Argon Maintenance

[jamilm9]

i want a argon bad.Maybe next summer. :-/

 

[GooeyGus]

i want a argon bad.Maybe next summer.  :-/

nooooooooooooooooo. You need to get it in the winter to heat up your house!! Summer = bad. I had to run mine when it was like 90° in my room.... I thought I was going to die.

 

[jamilm9]

well here in canada it only get max 30 C.Plus i won't have the money.

 

[randomlugia]

I don't understand anything about gas lasers. Do you have to buy or replace gas for them?

 

[jamilm9]

no you don't

 

[GooeyGus]

well, on SOME you do, but these argon lasers are always sealed systems as far as I know. This means the gas that is put in there from the factory will be the gas it uses for its entire life. Now, there are lasers which use a 'flowing gas' design, meaning they need to be hooked up to a supply of the lasing medium (in this case, gas). These are usually large co2 systems used for cutting and welding. They are hooked up to a tank of co2 gas which flows through the tube, rather than just being sealed.

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

And a CO2 laser has only about 3% CO2 in it !!!!

Mike

 

[Schrecken_Licht]

Yeah, that pretty pinkish-purple glow in the tube is the nitrogen. I think the other gas used is helium.

 

[diachi]

I want an argon, I'll need to save for a few months though , or maybe Dave is feeling charitable, not like he doesn't have enough anyway :

-Adam

 

[Cyparagon]

well, on SOME you do, but these argon lasers are always sealed systems as far as I know.

Oh they can be refilled. There is a pinched off tube on the gas reserve on any argon laser that may be reopened (by professionals only ) But as someone mentioned a while ago, (hemlock mike perhaps?) it's usually a $5000 service. Even with refilling, the bore can only take so much before that, too, fails.

For the smaller argons, this exhaust tube is usually located in the rear above the HR mirror, but sometimes on the front as seen here:

 

[randomlugia]

Now I want one!!! To bad they're so expensive. :'(

 

[GooeyGus]

They really aren't very expencive if you know how to find the good deals.

For example, I have a full single line system here that cost me less than $100. That is the head and power supply. AND the head is brand new. It doesn't even have 2% total usage on it. There are good deals out there, you just need to know how to find them!!

 

[jamilm9]

i wish i knew how.

 

[daguin]

They really aren't very expencive if you know how to find the good deals.

For example, I have a full single line system here that cost me less than $100. That is the head and power supply. AND the head is brand new. It doesn't even have 2% total usage on it. There are good deals out there, you just need to know how to find them!!  

Well, that, and you have to be willing to go through the ones that just "click" for hours or glow a beautiful blue without any laser light

Most sellers of these types of items sell them "as is" because they cannot (or will not) test them.

Without beam shots and output measurements, you are definitely taking a chance with unknown gas lasers and PSU's.

Peace,
dave

 

[GooeyGus]

[quote author=GooeyGus link=1222350373/20#27 date=1224197161]They really aren't very expencive if you know how to find the good deals.

For example, I have a full single line system here that cost me less than $100. That is the head and power supply. AND the head is brand new. It doesn't even have 2% total usage on it. There are good deals out there, you just need to know how to find them!!  

Well, that, and you have to be willing to go through the ones that just "click" for hours or glow a beautiful blue without any laser light

Most sellers of these types of items sell them "as is" because they cannot (or will not) test them.

Without beam shots and output measurements, you are definitely taking a chance with unknown gas lasers and PSU's.

Peace,
dave[/quote]

very true... I should also add that before I got that setup running and working I probably spend an extra couple hundred on heads that were up to air pressure or something else was wrong with them.

I still have one that is up to air pressure that I am going to attempt to re-gas. Why not?

 

[Schrecken_Licht]

I've had three argons and never paid anymore than about $350 for any of them....one had some problems, would cut out after running about 10 minutes or so. The other two work great, and both appear to be fairly new. 2 out of 3 ain't bad, as they say....

All three I got on Ebay, and one of them (one of the two good ones) came from a forum member who also sells (or did sell) on Ebay.

You just have to have patience and spend a lot of time looking....and if you are really persistant, there are other places besides Ebay.