Imagine binge watching YT algorithm videos at 1 in the morning and getting a (rather interesting?) video made by someone you went to Uni with. Had the biggest “wait a minute” moment half way through the video.
@@sto2779 no need to be a jerk. Every single idea starts with someone doing something not some puke tossing discouragements. I would love to see what you have created in the past decade.
Just finished the PCB design in Kicad for my new Teensy 4.1 Laser Synth with integrated TDM CS42448 CODEC with 6in ADC/6out DAC, & XYRGB op amp circuits for ILDA standard output signals to the projectors. I've built my own 3W analogue RGB projectors w/40kpps DT40 & Scannermax Compact galvos. The T4 Laser Synth has 28 waveform generators for wireframe animations, abstract imagery, AM, & colormod controllable via Akai APC40 MIDI control surface, TouchOSC GUI touchscreen, & Reaper 7's DAW, with stereo, video, and multiple MIDI tracks sent to output busses one for each T4 Laser Synth & projector. JS 😎
If galvo cost is a concern, you can build a galvo for much less using 1/8” by 1/4” diametrically magnetized neodymium rings. These can be bought for like $4 o r $6 a pop and can be slid onto a 1/8” rotary shaft. You can then make an optical encoder and use it with a driver board, or just send it full swing left and right with no position detection.
You are right about the galvo hardware being simple to make, but the servo driver electronics is still more expensive to buy (or more complex to make) compared to a stepper driver. But as I mentioned at the end of the video, I have an idea for a next version where I'll try to use homemade "galvos".
@@StanleyProjects Yeah, making an amp board seems overly complex for how much thyey can be purchased for on aliexpress. im looking forward to your upcoming video!
@@StanleyProjects Also, sorry to bother you further, but do you have any recommendations for literature on creating the magnetic coils for the galvo? I am attempting to make a set from scratch. Ill use a bipolar power supply + homemade amp circuit + aliexpress optical based galvo amp board (already have), but I'm making the galvo using those ring magnets from mcmaster carr. I figure the amp board only cares about the voltage (or current, im not sure) inputs from the two silicon photodiodes, and will output some voltage (positive or negative) to each coil to get the rotating assembly to spin towards the degree position determined by the voltage input from the homemade amp circuit (driven by esp32). I can mess around with different IR leds and different optical encoder setups to get the right outputs.. I feel I understand the process I need to go through for adapting the amp board to the homemade galvo, I just don't understand how to make the magnetic coils as efficient as possible. Obviously increasing the number of turns in the loop, keeping the distance >0 but as small as possible, etc make sense.
@@lazarusmagellan2367 When it comes to making homemade galvo assemblies and servo circuits, I believe ELM has it very nicely documented on his website. I am also adding two more links describing the same topics. I am thinking about building a digital driver instead of the traditional analog circuitry. I know it is possible because there are products on the market such as MACH-DSP which is digital. I'm just not sure if ESP32 is fast enough to do that, but I'll test it. elm-chan.org/works/vlp/report_e.html people.ece.cornell.edu/land/courses/ece4760/FinalProjects/f2013/hl577_jeh295_msh276/hl577_msh276_jeh295/index.html www.ctrnd.com/NormLaserShow/FriendGalvos.htm
sorry but wtf? all that and ... it isn't fast enough to project legible graphics? at least that's how it seems from the half a second of footage of the final product...
This was obvious from the beginning when he attempted to use stepper motors.. any cursory look at the data sheet would show you they're not suitable. Resolution and speed are nothing compared to real galvos. Galvos are used for a reason
Awesome project, subscribed. how does it compare to using a galvometer in terms of kpps? It would be great to see a longer demo of what it's capable of!
Thanks! The motor has 288PPR (1.25°) on the output shaft, and I am running it at max 120RPM at full step mode, so theoretically, I am driving it at max 576pps. However, the performance is influenced by factors such as motor's inertia. For example, sudden, quick rotation changes over a short angular distance will most likely cause the motor to skip steps. That could be solved by increasing the gearing ratio, but it also decreases the output speed, so it's counterproductive. The only thing I can say is that the performance in kpps is several orders of magnitude lower than with galvanometers, but that is also expected - they cannot really compete in terms of speed. I will upload a longer demo in the next video.
Hello, cool project! Have you tried programming any designs or text for more interesting output? Also, what kind of area can you display upon without loosing too much brightness?
