Topic: Hello, new to the board...

[PhantomRage]

Hello all.

I am new to this board, and very glad that it is here.  I have been into lasers for quite some time now.  Never really advancing into the hobby as far as I would like to have gone.  I started into the laser hobby around 1998.  I have not done much since 2004.  My job, and family takes most of my time. 

The gear I have is.
ALC-60X brand new rebuild from evergreen lasers.  (dead power supply.  it is old, and blows the output transistors.  So looking for new one, even a gold box would be killer)
25mw hene
redline beanscan controller/galvo head.
shinp DL-55C

I know that a lot has changed from the time I as into this hobby.  I have build galvos, and amps from scratch.  (cnc mill and lots of time winding)  But I am done with that sort of stuff now seeing that the price has dropped a lot.

I look forward to reading the post on the forum. 

-Jason

[BlinkenLights]

Welcome, its nice to have some fresh meat please feel free to post any questions and requests...

[James]

Hey, PhantomRage, wecome to The LaserBoy Forum!!!

I have a 60X that works, with a PS!

And I have a 4 channel PCAOM!

Anyway..... that's still by far the best way to do really good color blending.

But if you want cheap, powerful and portable, you'll have to go solid state!

No idea what you have read thus far, so I'll ask if you have tried LaserBoy yet.

I would imagine that you already understand the idea of using a DC modified, 8 channel sound card with outboard voltage correction and gain to create all the control signals.

James. 

[PhantomRage]

Thank you for the welcomes.  It may take some time for me to respond due to job/family.

And, oh no.  I have not tried the sound card mod as of yet.  The only mods I knew of back in the late 90's early 2000 was for the Amiga and laser max software.  I will have to do some reading on this.  Sounds like fun.  I have re build the Redline beamscan input to work with dc voltage.  The scanners are open loop and sloooow.  But it is a good test to see if any sound card mods work.  Or i could use the oscilloscope in x-y.  The 100Mhz scope works good for testing amps.

My 60x needs a new power supply.  The one i have is old and seen its fair share of abuse and has given up its last life.  (foam party's kill supply's)  Yes, i was young....

My goal is to build a laser system that can do 20pps or higher.  I need to advance into this hobby for myself.  My ideals have been stuck in my head for 8 years now.  Got to get the light shows out.

[PhantomRage]

I would imagine that you already understand the idea of using a DC modified, 8 channel sound card with outboard voltage correction and gain to create all the control signals.

James. 

No clue on this at all.  Please point me to some good reading on this topic.....

[James]

Well........... It just so happens that 5.1 and 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound cards came into being in just the last 7 or 8 years. So now you can get a DAC that will do 8 channels of 16-bit 48KHz for about $20!

This is the core of the LaserBoy concept!

http://laserboy.org/forum/index.php?topic=277.0

If you tack some wires onto the signal side of all of the output decoupling caps, you can get the signals right out of the DAC.

The signals you will get will be all positive voltage (above zero volts at all times). You will find that there is a positive offset voltage on every channel. You can measure this when you know the DAC is mute. If you build a special outboard correction amp, you can sum the signals with a regulated negative voltage to get the signals to center over the zero volt line. Then you need to give the signals a little gain so that you have enough voltage to swing the galvos and provide up to +5V for the color mods.

Once you have this going on, then you will be ready to use ordinary 6 or 8 channel wave files as your signal source. All you need to do is play the wave using the sound device. Any OS can do this!

LaserBoy is an application specifically written to convert full color laser art into multi channel wave!

James.

[BenDarkFox]

Hello fellas,


I'm new to the whole laser projection stuff but am very eager to learn how it all works and someday to develop laser shows. I'm BenDarkFox and have been spending a lot of my time as a musician (I play the midi keyboard, electric guitar, synthesizer software, and violin) Anyways I'm looking to someday being able to have laser projections to aid in my music visually when I'm done making the tunes and such. But for now I think the main thing is figuring out what all I need to get started. Lot of the terminology doesn't make much sense to me just yet but I'm sure I'll learn as I go. I don't got any laser stuff yet except for the cheap laser pointers and some mirrors but nothing yet that makes it move, I'm guessing getting some galvos and firmware / software would help do that part.

This seems like a pretty good community by first impression and so I'll spend a lotta time looking around and trying to learn much as I can before asking a bunch of questions and if there's anyplace I should check out first to learn I'll be glad to be informed on it!    Hopefully this is the right place I can post my user introduction. Looking forward to seeing you around!

:Edit:
Looks like I found a section already posted with a lotta great information on here, Thanks a lot!
http://laserboy.org/forum/index.php?topic=281.0

[James]

Hello BenDarkFox and welcome to The LaserBoy Forum!

PLEASE !!! feel free to ask ANY questions you might have no matter what! I really like to answer questions and it keeps the forum alive!

I am going through some really tough times right now. I am seperated from my partner of 18 years. I can no longer live in the home we had together. So, I'm hiding out at my parents house more than an hour away from all of my stuff and everyone local I know. I could use a good distraction. I really like Skype. I would encourage anyone interested to contact me there. It is possible to share a portion of your screen so I can see your open application of LaserBoy and talk to you about how to use it. I can also answer any questions you might have in real time. I appriciate any understanding you might have for me at this point. I'm not myself these days. I have a lot of crap on my mind.

