Im guessing everyone is up for another in 6 months time.
lets start getting a date in mind
17 august 2008???
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Im guessing everyone is up for another in 6 months time.
lets start getting a date in mind
17 august 2008???
That's when we're having SELEM 2008 here in North Carolina. I suppose you could hold yours on the same date though.
Adam
really!!
lets see what everyone says?
Yeah. SELEM is always a 2-day event. This year it will be August 16th and 17th. (Last year it was August 17th and 18th.)
Adam
Sounds like a good oppertunity to get some kind of live link going between the two venues.
Sounds more like a good opportunity to jump on a plane and visit the States :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Lampy
Anyone up for it ????
Jem
Sounds a bit hardcore to do the UK on one day and the US on the next but what the hell, if you're getting the tickets then lets do it! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Jem
I would *love* to join in on that trip... What a weekend!Quote:
Originally Posted by Jem
Well, if any of you guys are serious about making it to SELEM this summer, you might want to plan for more than a day. SELEM is really a 2.5 day event. The Friday before it all starts, we meet at The Artist's Cafe for dinner. And after that, well, we basically close the joint.
Last year we were upstairs lounging around on several overstuffed sofas and chairs, smoking cigars, drinking shots of Petrone tequila (among lots of other drinks), and basically having the time of our lives. We got there at 6, and by 7 PM dinner was over and we were firmly installed in the lounge and the drinks began to flow. It broke up around midnight. (Bliss!) I think the bar bill topped 4 figures.:eek:
Saturday we started at 10 AM and ran until around midnight. Lots of lasers, lots of people, lots of fun! Sunday we started again at 10 AM, and ran until 5 PM, at which point we started packing up and cleaning up. (Some people had to leave earlier in the day, because they had to drive so far to get home.) The rest of us ended up getting out of there around 7:30 PM or so... A few of us went for dinner that night before driving home. (Personally, I got home at around midnight that night, and I was so wired I couldn't sleep!)
So you really want to plan on being in the Newton, NC area from Friday afternoon through Sunday evening at least. The shortest itinerary I'd suggest would be a flight into Charlotte airport arriving either late Thursday or early Friday, with a departing flight mid-day on Monday. Of course, more time would be great - if you've got the time to spend a few extra days in the area. There's plenty to do right in the downtown Charlotte area... Then too, there is an amusement park (Paramount's Carowinds) with 6 or 7 good roller coasters right outside of town. The Biltmore Estate is about 90 minutes by car from the venue, so that's another option.
If anyone is seriously considering a trip like this, get in touch with me ASAP and I'll work with you to help arrange lodging. There is a fantastic B&B about 4 blocks from the venue, but they only have 5 rooms available, and they fill up fast!
Adam
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j1...N8160Large.jpg
Will Robin need to prove his pointer is less than 5mW or will the Feds just take his word?
Jim
ill knock him up a 5mw sticker for it ;)
Cheers but I don't fancy the body cavity search that I would likely be on the wrong end of bringing that beast through US customs. ;)
might put a smile on your face :)
There is a difference between an examination by Miss Whiplash and one by a 25 stone bloke called Bubba.
LOL
is there? ive no idea!
Not to worry guys. Put it in your checked baggage and you won't have any problems. (I wouldn't try to sneak a high-powered pointer into the cabin though. Don't put one in your carry-on!)
BTW, that battery-powered, portable red laser that Robin had at the UKLEM... The one that was supposedly water cooled... Rated for 10 watts? Come on now! That tube isn't nearly big enough for 10 watts, unless it's a CO2 laser, and a CO2 laser wouldn't have a visible beam. So what's the real story on that thing?
Adam
i think is was CO2.
if you look at the video on my site you can just about make out the dot.
the red is just an aimer
Ah.... OK - that makes a hell of a lot more sense now.
Still, 10 watts of 10,600 nm IR can still do some damage! And portable too! Very cool. (So how many fires did he start with that thing?) And how long can it run CW before it overheats?
Adam
yes 10watts can do some damage LOL.
he burnt a few things lol.
dont know about run time - Robin??
Couple of flames, plenty of holed polystyrene foam coffee cups and a well toasted sandwich ;)
The tube is water cooled but uses the thermal capacity of the water rather than a heat-exchanger.
