The noob scanner project (aka The Noober) diary

[Occularis]

384 holes in the big one, 25mm spacing. I'm gonna have a fun day tomorrow
Measured and "dented" guides for drilling today. DIY is fun, but a lot of work!
Going to make a few adjustable mounts for mirrors and dichros tomorrow as well, and I also have an idea about adjustable mountingplates for my laser modules.
With a bit of luck I should find a few really nice high reflection mirrors in the old laserdiscs that I can use.

[Occularis]

...My arms hurt...

Drilled and sinked all 384 holes and started tapping for M6. All I can say is ouch.

-Recieved my Cmedia soundcard for the DAC-build today

[Occularis]

After threading about half of the board, the only M6-tap that I could find in school snapped. Blah.
Bought 2 new taps on my way home, the breadboard will be finished tomorrow =)

Hoping I'll have a mail from Evil300 by tomorrow so I can take a break mid-threading. My arms would appreciate that
Played around a bit with Chroma. -Awesome tool! With the ld's I have at the moment I'll have a screaming pink ray of photons, hahaha! (35,9lm / 210mW 405 + 750mW 658)

[Occularis]

Ordered a "true" 30mW 532nm china-pointer. Figured it's worth 15$ to get some green in the projector

From monday, I have three full weeks of time just for the build. Gonna be fun!

[Occularis]

Played around with 2Dcad since I'm getting access to a proper machine-shop soon.
Measured to fit nicely on 25mm spaced M6 threaded breadboard, any suggestions are welcome
This design is for 12mm diode modules (Aixiz and such). I'm going to make some designs for mounting diodes straight into the housing as well, just working with what I've got at the moment.
-Also going to work out specifics for TECs' and tec control chip mounts later on.

The 30mW china greenie bumps me up to 54lm ^^

Edit: bah! One measurement is off. It's 70mm, not 71. Gonna fix that...

[Occularis]

Sorry for spamming, even though it's weekend
Just curious about a few things:

LD's:
What's the average lifespan of cheapo-ld's when kept within proper current/voltage and reasonable temperatures? (dvd/blu-ray, and I'm guessing a good temp would be somewhere between 22-26 C?)
Might be good to know if I'll do any "shows", just to calculate maintenance costs.

Since I'm getting access to a proper machine-shop soon, I'm seriously considering building a case.
What measurements would you recommend? I'm thinking something along the lines of 400x300x250mm inner compartment dimensions, divided in 2 "floors" by a 10mm alu breadboard. That should give me pretty much room to fit 5x650, 5x405 and whatever 532's I can get my hands on (just one atm) right, or should i go wider than 400mm just because I can?

Powersupplys:
I cant really figure out the main difference performance-wise between linear and switched PSUs'. Some say that linears are "cleaner" and some prefer switched. I would of course prefer to go switched just to save weight and space, but I'd also like to hear what the rest of you have to say about it.
I'm most likely going to use the monster linear 24v10a PSU I salvaged for the big breadboard I'm making, and that one is probably going to be a stationary lab/experimenting/calibration table. Not like I'd put 10kg of PSU in a projector... *cough*

Edit: Anyone else curious about watercooling ld-blocks?

[Doc]

A few points to consider:

Do check that the case of the greenie isn't case positive, it could well be, in which case you'll have to insulate it from the deck.

Heat is something that DVD burner diodes can handle, many are rated for >60°C duty inside the drive. ESD is your main worry with these.

Have you considered using an ATX PSU? They are a good source of clean, regulated +3.3v +5v +12 -5v -12v and (apart from the -ve outputs) with lots of current.

[Occularis]

Have you considered using an ATX PSU? They are a good source of clean, regulated +3.3v +5v +12 -5v -12v and (apart from the -ve outputs) with lots of current.

-Yep. I have a few of those, and a few other random psu's saved "just in case"

[shrad]

you should measure ripple of an ATX psu... as well as starting pulses and load variation surges...

you would be really surprised...

any psu but high end ones will have anormous parasits, noise, ripple, bad regulation, instability, etc...

some will not even take 60% of what they are rated for, or their rated power will be the consumed one and not the provided one

if your computer psus are of decent brand, then it is safe to go, but forget cheap alternatives

the one I used leaked 230VAC from V+ to earth... I can imagine it is not the only one, as sometimes there is a potential of more than 100VAC between a computer and another peripheral on mains (this is also nice to check, before I started to use Antec power supplies I always had little sparks when I connected my audio equip. to the computer... guess because of which other psu)

[Occularis]

Yep, that's exactly my experience with computer psu's as well. Having been a pc-tech for over 5 years, I'm just saving them as a last resort / spare parts really.
I think I can get some more of the Melcher dc/dc converters to hook up with a good main psu. If I cant find one good enough, I'm gonna go with the monster until I get something a bit more "portable"