Fantazie a perfektní práce! Taky bych jednou rád takovou dílnu! Proletěl jsem seznam videí a nevšiml jsem si tam takového videa. Myslím že právě to je tak trochu sen všech kutilů. Ale třeba nemají tolik času nebo trpělivosti. Jakože ukázat právě ten vývoj jak ses dostal od Arduina k té troubě na PCB. Nebo třeba video jak navrhuješ a vyrábíš tu desku. K tvému kanálu myslím že pro algoritmy je lepší jenom jedno téma - jenom projekty a bastlení. Rodinné, cestovatelské a videa z dronu bych dal do jiného kanálu. Jinak by mě ani nenapadlo psát česky - z tohodle videa jsem vůbec nepoznal, že bys nebyl rodilý mluvčí! Video je v podstatě dokonalé a to je taky problém. Lidi víc ocení když se ti něco nepodaří, něco shoří, vybuchne, pak to zas opravuješ a pak konečně přijdeš na řešení - prostě příběh. Něco jako ruclips.net/video/xHWXZyfhQas/видео.html A pak to asi chce pohladit klíčové slova ruclips.net/video/fHsa9DqmId8/видео.html Z technické stránky jediné co bych vylepšil je timelapse 3D tisku - příjemnější na dívání je fotit výrobek vždy na jednom místě ruclips.net/video/UqZ8Um5MZEA/видео.html
Vďaka za povzbudivé slová a rady! Naozaj si to cením. Toto je moje prvé také video kde som si dal záležať aby som opísal všetky detaily, a chcem v tom pokračovať aj naďalej. S tými ostatnými videami v iných kategóriách máš pravdu, tiež si to uvedomujem, ale problém je že keby som zrazu vytvoril nový kanál, musím začať úplne od nuly, a tu už mám zopár odberateľov. Ale ak väčšina mojich uploadov bude o projektoch, možno postupne zameriam tento kanál len na ne. Stále som len v začiatkoch, tak rovnako ako som prešiel od Arduina k PCB, tak sa budem snažiť zlepšovať aj v kvalite a obsahu mojich videí. A ten 3D timelapse, plne súhlasím. Na CR10-nách mám namontovaný držiak presne pre také zábery, ale zrovna neboli funkčné, tak som tlačil na mini prúšach.
Thank you! Theoretically yes, you could use the positioning system even with higher-powered lasers (with proper optics when using fiber or CO2 laser). However, I don't believe it would yield to anything usable when used as it is now. After all, the stepper motor has more inertia, and will never be able to delineate precise curves at higher speeds compared to galvo. Maybe with some fine adjustments, microstepping, proper CNCed components instead of plastic, and slow speed. But if you care about precision-to-speed ratio, galvos are hard to beat.
@@qbitsday3438 I used JLCPCB , but also have good experience with PCBWay. I am leaving my referral link here in case you decide to use them :) pcbway.com/g/SeR341
wow, what an effort - but amazing result. Just wonderng if the mirros do not need perfectly aligend to each other so that when you make a huge rectangle around the marking field the lines are really 90 deg.
I designed a similar device 20 years ago i made my own Galvanometers exactly as described here ..The capacitive position sensor was the same .. I sent for 500 cylindrical neodymium magnets .I still have most of them .. I had a besutiful project .But then 9/11 happened and my world collapsed ..I still have some of those prototypes .Back in those days you have to do all by hand .. No 3D printing
Nice man! Looks like you've been busy. I really enjoyed your video. Looking forward to some projects with more spiritual content if you know what I mean. ;)
Just found this project, it looks great! Never taught about using steppers instead of galvanos 🙀 Could you possibly share the general materials you've used here please? Especially soldering paste and the heating oven? Do you have some favorite flux? If so, could you also share a link to it please? Thanks in advance!
Thank you! I have updated the video description to include a list of gear I use. Hope that helps. The rest of documentation (incl. bom, design, and firmware source files) is on my website, also linked in the video description.
To switch the mirrors very very fast, wouldnt it be possible to use piezo elements? They have huge torque but you can achive lightning speeds 🙂 (i talk about the small speaker piezo discs, not the expensive actuator piezos. if you combine two of them in serie you can move 1 mirror and they are very very cheap.) Only problem is to find a DAC that has at least 14bit and +/-60V output...
True. Ever since I've seen the cheap piezo discs used as capacitor actuators for a DIY scanning electron microscope (hackaday.com/2015/01/13/cheap-diy-microscope-sees-individual-atoms/), I was thinking about using them to somehow position the mirrors. One of the issue is that the microscale movements have to be translated (probably through some lever mechanism) into the range reasonable for beam deflection.
Wouldn't the galvo perform better (faster) by removing the gearboxes and connecting the mirrors to the motor output shaft directly? Or is the step size of the motor too large for that?
I had problems with the mirrors attached directly to the nema8 steppers (I also mention it in the video). I don't see why it shouldn't work with more powerful motors (despite the potential decrease in resolution that you also mentioned), but I wanted to stick with low power, miniature design.
Thank you. I'm glad you like it. I have a lot of new content planned, but unfortunately I've been quite busy with my startup lately. But stay tuned! It's just a matter of time :)
@@StanleyProjects awesome, since you are working on pH sensors, I have a doubt, is there a low cost sensor (less than 5dollors) to sense water ph , I need reading ever 1 hour or so. I am fine with a slow response. I am currently pursuing methods of capturing pH paper colour with a feeder that feeds the pH paper roll, it's too dumb but helps with the requirements. Any comments or suggestions?
If it's just for a a DIY project and not an industrial application, you can get cheap pH probes from AliExpress with a BNC connector. The center pin outputs a low impedance signal, so you have to feed it into a buffering op-amp with low input bias current. The signal can be both positive and negative, but if you bias the probe with positive voltage through the outer contact, you can offset the output so you won't need a dual sided power. The easiest thing for you would be to get a kit which includes both the probe and the board. As an example, you can search for "PH4502C".
