Im building a scanner, may need help

[dnar]

why is that?

Stability of optical alignment. Aluminum is a bitch when it comes to "walking" with temperature change. If you "pump" heat in to one end of the plate via your power supplies and drivers, it will twist and warp, ever so slightly and your optics will move. Every reflected beam (via dichros or mirrors) will amplify this movement 2x. It does not take much!

Anyone that has welded aluminum knows just how bad it can be!

[TTerbo]

Im sure this will suffice for a while as a first projector? untill I upgrade?

[dnar]

Im sure this will suffice for a while as a first projector? untill I upgrade?

Yeah sure. It's all a good learning experience. I am just sharing issues that you will discover yourself eventually.

Good luck with the build!

[goninanbl00d]

Oh wow, and so you learn something every day over here.

Would a thicker baseplate help, or would it only serve to make things worse?

Alternatively, what about seperate 'baseplates' for both the drivers/power supplies and the lasers/galvos/optics?

[michelrietveld]

i just bought an aluminium base plate 10 mm thick, at the moment i use the plastic board with prefab holes that you use to put your instruments up on the wall , it works for now and as soon as i have finished my red and blue i will put them on the aluminium board.
Also see a lot of double layer designs, ground floor for optics and lasers, second for drivers, power supply and so. This will safe the workspace from getting too big and create a nice cube as scanner.

Michel

[LaNeK779]

or, for a quick and dirty open chasis test setup, you can use a thick piece of plexiglass



edit: this is supposed to be a two-level implementation. the smaller piece of plexi with the optics sits above the psu and the galvos fit nicely. i have not mounted them "permanently" because from time to time i need to scan another beam, just for the fun of it, or for tests. the two odd black metal things are XYZ positioning stages i salvaged from some old medical machinery. this makes near field alignment very easy. they are heavy, i can tell you that, but for the cost they are super (cost=0)
and using a simple rotary hand tool you can make a nice, tidy back panel, too




it is not rigid enough, but everything stays very much in place and you can test all sorts of things easily