Successful DIY CO2 laser, made from scratch!

millirad said:

..... Some of it was what is commonly known as world war one nerve gas .....

Phosphine and Phosporous oxy-chloride(POCL), as well as Arsine and even some Tungsten Hexafluoride(fluorine is nasty). Aaaah the smell of napalm in the morning. ;-) .....

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Get some chloroform, degrade it, and ..... poof ..... instant homemade iprite (keep out from childrens and domestic animals reach )

BTW, nice innocuous substances, are used for semiconductor making processes .....

Sometimes, The electrodes "burnoff" and bury the gasses under a film. He's doing real good -- I love it.

HMike

as far as co2 sources, welding supply houses have already been mentioned. You can also ask any place that serves carbonated beverages where they get theirs. And if your after small quantities, there's paintball supply places that sells and refills co2 tanks for paintball guns.

The only person I've ever seen who uses as much Equate fiber therapy as me. :toilet:

BTW awesome work man. :worthy:

qumefox said:

as far as co2 sources, welding supply houses have already been mentioned. You can also ask any place that serves carbonated beverages where they get theirs. And if your after small quantities, there's paintball supply places that sells and refills co2 tanks for paintball guns.

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The CO2 is the easiest part of all. Air would probably work in place of the nitrogen, if the laser is efficient enough. The helium is probably the most difficult part to aquire, but cheap 'Walmart' balloon helium works quite nicely.

My device works like this:

How do you get the measured amounts of each gas? Or does that matter much?

Jarrod is running on the edge of a lasing gas but he understands somewhat the needed mix. When I did it, I used "welding" gas in small amounts from refilled freon tanks.
He is getting amazing results. I am sending NaCl windows to him tomorrow.

Get the damn cooling jacket running so you can go CW !!!!!

HMike

AND get your fingers away from the beam.

Wouldn't KCl work better?

I'm glad you found someone to make your stay here more interesting Mike.

That was pretty cool. Kinda hoping it would explode though...but that's just me. You can leave the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= off of the link, should have said that in my other post on the topic. If I could + rep you again I would, this is truly DIY at it's finest.

Hemlock_Mike said:

Jarrod is running on the edge of a lasing gas but he understands somewhat the needed mix. When I did it, I used "welding" gas in small amounts from refilled freon tanks.
He is getting amazing results. I am sending NaCl windows to him tomorrow.

Get the damn cooling jacket running so you can go CW !!!!!

HMike

AND get your fingers away from the beam.

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Alright! I got my leaks sealed off and I have the cooling jacket in service! Works great now! In fact, I even exhaled into a balloon, and lased my breath!!! I does not work as well as the 'real' mix, but it does indeed work!!!

Tech_Junkie said:

How do you get the measured amounts of each gas? Or does that matter much?

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It's all guess work over here. The laser works over a wide range of mixtures. It will work on just N2 and CO2, and even on my exhaled breath. But the additon of helium is necessary for respectable power in all instances.

The main thing that changes with the ratio is the pressure. The laser seems to want to lase strongest when the pressure is raised to the edge of the level at which the discharge will extinguish: above which the electrical arc will cease, and below which the discharge will become much brighter and much more steady (without all the fluctuations), but will yield no lasing.

Prototype said:

That was pretty cool. Kinda hoping it would explode though...but that's just me.

It's more interesting in person. Quartz chips and cracks. It's even better. It's just hard for me to video tape stuff like this.

You can leave the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= off of the link, should have said that in my other post on the topic. If I could + rep you again I would, this is truly DIY at it's finest.

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Thanks again. I fixed the youtube-thing. Thanks for the info. Unlike DIY lasers, I really don't know as much as I need to about computers. I'm always willing to learn, so thanks for the help with the youtube posting.

Pretty cool! Highly dangerous! Can you please glue that stone to a stick? I'm imagining a severed finger at these powers. I like you too much to see you get injured. Your really a down to earth kind of amateur scientist. ;-)

Okay. Here's two brand new experiments I did, with results. CO2 lasers use a mixture of three gasses: Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen, and Helium. Although optimal ratios vary to some extent, I chose to go with 10% CO2, 20% N2, and 70% Helium. Here is how I combined the 3 gasses in a way that is superior to just trial-and-error attempts, or wild guesses.

My new plan eliminates some of the guess work in combining the 3 gasses in predetermined ratios. I first deposit a small amount of CO2 into the storage balloon (hereafter abbreviated as SB). I measure the circumference of the SB using a tailors measuring tape, and then use this circumference to calculate it's volume. After considering the volume of CO2 that the SB contains (I want the CO2 to be about 10% of the final mix), I decide how much N2 I want in the mix. If I want roughly twice as much N2 as CO2 in the final mix, then I add this corresponding volume to the volume of CO2, and calculate a new circumference (in other words, 3x the volume of CO2, which I originally calculated). I then fill the SB with N2, until I arrive at this new circumference. At this point, I divide the sum of the two volumes by 30% (assuming I have twice as much N2 as CO2), and then calculate a final circumference using this number. Following this last step, I inflate the balloon with helium until this final circumference is reached. In this way, the 3 gasses can be combined in a predetermined ratio with some accuracy. Sure - the balloon is not a perfect sphere, but this method is much more accurate than simply guessing! See the video below:




By exhaling into my 'supply' balloon, I was able to get pretty good results considering! Unlike a 'proper' laser mix of CO2, N2, and He; the 'breath' trick appears to have a much narrower pressure range over which lasing will occur. But I like it anyway - it doesn't get much more DIY than this!