New setup for my HeNe, pics and Beamshots :)

Hey guys

So it has been awhile since my HeNe has been up and running after I ran into some problems with it not liking the voltage I was supplying with a wallwart. I tried 4 x AA batteries, but I would tear through a pack in 10 minutes and that was ridiculous. So it sat on my desk and stared at me with a guilt provoking stare urging me to fix it so it could lase happily.

So I finally had this moment of clarity and realized I could put two 14440 Li-Ion batteries into a AAA battery holder just as easily as primary AAA batteries and that it would supply me with double the voltage and higher mAh.

So I hit up Fry's and sure enough it worked! But I wanted to put it in something nice so I went by Hobby Lobby and bought some craft packs of wooden pieces and was planning to enclose it all in a handheld format. That didn't work. The design was feasible, but I haven't the tools.

So I enclosed the PSU and attached the small battery holder to the side. I then used some nails to make a cradle for the HeNe itself on a single slab of the crafting wood.

Enough talk, here are some beamshots. Trouble with these low power HeNe's is that to capture the beam you need a decent exposure, but that will give you an overload of light from the tube's discharge. So that is my disclaimer that they are not perfect.

PICS: These are 1024x768, but if anyone has the desire to view these at their original size of 4608x3072 you can view them HERE.

















Thanks for looking guys! I hope these pictures have entertained you between bouts of refreshing your UserCP like I do all the time.

-Isaac

Looks good :beer:

Mine just sits on my desk, resting in some of those plastic "U" shaped tube mounts that would be used with an optical table.

Need to have someone router the edges on that psu and base for the laser. Stain and laquer it. Use twisted wire to secrew the anode and cathode to the nails. Bam! Would look super nice like that!

Very Nice! Something about a good old HeNe beam makes me happy..

Im not sure what you mean by router the edges but I definitely plan on giving it a nice finish

Use a wood router to put a nice beveled edge on it so its not the sharp 90 degree raw wood cut.

Nice. Sounds like a cool idea for a mount.

Personally when I get myself a small HeNe tube I'm going to get a sheet of 1/4" acrylic an make a nice transparent display case to hold the tube and PSU all together (and maybe build in a nice lithium-ion battery pack to make it portable-ish)

Nice set up! I agree though, round those edges, stain the whole deal- it would add a nice level of professional-looking-ism (sure, that's a word now).

I have a small collection of 18" HeNe tubes sitting around now... someday I'll get around to having enough power supplies to fire them all up together

Btw, is that a dirty lens on your HeNe???

I don't think it is dirty....why? Do you see something? How would you clean it if so?

Im not seeing any dirt anywhere?

I wasn't either which is why I wondered what he saw.

Think he's referring to the lens flare on the wall.

The other mirror lets a very faint beam through. Its possible there was some deterioration or something during its life but I dont know. I always just assumed there would be a small insignificant output from the back mirror.

Bear in mind those last ones were taken with a 10 second exposure if I remember right. I originally tried 20 and 30 but there was too much. I had to balance flare and over exposure in some areas with drawing the beam out.

Yeah there is a very small output from the HR mirror on some. Mine went to a photodiode for some sort of external control.