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Thread: DIY LaserBoy Projector

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Boston, MA
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    58

    Default DIY LaserBoy Projector

    I saved some scanners from the trash bin at work last friday so I decided to make a laser projector... I had been thinking about building one, and had been snooping around PL for a couple weeks. BTW, thank you all for the amount of information floating around this place!

    I was very impatient over the weekend and found LaserBoy to be quite interesting. I emailed and talked to James, who was extremely helpful. Amazingly, I ended up finding everything I needed for this project at RadioShack and Circuit City. I ended up buying a Creative SoundBlaster Audigy, which was really easy to modify. It had large contacts where I needed to solder. You can see in the pictures below.

    Without the breadboard and the wiring which I already had, the whole controller only set me back about $50.


    SUCCESS!!!!!! But, still waiting on a green laser with TTL coming in the mail.



    External electronics for setting commmand offset and gain, soon will be soldered to a board


    Sound card modication. I had to wire all 8 channels in order to figure out which one was which. I'm only running one laser for now, so all I needed was three channels. I also ened up powering the external electronics off the PCI +/-12V by soldering to a few pins on the sound card.

    Barold

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Central Florida
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    7,067

    Thumbs up

    Very nice man! Much more that I could accomplish with an iron.
    Love, peace, and grease,

    allthat... aka: aaron@pangolin

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Akron, Ohio USA
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    Default

    That looks soooooooooo cooooooooooool !!!

    Make sure you keep up with the latest (06_11_2008 v2) version of LaserBoy! I just fixed a bunch of stuff.

    Please let me know if you find anything you think I should fix!

    James.
    Last edited by James Lehman; 06-11-2008 at 21:17.

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    Default

    That didn't take long! welcome and keep up the good work. Looks like you need a modulator driver now!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Boston, MA
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by drlava View Post
    That didn't take long! welcome and keep up the good work. Looks like you need a modulator driver now!
    Yeah, I am waiting on a green laser that is in the mail that supports TTL. The sound card and LaserBoy will provide the TTL signal for that when it gets here.

    Barold

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Boston, MA
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    Default

    I've been playing with the settings in LaserBoy as well as the tuning on my scanners. Starting to look pretty crisp I must say!





    Barold

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Central Florida
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    Talking

    My girlfriend, aka, the boss, refers to that sort of stuff as "smoking crack"...

    That thing is drawing very well. Especially for the price tag.

  8. #8
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    Jan 2006
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    Akron, Ohio USA
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    Default

    Now that's just down right pretty!

    I can't explain how cool it is to (finally) see this stuff.

    barold, I gotta' tell ya' from our text and voice exchanges, it seems like you went from noob to expert in about no-time-at-all. Nice work!

    Thanks!

    James.
    Last edited by James Lehman; 06-11-2008 at 20:10.

  9. #9
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    Default

    I know you don't have colors or blanking yet, but can you see any difference between 96KHz and 48KHz sample rate (other than twice the wave file size)?

    James.

  10. #10
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    Jun 2008
    Location
    Boston, MA
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by James Lehman View Post
    I know you don't have colors or blanking yet, but can you see any difference between 96KHz and 48KHz sample rate (other than twice the wave file size)?

    James.
    The most noticeable thing is that the speed increases along with the sample rate.

    I am under the impression I benefited from a higher sample rate and smaller vectors (lowered "longest optimized vector in points" down to 150 and maximum dwell down to 250 microseconds). My latest picture is at 96kHz.

    But now that I go back to 48kHz and play with the settings (vectors 350, dwell 250), I really do not notice a bit of difference..... hmmm, i might go back to 48kHz, and benefit from the smaller wav files

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