Selem !!!

[MechEng3]

All I can say is WOW> A big thanks to all who were there for a welcome handshake. I am glad to finally have meet every one in person. It seems we are a diverse group....common intrest in photon emmission. A big thanks goes out to Bill Benner for helping get my projector properly tuned. I baught the software after seeing just a few shows and finally understood what all the rave about it was.I was truely amazed that it performed so well. Adam also needs to be recognised for being a key factor in a venue lock down. And Spec also....glad to meet you and a big thanks to you for the website and forum that spawned all this to happen. All in all it was a big time for me only being there for one full day...back at the grindstone today. I have some 70 minutes of video and a few pix......to all that missed this one.......there may be a 2008 event.

[Aidan]

Nice setup, keep the pics coming....

[buffo]

OH. MY. GOD.

I don't even know how to start explaining how this past weekend went. It was incredible. Awesome. Fun. Cool. Enlightening. Shit, these adjectives don't even begin to describe the event. I'm still in a daze.

I got home at 2 AM this morning and couldn't sleep. Around 3 AM I logged into PhotonLexicon to start posting, but my computer crashed after I had typed about 2 pages worth. Lost the message. Crap! Went back to bed and actually slept for about 3 hours. Now I'm wide awake again, so we'll try this post one more time. (BTW, my son Daniel is crashed out upstairs and probably won't wake up 'till Tuesday sometime!)

SELEM 2007 was an unqualified sucess. The venue was great, but the *people* were even better. It was as much of a social event as it was a geek-fest. The laser shows were fantastic. The music was great (and *loud*, which is always a plus!) The door prizes made everyone happy. But the clowning around, the friendships, the selfless assistance, the pre-event party in the lounge at the Artist's Cafe... (Wonder if they'll ever get all that cigar smoke out of those couches?) It was all one hell of a good time!

I don't know where to begin in thanking everyone, but let me take a stab at it anyway...

Bill and Hayden: (from Pangolin) You guys rock! No other way to say it. From the incredible door prizes, to the scanner tuning, to the free T-shirts for everyone, to the *awesome* party in the lounge at the Artist's cafe on Friday night... (How big was that bar tab? ) From the technical assistance, to the custom laser shows you shared, to the clowning around on the stage... (We love us some flyin'.!.) And especially for the surprise ending, , WOW... All I can say is that SELEM 2007 would not have been the same without you guys. THANKS A MILLION! (And I owe you both big time now !)

David Zurcher (DZ): You spent more time working on other people's equipment than you did watching shows! I know Aaron is a happy man now, thanks to the efforts of you, Steve, and Robert. I also want to thank you for taking the lead with regard to the SELEM 2007 shirts. I could not have pulled that together without the help of you and your Mother. Thanks also for your generous contribution to the funding for the event. We met the goal thanks to you!

Your projector is still the most beautiful piece of work I've ever seen, and the Pink Floyd shows you brought were great. (The old-school analog effects projector was pretty darn cool too!) So sorry that your blue laser died , but kudo's to Dave and Aijii at LaserShowParts.com for contacting you so quickly to arrange for a warranty replacement. Also, on behalf of the folks at the auditorium, thank you for repairing their dimmer rack for the theater house lights. That circuit has been out of service for over a year. You managed to fix it in about an hour! Awesome dude... Simply awesome. (I think they *really* like us now!)

Steve Roberts (Mixed Gas): Oh wow, where do I begin here? Technical assistance, repair work, door prizes, selfless work on other people's projectors, and a fountain of knowledge for us to share for a weekend. Not to mention the fact that I now have a working HGM 5... Dude; I don't know what else to say except - THANKS!!! I know I'm not alone in saying that it was a real treat to finally meet the man behind nearly 20% of the posts that make up Sam's Laser FAQ! (Hope the drive back to Ohio wasn't too bad for you pal...)

