Case choices... I should have waited!

[buffo]

Well, shit. Some of you may remember that last year I purchased two really large projector cases from Goldenstar, complete with flight cases. My plan was to build a high-power RGB, but the project has stalled while I wait on a decent solution for red. Here's the case I got:



It's really nice, but it's very heavy, and it's probably bigger than I needed. But I figured I would want the extra room for tweaking things inside with my fat fingers.

But now I find out that Goldenstar has their own CNC Mill, and Mimi's brother Sam has been teaching himself how to program the mill to make custom cases. They just cranked out this little beauty for a recent customer:



It's basically the same size as the one I bought, but it's got better cooling, better support (mine doesn't have handles on the side or tie-points for safety cables), and it's cheaper to boot! (D'oh!) Note that the mounting bar has been removed for this picture, but it has the same u-shaped bar that my case has...

Mimi says that they can now produce custom cases to order. Sigh - guess I should have waited! But if anyone is thinking about getting a big honkin' case, or even a small custom one, you might want to check out what Mimi and Sam are churning out these days. They look really nice...

Adam

PS: I have more pictures of both cases in my gallery if you're interested. Mimi said they just built a 27 watt RGB projector into one of those new cases, and I have one picture of the internals in the gallery.

[andy_con]

kvant modules and a half decent case yet fans blowing dust and crap over everything

poor...

[buffo]

kvant modules and a half decent case yet fans blowing dust and crap over everything

Yeah, that's the one thing I would have changed - I would have put a box around the optics to prevent any airflow from reaching them. (Or better yet, don't even have any fans up top - but if you're going to mount electronics up there that need cooling, at least shield your optics from the airflow.)

I'm planning to use some thin plastic King Starboard to build a wall around my optical path in the case I have.

Adam

[kecked]

I think you'd be better off sealing the optics deck and putting tec with fans on the bottom of the plate

[norty303]

I've just been advised that I'm better off just using heat sinks and fans under the optical deck than using peltiers

[buffo]

Yeah, I saw that thread...

I agree that making the baseplate out of finned heat-sink material is smart, but in my case I really want to be able to cool the diodes in the optical deck to below ambient. Not looking to freeze them, but I want them to be around 15 degrees C or so. (And yes, I'm aware this will cause condensation issues if I don't manage it.) So I still need TECs.

Problem is, if you want to cool below ambient, you have to dump all that extra heat from the TEC somewhere. I'm going to dump it to the baseplate and then cool the baseplate with fans from underneath. Hopefully I won't suffer too many thermal effects from the baseplate warming up. (Both case designs have fans on the lower deck, but my old style case doesn't have the heat-sink fins like the new one does, nor does it have the convenient removable panels for easy access to the innards.)

Adam

[norty303]

Problem is, if you want to cool below ambient, you have to dump all that extra heat from the TEC somewhere. I'm going to dump it to the baseplate and then cool the baseplate with fans from underneath

this was why I originally thought that cooling the baseplate directly underneath the 'hot' modules (which are mounted with a good thermal interface to the baseplate) means that you aren't unecessarilly heating the baseplate for other components.

But this was not though to be a good idea.

I may still try it anyway...

I'm doing 2 projectors so I could do one of each - the parts and assembly between the 2 options are not that much different.

[andy_con]

norty this isn't a moan or anything, but the best way to get an answer is do some testing your self.

the design I now use had to be tested, I couldn't just throw it together and pray. I had to doing a number of hours of testing before I got the answer.

a fan setup which actually displays temps on a screen is a good start cos you have some proper figures to work with. just putting some fans on a heat sink and touching it with your hand isn't the way forward

[norty303]

norty this isn't a moan or anything, but the best way to get an answer is do some testing your self.
the design I now use had to be tested, I couldn't just throw it together and pray. I had to doing a number of hours of testing before I got the answer.
a fan setup which actually displays temps on a screen is a good start cos you have some proper figures to work with. just putting some fans on a heat sink and touching it with your hand isn't the way forward

Absolutely, thats why I just said I may do 1 of each to compare results.

Ultimately the only differences are the peltier added between heatsink and baseplate, and the temp controller running the peltier or the fans.

the thermistors will still go in the same place on each design, so its not hard to test each, and pick the best option.

P.S. I've had the distinct impression you're trying to flog me your temp board in both threads, and whilst I appreciate it might be great for the job, I do already have options in that respect. Don't become an Edison, please

[andy_con]

ops sorry didn't mean to come across like that, I was in the other thread but not in this one.
I was just trying to get across that something reading the temps so you can see them is better than touch testing (which we all do sometimes )

rather than tec the whole base plate why not mount the lasers on a separate smaller plate and tec that?