Beam Director

[lightlinked]

is this going to be a high power laser? ie class IV? is this going to be around people?

[planters]

Yes, this is going to be high power and no it is not. It is inside a structure and the area is evacuated during testing.

[lightlinked]

here is a sketch of a yoke with motors close to on axis to the center of the mirror's center, which allows for the use of a round mirror instead of an elliptical one as needed when you have the tilt motor behind the mirror like with the stage lights. this also gives you more to tilt and pan, or even continuous tilt. this simple design is unbalanced though on the pan, which is acceptable since its not supposed to be spun around all fast, and the pan range is limited by the fact that wires gotta go to the tilt motor.

keep in mind this is a drawing so...

you can use any motor, geared or direct or even timing belt driven.
if you do direct drive you can get steppers with the shaft coming out the back where you can add an encoder, or a magnet and a magnetic position sensor. there are also servo combos of motor/encoder/controller for industrial applications with rs485 or rs232 or ethernet.
you could have a micro controller handle all the motion control tasks separate of the image processing computer. ie accell decel rates, keeping track of position of the mirror. then just send this mirror controller position commands.

[planters]

I see what you mean. What about the link I provided in post #9 above:

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...ontroller.html

Not that this is the "right one", but the design is similar and presumably these have controllers that are compatible with digital output.

[lightlinked]

the brushless camera gimbals rely on an IMU for positioning. its a different approach since its designed to be moved around, the application is pretty different unless you want to move the gimbal around willy nilly.

some of the digital hobby servos are actually pretty nice. idk about repeatable positioning or accuracy though. i dont think its much better than 10 or 12 bit.

http://www.trossenrobotics.com/p/cus...bot-joint.aspx
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...16Sec_75g.html
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...hort_Arm_.html

[luxilid]

I just remembered FLIR makes automated pan/tilt mounts.
http://www.flir.com/mcs/view/?id=53484

[planters]

Lightlinked,
I liked your link to the Tossen site and at first was intrigued with:
http://www.trossenrobotics.com/robot...ision-tracking

But, your link is structurally superior and the very high torque (cost) of the included motors is unnecessary. I contacted them about a lower torque, but equivalent resolution version.

luxlid,
I will contact them, but I suspect that the cost may be very high. I also wonder if these mounts are designed for slow, stable positioning and tracking (they have that look) vs rapid slew and pointing. I'll find out.

I feel like I'm stumbling through the forest bumping into obstacles and taking some false paths. There may be several ways to get there, some better than others, but I have a sense I am going to get there.
Thanks

[planters]

I believe that the Trossen solution may be the right one. However, their web site needs work. They have no reviews...on anything. Say you pick a servo. You will be linked to some compatible components such as brackets or drivers, but not all of them and often not the best options. Nevertheless, their pan and tilt turrets with the two servos daisy chained and the USB compatible controller looks sturdy, fast and configurable. Their Roborelm vision software may also be more complete than the freeware open CV, but here I will defer to the computer geeks in the house. I'll use what THEY want. I want to use an inexpensive camera, but I believe that I may need to use something like the Point Grey cameras because I'll need to shutter the camera for the brief period during the laser flash.

I also may add a diode laser into the beam line with a short pass dichroic or a small pick off that sends the diode laser on a parallel course, sort of like knife edging, so that setting up the remote turret (or scanner) is easier.

I have yet to here from FLIR, but I fear the worst.

[Ferol]

What is the exact solution by Trossen you're referring to? Having no reviews at is also pricking.

[planters]

The WidowX with the AX/MX DYNAMIXEL Servo Manager Kit and the Roborelm software package looks promising. This is without the use of any modified kitchen utensils

But seriously, the lack of reviews is strange. They have been around for a few years, I talked to them on the phone and the technician really knew his stuff. However, other than Hobbyking's rather lightweight components, I am unaware of any mid or upper level robotics supply sources.