40k scanners... Best prices & types?

[tribble]

On page 24 of the 506 thread Steve said that Bill was able to tune the 506 and Steve's red board amp to 50k at 8' for the ILDA test pattern. Not sure if mere mortals would be able to achieve that, though. The force is strong with that one.

[norty303]

I didn't think the 506's were relevant to this conversation because Bill advertised them as (true) 30K scanners. What scan angle are you getting with the 50K tuned pair running at 50K?

Well, they're tuned to 50k at 8 degrees as per the ILDA standard. I run them at full angle when running shows though. Less if I'm dong graphics but I've run them full angle on abstracts before.

My two sets have the huge 5mm mirrors and I'm afraid to push them over 18K at full scan angle so far. This may be irrational fear on my part due to lack of experience with large mirrors and perhaps I'll get braver in time. (I've only just completed those projectors two weeks ago.)

I've got 2 sets at 50k with darth mirrors, the very first set (from Bill's video) with the big mirrors at 30k, and 2 more sets with large mirrors at 36k. I run the large mirrors at 30k full angle for beam shows no problem. For graphics, I just tend to watch for deformation to know I'm getting near limits. Obviously you need to be content aware, and understand that switching from a moderately taxing pattern at wide angle to a very taxing pattern at full angle is going to stress things. But I've not been worried about failures at all, just that the quality decreases. You do notice the amps generate a lot of heat when pushing hard though, which again, is expected.

30k, 40k, 60k... for me, if a scanner can be tuned to that 'k' at 8 degrees and hold all aspects of the ILDA pattern together then its is that speed of scanner (or capable of it - again, we brand these things by their possible speed - it is really down to you how you want to run them, but 'choosing' to run a scanner capable of 50k at 30k doesn't mean its suddenly a 30k scanner. Thats just a label we apply to describe its performance. Equally, mine are tuned to 50k, but I often run them slower; usually in fact. 50k abstracts do get silky smoothe though )

If DT40's are being recommended here, then the 506 should also be, as its a better scanner, regardless of whether Bill has said its a 'true 30k' scanner or not.

[mixedgas]

I tune Red Boards to a "Good" tuning per Bill's specification. Yes, with fine tuning, my first set of boards did 50K 8 Degrees when tuned at Selem . One of my "lucky" first customers picked at random, got shipped that pair of amps. Just because I wanted to get sets shipped.

Normally Redboards ship tuned roughly to 30K ILDA at 8 Degrees and the pattern is showing they are capable of far more speed at that angle. I typically spend more time tuning for a good grid at a moderate angle and for good linearity. I then check for graphics performance by viewing the LightSpeed Eagle animation and an abstract at a variety of angles. Most customers want Angle for beams, not a tight speed.

Could I spend an extra hour or two getting 50K Graphics out of every pair, Yes. It has three effects: I'd have to charge far more for my time, and far less amps would ship. 50K tuning would require the scanners to be here, complicating things.

Can I tune with more sensor gain for super wide angle for beams, Oh Yes! In practice, I don't because most users do display graphics often. I am not saying 506 cannot do wide angle graphics. In practice, what I have seen is stunning at wide angle.

The generic "Good" tuning I ship at pretty much ensures when hooked to different pair of 506s, your going to get very usable results with a pair of scanners I have never touched or even seen. At that point the user could tweek the amps to what they want.

506 are shipping regularly. I am aware of a industrial friend that just got a large batch of Sat1s with the Digital Amps.

Right now Justin is charging a fee for amp tuning by Bill. This is because every hour he spends tuning is a hour away from the Mach Mini 506 Digital or increasing scanner production.

I knew fully well going in, that Reds will be replaced by Digital at some time. Having seen what Digital can do, I think it is a welcome change when done correctly.

The fact that my bench pair of 506 has survived tuning so many amps with no degradation speaks highly of the quality. As I test every customer cable on my own scanners, I suspect that the connectors on the scanner will need to be replaced some day. Right now those are holding up just fine.

Steve