I would not use stepper motors with gears. The smaller the mirrors the fast you can change its direction. Depending on the torque of your motor you can use a physical homing, like a screw, the motor turns a full rotation to one side then you know its absolute position, this is very common in commercial laser equipment with steppers, your mirror attachment to motor would need to be stronger.
Very nice project and a good solution with the steppers. However, what is the maximum line scan frequency you can achive? Are the generated figures usable or is it too flickery?
Thank you! I have a bad experience with placing it directly on the metal plate with holes. For some reason, components at some locations don't get reflowed (maybe it dissipates too much heat). But elevating the PCB allows the hot air to circulate under, and I am getting more consistent results.
Damn cow, what a complete & instructive video !!! Just frustrated that at nearly no point, you displayed something meaningful on a screen with your gear.
The motor was advertised as Nidec 25GBC12 9XKA, but it seems like they don't have it anywhere anymore. The AliExpress name was "Nidec 2-phase 4-wire 25MM Stepper Motor Strong Magnetic Metal Gear 1:12 D-shaft 15 Degree Micro Mini Gearbox Reducer Slow Speed".
Hey ! Awesome project, congrats. Could you please tell me what is the succion tool you use at 7:55 to position the chip ? I've always had trouble to not mess up the paste while doing so.
Considering an amount and a price of equipment needed to make this mirror system, a $80 galvo laser scanner does not look too expensive. Thus that argument should not be used. And at the end, when you will fix a non-linearity, and add all missing parts, your price will be about the same, or even higher.
Please design something precision based. Have been looking into laser scanning for almost 20 years and finally learned something new from this video about the fact that galvo motors are using a rod magnet. Maybe use a prism mirror in polygon scanners used by laser printers, they are used for precision based scanning.
Absolutely awesome. I've always wanted to build a star projector that would really work. Would your project work for points (or very very small circles) that could be stars?
Thanks! If you want to simulate stars by projecting a lot of small points, I would probably go with a simple diffraction grating film , used in cheap Chinese laser pattern projectors. That way all the stars will be projected in parallel, and it will be more pleasant to watch since you avoid flickering due to vector scanning.
@@StanleyProjects I like the idea of projecting actual star maps, which is what I thought he meant. Meaning actual celestial view projections, with dynamic labels even. You mention that ability at the end though kinda. The interface could be like a date and time along with a zip code to generate the map. Great video by the way. Thank you.
@@MrAshadams Now I get it! That's actually a really cool idea. For that application I would use something with higher precision, scanning speed, and laser power. It would be an interesting project to make the backend calculating the projected map based on the location/date/time, etc. It could even get all the information from GPS.
@@StanleyProjects A low speed variant could be one that just points out a given constellation. I like the display of it very much more than an application such as "star walk" that's viewed on a phone screen ect because it's a communal viewing, the same as any planetarium would be. Your preamble in the video was an excellent definition of the galvo's by the way.
Hey! Time flies and it's been very busy at my startup, so I haven't been able to put any work to the new version yet. It will definitely happen in the future though. What I have in mind is to explore the options of making DIY galvos in a streamlined way using pcb coils, off-the-shelf components, and 3D printing. Also looking into BLDC motors as replacement. And in terms of the controller portion, preferably all digital, avoiding all the DACs. Until then, I might release a few smaller projects. The next one in line is the LedBoxV3.
I think servomotors (and range adapting pulleys) would be a better choice. Also, less massive mirrors would improve the dynamic response rate. I would probably lap a small piece of aluminum.
how about rotating mirrors like in "old" laserprinters, so having the laser scan the whole surface and then for the picture switching on and off the lightsource or shuttering it?
Hi, i can not find this stepper motors on Aliexpress? Have you any live link on Aliexpress to buy this type of motors? How is dimension of laser reflective mirrors? Tnx for answers. Peter
Having geared motors slows down the response time - the inertia of the motor is essentially multiplied by the gear ratio. Use 3-phase permanent magnet rotor motors - like in brushless RC toys. You only need to control 2 phases and can use a magnetic sensor to get feedback on the position. Alternately, for a very responsive one, use the head motors out of old hard-drives. They are already designed to be very, very fast.
Hi Benjamin. Having multiple units running at the same time would require some sort of synchronization. You could just use an RGB laser module which combines the colors using dichroic mirrors, and drive them from the same unit.
You may be able to do away with the position sensors as the laser will behave differently, current draw, when the mirror is reflecting light back into it. You just zero one mirror then the other.
@@BeastlyKings Potentially works with all semiconductor junctions, related to the photoelectric effect. Even an LED can be used as a receiver/transmitter for proximity sensing. I can't take credit for it, there is a good video about it here, ruclips.net/video/MUdro-6u2Zg/видео.html
Why are you using geared stepper motors? Those will slow you down a lot. Smaller motors will run much faster, as you don't need much torque for such a small load. Nema8 would get you to much higher speeds.
Hard drive voice coils are galvo's. Driving those with a home made circuit board would be a genius level engineer. Or just pony up the whole $250 and buy the galvo kit from Ali Express. Don't get the 15k kit, it is disappointing - can just draw lopsided squares with round corners. Go for the 30k kit.
