CYGN-B

[Greg]

Laser Images' Mark IV only had the single scan glass tray. The 3 scan glass per scanner was a Mark VI thing. When a Mark IV was upgraded to a Mark 600 the original head was mostly left alone. I think (hope!) they stripped out the 110VAC. The upgrade consisted of a new control panel, new or rewired hybrid card cage, and the addition of an upper card cage. (With a CYGN-B and everything that supported the new control panel's override capabilities.) Most of the boards in the new hybrid cage were just transfered from the Mark IV.

Good tip Steve, Thank you. Here is a photo which looks like the single scan glass tray of the Mark IV and the rotary solenoid.

[laserist]

Just for the record the Mark VI had G-124 Scanners and an additional lumia panel. With the advent of Laserock they added a turret over the raw beam position that was used for "...Heart of the Sun" in Laserium I. And a fiber optic turret was added at another point. And at still another point they added a scanner as the pick off mirror at the end of each lumia panel for raster effects. The raster effects interacted with color mod in interesting way. Unfortunately they used the old selsyn position on the control panel for the raster gain control - If you never had the selsyn set up properly I can see why someone ditched it - and if you did, and used it -you'd probably want to break someone's thumbs for getting rid of it...

[lasermaster1977]

Here's the article that I had previously posted that started this conversation regarding PWM:
What’s the Best Way to Drive a Solenoid?
Basically, the PWM pulses are much faster than the solenoid's reaction time, so the power is effectively averaged, proportional to the pulse duration of the cycle. Presumably, the frequency would depend upon the specific solenoid's inductance and the applied voltage would need to be sufficient to overcome the impedance. Pulsing the power allows a higher current, without frying the coil (ideally). It's a technique more commonly used for dimming LEDs and controlling RC servo motors.
Arduino based MCUs, like the Teensy 4.x, can already provide fully programmable TTL level PWM signals via their GPIO pins. My T4 Laser Synth has 20 that are unused and available for controlling solenoids, motors, & etc, 14 are direct GPIO connections (if installed inside a projector) + 6 connections via DB25 (for projector's ILDA connection), if configured like an external DAC. I only need a suitable MOSFET driver board and PSU, located near the thing-a-ma-jigs.
I will pursue this methodology to customize the initial power curve while activating my solenoids for optimal performance, as well as minimizing the power required for holding solenoids, programable via software whatever the load may be.
BR


Roj

Roj, sorry I missed seeing your first link. The MPQ6610 is a pretty nifty device controller for relays, solenoids, brushed DCM's. Pay attention to it's RL load and max current load specs and which package is chosen, but it looks versatile. Wished we had this back in the day.

[mixedgas]

if you do some digging Lee Valve has an app note using a 555 based circuit for a V1 pulse followed by a V2 hold. They place a zener in series with the anti-kick diode to allow some speedup during retraction.

Lee valve app note Pic extracted attached.


Steve

[mixedgas]

Make sure the PIC can drive the MOSFET gate capacitance in both source and sink , if Not use some sort of gate driver chip or a linear rated Mosfet. Some FETS are on/off or TTL rated, or Linear. The wrong choice means release of magic smoke from the FET.

555 or 556 without any other components makes a great cheap gate driver. So does a NPN/PNP pair.

Steve

[Greg]

Hopefully others will benefit as much as I from the offerings of solutions and schematics that have been shared within this conversation.

Yes, an excellent, useful, and on topic discussion. Thank you everyone.

After doing some verification on the way the rotation control bits in the data are being used in the emulator software, I have obtained the data only print of numbers 11 through 17 of Laserock Platinum. I'll try to get them all posted in the next few days. Here is the first in the series: Sartori In Tangier by King Krimson. I used some joystick in the first half just to demonstrate the variable rotations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5pDYCJMqpg

Hopefully this series of data only videos will provide an opportunity for those here with performance experience to share their recollections of cycloid settings, fixed offset group usage, performance cues, and suggestions for how best to please an audience using the recovered choreography.

Signals from the data to the spiral generator board coming soon.

Set the controls for the heart of Laserium...

[lasermaster1977]

Yes, an excellent, useful, and on topic discussion. Thank you everyone.

After doing some verification on the way the rotation control bits in the data are being used in the emulator software, I have obtained the data only print of numbers 11 through 17 of Laserock Platinum. I'll try to get them all posted in the next few days. Here is the first in the series: Sartori In Tangier by King Krimson. I used some joystick in the first half just to demonstrate the variable rotations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5pDYCJMqpg

Hopefully this series of data only videos will provide an opportunity for those here with performance experience to share their recollections of cycloid settings, fixed offset group usage, performance cues, and suggestions for how best to please an audience using the recovered choreography.

Signals from the data to the spiral generator board coming soon.

Set the controls for the heart of Laserium...

Hmmm, the YT vid link is now blocked due to its copyrighted content, Greg. You are making exciting progress though!

[Greg]

Hmmm, the YT vid link is now blocked due to its copyrighted content, Greg. You are making exciting progress though!

Yes, this will be an ongoing problem. Audio has been removed, it should be accessible now. Here are more numbers. Look what was done using 351 in Soul Kitchen.

part 11 Laserock Platinum Sartori In Tangier data only,no audio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5pDYCJMqpg


Part 12 Laserock Platinum Synchronicity 1 by The Police data only
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8wt3hvBrfg


Part 13 Laserock Platinum Soul Kitchen by X data only
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgqvzyxxIzI


Part 14 Laserock Platinum School by Supertramp data only
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwZXW_SCux0

[ronhip]

Yes, this will be an ongoing problem. Audio has been removed, it should be accessible now. Here are more numbers. Look what was done using 351 in Soul Kitchen.

Greg,

If it's any help, I have included a link to the Laserock Platinum PIN sheets below, which give details about lots of settings, scan-glass placements, effects, etc. Sorry to have to do this as a link. This forum does not allow attaching PDFs to submissions.

Go here:

https://www.myqnapcloud.com/smartsha...u0wv5x9e88h2fh

Ron

[Greg]

If it's any help, I have included a link to the Laserock Platinum PIN sheets below, which give details about lots of settings, scan-glass placements, effects, etc.

Ron, Your use of understatement is making me laugh. This unprecedentedly remarkable and timely scroll from your ancient library answers many questions and provides many fascinating and useful insights. You have made a forensic laser show archaeologist very happy.

We've got the emulator. We've got the tape. We've got the notes. Let's rock!