Messages

Nice job Stimpy! I'm sure those who are attempting to build the source in windows will really appreciate this. I am curious, did you look into using mingw in combination msys or GOW? It would have the potential to decrease the footprint on the system. I very rarely do MS development so I can't say I have tried this, just curious if you looked into it.

Yes pacman fan has been working on lasershark integration for a while now. I think those who are more interested in 3d printing vs making custom systems and those who are not familiar with programming will be very happy

Sorry to hear you were having trouble with the contact link. Can you point out which one you were having trouble with and what the problem was so I can fix it?

I was called away (starting yesterday) and won't be able to ship any more tachometer units until the 14th of June. The roomates weren't up for shipping things. :)

You can order it now and I'll ship it then or if you try emailing me again I can send you a message when I return.

Thanks!

Edit:
Normally these ship out 1-2 days after purchase.

There's not really an average cost because it will depend on what type of laser characteristics you need in your application. A cheap 30mW green 532nm laser will somewhere from 30 bucks+ while a 520mW 1W+ laser can cost in the thousands. Without stating parameters mentioned in my first response this becomes an impossible question to answer.

If you want to know what *I* used, I can't find the exact laser module but this one looks *similar*. Note that I am NOT making a recommendation that you use this laser as even 30mW can be dangerous if used improperly:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/30mw-532nm-Green-Laser-Module-w-TTL-Modulation-Slot-For-Stage-Light-Show-Laser-/141048140347?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20d71fd23b

Note adding "TTL" or "analog" to your "532nm laser module" search string on ebay should be of help in identifying suitable modules.

As this seems to be your first experience with lasers I encourage you to first learn more about lasers and their safe use through a professionally taught class before continuing further.

Those are all standard with c++11 which should be cross platform compatible(this is why I'm using them). Instead of whatever compiler microsoft visual studio uses you could try using MinGW's under Windows.
http://www.mingw.org/

For this system to work as design (with json-rpc-cpp aspects... I know you aren't using these portions) use of threads, mutexes and atomic variables are necessary so those can't really be removed.

I'm glad some of those suggestions helped you out and thanks for pointing out what you needed to do to get things up and going. Others will certainly appreciate it.

Please feel free to share what you end up doing with the kit. Also if there's something that can be easily added to the build script (i.e. better windows support when searching for dependencies) let me know and I can try and add them to the code base on github.

Would these be the right items? I need to have 2 green lasers pointed in opposite directions, so I think I need 2 galvo kits?

To display in opposite directions you would need some splitting optics or you yes, you could use two different galvo kits. The latter would probably be easier.

Laser module: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Instapark-DGM512L-3V-5-mW-532-nm-Green-Line-Laser-Diode-Module-New-/160813153259?pt=US_Laser_Pointers&hash=item257135fbeb

This laser won't work.
1. While it is a laser module (it has the diode/driver/etc in one package) it doesn't have a signal input line which is needed for the LaserShark to modulate the laser power.
2. This laser outputs a laser line, not a dot. The effect would probably be pretty cool, but I don't think this is what you wanted :)

Galvo kits:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/30K-laser-Galvo-Galvanometer-Based-Optical-Scanner-including-Show-Card-US-ship-/291137274734?pt=US_Stage_Lighting_Single_Units&hash=item43c922436e
or
http://www.ebay.com/itm/20Kpps-HightSpeed-galvo-scanner-max35Kpps-/251501064829?pt=US_Stage_Lighting_Single_Units&hash=item3a8ea1b27d

Both of those look like they should work. I would go with the second one which appears to be of higher quality (i.e. it includes shielded signal wires and heatsinks on the galvo amplifiers which may stop you from having to use forced air)

Fan:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-COUGAR-CF-V12HB-Vortex-Hydro-Dynamic-Bearing-12CM-Silent-Cooling-Fan-/301121355577?pt=US_Computer_Case_Fans&hash=item461c3b3f39

You don't need to be too picky on the fan. That one looks fine.

And to get some common bugs out of the way:
1. Is the LaserShark directly connected to a usb port on your computer (i.e. not through a hub)?
2. Is it a usb 2.0 port? (try other ports) 3.0 ports can be weird.

I'm glad you are able to compile this to debug it under windows :) Having to walk someone through that over the internet would be difficult.

