Important FYI on your buying ur first argon

You will find this info and much more doing a LPF search and by taking a long look at Sams- BUT before you buy ANYTHING know this(some of which I found out the hard way) most argons are heavy or heavier(much $ to ship -so buy locally) they nearly all need forced air cooling or water(even more tricky)- most must have a controller interface to turn them up or in some cases even idle. OR You can buy a nice (controller) one for 175+$ or more or make one or build a 'cheater' bypass with or without a pot that will allow you to turn up the mWs. Small jumper wires can allow you to bypass the interface, if you know where to put them. If you live in the US and do not have access to 200vac you need to stick to the 110 volt models= - (often hidden in the 'small print' on FeeBay) too much work to convet them. One of the most desirble models is the 'gold' PS as it goes both ways(uniphase 2114 P ). if you see Untested -sold as-is usually means it will be doa or nearly especially if they actually have a way to test it i.e. they are selling both the head and the PS together or seperately.. I will rely on Dave, Chris L., diachi and electroF to edit/correct this info and they are the go-to guys AFTER you do your own homework. The controller in the second photo was 99$ from houston- the case was homemade- it has places to put your DMM to get readings. EDIT I just read this from Chris L ( ' Why not get the whole psu, the 2114 power supply can be changed to 110V use with a screw driver and 10 minutes of time )--So I guess I got some wrong info a few years back on converting a argon PS to 110volts- thought it was reliable info-good news for me as i have two high voltage ones that are worth more than I thought in the US.==hak

WOW HAK ---
You scratched the surface for ArIon and other similar lasers. Also watch out for 3 phase power needs.
You have opened the primer info for these lasers. I hope others will add their experiences.

Freight shipping for "IRON" like this is expensive. If delivered to a business capable of handling heavy stuff -- it's $80 --- to your home --- $200+ NS -- I've been there.

HMike

heres a few more pix- pm me and i will try to help but there are other lpf members with much more experience than me.another view of the tunable defeat, a shot of my 'lines' and the airhocky table fan on a square head.

Thanks for that H Mike- I should have added you to the list of go-to guys as well.--my bad.

One more thing-- if you want to buy these cheap with the hopes of making a profit selling them later on you had better be getting them real cheap. )

hakzaw1 said:

One more thing-- if you want to buy these cheap with the hopes of making a profit selling them later on you had better be getting them real cheap. )

Click to expand...

. . .and have a high tolerance for failure

Peace,
dave

hakzaw1 said:

heres a few more pix- pm me and i will try to help but there are other lpf members with much more experience than me.another view of the tunable defeat, a shot of my 'lines' and the airhocky table fan on a square head.

Click to expand...

That thing looks mighty healthy! What's the model?

WHY did you pay that much for a home made controller? Dave, Gus, myself, and who knows how many other members would be happy to build you one for much less. They're only ~$10 in parts, and an hour to build, so you paid him $90 an hour for his services.

E.F.- I have two MLs but i think that one on my movie screen using a cd for diffraction grating is my uniphase 2211-65ML QYV(april '98) run from a spec. phy.2630 00 6L5502--and MY Buddy Dave --having a lot of practice at failure i will survive- but if I can make a little $ to support myself no one should flame me-please. I say 'thats cool' when a member not only helps others out with advice but even goes as far as to donate their labor on a build or repair, but having said that- with the exception of course when trying to make a killing on something I don't think is is fair to get down on a members trying suppliment their income. Which is why sometimes its better to put stuff on EEKbay than offer it here. Here potential buyers or somebody who is not really involved in the deals that are trying to be made, can't just not buy it- say no thanks - and leave it at that. On ebay they look- they bid or snipe or not -sometimes they email a question and even ask for a side deal or better price but not much more than that. Sometimes only the LPF members with the item FS reallly know what all in all the item 'cost' them. Its nice to be nice but undercutting out of spite is meanspirited hiding behind the 'nice' guy mask. I know there is a big diff between LPF and ebay --I dont want to take avantage of anyone here or there. But being too nice dont pay dem bills. any one wanna buy a duck???--hakzaw1-- both hakzaw1 &snapplz on ebay-100% pos. FBs(nothing listed right now)