After 20 seconds of use you leave for 10 minutes or pour out the water and add fresh cold (or an ice cube)
I would be up for a couple of days ...maybe one day LASERING in the club and another day working on software or something ...that could be a smaller room somewhere , maybe just one laser and we all get chance to work on livepro or something
be interesting to see what develops
PAUL
i would be well up for a weekend providing its in the UK.
i will be there :) still wont have any show kit.. but i will have my RPL clone ( sk-y pgl 200) to play with
I thought it was high time I threw my thoughts in on this.
August is gooooood for me I dont tend to go away in the summer so I should be OK whatever weekend it was. I could do more than a day of course and I like the idea of one day being to look at software or whatever but though im interested in livepro and the rest of pango, and it will no doubt influence me in the future, there really is no current relevance to me, so I think we would be better to set up a number of 'workshops' where groups could talk and learn about their own software. I would be very happy to be instrumental in the Mamba black session. Also we could have alignment, tuning or safety workshops where any of us who know about a subject could show some of the noobs some basics. I could easily set up a hands on working alignment demo that people could actually use.
Any more thoughts would be good.
And one final point or rather piece of news I think I know what the prob with the SP168 has been...
On Sat while ripping the kit down in the garage I got some water in the main connector for the head - this is the last place you wanna get water :(. So on Sat night after warming the external parts of the connector up with a blow torch to split it open (it was siezed solid - probly never been appart in 20 years), I blew it out with the air line dried it with paper towels etc. several times....However it would seem I was not thorough enough. The connector has black carbon marks in it where there has been some tracking the only cause of this can be the ingress of water and the fact that I can now see traces of damp in there says that this is the cause. I'm guessing that when I finally got the water flow sorted and the laser began to run for several mins - instead of seconds - this damp being warmed by the 25-30 of current passing through the cables decided to make the inside of the connector sweat. As soon as this occured and it shorted the breaker on the 265 flipped and following this the breaker on the distributon also tripped. As the breakers tripped quickly and there was no flash and a bang I am hopeful that there is little or no internal damage to the exciter. I will clean it all out tomorrow examine, and test electrically then test it hooked up to the head.
Top and bottom is it looks good that the big beast will make a return to leicester in working order for the next meet, not that I doubted this for one moment :) - Andy better start working those muscles in preparation.
Rob
You guys should consider having the next UKLEM in Pflugerville, TX. I think that would be a good idea.
hehehe
Might I sense that you could be persuaded to attend Gary ?
Rob
I'd definitely go!
ROB!!!! You are talking about the connector on the head...correct??? you have some major problems there. YOU MUST REPLACE the oreo slices (the two plastic parts that hold all the pins) what happens is that the carbon traces can never be removed unless you sand them flat. Depending on where the arc traces are...you could blow your passbank. I am amazed it didnt BOOM on start pulse! Sorry about your problem mate, thats not a good one because the parts are hard to come by.Quote:
Originally Posted by stanwax
pat b
Quote:
Originally Posted by carmangary
Pflugerville, haha...my parents live in Temple, I worked at the Western Auto in temple from 1975 till 1978
Pat
I suspect it didnt boom on start as It was dry inside the connector at this point. There must have been some moisture in the umbilical sheath as the connector was bone dry - I checked this and dried it thouroghly and between all the cables as far as possible up the umbilical. This has to have been caused by water and the only place it could have gotton to the connector was if there was residual moisture in the sheath. So when I set up, the laser would fire but we had water flow issues that meant it would only run for a few moments at a throw.
Eventually we got water flow sorted and the head fired up. It ran for maybe 5 mins it may be more - It didnt seem longer than that. As I said I suspect that there must have been moisture in the sheath that then sweated to form the droplets that caused a short that shut it down by flipping the front panel breaker. On trying again the mains breaker flipped so I didnt get as far as the start pulse after that. I hope this makes sense.
So I need to strip the connector out and examine the slices? I could not see any actual arc traces when I examimned earlier, though I would be lying if I said I had examined it thoroughly at this point. It was more just a general black dusting on the cable insulation and the insides of the amphenol connector shell halves. I will take a proper look tomorrow and look for the slightest run of arc trace - hell there must be one as it did obviously short out! I knew this was a bad bad thing to get the connector wet - In transit the water and the power connector are always sealed in separate bags and put as far away in the case as I can get them to keep them from coming into contact. :(
If it didnt see a start pulse - which it didnt in the wet state (I had a pretty good idea of the consequences of that occuring) then what are the key things appart from the oreo slices that I need to pay particular attention to?
Thanks for the heads up - despite it being bad news - I would rather know what Im in for in advance than find out the hard way and have to try and catch the bits as they fly past my head !