Kelly Williams (SWAY): Buddy, you are going into my rolodex as the guy to call when I need help setting up an event! The drinks, the assistance with the grunt work during setup, the extra fans/cords/etc were all very much appreciated. Sorry you couldn't stay longer, but your buddy Mike (Crossman) seemed to enjoy the show. Hopefully you both will get bitten by the laser bug and jump headlong into the hobbyist community. You know where to come (right here) when you have questions!

Jeff (Have Locked): Dude, you carted in more equipment than anyone else! That argon had to be heavy as hell. Thanks for the electrical breakout box and the extra cord; I would have had to shut down several other people in order to use my box and cord to test the HGM5. (plus it was in a bad location to start with) I thought the beam rail was cool, and the HeNe/60X white light projector was pretty neat too. (Need to tweak the beam alignment a bit!)

Mike (MechEng3): I wish you could have stayed for the second day... I wanted to get a closer look inside that RGB projector of yours. Be sure to keep us up to date as you learn how to use that new QM-2000 board. Post pictures! And next year be sure you have the weekend off from work!

Steve-O: Thanks for taking the initiative re: the SELEM logo idea. I really hadn't given it much thought, and truthfully if it wasn't for your work I don't think we would have gotten the shirts in time. I *really* liked the glass end-bell argon tube (and no, my thumb doesn't hurt anymore). The arc lamp was pretty damn cool too. (Though I was worried about the UV that thing puts out!) Now that you've got that software, you need to get a projector assembled! Next year we want to see shows from you!

Aaron: Man, I hope you got home safely. I know you didn't get much sleep, and that is a long drive. My guess is that Bill and Hayden probably got back before you did, even though their flight didn't leave until 10:30. (Sorry about the screwup on the directions... ) And thanks for all the computer assistance! Be sure to post some pictures of your no-longer-ghetto projector in action... I only got a chance to see it for a little while, but it looked like it was running well after the "pit crew" worked it over. (For sure the wiring is a lot cleaner now!)

Bill (from Michigan): I am so embarassed that I can't remember you last name *or* you handle right now . (Must have something to do with my sleep-deprivation.) You absolutely *MUST* post your experiences with your new Flashback 3 controller. I hope your wife continues to enjoy laser shows; so long as she does you ought to be able to keep buying equipment! You had the longest drive of all... Hope the event was worth it for you buddy. (Judging by your grin, I think it was! )

Dreambeamz: The multi-watt CNI green you have is downright frightening. The shenanigans with the cigarette lighting were amazing to watch! (Kids, don't try this at home.!.) Thanks for making the trip on 2 hours of sleep; it was great to see you again.

Paul (Clandestiny): It's too bad you couldn't make it to this one... But the amps you loaned to Aaron were just the ticket! Coupled to DZ's speakers, they provided *great* sound that filled the stage. Without those amps, we would have been lacking. So thanks for agreeing to help us out even though you weren't able to come. (Next year you need to clear your calender though!)

Robert (Spec): Man, the work you did on Aaron's projector was great. But more to the point, it was great to see *you* again. I know you've got a lot of other crap going on right now that is slowly draining your will to live, but I think I can safely speak for everyone when I say that it was damn cool to see you this weekend. And never forget: *NONE* of this would have been possible without PhotonLexicon. This forum is a springboard for all sorts of cool stuff, but without a central meeting place it all falls apart. So thanks man!

Finally, I really want to thank everyone who donated door prizes... Thanks to Amanda and Fred at OneStopLaserShop.com for the gratings that were shipped overnight so they'd be there for the event. Thanks to Bill and Hayden at Pangolin for providing the DMX decoder and relay boards. (I can't wait to read about how folks will be incorporating them into their projectors to generate diffraction grating and luminia effects!) Thanks to Dave and Aijii at LaserShowParts.com for the two sets of scanners. (You made Steve Roberts and Aaron McDonald both very happy!)

Thanks too, to all the other cool door prizes that were donated by individual members. Though I feel that Fred Blockland (Astroguy) deserves special recognition for donating the 50 mw custom-made green pointer when he wasn't even able to attend the event! Dude - you rock! (I've got a couple goodies for you that I'll mail out this afternoon.)

