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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Anyone know what laser this is?






lman

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Feb 23, 2012
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I think that is a HeNe correct me if im wrong though.
 
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Sep 22, 2010
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It's a Helium Neon laser tube. The risk you take with buying used tubes that are untested is they may be dead. I posted what looked like a good deal on some older tubes and they all turned out to be dead tubes. If you want a bare tube you can't go wrong with kit HENELSK1 from Sam here:

Sam's Classified Page

It's only $10 more and Sam is very well known and respected in the laser community and won't screw you. You'll need to get a 24v 1A wall wart to power it though but they can be had on ebay for 5 bucks shipped. I have this kit (the smaller tube in my avatar) with the alden style connector option.

The other option is to buy a tube in a head (no visible plasma) with an AC power supply. They can be had on fleabay for $50-60 if you can catch them.

If you do get a bare tube just watch the tube because it can bite you even after it's powered off.
 
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Mar 29, 2012
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It's a Helium Neon laser tube. The risk you take with buying used tubes that are untested is they may be dead. I posted what looked like a good deal on some older tubes and they all turned out to be dead tubes. If you want a bare tube you can't go wrong with kit HENELSK1 from Sam here:

Sam's Classified Page

It's only $10 more and Sam is very well known and respected in the laser community and won't screw you. You'll need to get a 24v 1A wall wart to power it though but they can be had on ebay for 5 bucks shipped. I have this kit (the smaller tube in my avatar) with the alden style connector option.

The other option is to buy a tube in a head (no visible plasma) with an AC power supply. They can be had on fleabay for $50-60 if you can catch them.

If you do get a bare tube just watch the tube because it can bite you even after it's powered off.

Okay thanks for the advice! I think I would want a bare tube, simply because that looks really awesome. I guess I might as well ask a few questions that I have while I'm at it:

Will I ever need to replace the gas in this?
Can I run the laser indefinitely?
How bad of a shock would I get from touching the tube?
Something like this would work for a power supply?
 
Joined
Mar 27, 2008
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Will I ever need to replace the gas in this?
Can I run the laser indefinitely?

The laser will eventually stop outputting any laser light as the gas mix is depleted. They typically last 5000-10,000 hours, depending on who you talk to. Any random tube you get on ebay, especially untested, may already have been run into the ground, or the gas may have leaked out. Replenishing the gas mix in one of these costs several thousand dollars and is generally never done.

How bad of a shock would I get from touching the tube?

It will hurt, but you won't die. I've done it several times. You get much bigger shocks as tube length increases.

Something like this would work for a power supply?

The listing on eBay does not seem to include the HV supply, so you'll need that first. If you're going from something from Sam, get an adapter like the one you linked to, just make sure that the voltage from the adapter is within the range accepted by the laser supply, and that the adapter can source at least as much current as the supply will need.
 




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