How to extend a projector?

[borgqueenx]

So...
i want to extend my projector, so it offers for more room when installing my new galvo's sunday the 30th on the minilem@hobbybob.
im making this topic for decadation to extending a projector if required.

I will ofcource get help there to, but im making this new topic becouse maybe i need more parts or something...

I try to explain this is much as possible with text and photos.
Before i begin i want to say i did not mount, screwed, glued, pasted, removed, eddited or did anything else to my projector. i use this topic just for advice, what would be the best option on the 30th on the minilem. to save some time on the 30th itself, and to get advice what more i should bring or ask my dad to create. i need careful advice since these parts dont go for free at my dad's place. they dont cost that much however but throwing away money is stopid.
Also, extending the projector to go up would mean the top of the projector cant fit anymore....thats not really a problem though, i will ask my dad to weld(weld according to google translate lolz) more plates to the top, so it will fit.
I also thought about a whole new casing, but that would 1 require alot of time, and 2 alot of effort since maybe we can expect more glued parts in this projector....done by the factory.

so...Here we go

The Projector's lenght and height:



A image of the "pillar" i could use to make a new platform on the projector. easy to screw on and off the projector base floor.


And another photo of the pillars with info:


And another photo of the pillars...it can be extended to 2cm or shrinked back...


And another photo of the pillars inside the projector(ofcource not mounted...)


And another photo of the pillars took from the side:


Now this is the kind of extension i have in mind:


And this is the plate from above...but it wont be enough room for 2 galvo drivers...:


Same plate shot from the side:


I have alot smaller plates(about 20) ...like this idea?


This could work to mount 2 galvo drivers?


Size of the smaller plates:


More size of the smaller plates:


The galvo....whatever thing it is...its alot bigger...


Galvo driver problem 1....its bigger in lenght and in height:


But...if we decide extending to above is not nessacary....it might just fit in....with luck:


Maby place it there?


And finally...the galvo's mount block is larger and higher then the current galvo mount block...i do get new 3d dichro's at the minilem, but im wondering if those can be set so they will make the laser beams hit the galvo mirrors...


Thanks for reading and looking forwards to reply's

EDIT: also like to mention that the PT-ITRUST board set wont be a problem in terms of sizes(i think)
and on a side note: the new galvo set do got a bigger mount block....but smaller mirrors...no idea if that matters or changes something...

EDIT2: on another sidenote, i think the PT-ITRUST set comes with 2 ilda connections...need to think something for this as well

[dnar]

Hi BorgX.

Are you really sure you want to do this? Looks like a band aid on a shark bite.

Old saying, you can't polish a turd.

Another: You can't make Strawberry jam from poo.

[borgqueenx]

Hi BorgX.

Are you really sure you want to do this? Looks like a band aid on a shark bite.

Old saying, you can't polish a turd.

Another: You can't make Strawberry jam from poo.

extending the projector? yes...else my new galvo's are useless since they wont fit in.

[masterpj]

Hi BorgX.

Are you really sure you want to do this? Looks like a band aid on a shark bite.

Old saying, you can't polish a turd.

Another: You can't make Strawberry jam from poo.

he's right (sort off)
You can make strawberry Jam ...... well fake strawberry jam but it will taste and look like poo.

So instead of using poo replace that with actuall strawberries.

In other words: get a new case made.

If you go to a electronics store (not those small pc stores)
but for example:Stuut & Bruin or Eilander
(name differs from location off-course)
there you can give measurements and choose from various materials
(I recommend aluminium), and either they make it for you (which doesn't take long) or they have an enclosure with the right measures laying around.

I don't know the exact pricing but it's dependant on your material, as I said before I recommend going for aluminium. it's fairly sturdy and looks nice

To be honest most of the projectors I've seen have a aluminium enclosure.. or some temporary wooden enclosure.

I dissadvice welding those materials.
- First of all they wont be that sturdy
- It wont look pretty at all.
- It's tedious and you have a high chance messing up
- the measurements will change because of the welding


I know you want to do this on the cheap, or fairly cheaper.. but sometimes you just have to accept that going cheaper is not the best option.
In this case even if you succeed with this... I would say it won't last long and you eventually have to pay for a new case.

The only thing I can say is go for some kind of wood.

I remember hobbybob using wood for his case, I think he did say the alignment can mess up because of vibrations.

But in your case: ask him the kind of wood he used and rebuild that projector.
Make pictures and draw some sketches of how everything is positioned now in photoshop.

