need help planning my projector

[yaddatrance]

My thoughts on the problem would be this order.

1) Improper or floating grounds/signals, double check all your solder joints... a cold solder will make those effects
2) Scanrate... too fast of a scanrate/angle will cause those effects
3) Power... flaky power lines also cause similar problems.
4) Bad setting on amps

You may want to check your scanrate and angle first as those are the easiest to verify. Start at 8k and see if things look
saner. You may also want to reduce your scanangle. If it looks sane, and just starts to linearly tweak out after you
start increasing speeds, it could be a amp tuning issue.

The other note is that there are full adjustment pots on the scanamp, but I strongly recommend against touching them
until you can confirm your laser board is putting out a sane signal.

Can you post a pic of how you wired up the board to the scanners?

[Banthai]

HI jim .....

Good job i didnt put my life on it ......

JIMBO 10 points

Karl..... Nil points

sorry mate .... you are so correct

all the best and have a happy new year .... KARL

[jkaiser3000]

oops, sorry didn't post the link to the video. Here it is

As for the scanrate and angle, I tested the scanrate from around 12k, didn't go down much more than that. and the scan angle, well, i was using the pot that came with the scanners, set at minimum, and increased it just a little (about a 1/4 turn). I'll post pics of the connections later. Regarding the pots, you're absolutely right, I don't dare touch them

[yaddatrance]

Here's a quick question... I need to run soon to babysit...

Can you make a single point frame, and then move that point around? Let me know if you can't, I can do it for you.

[jkaiser3000]

I can't test it now, but yes, I think I can. I'll just draw a point in the middle of the frame, and then use the move/scale command in mamba, both in X and Y axes.

I'll let you know soon as I try that.

I've not used the galvos again for fear of damaging them, I don't really like the sound they make :roll: . All my tests so far have been like that video I posted, only take about a minute or 2.

[jkaiser3000]

Finally took some pics from my setup. Actually, pics of the wiring, as requested.

first one, from the psu, click for larger size. Note I only connected two wires from the AC outlet, my wiring at this location does not allow for the third wire (ground). I don't expect that to be the problem, but if you think it could be, I'll try to get to a grounded station. What would you suggest for a ground if I can't find the appropriate wiring on my house?


second image is from one of the scanamps. Same wiring for the other one


Now for the easylase, front side



And last, the easylase from the back, Due to the angle of the pic, some cable seem to be touching, but they're not


And now, to the test suggested by yadda, i did the show you asked for, a single beam moving from one side to the other, but the things made such a sound that I immediately turned it off, no video, no pics from that. But, for such a short time, I could see that it was not producing a line. To my untrained ears, it sounded like resonating, a high pitched squeal of sorts. If you want me to, I could probably try to record the sounds and post it, I just feel a bit uncomfortable turning the pots on again :roll: .

Any ideas what may be wrong?

[liteglow]

have you checked that POT you adjust the angle with ?
Wires can be bad on the pot maybe..
On my old galvo the pot was unstabile....

[jkaiser3000]

Actually, I haven't tried that. I'll try to hook everything up without the pot, but I'll wait for some more suggestions, so as to try them all at once

[yaddatrance]

You should most certainly remove the pots, they're not very useful. but before you do that....
does decreasing the pot to tiny make the image small and big if you turn it the other way?

Is the beam centered and stable with no inputs plugged in?

Then try it by touching the two leads of the input (where you plugged the pots in).
You'll probably be able to induce some low level 50/60Hz hum (depending on where you live) if you're not wearing sneakers. which will look like a small line. Try both axis like that. then try touching them both, should make a diagonal (possibly oval) line. If that's the case I would take a good look at your pinout from the laserboard.

[yaddatrance]

Wait! I think see a big problem with how your easylase is wired...

It really looks like you are shorting the (-) lines of the X and Y to ground...
remove the resistor + all solder tieing the XY (-) lines to ground and test!
I would use a solder braid to make sure it's clean.

Use a voltmeter to verify the resistance if you're not sure.

To clarify, your 4.7k doesn't look like 4.7k