The BANTHAI BEAST

[andy_con]

karl, will this be ready for the meet??

[Banthai]

Not quite sure .....

Dont want to rush it ..... at the moment it could very well be ready ... but any snags may hold it up

all the best .... Karl

[andy_con]

oh yes i know about snags !!!!

LOL keep up the good work

[Banthai]

Next installment

here come the problems ...............

optics are now in position i have found that they work at thier optimum at 45deg .... but im having some losses



im using a slightly different layout to most ..... i think this compares to the one someone posted last week that medialas use ..... this configuration allows adjustment for the different hight in the diodes and i have found is the easiest to adjust and setup



the problem is im getting some horrible losses through the optics

the red im losing over 150mW ... from 640 to 530mW .... no im guessing that the first mirror that it hits ( which is a broadband mirror ) so it looks like i would be better with a mirror and dichro that has optimum reflection at 635nM

the green is also losing over 150mW as this is passing through 2 dichros

and the blue again is using a mirror and a hitting a dicro so again ther will be some losses there .... so from 1.3 W to .....





so over 300mW loss so need some improvement there then

next is to get the scanner positions and poly20 wheel into position





if anyone can recomend somewhere to buy mirrors and dichros in the UK that would improve what i have, also need a couple more MM1 mounts

all the best ..... Karl

[stanwax]

Karl

PM sent

Rob

[Banthai]

Wow ..... it shows what a great bunch of guys you are here ..... thanks for the offers of help with the optics ..... and thanks to the "person" in the US who is helping me ( dont know if you want to be made public or not ) .... i will test these new optics when they arrive and check the losses etc compared to the old ones, i will do a reveiw here on PL im sure there will be a vast improvement ....

sorry NO update on the Banthai beast today .......

due to my Basement / workshop is 2 inchs under water .... unfortnately i live above a water table that rises ( flows from the mountains in the Lake district out to sea ... ) so every couple of years when we have excessive rain about 1 week later the water table rises and water seeps through the concreate floor ( 2 inches is the maximum it has ever rissen ) ...
now i have a pump system in place that starts on a level sensor in the sump .... But unfortunatley the check valve blocked .... so yesterday went down to wade through the water ....

its all pumped out now ... but dont want to be down there standing in puddles whilst using power tools .... so its all on hold for a few days

that means it wont be ready for the UK meet, but will be for the next one

all the best .... Karl

[mliptack]

Karl, I hope to see improvement on your projector soon.

I hope the mounts and optics work well for you

-Max

[Banthai]

Thanks Max, for helping me out with these mounts and dichros

I look forward to getting them and carrying on with this project,

my workshop is nearly dried out so should be able to resume work soon

all the best .... Karl

[Banthai]

4 months later ..... and the banthai beast has awoken from its hibernation

I finaly find some time to carry on this project

now with some nice additions ....

i have ditched the Wide moves ( well not ditched, they wil have a place on projector No 2

in there place is a set of Laserworld 50k scanners, now im not disputing the 50k ..... but when you read the manual it states that the mirrors would need to be replaced with smaller units to achive that speed

But in fairness im running them at 30k and they are not struggling or running hot and they arived well tuned, the ilda test pattern looks good at 30k and thats strait out of the box.

i will also say the contruction it top notch and with heatsinks fitted, the cables have quality D connectors fitted with locking screws ( all though i removed the shells on the scanner plugs as they would hit the top of the case.

its not and ideal colour ballance
620mw Red 635
580mw green 532
150mw blue 473

the total output prior to optics is 1.3W but the blue does cut through ok and the white is a bit creamy due to the ballance

all that is left to do now is fit the shutters and the polywheel

the beam shots were taken with only a hint of haze as there were customers in the restaurant ubove my basement workshop, and the smoke seeps through the floor .... didnt want to set off the fire alarm

so i will take some better beam shots later with more haze

thanks to Max for the mirrors and the mounts .... they helped improve the efficiency

also found that using this layout ( nearfeild and farfeild adjustment ) beam alignment is a doddle .... it takes seconds intead of hours

and as the usual requirement ..... heres piccys

[allthatwhichis]

Looking good there man. If I could request a shot of the beam layout inside the projector. I see what looks like a lot of optics in your layout. I'd like to see where everything runs.