RGB Amp Carcass Projector Build

[mikkojay]

I know how you guys like pics, so I thought I'd snap a few of my latest effort. It is all going to be housed inside of an ex PA amplifier head chassis that I bought on craigslist for $35. The base plate is a heavy steel box that was used to brace the inside of a check sorting machine during shipping. The guys at work were going to throw it in the trash, so I took it home and tossed it in the parts box (about 6 years ago).

The scanners are DT40-Pros from DZ.
Lasers are all analog:
532nm = generic 100mw w/FlexMod2
660nm = MaxYz 225mw
473nm = CNI 100mw

The red & blue are from my previous projector, RIP (ripped in pieces) and they all combine to make a brilliant white with just a tiny bit of tweaking on the levels.

It turns out the green had a positive ground to the heatsink, so I used some plastic washers, heatshrink tube around the bolts, and a piece of thin plastic cut out from a notebook cover to electrically isolate it from the base.

I used a 2xAAA battery pack with a switch on the modulation inputs while adjusting and aligning things. I tweaked the alignment even better after taking the pics, but I won't bother too much with that until I mount the plate inside the box. The DT40 power supply and other misc power supplies will tuck neatly under the base/box. The backside of the box is open, so removing the back panel will expose both the top and bottom components.

I imagine I will use a hinged front panel that flops open forward, secured with wing nuts or something like that to facilitate quick alignments after transporting it. I flipped the back panel inside out, so that the lettering from the amplifier is on the inside. The exposed side is anodized black aluminum. Having the scanner amps mounted to the back panel should dissipate heat fairly well to the outside. The DT40 power supply is also mounted to the back plate, so that it will come out along with the scanner amps when the panel is removed. I will also be able to reuse the original cord, cord wrap looms, fuse holder, power indicator, switch- all mounted in the stock holes. Also, it is removed at the moment, but it has one of those heavy duty "road gear" carrying handles that will mount top center.

That's it for tonight!

-Mike

[badger1666]

way to go man nice use of an old amp case
we all should recycle more

[DZ]

Looks good Mike, very nice idea for an enclosure!

[dave]

Nice work!

[buffo]

Mike;

I like the idea of re-using an old amp case, but I see a potential problem with your layout... How are you going to tune those scanners? You can't get at the pots... Or are you planning to pull the back pannel every time? (It's not on hinges, is it?)

Adam

[mikkojay]

Hey Adam,
Yes it will require the removal of 4 screws to access the trim pots. I oriented the scanner amps so that the trim pots will be easily accessible when the back panel is pulled back- X faces up and Y faces out.
Perhaps I can find some resonably priced quarter turn fasteners like this:

When I was in the military, our jets used DZUS fasteners. Those were nice.
I am hoping that scanner tuning won't be a common event, so the extra couple minutes to pull the panel won't bug me too bad. I had my previous projector together for over a year and only tweaked the tuning like 3 times. DZ sends these pre-tuned, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can just fire it up and run it
I should be in the stretch now, so I hope to get a test pattern on the wall soon.
-Mike

[buffo]

Hi Mike;

Yeah, tuning isn't all that common. 3 times per year is about right. (And once you get them dialed in, it should only be a quick tweak.) I didn't realize that your back panel only had 4 screws though. I expected it to have a lot more. (like maybe 16 or so!) So yeah, that won't be so bad.

If you bought the scanners from DZ, they should be plug-and-play. He tunes them before he ships them. Will be nice to see some pics of the test pattern on your wall in a couple days!

Adam

[DZ]

Someone makes a fastener called a DZUS?! So long as you make sure to connect the amp labelled X to the scanner labelled X and the amp labelled Y to the scanner labelled Y, then you shouldn't have to worry about tuning!

[mikkojay]

Ha! I thought about that as I typed it-
Yeah, these are pretty sweet quarter turn fasteners. Some are spring-loaded, some are counter-sunk. There are all kinds of them. The ones I dealt with were used to fasten avionics components into the instrument panels of F-14's.



-Mike

[MechEng3]

I have some in the tool box at the hangar.....let me know if you need them.I get mine from http://store.wagaero.com/product_inf...ducts_id=13087
http://www.wicksaircraft.com/catalog...813/index.html