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Thread: Building a new projector

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Sydney, Australia
    Posts
    156

    Default Building a new projector

    Gday everyone

    I've decided to build my own projector.

    I've already got a RGV 480 mw unit which I am having a ball with. Its great fun to watch the shows on the wall, or fog the place up and watch the beam shows. Then I found out the software that came with the laser is a cracked copy of mamba. Bugger! I figured oh well not to worry, I'm getting my pango soon anyway!

    So for my new projector (expecting 2.5 Watts):
    Pangolin Quickshow with FB3
    DT 40 scanners (the non wide ones)
    650nm @ 1 watt
    445nm @ 1 watt (already have it)
    532nm @ 500 mw
    Dichros from Dave at LSP (kit comes with micro adjustable mounts, and rail thingies).

    For a case I'm going with a 6U lockable rackmount enclosure with a sliding tray. The sliding tray will house the optical bench and allow easy access to the lasers and optics for adjustment. I'll rig it with an interlock so the lasers can only run low power unless the tray is all the way in and the door closed. The system will then reinitialize into show mode and listen for ilda signals. The ground floor beneath will house the laser power supplies, scanner amps and supplies, plus other gadgets like interlock board, ILDA breakout etc. A blank 3U panel will hide all the yucky wiring and power supplies :P

    The nice thing about this case is the door is see through one (its originally designed to take audio equipment like DVD players and amps), so I can have the door closed, and the scanned laser can still shoot out through the glass. I'd need to find some form of antireflective coating for the laser output area, and a non reflective opaque coating for the area in front of the dichros.

    It will be a while before I can start as I need to save the cash for my Pango - I hate running cracked software (the pirated mamba) - its not right! I will be notifying Medialas of the company who is stealing their program.

    Cheers
    Ben

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    5,704

    Default

    Ben considering swapping the 650nm for 640nm as the beam diameter sucks on 650.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Essex, UK
    Posts
    8,648

    Default

    or use 660 open can diodes. darker than both 640 and 650 but dead cheap and excellent beam spec
    Eat Sleep Lase Repeat

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Sydney, Australia
    Posts
    156

    Default

    how much 640 would I need to match the 500mw green?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Grand Rapids, Mi
    Posts
    2,538

    Default

    I've been real happy mixing the 642 and 660.

    Hard to say match green, but you'd need less 642 than 650 or 660....

    You might want to look at OSLS for dichro's not sure which brand Dave (have had great purchases from him ~ top notch) carries, but my testing found the 98% version from OSLS out preformed all my previous dichro purchases.
    leading in trailing technology

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Sydney, Australia
    Posts
    156

    Default

    hmmm mabye 350mw of 640 and 7-800 mw of 660 through a PBS

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    UK
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by dash8brj View Post
    how much 640 would I need to match the 500mw green?
    Just less than 700mw of 642 is roughly the equivolent brightness as 1W of 650 which is what you were proposing to use. So 700mw should be fine. However, I'm not sure anyone makes 700mw only 600 and 800mw.

    So you could buy 800mw and dial back if needed (i doubt you'd need to as red isn't very visible alone anyway) or 600mw and save some money for the penalty of slightly less red brightness and a very slight white balance shift. (Both appear slight).

    Alternatively you could mix 600mw 642 with 300mw of 660 for roughly the same brightness as 700mw 642.

    Everything put through Chroma (everyone's favourite utility! (sarcasm))

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Nottingham, UK
    Posts
    2,845

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by White-Light View Post
    Everything put through Chroma (everyone's favourite utility! (sarcasm))
    - There is no such word as "can't" -
    - 60% of the time it works every time -

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Sydney, Australia
    Posts
    156

    Default

    I will probably save for 800mw of 642 and dial it back.

    I'll keep you all posted as to how the project is coming along.

    Cheers
    Ben

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Portland
    Posts
    1,565

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by polishedball View Post
    You might want to look at OSLS for dichro's not sure which brand Dave (have had great purchases from him ~ top notch) carries, but my testing found the 98% version from OSLS out preformed all my previous dichro purchases.
    You need to ask for the high quality ones not the ones the sell on ebay.

    -Adam
    Support your local Janitor- not solicited .

    Laser (the acronym derived from Light Amplification by Stimulated Emissions of Radiation) is a spectacular manifestation of this process. It is a source which emits a kind of light of unrivaled purity and intensity not found in any of the previously known sources of radiation. - Lasers & Non-Linear Optics, B.B. Laud.

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