My first projector being reborn!

So, here is my first ever projector, in the process of being dismantled to accomodate some upgrades.

It was originally a rebranded projector of the same company that makes the 'Super 7' lasers, only a bit cheaper than what they sell for!

It is allegedly 100mW, however compared to my 'other' 100mW it pales a bit. I have no meter to confirm or deny any of these specs however, but I think it's probably really around 60mW or so in reality.

Scanners are what I believe to be the ScanEco12's with DMX board.

(Scanners and laser are up for grabs if anyone is after something to play with or get them started - PM with offers if you are)

On order are a set of DT25's and a Laserwave 300mW 532nm and one of DZ's fancy little ILDA breakout boards.

On starting to rip the guts out of the thing I can say that the case is actually pretty sturdy and well thought out. However, the fan on the back sucks out and is supposed to bring air in via some filtered holes in the lid - although as you'll see in the top down photo is that there are holes in the baseplate (which probably assist cooling) which have some unfiltered holes in the actual base. So once the top holes get gunked up (in the course of a night in some cases) it suck all the dust up through the bottom, through the holes and right over the PSU and laser driver!! This will be being cured during the refit.

Also notice the 'hasty' chinese construction leading to the baseplate being inserted in different height slots on each side panel...

More pics to come as components arrive....


One question - will mounting the DT25 driver direct to the baseplate be sufficient or will I need a dedicated heatsink?

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Originally Posted by norty303

So, here is my first ever projector, in the process of being dismantled to accomodate some upgrades.

It was originally a rebranded projector of the same company that makes the 'Super 7' lasers, only a bit cheaper than what they sell for!

It is allegedly 100mW, however compared to my 'other' 100mW it pales a bit. I have no meter to confirm or deny any of these specs however, but I think it's probably really around 60mW or so in reality.

Scanners are what I believe to be the ScanEco12's with DMX board.

(Scanners and laser are up for grabs if anyone is after something to play with or get them started - PM with offers if you are)

On order are a set of DT25's and a Laserwave 300mW 532nm and one of DZ's fancy little ILDA breakout boards.

On starting to rip the guts out of the thing I can say that the case is actually pretty sturdy and well thought out. However, the fan on the back sucks out and is supposed to bring air in via some filtered holes in the lid - although as you'll see in the top down photo is that there are holes in the baseplate (which probably assist cooling) which have some unfiltered holes in the actual base. So once the top holes get gunked up (in the course of a night in some cases) it suck all the dust up through the bottom, through the holes and right over the PSU and laser driver!! This will be being cured during the refit.

Also notice the 'hasty' chinese construction leading to the baseplate being inserted in different height slots on each side panel...

More pics to come as components arrive....


One question - will mounting the DT25 driver direct to the baseplate be sufficient or will I need a dedicated heatsink?

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If the baseplate is thick ally it will be fine.

I will second that :)
The DT25s have a build in ally heatsink but this needs to be fixed to a suitable lump of ally - you baseplate will be just perfect :)

Rob

I'm very curious about the DT25 performance! I'm thinking of building a mini beamshow projector later this year, the DT25 is an intended candidate, because of its single driverboard.

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Originally Posted by pimm87

I'm very curious about the DT25 performance! I'm thinking of building a mini beamshow projector later this year, the DT25 is an intended candidate, because of its single driverboard.

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I purchased a set from Rob (Stanwax) a couple of months back, perfectly tuned, quiet, well made and great performance. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doc

I purchased a set from Rob (Stanwax) a couple of months back, perfectly tuned, quiet, well made and great performance. :)

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I can confirm that. I bought mine from Dave (LSP) a while ago and they are awesome scanners ;)

Well tuned, fairly quiet and a very hefty mounting block.

Your baseplate will be fine for the heatsinking aslong as your fan works.

Ok, little update.

Hopefully the laser and scanners will arrive shortly so thought I'd better get on with some of the other stuff.

Have now decided that the (previously) exhaust fan is now going to be a blower. This was due to the vents not being very well filtered and sucking lots of crap in. However I found this nifty little filtered fan cover in Maplins yesterday so it's now going to blow, and should provide a bit more forced air over the components.

I'm also cutting out the back panel of the case and making a new panel to hold the I/O ILDA connectors from DZ, as the old DMX cutouts will be redundant.

Here's a pic of the panel and cutout and fan filter

What is the output like on those covered fans? I've always thought of them to have a pretty restricted airflow?

Seems to be ok, the filter is close weave but not very thick. I would guess it flows more air with the filter than it exhausted when all the intake vents were blocked! ;)

Well, nearly got all the bits together for this now.

DT25's and 300mW Laserwave (doing a bit over 400mW) arrived last week from Rob Stanwax.

heres a couple of pics of the intended layout. Only drawback has been that due to the size of the head, the scanner block has to be moved back in the case which prevents being able to use the scanner cover that was previously in the case. Shouldn't be too much problem since all air intakes will be filtered. You can see the scanner mount sitting on the bit of ally I'll make the shim from.

Next problem is that my fan is 12v, but the 2 PSU's only have 24v and 5v. :confused:

Is the easiest way of dealing with this to add a second fan in series? What other things can i do to get 12V from the PSU?

Why not just bang a 7812 in and use the 24v?

Jim

Thats exactly what Ive done in the past Jim - 7812 screwed (with insualtion) down to the baseplate as this will provide adequate heatsinking :)
You can also slip a 3 pin Molex K connector on it to make a neat way of connecting it up.
Adam - if you are short of one let me know and I will post one with the other bits

Rob

That would be bloomin marvellous if you could Rob! :)

great service

Consider it on the way ;)

Rob

You can put 2 fans in series, but already looks like you fixed that problem :)

Or get a 24v, or even better a 240v fan?

It's all sorted now with the voltage regulator and a little clip on heatsink (and God bless self adhesive thermal tape!). Had it up and running last night and the beam is nice and tight and the scanners are very good! nice sharp edges on everything :)

Pics to follow once I've finished bolting the remaining bits down and shimming the head and tidying the wiring a bit!

I'd be interested to see some detailed photos of this complete build. Have you completed it yet? :D

Yep, pretty much all done now, just had my hands full with my new daughter!

Here's a few more pics

The red & black wires that come off your laser driver and go to the ILDA - Are they TTL or analog?

Oh i know how it is with a newborn.. fun! lol

The driver supports TTL and analogue - in the pic they go from the red analogue ILDA to the analogue input. The other white header to the right of the one plugged in is the TTL input

Ah i see, thx for that. I'm learning but i'm getting there.