Re: The big argons from the college *pics added*
Nope... No beam shots unfortunately.
SOOOO here's the story. I really have bad luck with large-frame ion lasers.
As most of you may know I've been trying to get these lasers for months and months. While I was talking to the college I made it very clear that the water needed to be drained from the tubes PRIOR TO SHIPMENT. Well... no one drained the tubes.
Long story short, the water FROZE while in transit and broke the glass on BOTH of the tubes.
One of the tubes is completely useless... done deal... garbage. There is ice all the way down the bore of the laser. The OTHER laser appears to still be gas intact, but the 'outer' glass which the water flows through broke. SO, it broke into two big pieces. I'm going to try to epoxy the pieces back on and see if she'll hold water before I even dream of trying to start the laser. Again the good news is that it looks like none of the 'gas bearing' glass has been breached, but the tube will still likely never run again unless I run it without cooling just to kill the thing. There is a very very tiny chance that I will be able to repair the tube, so we'll see.
ANYWAY... I cant complain. In total all this equipment only cost me $265. The power supply alone is worth around $500 minimum, and this one appears to be freshly refurbished. Everything inside looks new and there is even a sticker that says 'new'.
On to the pictures!!!
This is the more badly broken of the two. Completely trashed, up to air, full of water.
This is the one that I'm hoping is still gas intact:
A whole bunch more pictures:
(notice the brewster stem... full of ice)
(clear brewster stem... no ice in the gasseous areas)
(this little piece is broken, but not critical)
Totally busted and full of ice:
Yeah... look at these stickers... they bring a tear to your eye, eh?
And the innards of the power supply... Immaculate!!!
Thats all... bring on the questions/comments/sympathy ;D ;D ;D
I've have this luck with CO2 tubes. The cat broke one, USPS broke one, and UPS broke three.