I assume that the fact you’re not showing actual projections means that it doesn’t work so well, right? We’d have loved to see the flaws of the current design.😢
Unfortunately, it seems like that particular motor is not available on AliExpress anymore. But maybe you can find it somewhere else. The item name was "Nidec 2-phase 4-wire 25MM Stepper Motor Strong Magnetic Metal Gear 1:12 D-shaft 15 Degree Micro Mini Gearbox Reducer Slow Speed"
@@StanleyProjects thank you very much for that detailed information and you have made a very good device congertilations and wish you more successful work .. actually i am working in analtical device but some of your codes are light diamonds for me you have made a great work brother
I enjoy the process of making stuff, and learning new things along the way. If I purchased the $80 galvos, I would anyways need to design a custom driving board. And even then you could argue "so all this hassle to not spend $150 on a readily available RGB laser projector from AliExpress".
Nice Job ! I did some kind of similar project myself ... I used a different approch by driving the stepper motors as an open Loop galvo. For this, i needed to find small stepper motor tu reduce the mass of the moving part. The motor also need to have a large stepper angle. Then, i drive one coil, with a constant voltage so the stepper got a "virtual spring" center point. The second coil is driven around this central point as a galvo. It still an open loop system and the laser positionning is not perfectly linear. But is work well to draw some basic figure, and is very good to make some eyes candy effect synched/triggered by the sound. (attached an electret microphone on an arduino analog input pin) ruclips.net/user/shortsDfBKlN0n4rg
Thank you! I have been quite busy with my startup lately, so I haven't been able to dedicate extra time to create new content while not reducing the quality. But it is something I want to improve on in the future :)
Imagine binge watching YT algorithm videos at 1 in the morning and getting a (rather interesting?) video made by someone you went to Uni with. Had the biggest “wait a minute” moment half way through the video.
Man that brings back memories from the 90s... Where we build this thing with QBasic, the LPT port and some optocouplers...
With the rapid back and forth motion of the mirrors, I would think the gearboxes would get too loose soon. Good project and video.
Agree. Nice toy however.
It would be interesting if @StanleyProjects could do a long duration test to see how many hours/days it takes until failure.
They are under no load, I think they’ll last a while.
@@MargolinLabs acceleration is a load, direction reversals are an impact load which is really hard on geard
@@sto2779 no need to be a jerk. Every single idea starts with someone doing something not some puke tossing discouragements. I would love to see what you have created in the past decade.
I’ve made quite a few like that but I used galvos instead of steppers they work much better.
👍😎👌 Wow! You are doing very ambitious projects!
I feel there wasn't enough showing the finished output though I must admit I have only skimmed from the kackaday article not fully watched yet
I've just released a new video with extra footage: ruclips.net/video/fmQD3yh3uS4/видео.html
Just finished the PCB design in Kicad for my new Teensy 4.1 Laser Synth with integrated TDM CS42448 CODEC with 6in ADC/6out DAC, & XYRGB op amp circuits for ILDA standard output signals to the projectors.
I've built my own 3W analogue RGB projectors w/40kpps DT40 & Scannermax Compact galvos.
The T4 Laser Synth has 28 waveform generators for wireframe animations, abstract imagery, AM, & colormod controllable via Akai APC40 MIDI control surface, TouchOSC GUI touchscreen, & Reaper 7's DAW, with stereo, video, and multiple MIDI tracks sent to output busses one for each T4 Laser Synth & projector.
JS 😎
That sounds very interesting. Have you published anything about it? I'm currently researching such a project.
Wow this is really impressive, Stanley. Good to see you again, hope all is going well!
Thanks a lot, Sean! It would be great to catch up at some point.
NIce, I tough will see a laser projector video, instead is a tutorial about galvanometers !!! GOOD JOB STAN !!!
For anyone interested in more footage of the finished project, I've just released a new video: ruclips.net/video/fmQD3yh3uS4/видео.html
If galvo cost is a concern, you can build a galvo for much less using 1/8” by 1/4” diametrically magnetized neodymium rings. These can be bought for like $4 o r $6 a pop and can be slid onto a 1/8” rotary shaft. You can then make an optical encoder and use it with a driver board, or just send it full swing left and right with no position detection.
You are right about the galvo hardware being simple to make, but the servo driver electronics is still more expensive to buy (or more complex to make) compared to a stepper driver. But as I mentioned at the end of the video, I have an idea for a next version where I'll try to use homemade "galvos".
@@StanleyProjects Yeah, making an amp board seems overly complex for how much thyey can be purchased for on aliexpress. im looking forward to your upcoming video!
@@StanleyProjects Also, sorry to bother you further, but do you have any recommendations for literature on creating the magnetic coils for the galvo? I am attempting to make a set from scratch. Ill use a bipolar power supply + homemade amp circuit + aliexpress optical based galvo amp board (already have), but I'm making the galvo using those ring magnets from mcmaster carr. I figure the amp board only cares about the voltage (or current, im not sure) inputs from the two silicon photodiodes, and will output some voltage (positive or negative) to each coil to get the rotating assembly to spin towards the degree position determined by the voltage input from the homemade amp circuit (driven by esp32). I can mess around with different IR leds and different optical encoder setups to get the right outputs.. I feel I understand the process I need to go through for adapting the amp board to the homemade galvo, I just don't understand how to make the magnetic coils as efficient as possible. Obviously increasing the number of turns in the loop, keeping the distance >0 but as small as possible, etc make sense.
