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Thread: Group Buy - Compact 506 with Mach DSP

  1. #21
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    Looks like my weekend in the garage just arrived!

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    If you're the smartest person in the room, then you're in the wrong room.

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by dkumpula View Post
    but I want to upgrade some of my existing C-506's with 12V amps or 'redboard amps' to MachDSP.
    I don't believe you will be able to upgrade your 506s with red board amps. If I'm not mistaken, those are the earlier run of 506s with a 2.8Ω coil and the latest 506s are 1.8Ω. Maybe the DSP amps are backward compatible, Bill or Ryan can confirm.

    I went through this a while back, I needed a replacement "red board" 506 as one of mine burned up (shorted amp that was my fault) and Pangolin had to search for a bit and were able to find one in their shop to replace it. I will say that if you have any spare 2.8Ω 506s, hold onto them as they are not made anymore (in reference to modded amps)!
    Last edited by absolom7691; 06-29-2020 at 14:00. Reason: Ryan provided more accurate info!
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  3. #23
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    I think I would like to get in on this as well. I should just email Ryan with my information?

  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by jdavis7765 View Post
    I think I would like to get in on this as well. I should just email Ryan with my information?
    Yes, Ryan provided his email a few posts back.
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  5. #25
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    Hey Jeremy! Shot you an email back, looking forward to see what you can do with the scanners!

    As for Old vs New scanners - Original C506 was what we call "standard" coil with 2.8Ω coil.

    At some point in late 2014, we came up with the 1.8
    Ω coil for drivers which were able to handle it. For typical laser show use, this would provide higher performance.

    We offered both until around 2016, when we made the choice to switch to the 1.8
    Ω coil as there were very few legacy clients for the 2.8Ω coil.

    We have a "few" industrial clients who still use those - and certainly enough parts to make several thousand as needed. It's just a pain to make "two" of them, since typically we make scanners in batches of 100 to 200 at a time.

    The 2.8
    Ω coil doesnt offer as good performance with the Mach DSP driver as the 1.8Ω coil though.

    The bigger difference when related to Mach DSP though - is the polarity of the PD

    Any old C506 with Red or White connectors will NOT work with Mach DSP without significant modifications to the board. The black connectors work with Mach DSP.

    This all has to do with the polarity of the photodiodes:
    'Conventional' polarity was invented in something like 1976, where (and please excuse my jargon, mechanical not electrical), where the position signal is CATHODE and the common is the ANODE on the position sensor.

    Most companies have stuck with this polarity simply due to legacy reasons. Unfortunately (or fortunately) when the technology was developed in 1976, there was simply not as many electronic devices competing or interfering.

    Come 2012 or so when Pangolin was developing the Mach DSP with the Saturn scanners. Through extensive testing, we discovered that the 'conventional' polarity is subject to interference from other devices. Simply changing how these signals are collected, with Position Signal as ANODE and Common as CATHODE, this interference (which shows as noise) was significantly reduced. Having no legacy reasons to keep the 'conventional' polarity, the Mach DSP and the Saturn scanners were designed with the new 'Pangolin' polarity.

    We released a version of the Compact 506 with "conventional" polarity for clients who wish to manufacture their own drivers with 'legacy' polarity, modify other drivers to work with our scanners, etc etc.

    Red and White connector boards are "conventional" polarity, and black is "Pangolin" polarity, which works with Mach DSP only (or any driver modified to use Pangolin polarity). The only difference is the PD board, which can be swapped fairly easily, if needed. (Not as easy as just re pinning the cables!)
    Sincerely,
    Ryan Smith
    ScannerMAX Mechanical Engineer
    ryan {at} scannermax.com

  6. #26
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    Thank you for clarifying, Ryan. I knew my numbers were probably off a bit but I was sure that I had the main bit correct in that the older galvos were probably not compatible with DSP amps "as is".
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  7. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by rns0504 View Post
    Red and White connector boards are "conventional" polarity, and black is "Pangolin" polarity, which works with Mach DSP only (or any driver modified to use Pangolin polarity). The only difference is the PD board, which can be swapped fairly easily, if needed. (Not as easy as just re pinning the cables!)
    Probably the wrong thread for this but; is there any way to get a price quote for matching older galvos to a DSP amp? I imagine if it is anywhere near the cost of a new set, it probably wouldn't be worth it to send existing galvos back swap out the photodiode board. The reason I ask is, I have a set of 1.8Ω c506s with red MicroMatch connectors running on a Kvant amp, which I am not a fan of. I would love to get these on a digital amp.
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  8. #28
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  9. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by absolom7691 View Post
    Probably the wrong thread for this but; is there any way to get a price quote for matching older galvos to a DSP amp? I imagine if it is anywhere near the cost of a new set, it probably wouldn't be worth it to send existing galvos back swap out the photodiode board. The reason I ask is, I have a set of 1.8Ω c506s with red MicroMatch connectors running on a Kvant amp, which I am not a fan of. I would love to get these on a digital amp.
    The standalone price for a C506 Mach DSP is $500 (there are some differences between C506 and Saturn version, and between 15v and 24v).

    For a PL member I would be happy to swap the boards to make them compatible....

    By the way, the new (as in the last couple of months) Kvant H Bridge amp is pretty bad ass. We use those on our beam brush projector, tuned to 50K. The most we tune the DSP for is 40k
    Sincerely,
    Ryan Smith
    ScannerMAX Mechanical Engineer
    ryan {at} scannermax.com

  10. #30
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    Thanks Ryan and Pangolin for offering us all this great discount. Can't wait to quit suffering at the cottage and get home to install these.
    leading in trailing technology

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