Scanner endurance.

[Jem]

Just caught up with this thread... I'll second what Steve-O said. Welcome back

There's some new Pangolin scanners on the horizon. These have been a fair while in development but are supposed to be extremely good, and reputedly equal if not better than the CT6215's. Might be worth dropping an email to contact@pangolin.com for some information before you finalise your decision.

Cheers

Jem

[dzodzo]

the difference between 6215 and Mystery scanners is that first mentioned are already tested by time

[swamidog]

the difference between the 6215 and the mystery scanners is one is vaporware and one is not.

the difference between 6215 and Mystery scanners is that first mentioned are already tested by time

[White-Light]

the difference between the 6215 and the mystery scanners is one is vaporware and one is not.

The Pangolin scanners are not vapour ware. Attend any trade show and you can see them working in person.

I understand the reason why they've only been supplied to OEM manufacturers atm on a very small scale is because Pangolin haven't yet had time to develop their own drivers. However, the scanners are very much working and will work off Cambridge Drivers, albeit not at their full performance. The issue with a general release as I understand it is the lack of their own dedicated blocks and drivers something which will be along in time.

[swamidog]

as far as i'm concerned until a product is actually released and available for purchase, it's vaporware. no matter how many trade shows, no matter how many posts, no matter how many advertisements.

this applies to all vendors. i'm not picking on pangolin.

The Pangolin scanners are not vapour ware. Attend any trade show and you can see them working in person.

I understand the reason why they've only been supplied to OEM manufacturers atm on a very small scale is because Pangolin haven't yet had time to develop their own drivers. However, the scanners are very much working and will work off Cambridge Drivers, albeit not at their full performance. The issue with a general release as I understand it is the lack of their own dedicated blocks and drivers something which will be along in time.

[mixedgas]

One thing to consider when buying 6215s, the cable harness and AGC current source may not be backward compatible with older amps. Second thing to consider, there is a scale factor pot and sensor linearity pot on even the cheap Asian clone amps. Those two are not common user adjustments. Setting that accurately takes some work and a calibrated test jig. While not always a killer mistake, setting it incorrectly reduces performance and can cause excess heating.

One of the differences between a high end amp and a poor clone is the output stage.

The moral of the story is if you invest in new 6215s, you might want to get the matched, tuned, amps with a high end output stage. With the amp configured and matched to your 6215s before you get it. You will retune it a bit for show use, that is a given.



Steve

[The_Doctor]

Hello Jem. I could go for the Pangolin scanner if early adopters are made offers they can't refuse. I'm probably too reclusive to be a useful ambassador to Pangolin in return for any generosity, but I'd be fully and helpfully descriptive here. I have read Bill Benner's posts many times, several in the last few days while looking into stuff about step response and anything that seemed important. 'Vapourware' or not, he is a man likely to come up with a good scanner if he wants to make one, and he certainly has the resources to make it happen.

Having said all that, I'll likely go with my first choice because I always wanted some good Cambridge scanners, and buying a synthesiser after asking for a quote on scanners always seemed like turning away from a path I knew I'd have to take eventually.

Steve, thankyou, point taken. I think trying to mix drivers and scanners might be as unwise as mixing DPSS laser heads with different external supply and control boxes, and I should have thought of that. The main question is whether I can afford to buy all at once. I'll have about £1470 in the last week of next month. After that it will rise a bit during the following six weeks, after which things will change and my window of opportunity closes faster than a storm over Florida's launch pads and remains that way for the rest of the year. If someone wants to tempt me, do it now. I guess Cambridge (and various trusted resellers) aren't in that much of a hurry, but I'm spelling out a prognosis so you can pick and choose if you want. I'm not in a position to ask any special favours but any generosity will help me get back into lasering and I'll repay that help by posting enthusiastic stuff about the scanners as I discover it in the time ahead. I've decided to go for the best so I doubt I'll be disappointed.

(And if anyone wants a ready-built scanner platform with Widemoves, in good clean low-milage domestic-use-only condition, ask me for the files and images so you can decide if it's something you want to take on. I'm only selling it because it's the fastest way to fund building a new system.)

[Jem]

Doc... You can buy CT6215's through Pangolin and Bill will optimise them for you. He's incredibly knowledgeable about scanners, I bought my set through Pangolin and never regretted it. His price is keen, drop him an email and ask for a quote.

Cheers

Jem

[The_Doctor]

That's a good idea, best of both worlds, a good system, independently set up and tested in advance. I've been reading posts again. (Dangerous, I know, makes heads explode on the hottest night of the year...) Apparently Cambridge really make a LOT of these things! While the odd dodgy mirror coating or misplaced cable might occur, it might have a tough time getting past Bill Benner un-noticed. I'll PM him soon, when I have thought more about what I want. (Or if he sees this he can PM me..) So far I'm keen on the 60K speed with the 671 boards and the extra transistors for full strength. I did consider going for the wider angle at 30kpps but I can always use Widemoves for that if I haven't sold them. They've had a very quiet life so they work as well as they ever did. The other thing I know for sure is that I'll want 3mm aperture 5 at most, I won't be putting wide beams through.

Jem, I read enough posts to know that you mentioned those 6215's you had in past tense. Que pasa? They sound like something no-one would want to part with once they got some, so I have to ask, why...

[Jem]

Only reason they got sold was that they were in a projector that I decided to part company with. The only reason I sold it was because I took a decision not to do any more commercial shows for health reasons, I had unfortunately become unreliable.

I had a couple of 1 watt green satellites and the central RGB, the RGB was built very solidly and was quite heavy. The weight was mainly down to the power supplies used for the 60/k CT6215's, these things suck some juice when driven at high speed. Anyway, I really wanted a very small projector for home use only, so using the money I got from the sale of my mega robust, withstand anything, projector I commissioned a member here to build me super small RGB with the very best beam spec's possible. I regretted selling the big projector almost as soon as I saw the guy drive away, but the truth is he wanted it for commercial shows and bought it specifically because it was fitted with the high power CT6215's.

The CT6215's are beautiful scanners, they would scan perfectly just about anything you threw at them. You do need to have decent power supplies that are well on top of the job, they can also produce quite some heat if you drive them hard. This means having fans in the projector (something I dislike ), my new mini RGB had a 'no fans' clause in the build specification. It's one thing having fans in a projector for use in a noisy environment, but quite another when the projector is sat in your office at home .

You won't regret going with the CT6215's, it's just hard parting with the money initially.