My Laser - Opinion

[Stuka]

Looks good, especially when you consider all the ambient light coming in from the window!

I do believe you're ready for your show!

Also, one thing we learned at this past SELEM -
even with multiple projectors and "tons" of smoke, what you see on video never comes quite close enough to how good it all looks in living color!!

[White-Light]

Stuka, do you find the smoke amounts very sensitive?

I've foudn with too little its poor but with a little too much, it equally becomes poor very quickly. Its seems there's a very narrow band of acceptable smoke level.

Also, what about the brightness, do you think this looks right for 600mw or do you think its probably lower / a lot lower?

Al.

[Jem]

Stuka, do you find the smoke amounts very sensitive?

I've foudn with too little its poor but with a little too much, it equally becomes poor very quickly. Its seems there's a very narrow band of acceptable smoke level.

That's one good reason why I prefer a hazer. With a smoker it's not always easy to get the right amount. When you first give a big squirt of fog it's probably a bit too dense, as it disperses you go through a 'peak' period, and then as it settles away you lose the beams. Probably best to give regular small squirts depending on the size of venue. In other words just keep it topped up to as near perfection as possible. With a hazer you can just set and forget. However, you don't get quite the same swirly patterns (liquid sky effects) that you do with fog, they tend to be more subtle with a hazer.

Also, what about the brightness, do you think this looks right for 600mw or do you think its probably lower / a lot lower?

Al.

Al, Can you get into Barnsley?, that's where my office is. I could perhaps arrange a time and bring my meter. Alternatively I could arrange to call round and measure your beams. That's going to be the only way to know the power for certain and it would probably put your mind at rest

It's soooo difficult to tell the power from videos. I've seen shows that have been properly calculated for audience safety, yet when you watch a video the beams look horrific! Likewise i've seen videos of multi watt lasers that look like a couple of hundred milliwatts. You really do need to get a power meter on you rig to be sure.

PM me if you're interested.

Cheers

Jem

[Lasermad]

RGB

Fom memeory you got a great deal on that kit , your in money pit hobby and will always want more , bigger , more software , brighter etc . What i can advise is the casing /flightcase you got was worth the price of the whole kit .

Personally i think from vids it looks weak on power , but rememebr the quoted 600mW would only be when on lasers are on full power for it to be at its brightest tjhat might only be on th odd occasion. If the unit contains 200mW of green , when its producing a green image ..it will only ever be 200mw .
Also one thing that Confused/Surprised me early on was Blanking , blanking reduces the power of your lasers , at least it seemed to for me.

Also the day i plugged in FB3 my lasers all worked crisper brighter and better ..seems to get the best out your equipment so try and blag or buy FB3 to test and a power meter ..obviously the upcoming uklem 3.5 would be ideal.

Bottom line , i could almost guarantee you will end up stripping the unit , selling the bits off on ebay and building yourself a beast of machine ...how do i know ? cos you have the bug ! you have been caught like a rabbit in the coherant light ..your trapped RGB ... and you wont be happy ...like us all ...until you have Superb bit of kit and great pango software.

Have fun on your journey

PAUL

[Stuka]

Stuka, do you find the smoke amounts very sensitive?

I've foudn with too little its poor but with a little too much, it equally becomes poor very quickly. Its seems there's a very narrow band of acceptable smoke level.

Also, what about the brightness, do you think this looks right for 600mw or do you think its probably lower / a lot lower?

Al.

To follow up Jem's great response -

One of the "tricks of the trade" I learned from Adam (Buffo) is to place a small fan blowing directly over the top of the smoke machine to force the smoke or haze to disperse quicker for consistent beams. Even when doing that, you can always crank up the smoke output anytime you need a heavy layer for a "liquid sky" effect.

I also learned that it really doesn't take much ambient light to seemingly dim the output from our lower-power (less than 1 watt) projectors, so you really need a much darker room to get a full appreciation of the laser power you have available.

I would definitely hook up with Jem if you can and check out everything with a power meter - you might find out that just some minor tweaking of the optics alignment might make a big difference.

And, as Lasermad said - yep, you've got the bug...welcome to the money pit!! Just don't get so wrapped up in "needing" more power that you forget why you go into this hobby in the first place! (been there, done that, STILL guilty - but having fun, too!!) Get out there and make some laser shows!!

All in all - looking good!

[Hemlock Mike]

Are these TTL mod ?? If so, I've read that some drivers don't provide for full TTL output and need a simple switching amp. This could cause low output power.

Mike

[White-Light]

Yeah its TTL modulated.

[White-Light]

To follow up Jem's great response -

One of the "tricks of the trade" I learned from Adam (Buffo) is to place a small fan blowing directly over the top of the smoke machine to force the smoke or haze to disperse quicker for consistent beams.

Do you actually stand it on top or does the machine casing get to hot for that?

[Things]

You can put the fan anywhere, aslong as the fog meets the air coming from in, one way or another.
When the lasers are blanking, mainly with DPSS, you loose some power, ans the crystals take a while to warm up each time the IR diode comes on, so it appears dimmer. Diode lasers are pretty instant.

Mike also had a valid point. You could load up a pattern and measure what voltage you get on the TTL output. If the lasers themselves are analog, it would make a huge difference if the voltage is too low. If the lasers re only TTL, then it shouldnt be a problem.