WOW! I see this was my 2000th post. Geeeeeeez!

You might find that there are a million different ways to skin a cat. But they all come out to be the same thing. LaserBoy was designed to let you do it as much for yourself as possible and for free. It's not easy. There is a lot to learn. But, if you take the time and ask a lot of questions, you will see that LaserBoy will show you everything you need to know and that knowledge will translate to every other way there is to do it. You will not be learning anything that isn't true about this technology across the board (except that it doesn't have to cost you $thousands).

This message is for everyone! Please contact me directly about any of this stuff. I am scatter brained right now. But I do want to be involved and to help you. I have 3 modified sound cards and 4 correction amps built. They are not in fancy boxes, but they work!

I am james_laserboy on Skype. I also have an account on yahoo IM, same name.

James.

[BenDarkFox]

Thanks for the welcome! And yeah I also noticed before you mentioned it that it would be your 2000th post, congrats!

Sorry to hear about your troubled times, I myself am going through a similar stage still but am keeping busy with projects left and right and it's working quite nicely. I went ahead and added you on Skype, i've held podcasts over skype befor so i should have everything set up and working already 

There is a question I have that will determine a lot on what I will do for the next steps so I'd like to ask from someone with experience on this already, I've seen built laser projectors at the fun shop places like Spencer's that are around $60-$150ish depending on the mw. I can get one of those or building one up from scratch. What I wonder is what kind of capabilities do these store ones have and what flaws / limitations do they have as well versus creating one from scratch. Lets say i want to make a storyline / music video projection, would i be able to draw that with the software and have it plugged from the computer to the store-bought projector through the ports it offers or is the projector not capable of that kinda work?

[BenDarkFox]

I'm gunna refine my situation and questions a bit better hopefully so you'll get an idea what i'll need to get in the right direction. Eventually I'm going to have my dream setup of 3 different projectors, each one is programmed to operate at a different purpose. The first one will be from the laserboy that will play written sequences. The 2nd projector will play based on sound/music waveforms (like an oscilloscope effect). The 3rd will be triggered from live performance midi notes from the piano and/or pad controller to play pattern effects (like turning a knob to have a filter sweep on the sound and it controls the laser to sweep down with it).

of these 3 different types I'd like to know what is the requirement hardware i'll need to get each type going? I guess I'm lacking because of knowing what all these terms are like what a DAC does and what a correction amp is etc etc. Also a brief summary of what each software is used for (already have the idea what laserboy is all about but no idea on the others).

Sorry if it seems like a lotta questions all at once but surely enough any information is appreciated! Eventually I'll pick up on all this stuff and hopefully I'll be able to get something set up without having to spend too much

[BlinkenLights]

#1 LaserBoy does not PLAY laser signals, it helps create the art.
#2 The LaserBoy CORRECTION AMP when paired with a sound card get the signals from your computer to your laser projector.
#3 DAC means Digital to Analog Converter. AKA make the computer signals something that the hardware can understand (just like in robotics)
#4 all 3 of those things are very posible but require different software.
#5 Lets start with the simplest one, aka the first on your list.... you want text, laserboy can help you make it and the laserboy dac can get it to the projector. so then you need galvos and a laser...

[BenDarkFox]

Thanks for the answers, I'll do some digging around.

[yellowpin]

I have build galvos, and amps from scratch

how can i build galvos?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
______________________________
Ps3 accessories, Wii accessories, Xbox 360 accessories

[James]

A DAC is a digital to analog converter. That means that it takes a stream of binary numbers that are clocked out at a fix rate, like 48000 per second and converts those numbers into corresponding voltages. If you think of audio as a waveform, like you would see on an oscilloscope, you could break that up into a changing voltage over time. If you took a sample of that changing voltage every 48000th of a second and recorded that voltage as a binary number, you would get a wave file. The reverse of this would be to stream that binary information into a DAC and get the changing voltages back again and hence the audio signal.

It just so happens that the same kind of signal can be used to control the position of tiny mirrors. These mirrors are driven by electromagnetic devices called scanning galvanometers. One mirror makes the beam track left to right and the other up and down. So with two signals, X and Y, you can draw images EXACTLY the same way an oscilloscope works, but not quite as fast.

One big difference between audio and mirror position is that you cannot hear the actual position of a speaker cone. You can only hear the motion. So there is no point in pushing out a speaker cone and holding it there. That would just burn the voice coil. On the other hand, you MUST be able to push the galvos out of their rest position and hold them there in order to draw any kind of recognizable image. A sound card (for audio) has output decoupling capacitors that make it impossible to set and hold a voltage output. This is to protect your speakers. So you must eliminate that function to use the device for laser scanning. If you tap the outputs of the DAC before they go to the decoupling capacitors, you cannot use them just that way. They need to be corrected and amplified a bit for laser projector use. That is what the correction amp does.

LaserBoy lets you create full color art and animations in a graphical environments and converts that information into standard wave files so you can play them on a (modified) sound card. LaserBoy does not play the waves. Any decent wave player (Spider-Player) can do that for you in any operating system. This may not be the industry standard way to do it but it is exactly what needs to be done and it's free. And I made it for YOU!

James.