@@lazarusmagellan2367 When it comes to making homemade galvo assemblies and servo circuits, I believe ELM has it very nicely documented on his website. I am also adding two more links describing the same topics. I am thinking about building a digital driver instead of the traditional analog circuitry. I know it is possible because there are products on the market such as MACH-DSP which is digital. I'm just not sure if ESP32 is fast enough to do that, but I'll test it.
elm-chan.org/works/vlp/report_e.html
people.ece.cornell.edu/land/courses/ece4760/FinalProjects/f2013/hl577_jeh295_msh276/hl577_msh276_jeh295/index.html
www.ctrnd.com/NormLaserShow/FriendGalvos.htm
sorry but wtf? all that and ... it isn't fast enough to project legible graphics? at least that's how it seems from the half a second of footage of the final product...
This was obvious from the beginning when he attempted to use stepper motors.. any cursory look at the data sheet would show you they're not suitable. Resolution and speed are nothing compared to real galvos. Galvos are used for a reason
Yup. He even uploaded another video that shows it in action and it doesn't work like it's supposed to.
Even if it fast enough for human eye it wouldnt be for a camera ( look old tv's for example )
“All that”???? Dawg you know the real ones cost like 5 grand right?
Came from hackaday, good video, I'm subscribed now. I do agree that a little more finished product would be nice to see
I've just released a new video with extra footage: ruclips.net/video/fmQD3yh3uS4/видео.html
Awesome project, subscribed. how does it compare to using a galvometer in terms of kpps? It would be great to see a longer demo of what it's capable of!
Thanks! The motor has 288PPR (1.25°) on the output shaft, and I am running it at max 120RPM at full step mode, so theoretically, I am driving it at max 576pps. However, the performance is influenced by factors such as motor's inertia. For example, sudden, quick rotation changes over a short angular distance will most likely cause the motor to skip steps. That could be solved by increasing the gearing ratio, but it also decreases the output speed, so it's counterproductive. The only thing I can say is that the performance in kpps is several orders of magnitude lower than with galvanometers, but that is also expected - they cannot really compete in terms of speed. I will upload a longer demo in the next video.
I've just released a new video with extra footage: ruclips.net/video/fmQD3yh3uS4/видео.html
Hello, cool project! Have you tried programming any designs or text for more interesting output? Also, what kind of area can you display upon without loosing too much brightness?
Fantazie a perfektní práce! Taky bych jednou rád takovou dílnu! Proletěl jsem seznam videí a nevšiml jsem si tam takového videa. Myslím že právě to je tak trochu sen všech kutilů. Ale třeba nemají tolik času nebo trpělivosti. Jakože ukázat právě ten vývoj jak ses dostal od Arduina k té troubě na PCB. Nebo třeba video jak navrhuješ a vyrábíš tu desku.
K tvému kanálu myslím že pro algoritmy je lepší jenom jedno téma - jenom projekty a bastlení. Rodinné, cestovatelské a videa z dronu bych dal do jiného kanálu. Jinak by mě ani nenapadlo psát česky - z tohodle videa jsem vůbec nepoznal, že bys nebyl rodilý mluvčí! Video je v podstatě dokonalé a to je taky problém. Lidi víc ocení když se ti něco nepodaří, něco shoří, vybuchne, pak to zas opravuješ a pak konečně přijdeš na řešení - prostě příběh. Něco jako ruclips.net/video/xHWXZyfhQas/видео.html
A pak to asi chce pohladit klíčové slova ruclips.net/video/fHsa9DqmId8/видео.html
Z technické stránky jediné co bych vylepšil je timelapse 3D tisku - příjemnější na dívání je fotit výrobek vždy na jednom místě ruclips.net/video/UqZ8Um5MZEA/видео.html
Vďaka za povzbudivé slová a rady! Naozaj si to cením. Toto je moje prvé také video kde som si dal záležať aby som opísal všetky detaily, a chcem v tom pokračovať aj naďalej. S tými ostatnými videami v iných kategóriách máš pravdu, tiež si to uvedomujem, ale problém je že keby som zrazu vytvoril nový kanál, musím začať úplne od nuly, a tu už mám zopár odberateľov. Ale ak väčšina mojich uploadov bude o projektoch, možno postupne zameriam tento kanál len na ne. Stále som len v začiatkoch, tak rovnako ako som prešiel od Arduina k PCB, tak sa budem snažiť zlepšovať aj v kvalite a obsahu mojich videí. A ten 3D timelapse, plne súhlasím. Na CR10-nách mám namontovaný držiak presne pre také zábery, ale zrovna neboli funkčné, tak som tlačil na mini prúšach.
Very nice design!
Brilliant Stanley , can we modify this to be used as LASER Engraver? Subscribed Instantly!