Throw that case away (well put it away for now)

[hobbybob]

OK i looked at the pictures.
You need space to place the galvo drivers and powersupply for sure, cramming it all in will restrict airflow in your projector and leave no room for future extensions.
Trust me, there WILL be future extensions ;-)

If your dad is a welder or works in a metal shop, why not ask him to make a case from L-profiles (NL = hoekprofiel) and then close up using trespa, mdf (see michels case).
Then screw in the baseplate and your all set for now, ofcourse you can have a professional case built, but since i know your on a kinda budget you can only spent your money once.
But when you spent it on laser modules, you want them to be protected too.

Furthermore i looked at the new galvo block, you say galvo's are higher then old ones, but the old ones are on what seems to be 4 to 6mm thick aluminiumplates and the new ones have a block below them ? So i think height isn't that much different.

Basically you can do 2 things (actually more, but lets focus on these 2).
Since you cannot drill, tap all holes, built up the complete projector completely from scratch you have to decide on some things.

Two options in my opinion:

1.
Either you can bring the new baseplate, take out all the stuff to reuse from the old projector and we mount that and align, so we have projector on a plate.
You can then ask your dad to make a case in metal, or make your own in wood or trespa or something like that.
Will take more time, but you have all the smart guys (McCarrot, Edison, Laserwinkel, SrS) on board to give you advise how to build up the baseplate.

2.
Try to replace only the old stuff for new stuff in your old projector.
You go home with a projector working (at least thats the plan) but no room for improvement, ie. the case is too small for future stuff.
Is faster than option 1, but restricts you.

Ofcourse you have to decide, but remember at a LEM everyone has something to tell, show. And while everyone is willing to help you, they will discuss their stuff too so sometimes they are busy on their own stuff too. But ofcourse the aim is to help everyone as much as everyone can. But remember it could be you have to finish your projector yourself at home. But at least you will go home with a lot of knowledge.
And when that happens the LEM is a success !

Hopefully others will give you advice or maybe have a case to spare.
The wooden one PJ refers too was my first green in a big (80x60x25xm) flightcase.
But want to keep that one, since i want to rebuild the flightcase into a smaller case.

My other case was a old drawing light box (lichtbak) which i took everything out an placed in the projector.

Be creative, look arround you, there a people that build projectors in old VCR's or amplifiers. Just swap the frontpanel, re-use stuff on the back.
Use your imagination, look around your attic (zolder) to find old stuff to re-use.

It's just like with people: the inside is important, if the outside looks nice too, that's a plus, but not mandatory. Make sure the inside is OK and you'll will see that the outside isn't that important now. Just my opinion.

See you and PJ sunday around 9.25AM @ Amersfoort CS.

@PJ: if you come by train can you make sure your there before or at 9.25AM too ?
Then we'll be back in time to greet the wild horde of laserfans at my doorstep and get them a proper cup coffee or tea to get us started

[Doc]

Buy a cheap desktop PC case like this:



And an aluminium plate that will fit inside, the current case that you have has more problems than the fact that it is too small.

There is no proper optical table to hold everything in alignment and nothing with enough thermal mass for the lasers to sink heat into. You really do need to start from scratch; bite the bullet and just do it, you will have to at some point so you might as well do it now.

Now you realise why the advise was 'don't buy it' - Buy smart and buy once; it's far cheaper in the end.

[mccarrot]

just reuse the old galvo mount, and try to fit everything in the casing.

If the driver and PSU do not fit, build it back as it was original, and leave the old galvo in.

As said before you can't make strawberry jam from poo, especially if its chinese poo.

[borgqueenx]

OK i looked at the pictures.
You need space to place the galvo drivers and powersupply for sure, cramming it all in will restrict airflow in your projector and leave no room for future extensions.
Trust me, there WILL be future extensions ;-)

If your dad is a welder or works in a metal shop, why not ask him to make a case from L-profiles (NL = hoekprofiel) and then close up using trespa, mdf (see michels case).
Then screw in the baseplate and your all set for now, ofcourse you can have a professional case built, but since i know your on a kinda budget you can only spent your money once.
But when you spent it on laser modules, you want them to be protected too.

Furthermore i looked at the new galvo block, you say galvo's are higher then old ones, but the old ones are on what seems to be 4 to 6mm thick aluminiumplates and the new ones have a block below them ? So i think height isn't that much different.