The Irony is that the outer sheath has NEVER been properly anchored into the conector housing - hence how I was able to get water in there, so I had taken the opportunity to close this off properly and had pushed the outer sheath into the rubber boot on the connector housing to seal it all for the first time since ive owned it! I guess there may have been a chance of that moisture venting and not getting to whrere it did if I had left it open - :(
Rob
Rob, couple of things...what happens is when people dont drain the head and they hook the two hoses together for transportation (i dont do this) What happens is water drips or splashes fall on the pin end of the connector and water "wicks" through around the pins and into the connector parts and between the two "oreo" pieces, which is where the arcing occurs, you wont see it until you remove the round spring clip and removing the "oreo" that is showing. No worries about pins being messed up because there is another "oreo" holding them together. (i hope i explained that well enough for you)Quote:
Originally Posted by stanwax
Please check this for me...Open the head cover and tell me if there is ANY evidence of water leaking from the "anode t block" and touching the magnet housing. (basically a "wet short" between the anode and magnet) Without seeing it...this sounds more like a possibility because you said the laser started...then dropped out. The best way to test this is to...hook up head and flow water and look for a slow drip to occur between the anode t block and magnet (the anode t block is the shiney metal part that the red wire is bolted to. This problem is WELL KNOWN as the "sacraficial anode" problem or electrolisis of the anode block.
let me know.
pat b
Hi Pat
I see what you mean there has indeed been arcing between the oreo pieces - one pin is actually melted away - its one of the wires that is connected to the light sense photodiode. I traced it back and 3 wires go into a shielded cable that connects to the PD in the head. The wire that is nearest the ground pin (fat green cable - which in the head is grounded to the chassis) is the one thats broken and the earth pin itself has a piece of its collar eroded away.
As I had never heard this term 'oreo' before I assumed it was the material the blocks are made from - a quick google however gave me a different answer...A biscuit! sorry a cookie.
The chared surface of these blocks does seem to clean up easily though there are clearly 'eroded parts'. I will need to strip the pins out and see how well I can clean this up obviously I want to remove as little material as I can. I assume this material is selected for its mechanical but also electrically insulating properties - is there anything of similar electrical properties that one could use to remake the part - I have a lathe and as long as I can accurately place the pins this would not seem a tough thing to make.
If I unsolder the wires, I assume the pins will push out forwards away from the wires?
I will take some pix later an let you see the damage. To me it looks pretty messy and you may well agree, or you may say - 'hey I've seen much worse than that!'
Thanks for all your input
Rob
Hi Pat
See attached images of the 'oreo' slices
for anyone who does not know what we are looking at this is the main connector at the end of the umbilical from the head where it connects to the SP265 exciter.
First image is of the pins head on showing the carbon blackening and areas that I have been scraping gently with a blade.
Second is the outer part with the stub of the burned pin showing in the lower centre of the image.
Third image - shows the pins again but side on - you can see the hole in the Ground pin quite clearly its the large pin at the back that is most sharply in focus.
I hope you can see clearly enough from these images
Rob
rob, fix the ground problem, dont worry about the photocell. (people sometimes blow those pins by referencing photo cell to ground if i remember correctly) If i were you I would buy an old 164,165 or 168 laser and rip the umbilical apart for parts. not worth making a piece or just replace the whole umbilical (if you are comfortable with removing the tube (total job is about 2 hours). I think the material is bakalite not sure tho. You really need to remove ALL carbon traces before reassembly.
Like i said, i dont think this is your real problem tho, It really sounds like a water leak between anode and magnet to me...maby so... but i cant see the laser... YOu see...the laser started and ran for 5 minutes. It is either the anode water problem, flakey interlock circuit, or flakey water flow or a flakey breaker (all of these issues will trip the inductor on the 4th leg of the front panel circuit breaker) Do you have a proteous flow switch? and is your water source (pressure and flow) SOLID???
Ya see... the laser starts and runs thats my clue. (this is a good thing:D...a bad thing is when it goes boom...:mad:
luck to ya
pat b
I was posting my last response before i saw these pictures... You are screwed, you will not be able to fix this with any reliability for future operation. You need to get another umbilicle, or umbilacle parts to fix this. This is pretty bad. ( I would try to buy an old laser head somewhere cheap and wreak it out for parts)
i am sorry, you will be able to clean it up but once arcing as bad as this has occurred it is almost impossible to remidy these parts. Check with brian at cambridge lasers, he may have something laying around. Sorry to be bearer of bad news but thats not a good thing.:(
I have done many of these repairs and the good thing is that your PS are good and so is your PT...this is just a little bump in the road:D
I still want you to check the anode to magnet issue i have been talking about.
