Double set of galvos

[rns0504]

Less chance of getting lung cancer with silicon carbide, right?

Adam

That, and the fact that the cost is typically an order of magnitude (or more) less per mirror!

[lasermaster1977]

Yes, its been done before, this from my design ~1983-1985.

[mixedgas]

You performed shows with a DIE-ONICs ? You have my utmost respect... (Laser Ionics, notorious for broken gas reservoirs when traveling, but highly cost effective in use!) Not easy to change the tube, as it was glassed in through a hole in the resonator base. If I'm wrong, that is the other blue Ion Laser, made in UTAH... A whatchamacallit... I can't remember, but much better made...

Steve

[lasermaster1977]

You performed shows with a DIE-ONICs ? You have my utmost respect... (Laser Ionics, notorious for broken gas reservoirs when traveling, but highly cost effective in use!) Not easy to change the tube, as it was glassed in through a hole in the resonator base. If I'm wrong, that is the other blue Ion Laser, made in UTAH... A whatchamacallit... I can't remember, but much better made...

Steve

DIE-ONICs. Cute, I hadn't heard that one. No, this Laser Ionics Model 554 mixed-gas laser was for a static planetarium installation. I agree entirely on what a pain in the ass it must have been to service it. Luckily, the planetarium client bought the laser, I designed and built the 4-color, 3W projector and graphics control system around it. I don't accurately recall, but I think the tube lasted 3-4 years of 11 shows per week use. I saw the projector a few years after that and it had a Spectra Physics 164 Krypton laser head on it.

[dinther]

Hi hermit, the thought crossed my mind when I read how galvos with larger mirror are not as fast as those with smaller mirrors. I understand and more powerful beams tend to have larger diameters and therefore require larger mirrors.

Then looking inside my Lasercube 7.5 W Ultra reveals that there are actually many laser diodes for each color all brought together by a forest of dichroic mirrors.

So, my thought was well, why not combine two laser sources at galvo level so that each galvo can work with a smaller mirror.

But I hear you and your comments are quite valid. It's too expensive and I have started to realize that I rather have many smaller lasers than a few big ones, it was more of a thought experiment.

[TheHermit]

Hi hermit, the thought crossed my mind when I read how galvos with larger mirror are not as fast as those with smaller mirrors. I understand and more powerful beams tend to have larger diameters and therefore require larger mirrors.

Then looking inside my Lasercube 7.5 W Ultra reveals that there are actually many laser diodes for each color all brought together by a forest of dichroic mirrors.

I suggest watching zenodilodon's laser repair videos on YT. He covers aligning, cleaning, and troubleshooting many different models of commercial laser projectors, plus he demonstrates DIY builds.
His monologue is very entertaining, as well.

Hope this is helpful.
BR
Roj
😎

[lasermaster1977]

Saweet & neat galvo configuration!
How was color and beam splitting handled?

Thanks, look at post #19 on the "Back then this is what we did" PLF discussion. It is documented there.

This was the first version. In the second version I replaced the four MM1 mounts on the right with two facing, right-angle prism mounted with epoxy directly over the laser beam pass through holes on the right side of this mount that fed the right pair of XY galvos.

[lasermaster1977]

Yep, just as I suspected and why I asked.
AOMs, the colormod of my wettest dreams, back in the day.
Had the black aluminum channel, interlocked removeable covers, GS120 galvos, and even a (kinda) similar hand drafted RYGB AOM mixer design drawing on graph paper, but just couldn't afford the AOMs. So, I could only use Laser Images' dual prism & beam torquer, instead <sigh>.
I can totally relate to that being your pride and joy projector.
Well done!

Roj

Thanks again. It was the use of an Amici prism for the AOM beam path to scanner head that made this design practical (and we thought this was fairly compact back then!). It wasn't long after two versions of this RYGB projector had be fabricated that the new PCAOMs? came out that allowed one cell to switch between wavelengths for colormod'ing.

Well I know where between 4 and 8 IntraAction AOMs w/drivers are that could be had fairly cheap if anyone is interested.