HeNe Laser Lamp! Portable/Battery operated!

Ok, I have been working on this for a while now, bits and pieces when I was bored, and I finally finished it last night
Using a project box from radioshack and some stuff.
Tube came from HeNebay, got it cheap, nice small tube. Built it with my mini-PSU from meredith and am currently using two 18650's as a power source, but I also have a 14500 batt pack I may use in the future. Its all self contained and portable, well it will be once I put the screws in to hold on the bottom.
I plan to put a little plastic shield from a flourecent light around the back of the tube and the top from my lava lamp on that to protect the exposed cathode.
The holes were all drilled by hand with a knife, even the big one for the switch
Here is a video and some assembly pics:

Here is the Mini PSU:

The lamp build:






Its really bright actually, lights up my whole work desk in a nice warm reddish glow, great for beam viewing when you still need a little light. I plan to make another lamp with my GreeNe as well, but that one will be a different style and a plug in.

Can't knock a good hand drilled holw with a knife, good skills!

Is the tube a bit wonky at the moment? Any plans to straighten it up for portability?

Nice to see one of these in a portable.

M

The tube is steady but a little crooked, its just held up with electro tape at the bottom, I do want to get the tape off so it doesnt leave a residue, and straighten it up. I guess Ill just use a little loctite craft glue on the edge on the anode end. I also would like to make changing the batteries easier, I just have two 18650's taped together with wires coming out, and the + is hooked right to the switch.
But its a neat build design, nothing fancy(yet) but its nice to carry it around and move it to different places, plus its small and compact and rather bright.

And yeah I like to hand drill holes in situations like this, keeps me occupied longer when im bored, you can tell that I have gotten good at it

Morgan said:

Can't knock a good hand drilled holw with a knife, good skills!

Is the tube a bit wonky at the moment? Any plans to straighten it up for portability?

Nice to see one of these in a portable.

M

Click to expand...

I've got a little HeNe tube I took out of an old bar code scanner. The problem is that I need a power supply for it. The original power supply was a potted mess, and I just threw most of the junkware away. Anyone know how to build a power supply from scratch?

Thanks.

Yes- a tut is needed(or link to existing one) for those who want build a PS for a lamp project.
Those MGs are nice tho-- however at 65$ each shipped they are the most expensive component.


Meredith Instruments : 7 to 9.5 VDC Miniature HeNe Power Supply [LPM-827-037] - $59.00 - The source for laser surplus

There is info on DIY PS at Sams.

+rep for sharing Dave----TY



hk

Thanks for the kind words hak, +rep returned!

Yeah that PS is nice and compact, but when I bought it from meredith it was only $39.99, IDK why they jacked it up so much:undecided:

Always check ebay, that is like the #1 source for surplus HeNe items, I can probably make a nice working setup just from various parts scavanged from ebay for under $30

HELIUM NEON LASER POWER SUPPLY HeNe tube high voltage - eBay (item 120642037986 end time Dec-01-10 19:06:32 PST)

Peace,
dave

that looks really nice! ive always wanted to build something like that.

Is it possible to build a simple transformer based HeNe power supply from scratch? I'm not talking about a miniature 12 volt supply. I just want a way to power up a small tube that I have.

jarrod694 said:

Is it possible to build a simple transformer based HeNe power supply from scratch? I'm not talking about a miniature 12 volt supply. I just want a way to power up a small tube that I have.

Click to expand...

Sure, there's a bunch of schematics in Sam's laser FAQ. A couple of line operated bricks that I reverse engineered, a 12V powered brick that someone else did, several barcode scanner type supplies and a whole slew of older line powered linear supplies.

Sam's Laser FAQ - Complete HeNe Laser Power Supply Schematics

HeNe tubes are pretty low powered, the power supplies are fairly simple, although keep in mind that small bricks for tubes that size go for peanuts on ebay so if you just want to light your tube, just buy one. If you can't find one on ebay, ask Sam if he has anything available. Don't forget the ballast resistor, 75-100K or so, 2-3W.