need RGB parts suggestons

[carlos3621]

Hello everyone!

newbie here, ive been lurking for some time, but this will be my first post, so take it easy on me
my question is: im looking at building my first RGB sytem, ive allready owned a 2.5 watt melles griot projector and finally sold that (boring after a while with only single color).
what do you all recommend as far as the lasers (what would you buy) if:

1. looking for no less than 1 watt per color , so a 3 - 5 watt RGB is my goal.
2. where should i purchase the units, i dont want cheap, but reliable.
3. if you were to build , what components would you use????
4. am i better off just purchasing completed projector,,,,like say a kvant unit? , i mean, is the price just going to be the same if i build versus purchase ?
i think the kvant 3 watt is somewhere in the 19,000 range ... and the kvant 5 watt is , i think ,, 29,000 USD.

thankx for any suggestions,,,,

[daedal]

Hiya Carlos and welcome to PL. Please fill in your location and other info as in this post I'm assuming you're in the USA.

Please see my notes in red below

Hello everyone!

newbie here, ive been lurking for some time, but this will be my first post, so take it easy on me
my question is: im looking at building my first RGB sytem, ive allready owned a 2.5 watt melles griot projector and finally sold that (boring after a while with only single color).
what do you all recommend as far as the lasers (what would you buy) if:

1. looking for no less than 1 watt per color , so a 3 - 5 watt RGB is my goal.
That's quite a big budget you got there
2. where should i purchase the units, i dont want cheap, but reliable.
Well... the options are limitless... I would certainly suggest talking to Marc (gottalovelasers on here) about the LaserWave modules. He's a great guy and you can read about the advice he's given people LaserWave lasers will give you some of the best support while giving you a very good deal of reliability (as compared to melles and coherent) without breaking the bank.
3. if you were to build , what components would you use????
Me, personally? I used Laserwave...
4. am i better off just purchasing completed projector,,,,like say a kvant unit? , i mean, is the price just going to be the same if i build versus purchase ?
i think the kvant 3 watt is somewhere in the 19,000 range ... and the kvant 5 watt is , i think ,, 29,000 USD.

About the KVANT units... I can say this... talk to allthatwhichis on here. He has the 1 Watt version and it's a stunning projector. A plus above many others on the KVANT units is they use the 445nm blue, which is very beautiful and has great beamspecs (long distance throw without too much divergence = beautiful graphics). I've seen it and can only say good things about it

thankx for any suggestions,,,,

In either case... we're a picture-loving bunch. If you decide to go DIY you'll find tons of help on here from members who have gone through the process (maybe even several times already )...

Keep us updated and I'm sure others will chime in soon.

--DDL

[gottaluvlasers]

Hi Carlos-

newbie here, ive been lurking for some time, but this will be my first post, so take it easy on me

Dont worry man. we dont look down on "newbies" here. We encourage as many questions as you can possibly throw out at us.no matter how advanced or trivial you may think the question(s) may be! so, please...ask away!!

ive allready owned a 2.5 watt melles griot projector and finally sold that (boring after a while with only single color).

Aaaah....the lovely Melles Modules!! did yours actually put out stable power? was it "blankable?" i had one myself. drove me INSANE!!!!

1. looking for no less than 1 watt per color , so a 3 - 5 watt RGB is my goal

i would do (if this was MY projector):
635nm- 1.5 watts
532nm- 750mW
473nm- 500mW and maybe PBS'd with another 200mW or so maybe.

obviously the blue is lagging in power, but it is SOOOO damn expensive! if you have the budget than i would DEFINITELY suggest ~800mW of blue and even adding in another blue~200-300mW for a total of ~1W or 1.2W of 473. youre getting into some serious monetary funding at this point though. but HOLY CRAP would you have ONE BAD ASS laser!!!!

2. where should i purchase the units, i dont want cheap, but reliable

"CHEAP" and "LASERS" are NEVER in the same sentence! LOL. (for quality anyway). our LAserWave units are very affordable and are probably arguably the best coming from chinese market now. almost everyone here has one, had one or is in the middle of purchasing one and i dont think there have been any unhappy purchasers. obviously if there were any issues with a defective unit it was handled IMMEDIATELY.

3. if you were to build , what components would you use????

LaserWave.

4. am i better off just purchasing completed projector,,,,like say a kvant unit?

KVANT makes an EXCELLENT projector!! top notch! and
you would love it! HOWEVER, i think you could build it yourself and probably save yourself quite a bit of money and learn a HELL OF A LOT MORE by building it.

i and i think most people here, would urge you to build your own. at least you are realistic in your budget and what to expect for your money!

-Marc

[carlos3621]

Well Marc,,, the Melles Griot 2.5 watt laser was pricey,, but i purchased that one in 2002. it actuallly was very stable when newish,,,, after 700hrs, it started to drop to 1.7 watt output , i figured it was time to get rid of it,, not to mention it was supposed to do blanking to 5k , but i thought that might be too slow anyways, so i never bothered hooking it up.
the price for that melles in 2002 was 15k !!

i just did some reading on your website,,
about the red.... is there going to be a problem with the beam profile (squarish)
should i go the kvant red instead, since i read somewhere that that red has a nice, tight , round beam ??
the green laserwaves seem like a damn good deal.
the blue,,, if i wanted more power , what other manufacter do you recommend? also , do you know of any pricing?

