Noob question on scanners.

[Datsurb]

Right now I dont have that luxury. I have 2 choices.

1. Wait around till I find prices I can afford on decent quality items. Like that DAC. I'm a very patient man, and have no problem waiting. The negative being I'm almost a year in, and I dont even have half the parts I need.

2. I can easily find cheap items that will do close to the job the quality stuff can do. Thus bringing my PJ into fruition much faster.

Unfortunately its going to have to be a combination of the two. Its just a tool after all, my focus is in writing shows. I cant write anything till I have the equipment to view it.

It is not hard do see that you are commitet to your dream of building a reasonable high quality PJ.
I personally beleive in the rule of 80/20.
It is quite easy. You will more or less get 80% result with 20% effort/money.
To reach 100% you are likely to invest 80% more time and money.

This goes for everything, and also building lasers. The really good stuff cost so much more, and for "non geeks" the result looks close to the real thing.

In your case, when programming is the key trigger, why not get some cheap components to get started. These can be sold, when the good stuff are found for the reasonable price.
Used stuff are cheaper, and selling used stuff, third hand, will not give a great loss.

Just a thought from me.

[TechJunkie]

It is not hard do see that you are commitet to your dream of building a reasonable high quality PJ.
I personally beleive in the rule of 80/20.
It is quite easy. You will more or less get 80% result with 20% effort/money.
To reach 100% you are likely to invest 80% more time and money.

This goes for everything, and also building lasers. The really good stuff cost so much more, and for "non geeks" the result looks close to the real thing.

In your case, when programming is the key trigger, why not get some cheap components to get started. These can be sold, when the good stuff are found for the reasonable price.
Used stuff are cheaper, and selling used stuff, third hand, will not give a great loss.

Just a thought from me.

Thats great advice, thank you.

Do you guys think this breakout board will work for my application?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DB25-Male-Si...item461b74abf8

Also, if I want to go all diodes do I still need a color correction board?

[mixedgas]

Thats great advice, thank you.

Do you guys think this breakout board will work for my application?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DB25-Male-Si...item461b74abf8

Also, if I want to go all diodes do I still need a color correction board?

Tech Junkie, check your PMs. My cell # is in one of them

[TechJunkie]

Got your PM Steve.

First off I know how much time you spend helping others, plus the hours spent on your job. Offering to take your personal time to help me really shows your character, thank you.

My rant was just a rant. I hope no one took anything personally. This forum is full of great members who take time out of their lives to help people. I was not trying to put then, or the forum down. Its just different than what I'm used too, thats all. I'm still adjusting in many ways. The biggest problem is that I'm not a geek. I'm more of a wannabe geek who wants to create art with light. To be honest some of the basics still allude me. You can write blocks of technical explanations that seem simple to you guys, but are gibberish to me. So basically I'm at a level of asking "will this work for me", or "do I really need this". I also know forum ethic is to not cut corners, and do it right the first time. LPF is the same. But I cant do that. If I ever expect to get into this hobby I have to cut as many corners as possible while trying to balance getting decent mid to high level parts.

Anyway, I just didnt want people to take offense of my last rant. There is no shortage of information, or helpful people here, and I truly appreciate everyone who has held my hand this far.

[norty303]

Anyway, I just didnt want people to take offense of my last rant. There is no shortage of information, or helpful people here, and I truly appreciate everyone who has held my hand this far.

Just as well I though better of hitting the 'Post Reply' on the 2 paragraphs of response the other day then...

[TechJunkie]

Just as well I though better of hitting the 'Post Reply' on the 2 paragraphs of response the other day then...

You have to take things I say in general with a grain of salt. I'm very outspoken, and opinionated here, and real life. But my heart is always in the right place. My outlook on life is outside the box, plus I'm an Alpha male, and I know that rubs some people the wrong way. Only on the internet though, in real life my twisted views gets laughs mostly. I've always lived outside the norm, it doesnt make me a bad person, just different.

Thanks for holding off the judgment Adam.

[VibrationsOfDoom]

I know personally, for a near noob, I have gotten some GREAT help and feedback from several members on here... I wish I had known the right kinds of questions to ask, but for someone who started out searching the internet for technical issues on a Spencer laser machine, I've gotten far more out of this website than I intended... I have that nice Goldenstar laser that I STILL play with, and by searching and exhausting the very limited resources worldwide, I am now making a variety of still frame animated .ild files that will run nicely on a 20k scanner laser machine. Still, that being said, now that I have a slight bit of experience, I am in the (really slow) process of upgrading the scanners to 40k so I can make more complex images and designs, and someday hope to have decent animation capabilities to create graphic shows... I don't really care about beams all that much; for those of you who have been to Georgia and have seen the laser shows projected on the side of Stone Mountain during holidays, well, that's where all this obsession with lasers really started... I love telling people wherever I meet them "Hey, you have seen the laser shows they project on the side of Stone Mountain right? Well, I can do that and even make my own images." The WOW factor on people's faces is priceless....