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wow. No offense cyp, but that's a rude comment. I get that it doesn't need to last long for its intended purpose. Just on for a short bit here and there. The comment wasn't made with its' use as a sight in mind. These would've been a very expensive luxury to have back in the day anyway. I meant...

yeah that is a bit longer than i'd guess. I'd have estimated about 20 mins given their typical capacity. 30 mins isn't a long time though nonetheless. but surprisingly good.

Yeah I don’t think they make them anymore. Any old stuff that I have that has them in it, I routinely have to go through and remove them. They’re always terrible... There are some things that electrolytics serve particularly good for. I agree that Tantalums are great. We actually just...

not entirely true. but definitely one of the worst offenders. Electrolytics, wax, and paper are generally the worst in terms of lifetime and performance. I like ceramic and poly caps in lots of cases where I can afford them. Electrolytics have their uses but in many cases I prefer poly caps...

Heat is definitely the bane of electronics in general. I was personally thought that as long as the cap was kept at a reasonable temperature it shouldn’t matter, but I’ve never taken the time to analyze and either prove or disprove it from a leakiness/performance standpoint.

I don’t really have a particular source for it. Just one of those word-of-mouth things that I’ve always been told. A lot of people I’ve worked with always told me that it was good to periodically power up electrolytics as it helped to maintain the electrolyte, and that they didn’t like sitting...

That’s probably true but I’ve always been told that it’s good to run them once in a while to keep the electrolytics happy.

Pretty much. It’s still can be beneficial but not for the same reasons. Little air cooled ones generally can rest for quite a long time without any issues. I still run mine periodically to keep the power supply healthy mainly. Running air cooled ones periodically is still good to keep the gas...

Yes. Just like mine

Yes. my 643 has a glass extention similar to that too. It's simply a ballast of gas to ensure the cathode end does not run out of gas volume while it is circulating. It is not a sealed reserve of gas for when the pressure is low. Only a few, generally really large argons have them. anything that...

There's a fair bit of design variance between manufacturers. I dont think the little ALCs have those. The ones I can think of are really large spectra physics lasers. and I mean really large. like 25W. huge ass thing. small air cooled argons dont have gas replacement. just usually a large...

How big of a one do you have? Only pretty large frame ones really have them. Small argons just use a ballast instead, which is just part of the main tubing. It doesn’t replace any gas, and just provides a buffer to ensure there’s enough to keep the arc going. I personally have never owned an Ion...

correct. As the laser runs, the ionized atoms are buried in the bore and tube walls due to the high circulation speed over time. The bore is usually made (as most of you know) of Beryllium Oxide, tungsten, and in some older cases graphite. The reservoirs are separate from the main gas fill and...

Sure. Though the answer is pretty long and could fill a huge essay paper-but i'll try to sum it up as best as I can in an easy to understand way, and try not to miss anything. In a nutshell: Small Ion lasers are filled once and at a higher pressure than larger Ion tubes since they are going to...

Ha, I can’t even remember the last time i ran my white light....probably been at least a year.... I should probably dig it out and fire it up. Though, to be fair small air cooled sealed tubes don’t have to have maintenance all that much. It’s generally the bigger ones that have the spare gas...

You are mostly correct. most HeNes average about 10-20K hours. diodes vary greatly with running environment and usage. I indeed still have some of the earliest HeNes ever made, including some lasedisc ones. I think my earliest one is from the mid 60s and has a hot filament. it's quite a wierd...

Yeah I prefer the reflective method myself, but it takes alot more time and space and setup. I have a few slm lasers all throughout the spectrum, but most are fairly low power.

Yes. It greatly depends on the model of diode and how it is being implemented. I very low power one being held very stable can be used for holography just fine nowadays, but that wasn't always the case. HeNes do still achieve a better beam spec overall for the price in many cases though, and...

yes. fixed. I missed that typo when I proofread. My bad. and yeah you can run HeNes off of batteries. though they Dont usually last too long depending on the type. I have run a few small ones off of small 12V SLA cells. If it even ran at all. Many of the supplies that ran with those little...

Nah it's bigger than that by appearance? It looks like it'a about a 2-4mW tube or so. you can measure the length to find out. Edit: looking closer it appears to be about the length of 4x 9VDC batts? (5cm/2in or so each) so maybe it is just a little 6-8in tube. so probably about 1-2mW or so in...