Basically you can do 2 things (actually more, but lets focus on these 2).
Since you cannot drill, tap all holes, built up the complete projector completely from scratch you have to decide on some things.

Two options in my opinion:

1.
Either you can bring the new baseplate, take out all the stuff to reuse from the old projector and we mount that and align, so we have projector on a plate.
You can then ask your dad to make a case in metal, or make your own in wood or trespa or something like that.
Will take more time, but you have all the smart guys (McCarrot, Edison, Laserwinkel, SrS) on board to give you advise how to build up the baseplate.

2.
Try to replace only the old stuff for new stuff in your old projector.
You go home with a projector working (at least thats the plan) but no room for improvement, ie. the case is too small for future stuff.
Is faster than option 1, but restricts you.

Ofcourse you have to decide, but remember at a LEM everyone has something to tell, show. And while everyone is willing to help you, they will discuss their stuff too so sometimes they are busy on their own stuff too. But ofcourse the aim is to help everyone as much as everyone can. But remember it could be you have to finish your projector yourself at home. But at least you will go home with a lot of knowledge.
And when that happens the LEM is a success !

Hopefully others will give you advice or maybe have a case to spare.
The wooden one PJ refers too was my first green in a big (80x60x25xm) flightcase.
But want to keep that one, since i want to rebuild the flightcase into a smaller case.

My other case was a old drawing light box (lichtbak) which i took everything out an placed in the projector.

Be creative, look arround you, there a people that build projectors in old VCR's or amplifiers. Just swap the frontpanel, re-use stuff on the back.
Use your imagination, look around your attic (zolder) to find old stuff to re-use.

It's just like with people: the inside is important, if the outside looks nice too, that's a plus, but not mandatory. Make sure the inside is OK and you'll will see that the outside isn't that important now. Just my opinion.

See you and PJ sunday around 9.25AM @ Amersfoort CS.

@PJ: if you come by train can you make sure your there before or at 9.25AM too ?
Then we'll be back in time to greet the wild horde of laserfans at my doorstep and get them a proper cup coffee or tea to get us started

thanks alot(and you to PJ!).
yes my goal is to get the projector working at the LEM. first me then others
j/k
no ofcource i understand im not the only one. plus i will only like it to watch and learn at other projector projects
the outside is indeed the less important of all. if there's little time i will continue to do the outside at home. then sturdy construction comes first, followed by design.
Swapping the galvo's, itrust set, and installing new dichro's is the thing i'd hope to do at the lem for my own projector.

thinking about your option 1 and editting it, what do you think of this?
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/5025/img4174q.jpg
(imagine all those plates are one big plate...a projector on a plate.)
that way we dont need to remove anything, and we created new space.
i editted your option 1, because there comes so much more work with it.
the screws are of bad quality in this projector(one is already messed up by trying to remove it some time ago). plus there is probaly still glue to discover. so that means moving the old stuff out of the projector is probaly going to be hard.
but i'd like to go for the option that will be possible at the miniLEM you organise...
because im not the expert

my only thing i'd like is, that i can go home with a working projector. how it looks like will be the least of my concerns ^^
ofcource i cant watch into the future if this can be done on time, but its what i shall hope for

you are defeniatly right about extensions im already thinking of replacing the violet laser(405nm) with a blue laser(445nm).

@McCarrot: the old galvo mount block seems to be glued to the galvo's...

but maybe we can use a less thicker plate beneath the galvo mount block.

[masterpj]

Sure hobbybob.
Will be there on time

Im almost sure that Im going by train.
I can't really ask my dad now because he's on vacation in russia with my brother.
he will be back tuesday.

[masterpj]

Double post but... in the meantime have this free ilda made by me
It's the first ilda sample that is an result of the *partually manual* method of my LC-Flash improvement method.
Im still writing a document on how to implement it and have it become a fully automatic conversion... but that isn't ready yet.
I didn't make the document for posting here though so I won't
but hopefully It will be implemented.

Yukkuri shiteitte ne.zip
average point count = ~300 pps

The Character says: "yukkuri shitteite ne!"
meaning: "TAKE IT EASY!"
until LEM take it easy

there are more samples and im still stress testing the method itself and also seeing if It will not provide problems with certain types of flashes.

The purpose of the whole method is make web flashes actually possible to laser without the use of too much points or the requirement of deleting almost every object + displaying them more often at how they actually look like in flash itself.

The problem that still is there is: slight miscolouring.