Thanks

[White-Light]

i just did some reading on your website,,
about the red.... is there going to be a problem with the beam profile (squarish)
should i go the kvant red instead, since i read somewhere that that red has a nice, tight , round beam ??
Thanks

You're probably talking about 642nm here. I believe laserwave are doing these now up to 600mw. I'm unsure about the top power from Kvant. Insanity has a Kvant 642nm module and rates it very highly.

As for the blues, (or the other colours for that matter), don't worry if you can't get all of your power from one module. You can always combine modules to increase power. Even some of the "pro" built projectors on here use multiple modules combined with PBS cubes. All it means is a larger case.

I ran your desired power size (5W) through Tockets excellent Chroma tool - a kind of pocket calculator for white balance. The figures I pulled out were as follows:

532 - 1 Watt
642 - 2 Watt
473 - 1.5 Watt

This was the balance result although please note this is a rough guide, its not guaranteed 100% accurate.

I suggest you check the figures yourself before purchasing and obtain other advice as I accept no liability for the accuracy of this. You can download Chroma from this site.




I used 642nm red in Chroma as you seem to want the beam specs.

The balance is wavelength specific and doesn't hold true for different wavelenghts. Any change in wavelength will change the balance so need to be recalculated.

As for 445nm vs 473nm mentioned above, it depends on how you like your colour balance. 473 gives a much brighter cyan type colour whereas 445nm gives a darker very deep blue. The figures above are for 473 and would need adjusting for 445nm as 445nm is less visible.

The difference between the two in the projector apart from the obvious diffference between the 2 blues unmixed is 473nm gives very nice bright yellows and punchy colours at that end of the spectrum. 445nm on the other hand tends to give darker less punchy colours at that end but more colours at the pink / violet end of the spectrum. It really is a personal choice as to which is best.

BTW if you really have an endless budget, consider Coherent Taipan OPSL. The colours are amazing and they're also multi watt units. They don't conform to standard wavelengths though so you'd need to recalculate a balance.

They're available in 532, 460 and 577nm:

http://www.coherent.com/Lasers/index...w.page&id=1679

I believe you can hit white balance from just gold, blue and green alone (no red) (according to chroma http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...ead.php?t=7475 - again best to run the figures). However note, OPSL is very expensive.

[Pitts]

Hi Carlos,

I have over the last couple of years accrued a number of lasers from different manufacturers.
ALL have their good points and ALL have their bad. Which makes your job that much harder.
One of the key points though is ensure you are dealing with reputable people that will back up their hardware. Some suppliers are suspect in this game.

I have Viasho, CNI, Laserwave,Maxxy red (now gone out of production) Arctos, and Kvant.

The later two are European and are more expensive. BUT are they a whole heap better ?? I am not really sure at this point.
My Kvant is a 640nm 900mw red. It was ordered with a low divergence (like 1.2mrad at 3mm) but then at the last minute I was presented with an email from Kvant asking which of two versions I wanted, one bad one worse. neither of which kinda lived up to the original spec.
I went for the "fatter" beam (4.5mm) with the so called lower divergence. As for a round beam you need to realise that these are not " A" laser beam but a "collection" of beams in formation. Although in my case its more like a "loose association" of beams. I have one beam that accross the width of my garage is sitting slightly outside the group. It will probably be a mile away in a venue.
I cant say I am thrilled with this particular Kvant product.

I also have an Arctos 445 Blue and although simple in its construct is just damn well pleasing to look at. Its a "BMW" type of construction.... just classy. Even the glue blobs are neat and tidy.

I have found Viasho, CNI and Laserwave all good. At this time I would have to say that LaserWave has an edge in that he (Bridge) is here with us on PL, listens and tries to implement and improve quality.
None are perfect. (perfection seems to be the Holy Grail in this laser game)

What is interesting I believe is that the Chinese stuff is getting ever closer to being world class. Given my Kvant experience and the dollars involved I think keep an eye out for new products from the above manufacturers, they don't yet seem to do 640 red or 445 blue but I am sure its on its way.

Also you could consider what I am doing and combining via a sharp edge dichro the 445 and the 473 blues and mix with green to get a "higher" blue output... I am still in the early stages of this so can't comment yet on final outcomes.

Will be doing a review on Kvant and Arctos along with this "blue" experiment soon as work allows.

Cheers

Ray
NZ

[gottaluvlasers]

ray-

that was an excellent analysis and unbiased. thank you!! im sure it was very informative for carlos too.
im surprised ot hear about the kvant laser. i was under the impression they were the "mercedes" of lasers. i am sure still quite good, but surprised at the divergence you quoted.

again, thanks for the time to explain all that. very good for people to read!

-Marc

[p1t8ull]

473nm gives very nice bright yellows

Please explain how?

[White-Light]

On the projectors I've seen 473nm seems to give brighter colours at that end of the spectrum than 445nm. Conversely 445nm seems to give a better range of violets, pinks and purples at the expense of a little punch at the yellow / orange end.

Obviously the difference comes from mixing cyan rather than deep blue with the red / green. There's also a big difference in luminosity between the two colours.

[p1t8ull]

I think it has more to to with the wavelength of the red TBH