I'd like to show my new desk top laser lamp! This is an easy project and a nice display piece...

When I saw one that daguin made, I also wanted to make one!

Laser Ben, thank you for the deal on this 10" HeNe with driver and power supply! This is a 10" tube with lots of exposed (clear) tube! It is 1 1/8" in diameter...

I disassembled everything from the mounting board that the laser came with, and bought some material from Tap Plastic, and a project box from Radio Shack. Total cost in parts: Less than $100 dollars! (that's everything - laser included)

Here are the pictures...













I have a question for anybody who would know about these lasers...

Is it alright for me to use my 1" crackle glass marble (basically 1/2" away from the aperture) with the laser on? It's only about 3 or 4mW's, and it looks like the light just 'scatters' when it hits the marble. But I don't want to do anything that would harm the laser...

Please let me know...
Thanks!
Jay


Added some solid rods in the front just to add stability to the mount...



P.S. The acrylic material with the flame polished edges is great for shining a blu-ray at!





Click here to see my list of projects and tutorials!

I like that idea You just gave me a reason to dig up my tubes ;D

I dont think it will harm the laser to keep a marble on the top, as the apeture from what I know is a 95% reflective mirrior anyway. Maybe it would increase the ammount of light? But I dont think damage.


Cool light though, I needed a desklamp too

Thanks fot that!

I didn't think it would damage it, but it doesn't hurt to ask...
Jay

Oh, Jay! Common man, you are making me jealous!!!! That turned out amazing! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

There is no problem with the marble, you can't really hurt this laser optically.

Ha Ha!

Well I'm pretty darn well happy with it! And I'm very happy with the price I paid...

Thanks for that Ben!
Jay

Very clean, Jay. Nice work

Peace,
dave

Thanks Dave!

Just following your lead man...
Jay

awesome work as always

There is no reason the marble would damage it. I'm guessing you're thinking of what happens with diodes, when a lens focuses the laser light back in onto a tiny spot in some rare cases, creating a spot on the die that is under more stress than the rest, causing it to burn up, leading to COD.

That's why you shouldn't use 660nm AR coated lenses with blu rays for example - the coating increases reflections, compared to uncoated lenses.
But a marble and a tube should be safe. It's only focused light that can cause problems anyway, not scattered light.


Nice work, btw! Looks very cool!

Thanks guys!

Hey Igor, yes that is what I was thinking....

I appreciate your explanation. You always go into great detail with your comments and your very informative threads and posts. You could write a book man! I guess in a sense, you already have... through your various threads and testing. Looking forward to your 405nm glass lenses for AixiZ!
Jay

Jay,

Very well executed! Those old lasers can make some beautiful and functional art! Regarding the marble: Having owned many high powered HeNe's I do think you will be just fine. If it was on top of laser exit, I would be concerned from the heat build up.

Keep up the GREAT work and have a prosperous New Year!

Grant

Thank you Grant! And especially for giving me those other HeNe lasers!

That was actually the 'spark' that started this project...

I had never seen 632.8nm before that. When I realized how much brighter it is than I imagined, that's when I remembered the picture I saw of Dave's HeNe laser lamp, and well, you know the rest!...
Jay

Jay that is outstanding, I have to ask, where would one look for a tube for sell? Are they even available?
I do alot of woodworking and would love to get that into one of my desktop lamps.
Nice work, thanks for sharing

Chuck

Thanks for the compliment!

You should be able to find one easy enough. Perhaps post a WTB thread in the 'Buy, Sell, Trade' section. Keep an eye out in Flee-bay as well.

I just did a quick Google search and found this site:
http://www.mwklasers.com/henelasers.htm
Jay

Thanks for the link Jay, I think I'll place a order 8-)

Sure!

Hey let us know how it goes with them! And if they sell the tubes complete with power supplies and drivers...
Jay

Added some solid rods in the front just to add stability to the mount...


Jay

P.S. The acrylic material with the flame polished edges is great for shining a blu-ray at!

This is awesome!!! =D
I want to make a simple desk lamp thingy out of a couple cheapo 5mW red lasers, idk how to go about that tho lol... but would be awesome!

Glad you like it!
Jay

I love the laser lamp!! that thing is amasing. I would very much like to build someting similar. forgive me if this seems a silly question, i am compleatly new to gas lasers; would it be possible to build something similar, but with a different beam colour? something like blue? what kind of tube would be needed? Am i right in thinking that an argon laser would produce this colour? would this be practical as a lamp. Sorry about all the questions...

Hmm, that's a very neat idea! Nice work!

May I ask, how did you flame polish the acrylic? All the times I have tried have just ended up with me burning it and having to leave the room from the smell

I don't know a whole lot about HeNe's, but they do have different output beam colors. Dave has one with a 532nm beam output, but I believe the beam in the tube is still 632.8nm... Check with daguin, he can tell you more about HeNe's. I got this idea from his build...




Things, I bought the pieces and had them cut to size and flame polished from Tap Plastics... But I have done a little bit of flame polishing on a different project in the past. It's just a matter of having your torch set right, and then it is a passing back and forth until you get the right distance figured out. (oxy/acetylene)

Thanks for the compliments guys!

The plasma inside the tubes are the same. The plasma contains all the color lines in the gas mixture. It is the optics (filters, mirrors, prisms) that dictate what the beam color will be outside the tube. Also remember, that Hene's are NOT high output lasers. The "beam" is not really that visible without some sort of visualizer in the air. The spot can be seen easily, but not the beam. Here you can see the plasma and the spot from a green HeNe



Peace,
dave

Hi Dave, thanks for your reply. What kind of laser would have the tube glowing blue? I was thinking of a lamp like the one in this thread but where the whole thing gives off a blue light, the tube and the beam. It wouldn't have to be high power, purly for decoration. I dont know if this is even possible, as I said I am new to gas lasers, lol. just thought it would look pretty cool...

I don't know of any "laser" that the plasma glows blue. Argon glows a purple, but you need LOTS of air flowing over them to keep them warm. The plasma in an argon laser runs ~5,000K!!

If the "glow" without a "beam" is acceptable, you might look into gas "display" tubes. They are small "tubes" filled with a particular gas, that glow the color of that gas when current is passed through them.

Peace,
dave