Warning All Laserists - Dlp Projector Damage

[Pangolin]

The following is from Glenn Turner. It was originally posted on the Pangolin Laserchat forum here:
http://www.pangolin.com/ubb/showflat...=0&Number=1692

LASERISTS TAKE NOTE!!!

Has anyone heard the rumour that lasers can damage DLP projectors? If you use lasers anywhere near DLP projectors, be aware that this is NO rumour!

Im posting this in the hope that ALL laserists professional and hobyists learn that lasers CAN and DO damage DLP projectors.

We first heard about this about 18 months ago and not long after we bought a DLP projector specifically to see if laser can kill it.

Let me tell you it was very easy! Even powers as low as 500mW will certainly damage the chip when doing a "dotty effect", 1Watt will damage the chip for SURE even as a faster moving effect and if you use 5W,10W or higher power, guaranteed catastrophic damage!

Cameras also can be damaged, not as easily as the DLP chip, but its posible, therefore we put both cameras and DLP projectors in the same category. Although roaming cameras we have never heard of a damage which we think is due to the wider angle lensing. The stationary cameras are usually at the back of the venue and therefore use tighter lensing and thus are more suseptable to tighter focussing of the laser beam onto the chip. Theres nothing we can for the roaming cameras, were pretty safe there but we can safeguard the stationary cameras and we have heard of those being damaged.

We also found out that we were losing many shows because the client was told by the DLP supplier "if theres lasers at the event, we wont be there!" and rightly so guys, I would say the same thing. These chips are very expensive in the 10s of thousands in some cases and we all know lasers are the first thing to be cut in a budget so the projection suppliers have the power!

We have re-educated the DLP suppliers in our area that we have a STRICT startup proceedure at all our shows, you too must follow this proceedure and inform your local DLP suppliers that you do this to ensure that you continue to provide lasers at events!

You have 2 options, firstly you can get the projectors shuttered during your show, this guarantees that nothing will happen but we all know how tight load in times are, how frantic it can get on stage just trying to get the show ready and you cant ask the projector guys to shutter the systems all the time while your programming or testing the laser, this will only make the projector guys hate lasers more as they ahve just as much to get done as you do.

Masking projectors and cameras with LD2000.
STEP 1: ask the projector and camera guys to shutter
STEP 2: Setup your projection zones, turn OFF all other projection zones assign them to an unavailable scanner
STEP 3: goto Designer and draw a small square, then set the frame to the zone you need to set for the first laser in the "advanced" tab
STEP 4: using the size tool adjust the square to minimum 1m x 1m size at the location of the lens to safeguard, then move the square so that the lens is in the dead centre of the square, the size of 1m x 1m ensures a safety buffer area.
STEP 5: goto the projection zone setup, goto that zone, then goto Beam Attenuation Mapping. Paint the entire window black so the square now dissapears, then using the rectangle draw tool using white, click and hold starting from the very top left of the window all the way to the bottom left then slowly pan the mouse across to the right until you see one side of the laser square appear, then just go back a notch till it dissapears again, then let the mouse button go. Now do the same from the right side, then the bottom then the top. You will end up with a black box exactly where the laser square perimiter has been set.
STEP 6: If there is more than 1 projector and camera, then you go back into the drawing window and move the laser square onto that area and then go back to BAMs then you use the rectangle tool with black and white and basically paint around until you remove the laser square, this takes a little practice and you should learn this process in your studio until you master it, when you do its very quick.
STEP 7: Now move onto your other zones until all lasers are done. Save the projection zones and make sure this does not get replaced or edited, back it up just incase you need it later.
STEP 8: inform the projector guys you are finished and it is now laser safe.

If you wish you can also ask them projectors to be shuttered during the show but at least you know you wont accidentally kill the projectors. Of course you must make sure that the lasers are secure from accidental movement.

In addition, try to make the projection zone miss the projectors completely if posible, though the cameras will certainly be right in the middle of the scan range.

GlennT

[John Birchman]

I happen to have a picture from someone else from a video camera that was damaged with a 750mw DPSS laser system doing scanning effects:



This image is of a white wall after the damage occurred. All the spots are now dead pixels in the CCD.

John

[Laser_shows_srl]

This is not something new, its been happening for years in lots of types of LCD based equipment, even mobile phones with cameras. So Not just DLP projectors. A less experienced guy in Romania damaged two broadcast quality cameras.

We work a lot with TV and this has been a big worry for the camera production team.

The best thing to do is leave the cameras pointing down to the floor until the laser alignments have been done. ( Not just turned away from the lasers, beams can bounce of other obects and still find a route to the LCD ) And a camera with a shutter is not a safe sollution either.

Video projectors are supplied with covers. Keep them on until until they are required ( easy to say unless the projector is hanging from a truss 5 meters in the air )

I have a thought.

For equipment that is projecting outwards, surley its simple to have an angled filter to reflect the wavelengths used in shows.

I was thinking of this for a long time for tv cameras but filtering also stops the camera seeing the show, not a problem for an LCD projector. I will produce one that fits most types if enough people are interested.

Andy

[GlennT]

Hi,

The best results are achieved when the cameras and projectors are shuttered or covered, then mask them out using BAMs in Pangolin, then they are safe from there. If you use a filter then the camera will see no lasers and they want to film the lasers...

GlennT

[Alsone]

Glenn not sure if you work for Pangolin or not but if you do, have you guys ever thought about making a version of LD2000 available cheaply to home users?

The falling cost of lasers has now put them within the reach of many home users but the software necessary to control them via IDLA remains massively out of reach for most.

It would be great if Pangolin could come up with a dirt cheap licensing solution for home use - less than £100 .

Maybe you could sell direct and require some proof of employment that shows you're not in the entertainment industry and thus control usage to the correct group this way.