adrian333 Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Hello, this is my first post, it's a lovely forum! I am trying to build a customised interactive scanning light using a mirror reflector. I want to shrink the size of a normal DMX scanner right down, and don't care for gobos etc. . Is it possible to buy a pre-built moving mirror? The cheaper the better obviously, and I don't really mind about the control protocols at this stage. Many thanks, Adrian Westaway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_hunt Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 Do you want a cheap scanner to take apart? try maplin. There cheap. Never used there kit, as I dont like disco equipment, and only buy professional gear, but im sure they sell prebuilt moving mirrors (scanners) Regards Mic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightsource Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 PM Sent, any questions, do not hesitate to contact me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyro_gearloose Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 So are you looking to re-package the existing electronics/hardware from an existing moving mirror, or are you going to build some or all of it yourself? You could try looking at the Propeller chip from parallax (Propellor chip). Milford Instruments sell Propeller chips and development boards for not much money, if you want something to experiment with. If you want to go down that route, my advice would be to get a Propeller Proto Board and a couple of servos from a radio-control car. The proto board can directly interface with the servos, and theres tons of code available from Parallax for receiving DMX, driving servos, etc, etc.. Edit : Milford Instruments also make DMX-servo control boards for £29.00. Two of those, two servos, a mirror, and a power supply and voila! One moving mirror!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrian333 Posted February 21, 2007 Author Share Posted February 21, 2007 Many thanks for your replies. I am looking to make a compact computer controlled moving light to be mounted on a ceiling. I can take apart a cheap one (100 pounds is cheap to my knowledge?) if that's t a solution, my main aim is to reduce the size/ alter the shape. I can also use servos but my experience with them is they are incredibly noisy! I am under the inpression that the scanners on the market use stepper motors but maybe that's wrong? Many thanks, Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Hampson Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 I assume that you are trying to build something like this that fits in front of a generic profile to create a 'moving' profile. ChromaQ (The page is in frames, so you will need to look for 'mirror') AC's list price is £350, good idea in principle, if a little expensive Pic:http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/neilhampson/mirror.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightsource Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Electrovision Colorscan, under £100, 4 channel DMX scanner Uses the A1/259 lamp, so 250w output. DMX Does (1) pan (2) tilt (3) gobo (4) colour. Includes strobing, colourchange, gobo cycle etc. Very poor in build quality, but worth looking at for 'special projects' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrian333 Posted February 22, 2007 Author Share Posted February 22, 2007 Once again,. many thanks for the replies. The standalone mirror looks great but a little too expensive for me, I'm looking for the raw essentials, and it's still a little too finished for my budget! I've just bought an acme winner which a friend told me would be good to experiment with. I'm trying to build a light that is completely controlled by gestures for a home setting, so I'm going to be automating a scanner with some recognition software. I've seen talk about these martin ir units, it's basically the same idea but with gesture recognition instead of IR. Many thanks for you help, and if youfind anythiong else please let me know! Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljoshua Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 try the jbsystems dynamo very compact, quiet and only £90 :unsure:http://www.terralec.co.uk/prod.asp?I=16248..._WATT_DMX_LIGHT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrian333 Posted February 23, 2007 Author Share Posted February 23, 2007 try the jbsystems dynamo very compact, quiet and only £90 :unsure:http://www.terralec.co.uk/prod.asp?I=16248..._WATT_DMX_LIGHT That looks brilliant, I'll give that a whirl. Just out of interest, what is the stgepping angle on these budget scanners, is it 1.8 degrees like most steppers or is it less?Manty thanks, Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyromonkey Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Bring out the "pancans" :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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