One final note: there will definitely be a SELEM 2008. This was just too damn much fun to only do once. The venue works very well, the folks at the auditorium like us, and the price is affordable. (I think this could become a regular gig for us.) But I promise: I *will* make this happen again.

In fact, I think that a year is too long to wait... So I think I'll set up a Florida meet for the January/February time frame (FLEM Mark II) in Orlando, and then make plans to hold SELEM 2008 next summer in Newton, NC. Sound good?

Adam

[Hayden]

Hey All,

Bill and I had a lot of fun up there. We got back around 12:30 last night. Not too bad ;-)

Big thanks to Adam for putting this thing together! I hope everyone had a good time.

And remember.... We loves us some flyin

[allthatwhichis]

And remember.... We loves us some flyin

Showe nuff...

I'll do a small post, I got more to add, but a list of things to do before I can BS aroud. We got home about 45 minutes after Hayden and Bill... Not bad for leaving 6 hours ahead of them. Took us 10 minutes less on the way home to drive 35 miles longer than on the way up. Just wanted to post that we got home. I'll say thanks and stuff later. The boss is cracking the whip since I didn't get anything done over the weekend. I'm also having a greeny issue that I'm trying to check out. I think the lens is gone from the front. What I'm getting looks more like a focuse flashlight than a laser beam.

I'll be bak...

[DZ]

And remember.... We loves us some flyin

Thanks Hayden, I almost spewed coffee all over my computer on that one!

Wow what an event! I think this could have been another 2 days longer and it would have just been fantastic. It was great hangin out with a group of people who share the same interests.

I'd like to send a big thanks to Bill and Hayden for being there. To me, it says alot when you guys take time out of your busy schedules to hang out with a bunch of hobbiests.

Also, thanks to Clandestiny for lending us the amps, my feeble amp was just not going to be enough to cut it, but when we hooked up your Ashly amp, it was enough to send some good vibrations through the stage!

Adam, congradulations on getting that HGM working! That is going to be an awesome setup when you get it completed and throw a scan head on it! Thanks for putting all this together I had a great time! Also, good job on your rgb projector, that thing is kicking all kinds of ass!

I think the lens is gone from the front. What I'm getting looks more like a focuse flashlight than a laser beam.

Aaron, it seems that it was working fine while at SELEM, so I wonder if maybe from the drive home it could have come loose, maybe its still in the projector or in the back of your car. I'd search very carefully for it as it may still be salvageable. I hope you didn't mind me ragging on you so much with your projector! Kinda of a wierd thing for me, I really like getting my hands on a projector like that and gutting it. I wish I had more time with it as we could have completely changed the optical layout, maybe next time. For now your wiring should be alot better.

Wish I had more time but I gotta jet, for the rest of you folks, it was a pleasure meeting you! I look forward to seeing the video's and pictures of the event soon! Lastly, sorry folks about my projector issue. Last time it was measure it was doing about 180mW of 473nm. It worked great friday and all day saturday and seemed to drop instantly to about 10mW late saturday night. Oh well! Hopefully the replacement will be much more reliable. Just checked my purchase date and it looks like I have just over a month to go on the warranty, so better it did it now instead of later.

[DZ]

By the way, did anyone video the abstract show from Sunday where we had two projectors running the show at the same time? I thought I heard someone say they did. Anyway, it would be nice if someone could post that perhaps in another thread where we could have a "discussion" about it.

[wes]

i would love to see some pics.

[p1t8ull]

Sounds like you had a great time with lots going on.
More pics please

[steve-o]

Working...working...
I got some stills but I vid'd at least 2 hours of the event (the air-fog cannons and all), but now it's just not there on c:/ damn-it. I guesss the pc cooking in the car for 2 days at 110 degrees might not have helped...

.. not gonna give up yet tho..
Adam .. man allthe shots whew.. aft dinner .. made the next day quite blurry
fun
fun
fun
!!!!
who-hoo!!