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FrozenGate by Avery

[CLOSED] Starting gas for a pretty good price

ultimatekaiser

ultimatekaiser

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Ever see those cute little vintage Helium Neon gas laser tubes? I'm curious who here is looking for a starter HeNe, or just wants one of those little tiny 6" tubes for collection purposes.

These run at about 1300V DC @ 3.7mA I believe with a 68K ballast. They're Melles Griot tubes I believe rated to do about .5mW

The tubes look similar to my P-122 model here: http://laserpointerforums.com/f43/melles-griot-p-122-bare-tube-up-lasing-86743.html though much smaller.

Power supplies are these

individual components:
They're $25 each, tube only. Power supplies are $60.

If we get 10 sets we get a qty. discount, making them $80 for both. you just would have to buy a wallwart for a few bucks and hook it up to the power brick and you're all set to go.

I can add a wall wart likely for around $25 bucks. This would be an appropriate 9V source, along with a plug in for the supply. (Pics coming)

People interested so far from the forum only, if you don't see your name and want to be in, let me know ASAP:



Participants (alphabetical):

atomicrox - both Paid
Blarg king - both Paid
Icecruncher - 1 tube + ballast Paid
Jstrawn - complete system Paid
Ltkernelpanic - 1 tube + ballast Paid
Mattronium - 2 tubes + 2 ballasts Paid
paul1598419 - 1 tube + ballast Paid
RayJay - 1 tube + ballast Paid
Ultimatekaiser - 1 tube + ballast Paid :beer:
 
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Re: [FEELER] Starting gas for a pretty good price.

Hmmm... subscribing.
 
Re: [FEELER] Starting gas for a pretty good price.

Will stop continuing this thread in the ebay thread lol...
I would be interested if I can't snag the one i linked to on ebay, depending on PSU cost
 
Re: [FEELER] Starting gas for a pretty good price.

Yeah no more derailing he ebay thread... Most commercial power supplies are 40-300 bucks depending on condition and features. Always expect to pay at least 60. I'm currently working on psu sources. There's a few places I'm going to try. I'm gonna talk to chad and see if he has any that he can sell for cheap, especially if I order bulk. I'll update as I find out more, just wanted to get the process started now. I may be able to start giving out kits with these little HeNe tubes if we have enough interest, for those people who want to dabble with gas before taking the plunge for real. :)

It's just not like diodes, and I'd like to try to introduce in an inexpensive way to the fence-sitters and interested parties that are worried it'll cost them a fortune. plus alot of those skills on aligning mirrors and things that I do, come in handy for DPSS and other things, because they teach you the fundamentals of how the laser really works. rather than just applying power and going "oh hey...there's a dot on the wall. cool!"
 
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Re: [FEELER] Starting gas for a pretty good price.

Could be interested in a full kit, not really good for "starters" if I have to dig for a PS...
 
Re: [FEELER] Starting gas for a pretty good price.

depends on how much you wanna spend. gas is superior to diodes on average for stability and beam quality, and anything good demands a price, just as with diodes. getting a complete system for under a hundred isn't a regular occurrence just an occasional thing.

25 bucks a tube is pretty cheap. especially considering that these little tubes are also not made anymore, so their price has gone up
 
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Re: [FEELER] Starting gas for a pretty good price.

TBH I'm not willing to pay that much, at least not for a low power one, since I've seen several small HeNe's around $40-60 on ebay.

Thanks anyways!

Edit: not saying the tubes are expensive, I'm commenting on >$100 for the kit.
 
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Re: [FEELER] Starting gas for a pretty good price.

I bought a 20 dollar brick PSU and hooked it up to mine. Then a AAA battery holder and some 14440 ' and I am good. Total cost would be 46 bucks including the lithium ions.
 
Re: [FEELER] Starting gas for a pretty good price.

I doubt it'd be > 100 bucks. Both the tubes I saw on eBay are similar to these. One is a MG 640 and is a bare tube, the other is a .5mW uniphase. Neither are a bad deal.
 
Re: [FEELER] Starting gas for a pretty good price.

Around 40-60 seems like a good deal. Only reason I haven't got one on ebay yet is because most of the time sellers aren't willing to ship internationally or shipping doubles the cost.
 
Re: [FEELER] Starting gas for a pretty good price.

Frankly anything under 40ish isn't bad at all for a tube. The gas alone costs more than that. My goal is to try making something fun and cheap for people experience and enjoy, without having to spend 200 bucks+ on a tube.
 
Re: [FEELER] Starting gas for a pretty good price.

for 100$, im out of this little GB, sorry. I can stand to wait for a <50$ tube+PSU to pop up on ebay, there are always some.
 
Re: [FEELER] Starting gas for a pretty good price.

It's not bad, but definitely not as good as it could be. I'm going to see if I can get it lowered. I don't know how this will turn out yet, but if they're not going any lower, I do agree, they're too expensive for such a small tube. the tube price is good. the power supply, not so much. granted they're new and tested, but ebay is still cheaper with patience. the uniphase ones I see have terrible beams on ebay. and the tiny MG tubes are often expensive, since they were discontinued.
 
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Re: [FEELER] Starting gas for a pretty good price.

Can I get just the tube for $25 ? I have
the ps.
HMike
 
Re: [FEELER] Starting gas for a pretty good price.

sure mike. I'll make a list in the first post of those interested and what they want. sad thing is, its kinda hard to find PS blocks for these tiny tubes unless they're pulls from equipment. or offered with the tube. I frequently see the little tubes on ebay without power supplies, sometimes they show them in the pic, but they don't actually come with it. I don't usually see any stand alone, just tubes.
 
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