Laserlance here... Question

[laserlance22]

Searching for free .ild files 2 years ago got me here. The FTP site was great and they even had a few .heb files for my Laserworld unit running showeditor. However, I don't think I fully appreciated the scope of this "laser support group" until recently. I read a lot of the posts and replies and for everyone who has helped someone out, no matter what level the question, "Kudos". You guys are great. I vow to no longer selfishly download files, but not participate with my fellow hobbyist, besides, I need your help. LOL.
So here goes. I bought the Laserworld PRO box 3+ years ago (45k scanners I believe) without lasers installed. Thought I'd buy my own and put them in and save money. Turned out to be pretty tough. I got them in a few months, but no movement on the scanners. My laser lay dorment in the closet for 18 months until one night I got it back out and found the RS-232 plug called the remote key lock... plugged it in and almost cried (mostly in embarrassment for being so ignorant). Back to the lasers. Blue is 473nm, 100mw and digital, red is new yesterday 500mw 650nm and analog. Both of those work fine (although the red dot is a large vertical rectangle). The green is and has always been the problem. Sorry for the lengthy lead in...

[laserlance22]

So, The green laser (100mw) has a separate power supply like the others and I believe it uses digital modulation (blue and black wires). Here's what happens, I turn the laser system on and the green laser comes on, I turn the key on and it stays on, I display .heb files (Laserworld designation) and IT SHOWS ALL THE BLANKED LINES (SOLID). The Red and Blue lasers perform perfectly. The only time the green laser is off is when I'm displaying a figure or animation that has other colors. It's like it does everything in reverse. it's always on, instead of off like the others (no safety at all). and it displays the (blanked) lines which ruins the animations. I've tried every possible combination of color correction settings to fix it. I've switched the wires and outputs from the board to the other colors and everything's the same! The same wires that mess the green up, work fine with the other two and vice/versa. It's gotta be the green laser, but why or how could the modulation signal input on the laser be so retarded??? Thank you.

[mikkojay]

Hey there, this thread might be worth a read:
http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...nking-circuits......
-Mike

[KGB]

Bring it down to NOLA next time you come and I can take a look at it...


Quote from Steve....."Chinese low cost blanking wants to see a current sink instead of a current source. Since most laser systems output a source, you need to add a simple NPN transistor to ground to "invert" the blanking signal, or use a TTL buffer chip between the laser software and the laser."

[laserlance22]

Alright! Thanks everyone. Great information and so good to know a solution is possible. Good to have a lead to follow anyway. I was feeling stuck and thought buying a new laser was the only choice. ---
Headed to Radio Shack to see what's available in the transistor section. I'll post some pictures of the beam table later tonight. I'll let you know how it goes and probably asks a few more questions before I go touching random wires together. LOL.

[laserlance22]

I did a basic drawing in MS Paint to show what I have, so feel free to download, open and draw all over it to give me a schematic of what should be connected to what. This was my first time attaching pics, so not sure if I did it right. THANK YOU!!!

[laserlance22]

Oh yeah. The laser in the middle (round shaped is a cheap red with no power supply I tried using. It worked for a while and then died. So the laser not mounted yet (sitting outside the unit on white paper) is the new red laser. The blue laser is closest to the galvo's. The green is furthest. Green is the problem child regarding blanking.

[laserlance22]

suspense is killing me! LOL

[LaNeK779]

that's a really interesting solution concerning dichro placement there!!!

[laserlance22]

that's a really interesting solution concerning dichro placement there!!!

Please tell me more. What do you mean by that? Thanks, Lance