New EYEMAGIC Scanners EMS7000

[Picasso]

I would not fear getting service and support for them. I searched for the post but could not find anything. The post was in relation to the pangolin scanners. I forget if it was CT would no longer market to the laser show market or stop the lines. I'd had guessed at the time it was related to pangolin entering the scanner market and those two working a deal.

[swamidog]

let me know if they want testers.. i'm sure i can give their scanners a work out.

I spoke with them today and they are interested. The price point is less than the CT, but based on our discussion it is probably close. However they claim that in side by side testing with the 6215 that they are FASTER.

I plan to head down there next week on my way to Boston. They were interested in giving me some time and I hope a Demo. I have been up front about my interest and depending on their reaction then the value of additional interest may or may not be useful ie. lower price etc.?

[planters]

Now why would they do that..?

Based on the statements made by some of the longer term participants here they used to (maybe 10-20 years ago) heavily market their products to the laser display industry, but they push this market much less aggressively now. I haven't heard that they plan to change anything about their product line or the support.

[absolom7691]

let me know if they want testers.. i'm sure i can give their scanners a work out.

Likewise! Perhaps a GB could get us a lower price if there were enough interested parties and they were willing to sell to a GB. I had a feeling that the price point was going to be in the same ball park as CT

[The_Doctor]

Did CT originally make scientific instrumentation, and only later sell more overtly to a growing demand for laser display? (And specifically, a demand for no more broken torsion springs...) That's what I thought, anyway.. If so it makes sense to let Bill and Pangolin go to it without a conflict of interests, given that he's likely more passionate about this use of scanners than they are.

Those Nutfield scanners look interesting. In all cases, one thing I'm not sure of is: are scanners so difficult to make well that the cost will always be high, or is the cost a decision based on assuming that the market isn't big enough to lower the cost and increase production to avoid losing out? If the second case is true, then hopefully the cost will come down because there's no shortage of a market. Many shows will benefit from more scanners, and there will likely be many more shows. Given how pianos spread and dominated music making, followed by synthesisers, the notion that scanners should remain a high-priced rare product seems about as wise as Bill Gates saying that no-one will ever need more than 640K of expensive RAM memory. Dramatic scaling up of production and lowering of price didn't hurt the best in the musical instrument (or computing) industry. The reverse is true, given the history of the DX7 which combined both. I don't doubt that people will buy the best and not think twice about it if they can afford to do it easily. So I guess the question is 'can enough of them be made'? Group buys are a great thing, but it won't change this, it only demonstrates that people will get inventive and full of effort to get them.

[absolom7691]

they claim that in side by side testing with the 6215 that they are FASTER.

I am wondering if this is because the 6215s have a coil inductance of 94µH and the NF galvos have an inductance of 46µH. With my limited knowledge, I would think you could dump a bit more power into them which should make them more accurate. I would actually like to see what these could do on a test bench (even if it is not my test bench ).... 62K, 64K maybe more at 8°? If you speak with them more, maybe you could get a demo.

[planters]

Perhaps a GB could get us a lower price if there were enough interested parties and they were willing to sell to a GB. I had a feeling that the price point was going to be in the same ball park as CT

I haven't done a really good analysis of the industries that use galvanometers and so I am basing my assumptions on sketchy data. However, I assume that NF may be a small, hopefully hungry and responsive supplier. Many years ago I designed a large observatory telescope and as I researched the suppliers of the sub assemblies such as the optics, drive and the support structure, it was obvious that if you go to those few industry leaders in their fields you can readily obtain what you need. If you are very rich! I needed a heavy steel yoke 5M high with 150mm diameter tapered roller bearings and this was one of several large components. I visited several local machine shops and found one whose owner didn't look like a deer in the headlights at the end of my description. He was an amateur astronomer and fell in love with the project. Over the years I learned many of my machining skills from this old Polish gentleman. But, when I asked for references as to other large jobs they had completed the biggest and the latest was for a dozen commercial diaper dryers. The telescope was a great success and until very recently was the worlds highest altitude ground based optical telescope.

I think a group buy may not be as important as presenting a picture that they may be able to enter a market in which they are under-represented. Bill Benner clearly thinks that there is a low pressure region here.

I am requesting a demo and specifically a side by side. If they are willing I will request to have them display ILDA test patterns. I will offer our laptop with B. loaded. I suspect they may not want to risk their hardware on some unknown controller. We'll see.

[Pitts]

Hi
Nope that not a printing mistake I have a set of the new EMS8000 scanners from Tom.

I found Tom to be very good and helpful if not a bit frustrating due the time difference between Nz and Athens.

There is a story here in that I got caught, you would think that woudnt hapoen by now. i decided to upgrade my RGB with a new Kvant blue. All good not even thinking about the beam size (duh!).
The beam had no show of fitting on my CT 6215 scanner mirrors.
Panic !! .. RGB in bits and shows coming up.
Contacted Bill to see if the scanner Max were ready but alase not at that point. At least not as a system.

Budget wasnt going anywhere near suitable set of CT scanners ....I contacted Tom.

He very quickly prepped me a set and got them underway in days.

They arrived I installed then disaster.. The Y scanner was having a ball all by itself it was completely unstable. A process was followed as us electronics guys do and then I hit it with freeze and bingo stable.
Contact Tom very quick reply with ideas to check.
We traced it down to a faulty trim pot.

Now here is where you find out how good a company is...
He could have said send it back and he will fix it but he didn't or he could have said go find a pot, after all I am on the bottom of the world ( or top ??)
After we located the issue and without so much as a murmer of protest he dispatced at his cost on express courier to New Zealand a replacement scanner. Arrived installed works like a dream.

His support for a client he had never dealt with before was superb.

The boards are well made as are the scanner and mounts.
The only thing that raised my eyebrows was the tiny leads that go to the amps.. That possibly because the CT scanners use leads fat enough to jump start a car.

I will post a review on these new EMS8000 scanners after I have run them for a few months.

My first impressions and having done two shows with them is they are good, very good. I dont want to buy into the ILDA argument all I will say is they do everything I need at a practical level with no sign of stress.

The test patterns come up good ( although I have not tested to ILDA as yet).

I think bang for buck they take a lot of beating.

Jem's post above is very valid and a fair assesment. i still use DT40 pros in my beam scanners with no issues on green ( 445 maybe not so good) . I love my CT scanner but they are costly and are almost a military spec unit.
I beleive the EMS8000 to be a very good step up at a very fair prce.

Of course soon we will have the new Scanner Maxx units to look at as well. As we know Pangolin dont produce rubbish so that will add a dimension if the price is good.

My point is as I have said before, it is what the company will do when it goes wrong.

Ill get back when I have had a chance to test them further.

Cheers

Ray
NZ
Actually on the Gold Coast having a sunny holiday right now.

[mixedgas]

Eric, you'll have a good time at Nutfield.

Saturns III and IV were covered at SELEM.

However what is shocking is the new Pangolin amp prototype. I hope I can get this straight from memory: Around 380$ per unit with a ~400 MHZ DSP based processor core and bridged output drive. Amp comes with computer interface and manual and auto tuning. Plus analog diagnostics ports and on-screen built in digital Oscilloscope to confirm DSP and Sensor performance.

Everything is digital on this beast, of course the position sensing is still analog, but even that is improved.

Steve

[planters]

Steve,
I don't know about Nutfield. They have yet to follow up with the comparison they agreed to send. As a result I have not visited them although I will give them another shot by reminding them of my inquiry and we'll see. This Pangolin project is like water torture. Any idea on the release date? It's interesting that they are giving a price to that sig/fig without an approx release.