(Buying) Fan or blower attachment for 643 series ion laser

[lasingfox]

Hello,

My Omni 643 krypton argon laser didn't come with any cooling system or way to hook one up. Currently I'm using a bunch of fans and a cardboard box to cool it sufficiently but I would like something a bit more convenient if anyone has one they could rip out of a dead laser or just doesn't need. I added a picture of mine with my hand and what I'm hoping to find. I'll take with or without a fan if you have it.

Thanks!

 

[hakzaw1]

AFAIK its best to attach a vacuum to that PS instead of blowing IN.

(BTW -- my friend damaged his wife's vacuum sweeper by running it too long tryon to keep things cool--there are better ways..

SHOULD that MG 'shut down' due to overheat it will hopefully, reset once cooled down .
THAT is a scary 'wait'
I 'think' on yr PS you need one fan blowing in and the other sucking out.

I will check and PM you if that is wrong.
I made a attachment 'box' w/ two fans (both vacuum ) for a Spec. multiline Argon (six lines and 145mW) -- it looks like they are the same type/size as your fan. But I still limit the run time and give long rest time.

NICE MG--

PM anytime hak
aka Len

 

[icecruncher]

Hello,

My Omni 643 krypton argon laser didn't come with any cooling system or way to hook one up. Currently I'm using a bunch of fans and a cardboard box to cool it sufficiently but I would like something a bit more convenient if anyone has one they could rip out of a dead laser or just doesn't need. I added a picture of mine with my hand and what I'm hoping to find. I'll take with or without a fan if you have it.

Thanks!

Scary,

First like Hakzaw said- It should suck not blow

Second, - Please don't run a mixed gas argon without proper cooling. Its way too hard to find one working properly, to ruin one from improper cooling.

Third,
Start looking for older Argons with fans that don't work or asking some of the gas guys on here. You should be able to pick up one for not much and salvage the fan from it - I would suggest a LEM but most are cancelled this year due to COVID-19. My last one I bought was about $50, which seemed pretty cheap to me.

I don't have an extra personally though, sorry.

6/14 add on - I see you posted same on PL. They appear to have several members with units that will work. Hope you get one

 

[ultimatekaiser]

At least you have a newer one that only needs one fan! Mine actually has two papst fans that are like jet engines on top!

Finding the shroud will be hard but I can give you the model of the fan used. You can also buy separate ones. A lot of those came out of confocal microscopes and a lot of them have a separate blower unit, otherwise someone would’ve taken the shroud off is unknown. It would have to likely be a spare or someone stole the fan for whatever reason. That’s actually what the other smaller connector is for-the fan

 

[hakzaw1]

I found a pretty powerful squirrel Cage blower. I 'housed' it in a very heavy duty storage box. Added two handles
added the right size collar to fit Al dryer hose and made another hole- mounted the fan over it and added a grill.

Cut a small hole & put a female AC plug --wired to the fan cut a piece of thinish plywood painted it black to match the box and compression fit,,. a tad noisey but pulls more than enough air.

 

[ultimatekaiser]

yeah pretty much any 150CFM + fan is probably adequate. airflow should be in through the sides and exhausted out the top. getting a shroud'll be the hard bit to get. You might try meredith instruments, sometimes they have stuff laying around like that. you could also probably get one from a defunct one too. You may even try calling a place that does refurbs on them, they may have one laying around they could sell. You would just need to be methodical in your search.

 

[lasingfox]

yeah pretty much any 150CFM + fan is probably adequate. airflow should be in through the sides and exhausted out the top. getting a shroud'll be the hard bit to get. You might try meredith instruments, sometimes they have stuff laying around like that. you could also probably get one from a defunct one too. You may even try calling a place that does refurbs on them, they may have one laying around they could sell. You would just need to be methodical in your search.

I've been emailing a bunch of refurb places and none of them have any spares sadly. But right now I took a nearly 300cfm fan from a less cool (quite literally now) argon laser and hot glued it on with a cut up bucket lid and some foam to dampen vibrations. Works pretty good and got a new cheap comair rotron fan with similar specs for my other argon

 

[ultimatekaiser]

That should probably work. Do keep in mind that after you turn off running the laser you should leave the fan running for a couple of minutes to cool it off after. When I turn mine off the fan stays on for I think it’s two minutes or 2 1/2 minutes to bring the temperature of the tube back down to a comfortable level before shutting off completely.