Cypra-- The PCB one was not homemade- it came from a electronic outfit in Houston with a 90day warrantee.. except for the liquid crystal displays it does everything the 2500 jds does with the addition of a DMM . Not sure this one has 'only $10 in parts' but I like it and it works as well for me as the JDS interface. And the simple one with the plug and pot was found in the botton of the box that an arion was shipped in from china- got it for free. can be made for less than 7$ in parts-- you get what you pay for most of the time. Meridith is selling them(2500s) as we speak 140 to 175- I have three paid 85-100 (2500s)and $140 for the 2501 it has light up numbers.- I did all this long before I joined this forum(prices were higher then as well) and even now i would not feel right trying to get a lot of things made for me. I still have dues to pay. Dont get me wrong NOBODY likes to get a great deal more than me. My favorite price to pay for anything is FREE. Would you sell me a ten dollar bill for 5 bucks because you found out on the sidewalk?--LOL

Back on topic- as HMike says heavy=hi cost to ship- one possible soultion besides driving to pick up in person, is to get the seller to take out the 'innards' and ship you only the 'good parts'(dont ya love it when I talk tecknickle)I saved 80$ in shipping from Cal. by leaving the heavy box behind(confocal microscope laser).- Just got the head, ps,interface, and fan. all fit in one box. AND because we (LPF) are so big and worldwide(&friendly&trustworthy) another route you might go is to ask another member to do the pick up in his town and harvesting for you. If Very well packed flat rate box is much cheaper than UPS or FEDX. Also It can be cheaper to buy a clothes dryer metal hose at homedepot than to add it to the shippment- not heavy just bulky. But on a positive note the color of a 488 single line is something to behold when you fire it up and use green pointers in the room your eyes see them as yellow-not green at all. Then there is the 'multiline'- you buy one gas laser and you get two shades of gorgeous lime green-and aqua, you get two blue and you get violet- diffract that! Way cool liquid sky and tunnel too( notice I didnt say 'time tunnel') I call my argons the 'big guns' and save them for the end of the party.--more to come....hak

Theres a guy in Scotland -Glasgow(?) IIRC--- named Leslie Wright- diachi should know him if he does not already. He is tight with Dr Sam and a lot of his writing appears in Sams. I think he is an Xray Tech. He does very nice art pieces of things xrayed- like a nautilas sea shells etc. and he is a brainiack on argons- I do know he is one heck of a nice ,helpful person who went out of his way to help me to fix an argon. From looking at a dot shot of my laser Leslie did a complete tutorial on dismantling and cleaning some of the optics inside. A ton of great close-up photos and step by step easy directions. Ya cant just squirt windex in there and wipe with an old rag ya know!! He may have been planning to write it up anyway but i like to think he somehow just knew I was a good guy too and deserved the help. google his name..and while yer at it google my lil' brother too- Richard Henzel and buy a audiobook from him he needs the cash(oh no! is hak spammin'?) more on this topic of argon Ion lasers later its nearly 4:20 MY TIME. HAK '

buying an Argon PS thru freekBay- if the seller does not give the the input power requirement specs and/or the photo of the lable in not easy to read -look at the plug- the high power supplies have a plug much differant from the one we use in the US for ordinary electronics- some sellers intentionally keep the plug out of view-dead givaway to a 220 vac PS. I once asked for a close up shot of the PS label AND the plug to be sure-(& it was 220)later I got stuck with two of them- the sellers included them with a package deal- I think just wanted to be done with them-On ebay US shipping for one is higher that the final bid on the PS often. One might be able to hook them up where the clothes dryer plugs in or maybe the electric stove but who wants to run an argon in thier kitchen or laundry room?? A lab may have 220 but I got no lab. And if I were wanting to bid on a 220 PS i would ONLY do it via auctionsniper with low one bid at 6 seconds left. If you bid earlier you only make your own price go up. the only bid that counts is the final one. Today I won a tec fan cooler 5 vdc perfect for a labby laser --only bidder at 6 seconds- 6.95-free ship hoo hoo-- the opening/starting/&only bid. anyone wanting to know more about auctionsniper Please PM me- its free for the first three items and only 1% after that.(hak are u spammin again??)peace--hak----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EDIT I just read this from Chris L ( ' Why not get the whole psu, the 2114 power supply can be changed to 110V use with a screw driver and 10 minutes of time )--So I guess I got some wrong info a few years back on converting a argon PS to 110volts- thought it was reliable info-good news for me as i have two high voltage ones that are worth more than I thought in the US.

also note that the 458nm line does NOT taste like blueberries

GooeyGus said:

also note that the 458nm line does NOT taste like blueberries

Click to expand...

<takes notes>


Peace,
dave