Im building an "oldschool" beam & effects table & would like advice, ideas, critique.

[Vidal Wolf]

Hey guys.
Well, i finally have pretty much all the parts to make a real projector and beam effects table.
This weekend I placed components,effects,lasers,prisms and beam steering mirrors in several configurations in hopes of finding the magic layout that will give me the best and most impressive visual punch.
I watched alot of videos on youtube, looked up as many projector images as I could find, consulted laser FX and read all I could in the last 6 months to give me the best idea of how I need to proceed.
Ive taken a couple of pictures of the table with sort of ideas for what I would like.
Heres where I could really use some help. Would any one that has experience building beam tables, projectors and related effects be willing to help me by sharing your ideas, thoughts and pictures.
Buying the Whitelight from Dsli-Jon was a big step towards my dream and buying the table from Spec was another major milestone.
I have alot of the components I will need to finish the build, yet there will be a ton more of everything yet to get before I can complete it.
So, have a look at a couple of pics, tell me if Im so off the wall that its laughable, then tell me what I need to do to fix it. Its kinda hard to critique it since theres not much there yet and nothings screwed,glued or permanently mounted. Im using the Argon/Diode setup for ideas,guessing beam heights, and its not a part of the permanent table layout.
I will be using the Purelight Star as the main laser for this table with the real possibility of having an argon/diode setup as an alternate *at home* configuration.
Thank you for any and all your input. it does mean alot to me & it will help me make a better,more powerful and professional table/ system in the end.
Nate.

[dsli_jon]

..Would any one that has experience building beam tables, projectors and related effects be willing to help me...

Umm... I might know a guy...

..I'll get back to ya...
j

PS - 'J-CAD' drawings, free of charge...

..that said, looking forward to everyones ideas...

[GoolGaul]

watching this thread closely... share everyone.

[Displaser]

Nate,

Looking good - all the stuff you'd normally expect on a beam table. Glad to see that you have some room to work with. One thing that I am playing around with, is overlapping the effects wheels (if the spacing between your pick-off mirrors and your wheel diameters can support it), to allow for more effects with fewer wheels. Example: find two wheels that produce a pleasing effect when the beam passes through both, then use three pick-off mirrors to use wheel 1, wheel 2, or a combination of both (the overlap).

My .02

Greg

[swamidog]

the first problem i see is you're not building it at my house.

Hey guys.
Well, i finally have pretty much all the parts to make a real projector and beam effects table.
This weekend I placed components,effects,lasers,prisms and beam steering mirrors in several configurations in hopes of finding the magic layout that will give me the best and most impressive visual punch.
I watched alot of videos on youtube, looked up as many projector images as I could find, consulted laser FX and read all I could in the last 6 months to give me the best idea of how I need to proceed.
Ive taken a couple of pictures of the table with sort of ideas for what I would like.
Heres where I could really use some help. Would any one that has experience building beam tables, projectors and related effects be willing to help me by sharing your ideas, thoughts and pictures.
Buying the Whitelight from Dsli-Jon was a big step towards my dream and buying the table from Spec was another major milestone.
I have alot of the components I will need to finish the build, yet there will be a ton more of everything yet to get before I can complete it.
So, have a look at a couple of pics, tell me if Im so off the wall that its laughable, then tell me what I need to do to fix it. Its kinda hard to critique it since theres not much there yet and nothings screwed,glued or permanently mounted. Im using the Argon/Diode setup for ideas,guessing beam heights, and its not a part of the permanent table layout.
I will be using the Purelight Star as the main laser for this table with the real possibility of having an argon/diode setup as an alternate *at home* configuration.
Thank you for any and all your input. it does mean alot to me & it will help me make a better,more powerful and professional table/ system in the end.
Nate.

[steve-o]

Cool. How much does it weigh..e.g. can you bring it to a LEM? or is it a semi-permanent fixture where it is. Looks great! How many watts is the white-light ion that's going on it?

[Picasso]

with the nice tight beam of an ion order up the Creative Laser Productions Poly-20 sector gratings direct or via Medialas.
http://www.creativelaser.de/hardware...e/Gratings.pdf

make sure to use the waste beam from the pcaom, getting access to that and moving it around the table can be a fun project it seems. If i was building a table i would send it into some fiber and use it for luma after that. could feed it into a few fibers to send out the luma or even direct.

[Vidal Wolf]

Hey everyone, sorry for taking so long in responding. X-mass, and a trip to Van Nuyes kept me busy the last week altho it did give me time to think on the suggestions and information I can relay back.
OK, so here goes.
Jon, I totally & unbelievably completely forgot to pick your brain while I was at your shop the other day! *thwaps forehead!* I was sooo drooling over the Whitelight that everything else just got flushed outta my brain,out my ear and all over the floor.A Nekkid blonde bombshell model could have been in the same room and I might not have noticed.. Sad !
Displaser, I will try that setup this week and shoot some video of it and see if were thinking on the same page.
Swami- can yah fly me and my 400 lbs of stuff down and host me for a week? then , I would absolutely fix that problem right away!
Steve-O- The laser head weighs in at about 90 lbs,the table is, I think, 150#? (Spec? is that about right?) the PS for the Ion head is 95 lbs. Miscellaneous odds and ends, hoses, clamps,posts,carriers, mm1s, ect 50 lbs. it looks to be close to 400 pounds with the whitelight head. right now, it is moveable,as there's no permanent setup as of yet so I could see bringing it to a future LEM.
I got a chance to play with the system this weekend in Jons shop and it can do almost 8 watts at 40 amps,but thats with the vertical adjustment adjusted so the yellow line is gone and blues,greens and red are really spanking out the power. I an adjust it the other way so theres yellow,but the total output power goes way down to maybe 3 watts,but theres alot more lines that come out, the white seems to be a bit better and the divergence goes way down, and the modes go back to TEM00 or 01.. I will post pictures and video when I get a chance to recover from the road. Its something you just have to see, watching these lines come and go as I adjusted the mirror position.
Picasso- I looked at that site and I will be ordering one of the 4 position wheels,and a 20 position wheel and the stepper driver too. I will be using the PCAOM waste beam for sure. I am hearing that the waste beam is a complimentary color palette and is good for lumia and such.
if I could get away with it, I would want to use one of my ILT 5500 argons on the table in addition, but I think it will be just too heavy by then.
Anyone have any old pin and carriers and MM-1 assembly's they would want to sell, swap or ship to me>?

[swamidog]

i have worked with those polywheels... they are *cool*.

with the nice tight beam of an ion order up the Creative Laser Productions Poly-20 sector gratings direct or via Medialas.

make sure to use the waste beam from the pcaom, getting access to that and moving it around the table can be a fun project it seems. If i was building a table i would send it into some fiber and use it for luma after that. could feed it into a few fibers to send out the luma or even direct.

[Picasso]

After this weekend my shop is empty and lots of space you can start to kit it out here. I also have a 3 MM-1's not being used. Wait till you see how fun it is to order from Creative Laser Productions..... I would just go via Medialas as those guys stock his stuff and about the same price.