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Thread: I couldn't help myself!

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Bromley, Kent. UK
    Posts
    215

    Red face I couldn't help myself!

    Maplins are selling the KAM LaserScan 170 RGY for £100 (at least £30 cheaper than ebay) so I couldn't resist. I know the money could have bought a RGB projector element of good quality but like I said, I couldn't help myself.

    It's not too bad. The Red is a bit fatter than the green and it doesn't quite line up right when making Yellow (the red is off to the right and down but being a thicker beam it just catches the green enough to make Yellow).

    There's no ILDA input and the scanners are only 15kpps units but it's something I can play with to get an idea on things like the scanner driver board and all the little trimmers on it. I've already found the X/Y input wires from the DMX board to the scanner board so maybe adding ILDA might not be to hard (15k is not great but like I said I'm only playing at this point).

    I can't find any info on the parts (no surprise) except the DMX controller is also used in the JB systems 'Smooth Scan Blue' laser unit and has 2 pin sockets for Red, Green and Blue module control (and one labelled as 'I'). It also has 3 unused multi pin sockets and an empty 18 pin IC socket (on board ILDA ?).

    The Green laser is fan cooled but the Red is just non-descript and has no visible means of focusing (to me anyway). The dichro is reflect Red/pass green and is just glued to a mount which is then screwed to the laser mounting block so not much in the way of adjustment. All of which means the fat Red/Yellow alignment isn't going to be sorted anytime soon.

    The PSU has +/- 15v outputs used by the scanner board as well as +12v outputs used by the laser driver, DMX board and case fan.

    All in all, it looks well put together but I did find 1 suspect solder joint on the scanner board (easy fix).

    I'll post some pictures at a later date.
    Cheers

    Colin.

    Anyone wanting to be a politician, should automatically be excluded from being one!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Bedfordshire, UK
    Posts
    603

    Default

    I hate to say "I told you so, but..."

    Welcome to the addiction that is PL!
    If in doubt... Give it a clout?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Bromley, Kent. UK
    Posts
    215

    Default

    Right. As promised, photos of the important bits. Sorry if you know what is inside these things but it might be informative to other beginners like myself.

    Ok. 1 DMX controller:


    One Scanner driver:


    One Scanning head:


    One PSU:


    One Laser Driver (drives both Red and Green):


    Two Lasers (the big one is the Green):
    Cheers

    Colin.

    Anyone wanting to be a politician, should automatically be excluded from being one!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Bromley, Kent. UK
    Posts
    215

    Default

    Ok I've been playing with this and I have some more info and a question or two.

    First the info. If you look at the picture above of the DMX controller, you will see at the bottom left corner a 14 pin header block. Here are the pin outs for it:

    1 --- X+
    2 --- X- (The scanner driver is a combined X-Y unit and only uses X+, Y+ and GND for input. However the DMX board does have X- and Y- output pins that are unused)
    3 --- Y+
    4 --- Y- (See above)
    5 --- GND
    6 --- RED
    7 --- GRN
    8 --- BLU (this unit does not have a blue laser but the DMX board does have a Blue socket)
    9 --- Connects to a wire on one of the cables that go to the LED/IR receiver board on the front panel (not sure what it does yet)
    10 --- RED (Same as pin 6)
    11 --- GRN (Same as pin 7)
    12 --- BLU (Same as pin 8)
    13 --- Goes to a connector on the DMX board labelled as 'I' (Intensity/Interrupt perhaps but is not used)
    14 --- Like 9 but on the other cable that goes to the LED/IR receiver board on the front panel.

    I made an ILDA connector for this but I'm getting weird issues. When I plug it in and choose (for example) the DMX Slave setting to prevent any DMX signalling, all the scanner and laser voltages from my DAC drop to around .2v When not plugged in the DAC is outputting 4-5v and when the laser is doing its own thing, the pins on the ILDA connector are also 4-5v. This would suggest the DAC should work so does anyone have an idea why the voltage is dropping?

    Has anyone added ILDA to a KAM laserscan unit? if so, how did you do it?
    Last edited by WolfMax; 09-07-2013 at 00:59.
    Cheers

    Colin.

    Anyone wanting to be a politician, should automatically be excluded from being one!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Bromley, Kent. UK
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    Default

    Well it seems I can get the DMX signals to mix with the ILDA signals and by adjusting the DAC scan rate you can sort of see both (if they are simple shapes), as the blanking is totally shot of course. It also seems that I can turn the colours on and off in ILDA but only if the same colour is on in DMX. If the colour is off in DMX then it is off! DMX channel 1 (of 17) controls the mode (Auto, sound to light, DMX control) but it has an off level. When this level is selected, is when the ILDA signals get attenuated.

    I think I might know what is happening. I think the outputs from the DMX board change from sources to sinks when the controller switches off the signals (both scanner and laser) to prevent any floating voltages. If so, then I'm getting the bread board out to see if I can make some kind of interface to bypass this situation.
    I did try connecting directly to the scanners and lasers through a Stanwick ILDA board. But it uses 24v and the PSU in the KAM laser is 15v so I don't think it was enough to operate the board since I didn't get any joy from it

    Watch this space!
    Cheers

    Colin.

    Anyone wanting to be a politician, should automatically be excluded from being one!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    3,734

    Default

    The PCB traces for the DMX connector are rated for a good 50 amps! Must be a pro model
    This space for rent.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Whanganui New Zealand
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    312

    Default

    Heya bro,
    I am pretty sure stanwaxs ilda board will take +/- 24 volt or 15 volt.
    It would be the way to go. Might wanna check his site out for your self and confirm the power requirements.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Bromley, Kent. UK
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    215

    Default

    In the end I built an ILDA breakout board that allows me to run it in DMX mode or by changing 1 ribbon cable ILDA.

    Thanks for the input.
    Cheers

    Colin.

    Anyone wanting to be a politician, should automatically be excluded from being one!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Bromley, Kent. UK
    Posts
    215

    Default

    *UPDATE*

    Finally got an RGB projector to play with. Took my KAM Laserscan 170RGY and removed the laser assembly and driver. Replaced it with a 300mw RGB module. Installed a quick and nasty ILDA break-out board and we have lift off!

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Very tight squeeze and it just lines up on the Galvo.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Open heart surgery to adjust the alignment.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    White light abounds!


    Quick demo using Ishow (I know!)
    Cheers

    Colin.

    Anyone wanting to be a politician, should automatically be excluded from being one!

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    West Sussex
    Posts
    1,279

    Default

    Nice hack Colin

    Keith

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