means that at a minimum you will need to be able to raise and/or lower the height of the red laser. You really only need to be able to raise or lower the front though, because all you need to do is make sure they cross. (The red beam can be angled up or down relative to the green beam, so long as they intersect.)

Now position the pass-green, reflect-red dichro at the exact position where the two beams intersect. Make sure the adjustments on the mount are more or less centered. Adjust the position of the mount until you can see the two beams intersecting at the face of the dichro, then secure the mount to the table.

Now play with the adjustment screws on the mount for the reflect-red dichro until you get the red beam to overlap and merge with the green beam. They should both be hitting the galvos dead center.

Finally, move to the blue laser. Once again, you need the blue beam to intersect the red and green beams (which should appear yellow now). Again, it would be great if all the beams were in the same plane, but it's not required. Just lift or lower the front of the blue laser until the blue intersects the red and green. Then position the reflect-blue dichro right at the point where the beams intersect. Look on the face of the dichro and make sure all three beams are hitting the same spot, then secure the mount.

Now adjust the screws on the mount for the reflect-blue dichro until you get the blue beam to merge with the red and green beams.
Ok - at this point if you were really careful with the placement of your dichro mounts you should be "close". Allow the beam to travel a long way away from the projector (40-50 feet is good, 100 feet is optimal) and look at the spot. What you want to see is a pure white spot with no fringes of color off to one side. (Fringes that run all the way around the spot, a halo if you will, are OK, since that just means one of your lasers has greater divergence.) If you see color off to one side of the spot, adjust the mount for that dichro until the fringe disappears and you have just the white spot.

Once you get it perfect, check it again at shorter distances to be sure it's consistent. You should have the same white spot at a foot away from the galvos as you do at 100 ft. (Of course, the spot will be larger when it's 100 ft away.) If you see that up close, you have fringes showing, then it's time to tweak the position of the dichros again and/or adjust the height of the lasers to make certain the beams are crossing. But remember that every time you adjust the lasers or the position of the dichro mounts, you have to go back and tweak the far field alignment again.

If you're lucky, you'll only have to go through the entire process once or twice in order to get it right. After that, you just need to tweak the far field alignment once in a while to compensate for things getting knocked around while transporting your projector.

Adam

DZ & Buffo -

Thanks for the info! Once again, you guys come through with quick answers to all my "newbie" questions!

Wes (and all other US taxpayers on this forum) -
Thanks for your approval and investment in the Dept. of Defense budget - after all, it has been YOUR tax dollars from the last year that have made it possible to finance my venture into this money-draining hobby! ;)

As Bartles & James used to say,
"Thank you for your support" :D

When I DO finally get ready to start posting photos of the project, any recommendations on a good online photo-hosting site? Or is it best to just attach them directly to the message? Also, what size images seem to work best for viewing here?

DZ & Adam,

Let me add my thanks also from the "newbie club" to that great explanation and diagram.
I am still a bit confused about just lifting the front of the laser to intersect the beam.... does the dichro "do" something that "fixes" it in terms of "plane" ??
Also can I ask if we have a laser sitting up at the front or even adjusted level it is now partly or totally off of its heatsink would this not be a problem ??
Anyway thanks once again you guys you always come through with some great info. I am sure Stuka and I will benefit from your kindness once again.

Cheers:)
Ray
NZ

My lasers are all mounted on floating tables that are above the main baseplate, so it's not a problem to lift or lower them. If you have your lasers all mounted to the same baseplate, then you need to machine custom shims to allow them to tilt - which is a real pain in the rear end... (lots of trial and error involved!)

If you really want the lasers to all be mounted to the same plate, and you don't want to make custom shims, then you can always add another mirror (on an adjustable mount) to bounce the beam to the dichro. With two bounces (one off the mirror, one off the dichro) you can correct for any misalignment even if you can't move the laser at all.

To answer your other question, the dichro only changes the angle of the reflected beam. The transmitted beam passes through unaffected. So as long as the beams intersect at the exact face of the dichro, you use the angle of the dichro face to "steer" the reflected beam so that it's now parallel and superimposed on the beam that passed through the dichro.

Adam

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When I DO finally get ready to start posting photos of the project, any recommendations on a good online photo-hosting site? Or is it best to just attach them directly to the message? Also, what size images seem to work best for viewing here?

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photobucket.com
free and you can store tons and tons of photos.video too.it parses for different uses too.
not sure on the size question but the pics i put up were pretty big and just went over a little.

Home at last!

The dual-Maxyz are here, along with the FB3 mailed back from Kuwait, GM-20's, scanners, Poly-20, goggles, dichros, laser meter, and a few other parts. Still putting together an order list for Digikey, and have one more order enroute from One Stop Laser (thank-you for the Photon Lexicon discount!!) , along with my blue and green from Laser Show Parts.

Sweet! Laser-geek Christmas in October!! :D

A few more bags and footlockers to unpack, then HOPEFULLY I'll fire up the Maxyz sometime this weekend.

And yes - I plan to post pictures, once I can clear out a corner to unpack all the goodies!!

PS -

Dang, this got expensive!!!

Welcome home !!!

Looks like your gunna be busy :)

Cant wait to see some pictures of it. Goodluck... I am sure you will see why we are all so involved with it... it you haven't already!

Welcome home Stuka! I've been over "there" and know how good it feels to be back. pics when you can+++
-Mike

Glad you got back safe man!!:)

Thanks for the warm welcome back, guys!

Well, I couldn't resist, so I cleared off a corner in the "junk room", and fired up the Maxyz -

Damn, those are bright - and they really will burn holes in stuff!!

My wife is now officially worried about my new hobby...:D

Pictures to follow, just as soon as I figure out where I packed my digital camera!

Welcome back, glad you are here safe and sound. You will now begin to shun light and the day time. With all you have to play with you may not make it back outside till Christmas... ;)

Welcome home, Stuka. Glad to see you made it back safely. Too bad the timing wasn't better; you could have attended FLEM. (But not so soon after returning from a deployment like that!)

Let us know when things calm down and I'll see what I can do about arranging something in NC.

Adam

Thanks, guys- - it's GREAT to be back!

And yep, it looks like I'm hooked on the lasers - I drove to Nashville this weekend to visit my brother and some friends for a welcome-back bonfire / pig roast, and came back with home with 6 more lasers, with offers for more! Crazy hobby, but I'm looking forward to getting DEEP into this over the next few weeks! I expect the remaining $$ components for my projector to arrive this week, so I'm anxious to start building!

Adam -
It looks like I'll have several free weekends between the first of November and Thanksgiving, so if you guys get an event stirred up during that time frame, let me know, and I'll be ready for the road trip! Maybe you can demonstrate the knife-edge mirror technique for combining the beams of all those HeNe tubes that seem to have found their way onto the workbench:D

Shoot me a PM w/ your phone number. I might be able to set something up for Charlotte this coming weekend.

Adam

A Pig Roast with lasers shooting thru the smoke would be the bomb..man..ohh boy...:D would I like to be there to see that happin':)
-oops
well shit--I cant say bomb to be politicilly correct-- i'm really tired of this terrorist shit.. sorry feds..uh huh.. uh huh..

Funny you should mention that -

A big part of the roast is a HUGE bonfire - this year's stack of scrap timber and lumber was at least 12' high and 20' in diameter, and once the flames took hold they were easily 40 to 45' high! The owner and my brother (co-hosts of the annual event) are into "creative" ways to light the fire, and a chain-reaction started by a laser burn is already being discussed for next year's event!

And yes, the smoky atmosphere+beer did make for some cheap quick entertainment with the store-bought green laser pointer:D