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Thread: Home brew RGB Projectors

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
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    Default Home brew RGB Projectors

    Thought I'd start a new topic on this. I have more or less completed my fully solid state RGB projector. The basic components are:

    - 2 MaXYZ 200mW 660nm diode lasers with analog modulation combined using a polarizing beam splitter cube
    - 300mW 532nm green DPSS with analog modulation
    - 250mW 473nm blue DPSS with analog modulation
    - Cambridge 6215 scanners tuned for 30KPPS @ 60 degrees

    My first build looked like this:



    It worked OK despite having to use a 100mW ttl modulation green laser while waiting for the replacement for my dead Laser Quantum POS. I figured out that I was losing a lot of power in the dichros so I got some better filters and rearranged the layout:



    I'm getting >95% throughput for all colors now. After tuning the Pangolin palette to get a nice balanced white, it looks really good



    It's hard to get good pictures or videos of a laser show, but re-playing all the Pangolin beam shows with full analog color instead of ttl green has been great fun. I am really happy I held out for analog modulation on all 3 lasers. If your software supports it (Pangolin does, Alphalite doesn't) it's totally worth it.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Florida
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    802

    Default

    Beautiful
    "My signature has been taken, so Insert another here"
    http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/laserfaq.htm
    *^_^* aka PhiloUHF

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    39

    Default Beautiful

    Absoutely Great!
    Nice and compact!
    Is that a 12" x 18" breadboard you have it mounted on?
    What dichroic filters did you end up using?

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Beautiful

    Quote Originally Posted by maxvideo
    Absoutely Great!
    Nice and compact!
    Is that a 12" x 18" breadboard you have it mounted on?
    What dichroic filters did you end up using?
    Thanks Yes, it's all built on a 12 x 18 aluminum breadboard. It's 3/4" thick so kind of heavy, but it only took a couple of hours to completely rearrange and realign it this afternoon. The alignment is nearly perfect (if I do say so myself) with good beam position up close and 100 feet away. I used shims to get the lasers all exactly 3" above the table and perfectly parallel to the table and the rest was pretty easy.

    The blue+green combiner is something I pulled from some random surplus equipment. I wish I could get another because it's giving me about 98% throughput on both colors. The red+green/blue I got from Bob Ash @ New Method Lasers a couple of years ago. Oddly, it looks almost clear, but reflects about 98% of the red and passes about 96% of the green+blue.

    Next I'll be designing an airtight enclosure so i can take it to Burning Man without destroying it.

  5. #5
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    Default Home brew rgb setup

    I have noticed that when the focus is changed on these red units,the beam will have to be re-aligned. Just wondered if you have had the same thing happen with your set. I am going to do some re-arranging with my table. They are very nice with the analog modulation! What is your total output power as pictured? By the way nice setup!
    You are the only one that can make your dreams come true....and the only one that can stop them...A.M. Dietrich

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Home brew rgb setup

    Quote Originally Posted by MechEng3
    I have noticed that when the focus is changed on these red units,the beam will have to be re-aligned. Just wondered if you have had the same thing happen with your set. I am going to do some re-arranging with my table. They are very nice with the analog modulation! What is your total output power as pictured? By the way nice setup!
    I have not had to mess with the focus so have not seen this problem. If the focus is loose, you can use a small piece of teflon tape (the stuff you use to seal pipe fittings - a buck a roll at the local hardware store) to stiffen it up.

    This setup has a bit over 400mW of red, about 250mW of blue and 300mW of green so nearly a watt when everything's going full blast. It takes less than 100mW of green to get a nicely balanced white though so unless I'm doing long distance outdoor stuff, it'll be more like 750mW. What really matters is that In a dark room with some fog it is stunningly bright and the range of colors is way better than most krypton argon mix gas ion laser I've seen.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
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    Default

    Hey Kev,

    nice projector. Whats a "shim" ? I like that you don't need a second mirror for green and red, to adjust height.....

    The lasever site says their new modules are 'adjustable focus'... is that true ?

    That would be really handy for RGB as you can compensate for different beam sizes and get it mixed properly....

    Anyway.. keep up the good work!

    Cheers,

    Adrian
    Now proudly stocking and offering the best deals on laser-wave

    www.lasershowparts.com
    http://stores.ebay.com.au/Lasershow-Parts

  8. #8
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    Default

    Some pictures of the show I did with my RGB projecotr over the weekend

    http://web.mac.com/goodbeer/iWeb/goo...xperience.html

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayhem/...7594155422671/

    These of couse do not do justice to the show which was absolutely amazing.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
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    Charlotte, NC
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    Default

    That looks really good, its amaizing how analog modulation gives nearly the same effect of having a pcaom.

  10. #10
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    Feb 2005
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    Default

    Amazing configuration for sure

    I see that you use the small Lasever green laser on the second picture (I consider to buy a blue or green of the same model), so what do you think of it? These looks great but the only point that I'm not sure is that they recommand to run it at 20-30°C. So what's if under 20°C ?

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