Thank you! Theoretically yes, you could use the positioning system even with higher-powered lasers (with proper optics when using fiber or CO2 laser). However, I don't believe it would yield to anything usable when used as it is now. After all, the stepper motor has more inertia, and will never be able to delineate precise curves at higher speeds compared to galvo. Maybe with some fine adjustments, microstepping, proper CNCed components instead of plastic, and slow speed. But if you care about precision-to-speed ratio, galvos are hard to beat.
@@StanleyProjects Thank you for the reply Stanley , Let me give it a try .where did you get the pcb manufactured is it PCBWay?
@@qbitsday3438 I used JLCPCB , but also have good experience with PCBWay. I am leaving my referral link here in case you decide to use them :) pcbway.com/g/SeR341
@@StanleyProjects Hi Stanley ,Thank you.
wow, what an effort - but amazing result. Just wonderng if the mirros do not need perfectly aligend to each other so that when you make a huge rectangle around the marking field the lines are really 90 deg.
I designed a similar device 20 years ago i made my own Galvanometers exactly as described here ..The capacitive position sensor was the same .. I sent for 500 cylindrical neodymium magnets .I still have most of them .. I had a besutiful project .But then 9/11 happened and my world collapsed ..I still have some of those prototypes .Back in those days you have to do all by hand .. No 3D printing
Great! Awesome project.
Awesome project, just curious, what laser module did you use?
You're doing your pick-n-place with your bare eyeballs. Wow.
Great stuff, thanks for sharing!
Perfect video. I subscribed
really cool, would like a more in depth video on the software
you could try using a polygon mirror so that you don't have to change directions
Works for raster, but not for x/y vector imagery..
Nice man! Looks like you've been busy. I really enjoyed your video. Looking forward to some projects with more spiritual content if you know what I mean. ;)
I would love to see this complete, and also have the 3 prime colors
Cool project!
Just found this project, it looks great! Never taught about using steppers instead of galvanos 🙀
Could you possibly share the general materials you've used here please?
Especially soldering paste and the heating oven?
Do you have some favorite flux? If so, could you also share a link to it please?
Thanks in advance!
Thank you! I have updated the video description to include a list of gear I use. Hope that helps. The rest of documentation (incl. bom, design, and firmware source files) is on my website, also linked in the video description.
love what youre doing keep it up
Awesome project, might have to give it a try :)
Nice, Now fit all of those components in a single aperture garden laser.
could you not make one for every true colour and project inputed images or video and when the colours mix they will produce the correct colour?
To switch the mirrors very very fast, wouldnt it be possible to use piezo elements? They have huge torque but you can achive lightning speeds 🙂 (i talk about the small speaker piezo discs, not the expensive actuator piezos. if you combine two of them in serie you can move 1 mirror and they are very very cheap.) Only problem is to find a DAC that has at least 14bit and +/-60V output...
True. Ever since I've seen the cheap piezo discs used as capacitor actuators for a DIY scanning electron microscope (hackaday.com/2015/01/13/cheap-diy-microscope-sees-individual-atoms/), I was thinking about using them to somehow position the mirrors. One of the issue is that the microscale movements have to be translated (probably through some lever mechanism) into the range reasonable for beam deflection.
@@StanleyProjects you just project more far away than 1m... Then the movement should be big enough (like 30m or so)
Wouldn't the galvo perform better (faster) by removing the gearboxes and connecting the mirrors to the motor output shaft directly? Or is the step size of the motor too large for that?
I had problems with the mirrors attached directly to the nema8 steppers (I also mention it in the video). I don't see why it shouldn't work with more powerful motors (despite the potential decrease in resolution that you also mentioned), but I wanted to stick with low power, miniature design.
Nice, subscribed!
Nice video ,thank you for sharing :)
Why did you stop uploading , video quality is great and I am jealous of your lab setup
Thank you. I'm glad you like it.
I have a lot of new content planned, but unfortunately I've been quite busy with my startup lately. But stay tuned! It's just a matter of time :)
@@StanleyProjects best of luck for your Startup venture. Please share your Startup website I am eager to see
Thanks! Our website atspiro.com hasn't been updated for a while, but we are active on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/atspiro
@@StanleyProjects awesome, since you are working on pH sensors, I have a doubt, is there a low cost sensor (less than 5dollors) to sense water ph , I need reading ever 1 hour or so. I am fine with a slow response. I am currently pursuing methods of capturing pH paper colour with a feeder that feeds the pH paper roll, it's too dumb but helps with the requirements. Any comments or suggestions?
If it's just for a a DIY project and not an industrial application, you can get cheap pH probes from AliExpress with a BNC connector. The center pin outputs a low impedance signal, so you have to feed it into a buffering op-amp with low input bias current. The signal can be both positive and negative, but if you bias the probe with positive voltage through the outer contact, you can offset the output so you won't need a dual sided power. The easiest thing for you would be to get a kit which includes both the probe and the board. As an example, you can search for "PH4502C".
I would not use stepper motors with gears.
The smaller the mirrors the fast you can change its direction.
Depending on the torque of your motor you can use a physical homing, like a screw, the motor turns a full rotation to one side then you know its absolute position, this is very common in commercial laser equipment with steppers, your mirror attachment to motor would need to be stronger.
