HeNe Disassembly?

Alright, today I picked up my green HeNe, and the wonderful chorus of broken glass hitting the bottom of the housing filled the air.
As all HeNe owners know, broken Glass inside the housing means your laser power will surly double, if not triple!
Jokes aside, does anybody know how to get into a HeNe? (without putting it in the oven or hacking the front portion off with a saw?)
I want to see if anything is salvageable. :cryyy:

H2Oxide said:

Alright, today I picked up my green HeNe, and the wonderful chorus of broken glass hitting the bottom of the housing filled the air.
As all HeNe owners know, broken Glass inside the housing means your laser power will surly double, if not triple!
Jokes aside, does anybody know how to get into a HeNe? (without putting it in the oven or hacking the front portion off with a saw?)
I want to see if anything is salvageable. :cryyy:

Click to expand...

So, those Lasos heads are filled with potting compound. Getting it apart is going to be rough. It's already broken, but seriously the *only* salvageable thing in there will be a resistor, and maybe the mirrors as a curiosity.

These are sealed one-way. I *did* repair a Lasos GreeNe with a bad resistor once, by carving out the potting compound until I got to the resistor, replacing it, and refilling it with RTV silicone. (You don't want stuff arcing.)

But unfortunately it's probably not worth the mess on your hands. HeNes are a bubble, and once they're popped it's game over (for the most part.) Since this does look to be a GreeNe, the mirrors may be at least of some academic worth.. (but not much unless you're planning to frit them to a new tube you're making yourself, or have a setup with external mirrors you want to use.)

If you still want to do it, lay down a tarp, pry off the caps (yes, pry) - and start carving that rubbery crap out with a screwdriver. (Not a knife, you'll slip - I guarantee it.) Be prepared for lots of shards and pieces of silicone or potting compound. Shame to see this happen to a GreeNe, I have a feeling that these are going to get more and more rare as time goes on, since there's been no need to make them for a while now.

Thanks, I knew it wasn't going to be easy, I can see that the thing is built like a fortress.
Anyway, I might still give it a shot for those mirrors soon, but probably not today. Thanks again for your help. :undecided: