Adding dmx lasers

[RickyBobby407]

I am looking to add lasers to my show for next year. I have no idea about dmx or lasers. I currently run 5 LOR pro1602 controllers. If I buy the LOR dmx bridge will it control the dmx laser?

[plasmadrive]

If you have no idea about lasers... learn BEFORE you buy.   Something that is in the 5mW range is of no real issue.. higher than that and you are required by law to deal with a lot more issues that you obviously know.  Start reading.  Look up ILDA.  International Laser Display Assoc. They may have some info that would help you.

[Brandon]

All anyone on here will tell you is "Lasers are dangerous BLAH BLAH BLAH"

But I'll help you out.  I have been running a high powered laser for the last 2 years and it looks awesome!  Yes it's expensive but it's worth it.

 

Things to know - 

   Any laser machine over 5 milli watts (mw) is required to be FDA approved in the US.  meaning you will have to obtain a Variance License to legally operate the thing.

   

I bought a 450 mw RGB laser from X-Laser and it is awesome.  the thing i really like about X-Laser is that all their products are FDA approved and you can get a Variance kit from them for $50!  that is an awesome deal.  if you buy a laser machine from china you wont be able to legally use it in a public setting and fines can be thousands of dollars so be carful.

 

Controlling The Laser -

  You can control the laser with LOR using the iDMX but you will only be able to choose from the lasers internal patters.  this may be fine but for me it wasn't enough (not to mention it can be more difficult to use LOR). I decided to buy a laser with an ILDA interface so I could have more control over the laser using another software called quick show.  Pangolin Quick Show allows you to create your own designs and patterns and it is really powerful so check it out.

In my shows I use Quick Show for the laser and LOR triggers the laser cues via a DMX signal.  The setup to get it to work is kind of a mess but it works great.

 

Here is a show I did last year that uses a lot of custom laser cues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZFUCBZi7sQ 

 

Feel free to ask me any questions you have.

[wmilkie]

Awesome display Brandon

[zman]

A couple things in conjuction with already stated:

 

DMX is easy. It is no different than LOR. Just slightly different. My website in the How-To page has some DMX material. Most doing this hobby bump into DMX. If you want to do RGB, it is fundamental. With LOR, you will need S3-Advanced, but the iDMX is not the only way to output DMX. You can use a variety of DMX dongles, or just use a second USB485 and assign it to a DMX Universe in Network Preferences.

 

Besides the FDA, if you live near a flight path for any airport, you also need to file a permit with the FAA.

[EmmienLightFan]

It says that the X-Laser one has been discontinued. It looked really good.

How well would a 450mw laser show up on a red brick house do you think?

[Brandon]

The one I have, mobile beat MK5, has been discontinued and revised to the new mobile beat Max which is a 1Watt system.  2x the power and it's the same price I paid for my 450.  I bought mine from idjnow for $1200.  If you bought the Max I don't think you would have any problems with your brick.  we have some darker brick on the bottom half of our house and the 450 seems to show just fine. (note that the video doesn't show the laser that well, it's much brighter in person.)  white will obviously show the best.

 

Also, Make sure all your laser beams terminate (not into the sky) and you wont have to deal with the FAA. 

X-Laser provides a nice laser training video that will teach you everything you need to know to become certified.

Edited March 17, 2015 by Brandon