Very nice project and a good solution with the steppers. However, what is the maximum line scan frequency you can achive? Are the generated figures usable or is it too flickery?
steppers are way too slow.
it is exactly like the laser engraving machine, one laser light, two mirrors.
Really cool project! Well done! I noticed you placed your pcb on top of other stacked pcbs in your oven. Why is that?
Thank you! I have a bad experience with placing it directly on the metal plate with holes. For some reason, components at some locations don't get reflowed (maybe it dissipates too much heat). But elevating the PCB allows the hot air to circulate under, and I am getting more consistent results.
Damn cow, what a complete & instructive video !!! Just frustrated that at nearly no point, you displayed something meaningful on a screen with your gear.
Come on, you could have afforded a 80$ component . . . . :) Extraordinary video.
Good jov...What is the stepper brand and model number?
The motor was advertised as Nidec 25GBC12 9XKA, but it seems like they don't have it anywhere anymore. The AliExpress name was "Nidec 2-phase 4-wire 25MM Stepper Motor Strong Magnetic Metal Gear 1:12 D-shaft 15 Degree Micro Mini Gearbox Reducer Slow Speed".
Hey ! Awesome project, congrats. Could you please tell me what is the succion tool you use at 7:55 to position the chip ? I've always had trouble to not mess up the paste while doing so.
Thank you very much! I use the one called "FFQ939", but you can find many different models on AliExpress. Just search for "IC Vacuum Suction Pen".
ic heater? what is that? can u explain for that machine?
Just a small question, is the tiny stencil steel plate or some other material? Look cheap but convenient for tryouts
Yes, it is a thin sheet of stainless steel.
Considering an amount and a price of equipment needed to make this mirror system, a $80 galvo laser scanner does not look too expensive. Thus that argument should not be used. And at the end, when you will fix a non-linearity, and add all missing parts, your price will be about the same, or even higher.
Please design something precision based. Have been looking into laser scanning for almost 20 years and finally learned something new from this video about the fact that galvo motors are using a rod magnet. Maybe use a prism mirror in polygon scanners used by laser printers, they are used for precision based scanning.
Nice project! What kind of small connectors are you using fur thr stepper motors? :) I know the jst-ph, but what are the others?
Thank you! I am using Molex PicoBlade for the motors, and JST XH for power and laser connection.
@@StanleyProjects thanks :)
Could you make an RGB one that projects a really small image and uses lenses to amplify its size?
Nice video
Can I get circuit diagram and code and I have 38 pins esp 32 plz help me to make it
Absolutely awesome. I've always wanted to build a star projector that would really work. Would your project work for points (or very very small circles) that could be stars?
Thanks! If you want to simulate stars by projecting a lot of small points, I would probably go with a simple diffraction grating film , used in cheap Chinese laser pattern projectors. That way all the stars will be projected in parallel, and it will be more pleasant to watch since you avoid flickering due to vector scanning.
@@StanleyProjects Thanks, I'll look into it.
@@StanleyProjects I like the idea of projecting actual star maps, which is what I thought he meant. Meaning actual celestial view projections, with dynamic labels even. You mention that ability at the end though kinda. The interface could be like a date and time along with a zip code to generate the map. Great video by the way. Thank you.
@@MrAshadams Now I get it! That's actually a really cool idea. For that application I would use something with higher precision, scanning speed, and laser power. It would be an interesting project to make the backend calculating the projected map based on the location/date/time, etc. It could even get all the information from GPS.
@@StanleyProjects A low speed variant could be one that just points out a given constellation. I like the display of it very much more than an application such as "star walk" that's viewed on a phone screen ect because it's a communal viewing, the same as any planetarium would be.
Your preamble in the video was an excellent definition of the galvo's by the way.
Very cool!
Is there a way to make the movement faster?
Hey Stanley! Been a year so I would love to know, how would you have made the next version without the stepper motors?? Would you have tried galvos??
Hey! Time flies and it's been very busy at my startup, so I haven't been able to put any work to the new version yet. It will definitely happen in the future though.
What I have in mind is to explore the options of making DIY galvos in a streamlined way using pcb coils, off-the-shelf components, and 3D printing. Also looking into BLDC motors as replacement. And in terms of the controller portion, preferably all digital, avoiding all the DACs.
Until then, I might release a few smaller projects. The next one in line is the LedBoxV3.
hello. great work! how many points it can show per second?
Did you use the 2R2 inductor for the sole purpose of filtering?
The inductor is a part of the step-down converter circuit to generate 3.3V.
I think servomotors (and range adapting pulleys) would be a better choice. Also, less massive mirrors would improve the dynamic response rate. I would probably lap a small piece of aluminum.
how about rotating mirrors like in "old" laserprinters, so having the laser scan the whole surface and then for the picture switching on and off the lightsource or shuttering it?
Hi, i can not find this stepper motors on Aliexpress?
Have you any live link on Aliexpress to buy this type of motors?
How is dimension of laser reflective mirrors?
Tnx for answers.
Peter
If that laser can cut ...you just built a laser engraver ... imagine how easy and cheap it could be... For example designing figure on a pcb ❤
Now hook it up to a composite input
i wonder if you can use this for realtime GLAVO engraving.. like.. export data from EZCAD2?? or light burn?? any chance??