That's an interesting spot for this to fail at and I can't say I've encountered that under linux before. What happens if you flip those two statements? Does devh_ctl then fail?

It shouldn't be an issue to open up a device twice... but perhaps windows is doing something strange? I'll have to look at the libusb docs closer

[0. Comprehension of laser safety and regulations for your area]

A general list of items that you will need include:

0. Comprehension of laser safety and regulations for your area
You absolutely must understand the risks involved with using lasers and follow all regulations in your area. This is an obligation on your part.


1. Safety Glasses
You need safety glasses for the laser frequencies and intensities you will be working with. This is a 100% must. If you do not know how to select these you should consider taking a laser safety class in your area.


2. Laser Module
A laser module is a device that consists of all components necessary to drive a laser diode. Generally they will also contain optics to focus the laser beam and some other electronics/hardware to control the temperature of the diode (for some laser diodes, temperature differences can dramatically influence the power output).

Laser Modules are expected to be powered by an appropriate power supply/source and expect to receive an input signal from a controller board (I.e. a LaserShark). The type of signal they expect to receive can be either an analog signal (which allows the laser beam brightness to be varied) or TTL signal (which allows the laser beam to be turned on or off)

The LaserShark is capable of driving up to two analog (0-5v) laser modules and one TTL (0 or 5V) laser module at the same time.
LaserShark boards CANNOT drive laser diodes directly so be sure you purchase a laser module!

When selecting laser modules you will need to consider your application. The first question should be what color(s) your need. For diode lasers you can have direct drive (most red, blue, and now 520nm greens!) and dpss lasers (i.e 532nm green lasers). Preferably you want to stick with direct drive lasers as these can modulate faster which is important when drawing things such as text.

The next thing to consider is how fast the laser module driving circuit can actually modulate the laser output. This is frequently provided as a Khz rating and higher is better.

Another thing to consider is how powerful the laser must be for your application (and what you are qualified to operate safely!). This can be identified by the Watt rating of the laser. Will you be projecting at wall in the dark 5ft away... across a brightly lit room, etc? This will make a significant difference in the power requirement of the laser module.
If you have looked at the time-lapse images of my website, I used a ~20mW green 532nm laser module (which is especially bright to human eyes) in a dimly lit room with a throw of about 15ft.

And a final note about selecting laser modules... If you want multiple colors, you may want to consider purchasing a multi-color laser module vs purchasing multiple individual laser modules and combining them with optics.

Oh and two more gotchas! When selecting a laser module check the duty cycle.. ideally you want a 100% duty cycle module. Also, if you purchase a 532nm laser make sure it has an IR filter!


2. Power supply for laser module
If your laser module does not plug into the wall directly, you will need a power supply appropriate for the voltage and current requirements of your laser module. Note that it is fine if the current capacity of your power supply exceeds that of the laser module, it will only utilize what it needs.

Power supplies can be both of the linear type (generally larger, heavier, and less efficient but with better noise characteristics) or switching type (smaller, lighter, and more efficient, but generally with worse nose characteristics). Ebay has a plethora of switching shielded power supplies at great prices. Unless your laser module has specific power requirements these are probably your best bet for cost and size reasons.


3. Galvo kit
A galvo kit will consist of:
-2x galvos mounted at right angles to each other in a metal block.
Galvos are dc motors that have a limited rotation and position feedback circuitry built into them. They are not able to move a significant amount of mass but they are able to move extremely quickly! Each of these galvos has a mirror attached to them. These two "steer-able" mirrors are what allow the laser beam of a laser projector to be positioned anywhere in a 2d projection plane. And if you were wondering why you see lines/curves/etc instead of a fast moving dot, it's because of a phenomenon known as the "persistence of vision effect"

-2x Laser galvo amplifiers
Galvo amplifiers receive a differential signal from a controller board (i.e. a LaserShark) and according to this input control "drive" the galvos themselves. Your kit should come with that connect your laser galvo amplifiers to the lasershark. When selecting your galvo kit you should try to get one that uses 3-pin (+/GND/-) wires vs 4-pin (+/GND/GND/-). If you purchase the latter you will have to make an adapter that ties the two GND pins together (the LaserShark uses a 3-pin connector).

