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FrozenGate by Avery

Argon Maintenance

daguin

daguin

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Have you done your maintenance burns this month?

Peace,
dave
 





YES I DID!!!!! (I usually dont :()
Argon maintenance is one of the more beautiful maintenance activities.
(sure beats tearing apart my PC every couple of months to clean out the dust)
 
I suppose my spectra physics is overdue for a burn. It's been maybe 6 weeks :-/. I fired my HGM up 3 weeks ago, but I'm not worried about that one. It has a massive gas reserve.

Thanks for the reminder!
 
jamilm9 said:
what do you do to keep a argon good?
Click to expand...

When an argon gas laser lases it "buries" some of the argon in the metal of the tube. As the tube sits, the buried argon is slowly released. If too much is released the tube gets to too high a gas pressure. If the gas pressure is too high, the tube will have trouble starting. You have to burn an argon at least once a month (some recommend twice a month) to keep the gas pressure down. To keep our gas laser healthy, you are forced (I know . . .it sucks to be us) to use the argon every month.

Peace,
dave
 
daguin said:
[quote author=jamilm9 link=1222350373/0#3 date=1222374491]what do you do to keep a argon good?
Click to expand...

When an argon gas laser lases it "buries" some of the argon in the metal of the tube. As the tube sits, the buried argon is slowly released. If too much is released the tube gets to too high a gas pressure. If the gas pressure is too high, the tube will have trouble starting. You have to burn an argon at least once a month (some recommend twice a month) to keep the gas pressure down. To keep our gas laser healthy, you are forced (I know . . .it sucks to be us) to use the argon every month.

Peace,
dave[/quote]
ok good i am think of getting a argon in a while(but i am also thinking of getting 2 billion in cash)thats not to bad.Just need one that can take phase 1 one power with the max of 15 amp.
 
I'm going to do mine tonight. I fired it up the day I fixed the power supply, but only for about 10 minutes because my room was already HOT.

It had been about 3 weeks, maybe even more, since I had started it due to the PSU being broken. When I started it for the first time after the hiatus, it was the first time I had ever seen it not start on the first 'click' (it started on the second  ;D)

Time to give her a good burnin' 8-) 8-) 8-)
 
That's probably something I don't do often enough....in that way argon lasers are kind of like cars - if you don't start and run it ever so often, one day it might not start at all!

Both my argons are in my unheated garage, so I can always fire both of them up (luckily I have outlets that are on two different circuits in the garage) and maybe warm up the garage a bit.

BTW, speaking of temperature - my garage is seldom below freezing, usually around 40F for most of the winter - it won't be harmful to keep my argon lasers in a cool place like that, will it?
 
how does the "run-in" process for argons compare to that of dpss?
i mean, is there a fault in leaving a quality built dpss laser on the shelf without touching it for months? does not firing up a dpss laser effect the diode or any crucial internals?
 
darklandz said:
how does the "run-in" process for argons compare to that of dpss?
i mean, is there a fault in leaving a quality built dpss laser on the shelf without touching it for months? does not firing up a dpss laser effect the diode or any crucial internals?
Click to expand...
I'm 99% sure dpss don't need to be ran like argons. I think that is just an inherited characteristic of gas lasers...

EDIT: Psst, why would you EVER not touch a laser for months??? :P
 
DPSS is fine sitting for years and years, in the right conditions of course. If you keep it in a hot humid environment, then it may slowly die.
 
The only thing to watch out for when storing dpss lasers is battery corrosion. Alkaline batteries have a nasty habit of leaking whenever you leave them in a piece of electronic equipment for years. Have you ever found an old mag-light in the closet and opened it up to find a huge mess? You don't want that happening to your expensive lasers.
 
I ended up being lazy and didn't do mine last night, so I'm setting it up right now  8-)

I'll let her go for two hours I guess... I have the A/C turned on to counteract the heat  ;D

I took a couple pictures just for fun.

Here's an idle....

000_0671.jpg


And here's about 8A (just a guess, I wasn't measuring but it wasn't turned all the way up)

000_0672.jpg


So pretty.... I missed it so much when it was broken  :D


EDIT:

Here's a shot I got of the tube without the cover on. It ran for about 5 seconds with no fan, just long enough to get the shot. For anyone wondering, on the right is the leakage out the HR end of the tube, the spots that are lit up are the exposed parts of the tube itself. The section of the tube to the right is pinkish because of the glow from the red-hot cathode  8-)
The tube itself gets much brighter when the power is turned up, but I wasn't about to turn it past an idle without the fan!

000_0677.jpg
 
Why are some pictures so HUGE here ?? Most times I have to scan the picture all over my screen to see what's there.

Mike
 
Hemlock Mike said:
Why are some pictures so HUGE here ??  Most times I have to scan the picture all over my screen to see what's there.

Mike
Click to expand...

Sorry... The resolution on my screen is really high so they dont look too big to me, check back in two minutes I'll re-size them  :D

Edit: that should be better 8-)
 
I'm running my Argons tonight. Took the first one 10 minutes to get back up to power but it ignited immediately no problem.
If you got 'em -- run 'em :D

Mike
 
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