Hello everyone, is this forum still active? I just wanted to share that I have been able to program the KES410A optical unit and run it, but I haven’t been able to make the AFM yet.
Hi all! Made an account just to post here; over the past few months, I’ve been sporadically doing my own attempt at a scanning laser microscope. I’ve had a breakthrough recently with motorizing a manual micrometer stage, and I’ll hopefully be working on programming/electronics later next month. Since I know very little about analog circuit design (or precision circuits anyhow), I’m not too sure how to approach the linear voice coil driver for my other axis (I’ve just been copying Gaudi’s work).
Also a hack I discovered for OPUs: even if it’s hard to find a datasheet for the OPU itself, you can often find repair manuals for the CD/DVD/Blu-ray drives they’re contained in, which will have schematics of the OPU pinout. For instance, using the datasheet for the BDP-150 player, I was able to get the pinout for the SANYO BD-415 OPU, which was in stock online unlike many of the more well-documented ones.
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Hi!
That’s a great project. I believe Gaudi’s circuit used a DAC to apply a DC voltage to the VCA. It can be difficult for people unfamiliar with analog circuits to understand.
For driving the VCA, the TPIC2050 datasheet is a good reference. It uses PWM. For precise control, you may need to connect a resistor in series with the VCA.
You can also do this with a microcontroller and a motor driver. Just be careful of overcurrent. If you ask ChatGPT or something similar, I think you’ll get a better idea of how it works.
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