Melles Griot 561nm Lab laser

Ok, I've been sitting on this quietly for a couple weeks...waiting till I get all the parts, but I guess its time to get a start on it now that I have all of the main ones. I got this a little bit back, and while the parts don't have matching serial numbers, I am confident it should work. The parts are unopened, and still retain their warranty stickers, and they still look brand new. I went and got a OEM Traco PSU to power it, and just picked up an RS-232 cable for linking to the controller. I'm just waiting on an AC plug so that I can wire the PSU to the wall in a nice and tidy way but in the meantime...I thought I'd post some teaser pics to share my new treasure with the rest of you guys! :beer:

She's quite a beauty!



Front of the driver/controller:


Back of the driver:


The head I'd like to note is quite heavy despite its small compact size. Like the CNI heads....but half the size. its quite impressive, at least a couple pounds. It weighs more than the rest of the system combined! I imagine the cause of this is the thick baseplate, which is essentially the heatsink. which you would then in turn bolt to the optical table, to disperse the heat out onto the table. The cable that plugs into the back is really very nice and solid, but still retains flexibility compared to alot of alternatives. its clicks in solid and with moderate resistance, and is of course keyed so you don't put it in upside down. its actually so good its kinda hard to unplug it without some serious effort at times! Quality stuff...




The rear of the laser head:

OK So awesome I want one O__________O :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:

Very cool! Let us know when you have it up and running

-Alex

lazerman121 said:

OK So awesome I want one O__________O :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:

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better start saving, or sell everything you own. yours only for the low price of $8,404.00!

ooh a 100mW head I see. That's gonna be niiiiiiice. But the color is somewhat hideous

ZRaffleticket said:

ooh a 100mW head I see. That's gonna be niiiiiiice. But the color is somewhat hideous

Click to expand...

it's only rated to do 10mW. the highest model does 50mW. All official lasers have a huge overrated label for safety requirements. my argon's CDRH label says <0.5Watts. but it does about 121mW at max current. though on manual control, I wouldn't be suprised if it could do far more than what it is rated, maybe on the order of 60+ if there isn't a diode change between models.

Wow, that is quite a supermodel there. How the hell did she come into your possession?

oh yisssss... very nice.

Congrats!

/c

The beam on these is incredible, as it is intended to be an argon/krypton replacement like the 488 heads. The beam diameter is about .7mm with a <1.2 mRad divergence. Should be quite a blast to run when my wiring components come

Whoa post pics of it up and running! :drool:

OOh nice. A very quality laser you have there. Is that the one that was hiding out on ebay for quite a while?

This one was sold to me as a mix of found parts from a working environment nearby. It is a machine pull like many of our argons.

Has anyone used this type of power supply? Do they get hot? I might need to find a way to heatsink it? What type of wire would you suggest for the mains? Should I go with household standard good old 12 gauge even though the lines won't be very long?

Do you know the output of the driver? Obviously there will be a few, for the tec's and diode, but have you found a datasheet for it or anything?

Yeah I've used tons of those PSUs, they're pretty rugged. 12ga is good, shouldn't be pulling much current since they're buck switchmode. They get warm near the chopper heatsinking but the unit itself stays cool.

Not positive. But it should draw 5V DC @ a few amps. I think the official supply is 8 amps

Even if it is 10 amps that's 50W, at 120V mains that's less than half an amp.

So, what parts exactly, are you waiting on before you can power it up?