PTL Laser Fixture

See these fixtures running on the e.V installation page

Hardware

The fixture consists of two moving axes, pan and tilt, with 480º and 130º of respective rotation freedom. It is driven by dual stepper motors, with a current-controlled laser attached to the top that is both hardware and firmware limited to remain in the Class 3R safety range.

There is a small OLED screen and three buttons which support on-device homing, laser control, current state readout, and general debug functions. The device supports standard cabled DMX control, but the primary and preferred communication is through ArtDMX over WiFi.

Measuring at 13mm (W) x 13mm (L) x 20mm (H), the compact footprint allows it to be tightly mounted for maximum beam density. The enclosure supports standard pipe C-clamp mounting and flush mounting - the latter is shown in the photos.

Software & Firmware

The fixture is running custom firmware on the internal driver PCB. It supports running both stepper motors at up to 1MHz step frequency driven by an external stepper IC that supports smooth microstepping. The firmware also supports a full standard debug and test interface through custom Art-Net commands or the on-device CLI.

Fixtures can be programmed and controlled by any interface that can output standard DMX or Art-Net. A python-based CLI is also available for general device configuration and settings.

Each PTL supports OTA over WiFi, and groups of fixtures can be bulk updated at once. The OTA process is built over the top of the standard firmware update process for Art-Net nodes and so remains backwards compatible with any Art-Net controller than can run firmware updates.