What do you mean with "getting rid of stepper motors"
Replacing them with an alternative actuator that doesn't operate in discrete steps.
Having geared motors slows down the response time - the inertia of the motor is essentially multiplied by the gear ratio.
Use 3-phase permanent magnet rotor motors - like in brushless RC toys. You only need to control 2 phases and can use a magnetic sensor to get feedback on the position.
Alternately, for a very responsive one, use the head motors out of old hard-drives. They are already designed to be very, very fast.
Glow powder and uv laser could be neat.
Next time show a demo of it, drawing shapes
The video with extra footage is linked in the description: ruclips.net/video/fmQD3yh3uS4/видео.html
Hi ! Why not doing 3 of these in 3 different colors (RGB). And also making different shapes at the same time like a projector ?
Hi Benjamin. Having multiple units running at the same time would require some sort of synchronization. You could just use an RGB laser module which combines the colors using dichroic mirrors, and drive them from the same unit.
@@StanleyProjects Oh, yes, thanks for the information ! I just had this idea in my head and I wanted to give it to you
What's that Cut Tape Reel Storage and Reel Stackup?
These are the holders I use:
www.thingiverse.com/thing:3952021
www.thingiverse.com/thing:3475545
You may be able to do away with the position sensors as the laser will behave differently, current draw, when the mirror is reflecting light back into it. You just zero one mirror then the other.
That's a novel idea! I didn't realize that was a property of lasers
@@BeastlyKings Potentially works with all semiconductor junctions, related to the photoelectric effect. Even an LED can be used as a receiver/transmitter for proximity sensing. I can't take credit for it, there is a good video about it here, ruclips.net/video/MUdro-6u2Zg/видео.html
@@DanielSMatthews thanks!
Why are you using geared stepper motors? Those will slow you down a lot. Smaller motors will run much faster, as you don't need much torque for such a small load. Nema8 would get you to much higher speeds.
Check 4:24 - I was using Nema8 before
What about hdd voice coil actuators with laser encoder or capacitive encoder.
Hard drive voice coils are galvo's. Driving those with a home made circuit board would be a genius level engineer. Or just pony up the whole $250 and buy the galvo kit from Ali Express. Don't get the 15k kit, it is disappointing - can just draw lopsided squares with round corners. Go for the 30k kit.
На шаговых??? А если купить 2 осевую систему развёртки? Хоть гальвы могут графику рисовать...
do you also do RGB laser?
i am here to subscribe channel bro!
Nice name
Where it buy this motor
Link up with Phil's Lab!
No equipment list or links? 😭
Look at the video description :)
will you be selling kits?
Maybe the next generation design if I am satisfied with it.
@@StanleyProjects nice
also this would make a fun clock
I assume that the fact you’re not showing actual projections means that it doesn’t work so well, right? We’d have loved to see the flaws of the current design.😢
Check my next video with extra footage.
ruclips.net/video/fmQD3yh3uS4/видео.html
nice
Please could i get the link for the stepper ?
Unfortunately, it seems like that particular motor is not available on AliExpress anymore. But maybe you can find it somewhere else. The item name was "Nidec 2-phase 4-wire 25MM Stepper Motor Strong Magnetic Metal Gear 1:12 D-shaft 15 Degree Micro Mini Gearbox Reducer Slow Speed"
@@StanleyProjects thank you very much for that detailed information and you have made a very good device congertilations and wish you more successful work .. actually i am working in analtical device but some of your codes are light diamonds for me you have made a great work brother
so all this hassle to not spend 80$ on a readily available galvo-scanner unit? What a bummer!
I enjoy the process of making stuff, and learning new things along the way. If I purchased the $80 galvos, I would anyways need to design a custom driving board. And even then you could argue "so all this hassle to not spend $150 on a readily available RGB laser projector from AliExpress".
To slow, try to use high speed galvanometr
It seems like a mistake to "save money" on galvos by instead sinking so many hours into a stepper motor solution with mediocre performance.
Suibscribed.....
Nice Job !
I did some kind of similar project myself ...
I used a different approch by driving the stepper motors as an open Loop galvo.
For this, i needed to find small stepper motor tu reduce the mass of the moving part.
The motor also need to have a large stepper angle.
Then, i drive one coil, with a constant voltage so the stepper got a "virtual spring" center point.
The second coil is driven around this central point as a galvo.
It still an open loop system and the laser positionning is not perfectly linear.
But is work well to draw some basic figure, and is very good to make some eyes candy effect synched/triggered by the sound.
(attached an electret microphone on an arduino analog input pin)
ruclips.net/user/shortsDfBKlN0n4rg
That's a cool idea! I would love to see a detailed video in which you go through the design.
💖💖💖💖
Hey, I will subscribe if you comment to this, it's been more than 4 months since your last one.
I thought this video was pretty good.
Thank you! I have been quite busy with my startup lately, so I haven't been able to dedicate extra time to create new content while not reducing the quality. But it is something I want to improve on in the future :)
@@StanleyProjects cool man, excellent... I'll sub now lol ... Wish you luck
Haha. Thanks! I really appreciate it!
Wow it was posted just yesterday, i coincidentally found by searching on hackaday , recently i am trying to build diy galvo