-1x Power supply
The galvo kit components will likely be tuned to this power supply. For this reason it is important to use this power supply and NOT attach anything else to it! If you attempt to power other devices using this power supply in addition to the galvo components you may find your laser lines become wobbly or dimension become distorted.

For lasershow devices, galvos are normally rated by their KPPS rates (kilo-points per second). As an example, a 20Kpps galvo system will be able to draw 20,000 points anywhere in the 2d projection plane. Clearly higher KPPS rates are better, but they also get expensive quick! If you are searching ebay for galvo kits, you will likely find 20-30kpps is the sweet spot for price/performance.
Another aspect to consider when purchasing a kit is the scan angle. Because the mirrors have to move less of a distance, it is possible to have higher KPPS rates with smaller scan angles. Sellers of these galvo kits will often try to "downplay" the scan angle when advertising higher KPPS kits so be sure to pay attention to this detail!

In the original youtube video I posted I used 30KPPS galvos. These have been fine for drawing the text segments seen.


4. Active cooling
Galvo amplifiers boards get hot quick! You may find that you need to actively cool them with fans. Ebay is a great source for these. I personally am a fan of hydro bearing fans due to their low noise level.


5. Mounting hardware and a case
You will want to aim your laser module(s) at the galvos by mounting them on a rigid piece of metal. I used a piece of aluminum for my build.
The case is important as it helps to keep dust off everything but more importantly it aids in preventing stray beams from exiting the unit at unexpected angles.

No problem

Ok, well unfortunately that additional info didn't help identify what's going on. If you were able to compile the code yourself under windows you could add print statements to the connection code in the connect() function to figure out what's going on:
https://github.com/macpod/lasershark_3dp/blob/master/lasershark/LaserShark.cpp

Unfortunately for you I'm more of a linux guy than a windows guy (hence no official windows port yet). Perhaps this is a permissions problem?

Is there any reason why you can't run this under Linux?

There is also another individual who is attempting to port this sw to Windows. I'll chime in on the forums once they begin to make more progress

I don't have the code for this windows build and I generally work under linux but here's my assessment based on what you have stated:

Based on your picture the lasershark appears to be functioning fine. The three interfaces you see are for the  data interface, control interface, and uart pass-through interfaces.

Libusb seems to have initialized alright too or else you wouldn't have seen the other message

Can you try rebooting and then if this fails again post the full output or take a screenshot?

Hi Cosimo,

I've been busy with software so I haven't had time to make my 3d printer hardware such. Because of this I cannot say with certainty what laser you should get. My suggestion would be to follow what the opensl folks are using:

http://pryntech.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=142

http://pryntech.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=126

Here is a link to the ebay auction:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/130955440710



The lasershark does not power lasers, it only controls their modulation.

You will need a 12v DC power supply for this laser from ebay. A switching power supply should be fine.



Hope that helps

There is no "make" or runtime flag, but it's quite easy to do:

Just open up lasershark_3dp.cpp (the server), and comment out the twostep related sections. Next open up the lasershark_3dp_client.cpp (the client)  and comment out the twostep stuff there too.


Really the client is meant as a means to show slicer integrators how the protocol works but you could use it for your own experiments. Speaking of this do you know how pacmanfan is progressing? I asked them earlier about their progress but have yet to hear back.

The code in the repo which stimpy built off of expects a lasershark and twostep board to be attached.

Your error message indicates that it was unable to talk to the twostep board. Do you have one... and if so was it powered?

The good news is if you made it that far it indicates it was successful in connecting to the lasershark. :)

The code is quite modular and the twostep code can be swapped out for an object that connects with whatever stepper motor driver you are using. I do not own one of these various stepper motor driver boards however so someone else will need to write this portion of the code.

I'm pretty sure the ilda test pattern is only one frame.

http://www.laserfx.com/Backstage.LaserFX.com/Systems/Scanning1.html
http://www.pangolin.com/ILDAtest.html

If you read your galvo manual they should point out which pots to change based on the results of the ilda test frame too FYI.

Edit:
By the way it is important to use the power supplies that came with your galvos.. don't mix and match them. The set was calibrated together and if you start performing swaps (i.e. ps from first kit with galvos from another kit) that may cause some goofy behavior.