I am sorry...I need to be more optomistic for you...YOU CAN DO IT ROB!!! I KNOW YOU CAN!!! I have to remember that I had access to repair parts so it was easy for us ...just replace it, no biggie...I forget that some people out there (you) are more resourceful than myself and due to the lack of parts you have to rely on your stealthy physic, cat like reflexes and alien intelligence:D. Yes you can "clean it up" But when i was doing shows..."my lasers had to be perfect" and VERY RELIABLE. You can do it!
Guys,
Going back to the original conversation about a 2 day meet. One of lectures and one of lasering:
I am by no means saying that I am a guru, but know enough to have created my own workspace in Live Pro.
If you want to go down the route of training, I am a training consultant in my real job. I teach everyone from Sales admins to engineers the ins and outs of telecoms, Internet and private data networking all over the world. So have the ability and qualifications to make something very complex understandable to anyone. With the knowledge you guys have, my job would be easy and I would learn a lot too.
Therefore with my real world experience and fairly good knowledge of Live Pro, I would be happy to provide some form of Live Pro Training session.
Let me know and I will put something together. Would have done it last Sunday, but didn't want to turn such a friendly meeting into a scout camp.
I can buld an itinerary and add pretty much anything you might want to learn.
PS: I don't mean this to sound cocky, but love to help and share what I have learned.. I worked out how to build projectors from you guys, so feel I would be giving something back....:)
Mark
This sounds interesting.
sounds good to me. im sure i could get up the cam and film it.
slight problem august might not be good for me !!!
so we dont continue to hijack this thread - the SP168 fault discussion will now jump here - http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...3520#post43520
Rob
guys we need to set a date for the next meet
Workshops sound a very good idea and I would make full use of a Mamba WS as I am finding it all a little daunting.
Wish I knew a little more on the whole subject of lasers then I would be willing to help too :o
Like I stated previously I would be happy to do a Mamba workshop for people - would be even better if I had a version that fully worked....ahem.
Just working on a new mamba show as we speak. I was very tempted to do it with pango but at this stage dont want to learn I just felt creative :)
Rob
What's up with it?Quote:
Originally Posted by stanwax
ill do as best i can to record any workshop
Jim
Though stability has come on leaps and bounds - its now pretty workable and you dont wanna throw it out the window every 30 seconds - there are still many 'faults' some I suspect harking back from the days before Andre was on the case but some I know have crept in as things have gone on.
for example one of my fave features for making repeat sections is to create a group of scenes - sometimes simple sometimes complex, do all the timing and fx you want then select 'output to file'. This creates a frame file that you can just drop into your time line everywhere that section needs to go and you only have to time beginning and end - its great and can make the timeline much tidier - but in the current version, this function creates blank frames :( it makes life a bitch especailly when you lean on a feature alot. What I really meant was this sort of trick is ideal to show people but if it dont work then its gonna mean the workshop has limitations, and this is not the only non functional that would be good to show people.
I guess we have till August though....
Rob
Andy
It may not be required to video the action - I have some software that will record an AVI of the desktop and all its actions, you can plug a mic in and record sound to it as well - better than a vid cam :)
Rob
i have the same software - well something that does the same anyway. so we would be doubly sorted
I see what you mean Rob, that is rather annoying.
I have had mine do a debug crash a few times, especially when using the live player, and when it asks me to send the info off to... I expect Medialas, it comes back that it has failed to send so they never get from me any bug information which can't really do anything to help any issues with it.
Maybe it's my router stopping things???
Jim the bug reports go direct to Andre - even to the point where I now write 'Hi Andre' at the start :) I think it just uses its own smtp server so should just go out on port 25 - ie router shouldnt bother but maybe its protectiong it cos it sees an app sending. Anyway I think the bug reports are imprortant as I know how Andre picks through them and has Ironed out a number of probs following BRs ive sent. Try saving one and emailing it over to him manually or just take a look at it in notepad & you will see how much information it collects about how the pc is operating at the moment the crach occured. It may be meaninglessto you but not to OG!
This is one reason im not gonna throw Mamba away just cos I got a QM32, Andre has made such a huge difference to Mamba in less than a year and his approach is great if only stiffled by the fact that he can only do what ML dictate - which is a shame. Mamba will never be Pango but its a great little app and is so easy to use - if lacking some functions, but hey hopefully they will come with time.
Rob