Fan for Argon laser

[Elektrotechniker]

Silvershot, the fans from the projectors are VERY powerful, I bet 4 of them could handle an argon. I put 4 into a box once and they generated a heap of pressure!

Interesting.. Well I don't have access to a projector

 

[Pontiacg5]

I think each fan is around 110 CFM at 12V, so I've got 440 CFM of fans right on the back of the tube.

It keeps the inlets cold, and the exhaust hot. That's good enough for me

 

[vk2fro]

At this rate us laser experimenters will be using every part of those projectors!

 

[hakzaw1]

If you read the picture I posted above (which is from the manual for the 22XX series), it says to use a fan that is rated for 185CFM in free air. That means without restriction. Once the fan (rated at 185CFM) is hooked up to the laser and so has to deal with the obstruction of the slots, fins, tube, hose, etc., it should still be moving 115CFM of air.

If you started with a fan that did 115CFM in free air, it would be below that when dealing with the restrictions/obstructions of the laser.

The laser will still work fine with less air moving. It will just be running hotter. The hotter it runs, the shorter its life

People run these with less airflow all the time. However, if you want to be up to the recommended spec's of the manufacturer, you need the 185CFM rated blower.

Peace,
dave

What difference it would make in the life of the laser approx?

As Daves (usual) great advise says-- overheating will NOT make your Argon live longer...and anyhing that resrticts airflow-such as a hose smaller than the opening where the hose attaches to PULL the air through the head( not push the air) makes the CFM in actulality a lower number.--NOT a good thing. IMO

The required airflow depends on the amount of power you run through the tube. The vast majority of power consumed by a gas laser turns into waste heat, and ion lasers are about the worst in that regard. Get it too hot and you will destroy your tube in seconds.

In other words- at idle --- less heat-at more Amps =more heat-that is OK for a short time but if you push it the overheat protection (hopefully) will kick in- shut down your laser and it will not work again until it cools down-- The first time this happened to me I feared I had ended the life of my Argon- which if the protection fails that could very well be the case.

Have you read the argon section of Sam's laser FAQ? If not, go do that before you try powering up your new toy. Argon tubes are likely gonna get hard to come by as most of the applications that used them are being retrofitted with solid state lasers.

Everyone interested in any lasers-SS or Gas, needs to spend MANY MANY hours reading the tons of info at Sams. Questions that cannot be answered at LPF search are often answered at Sams. I read a LOT there for two years before coming to LPF. You need a Sams shortcut icon on your desktop right next to your LPF shortcut.

As far as argon tubes becoming hard to come by--- that could be true but also as they are being replaced by SS modules- they actually may be even more available and thus cheaper. I have seen the prices of them drop over the years. I bought 7 argons in hopes of reselling some of them at a profit and soon found that I was wrong. ATM I would be lucky to break even- and I was very careful to keep my bids low and let many pass when the bidding got too high.

Hi again. I just wanted to ask, what if the diam. of the vent hose is 10 cm? Rob could not find his so I had to look up to local stores but they only come in 10 cm diameter. Will it work with the laser and fan? If not directly, can I do a mod and get it to fit?

A fan that has a higher CFM than needed and/or a hose the right size or larger is perhaps a good thing AND using fans and hoses that are the opposite is surely not GOOD.

Please know that I am by NO means an expert on Argons- consult with the likes of Daguin-Steve-HemlockMike-GooeyGus-MarioMaster, Diachi-Ben and several more great members if you CANNOT find answers at Sams or here at LPF.

There are a lot of Argon experts over at PL too-300Evil is a good one. They and many more have been a great help to me and I am in thier debt.

BUT please doing your own search for info is important- only babies should be spoon fed. The more you try to find answers on your own the easier it becomes-
trust me-
our resident experts usually have plenty to take up thier spare time so be nice and so save your questions until you have exhausted your efforts to find your own answers--please.

One last bit of advice- if your fan is wired independant of your Argon be SURE to keep it running after shutting down the laser until the air coming out feels cool.- which in most cases means switching it off on your Remote Interface(if using one) and your PS switch/key lock. AND unplugging your PS-AFAIK, if there is a light on at your argon PS there is still a (very) little power going to the head. I have found that if you do not unplug your PS the head stays warm and can even get very warm(but not hot) without the fan running even tho everything else is off. I discovered this when after shutting everything off and running my fan for a while, I felt the head-it was cool- the air coming out was cool and everything was turned off but the PS was still powered- and when I felt it later it had gotten warm again. Not hot, but I had gotten warm again. This was confirmed by some experts later on. AFAIK this is not harmful to your Argon but it is a waste of energy.


hope I have been helpful--anyone finding errors in my post is very welcome to correct them--TY

hak

 

[hakzaw1]

I don't remember if MarioMaster included the vent hose with the laser. I'll need to ask him later. For now, I need a fan.

EDIT: It seems I need a vent hose as well... Can I operate the laser without a vent hose and mount the fan directly to the laser?

You can and I did but you may get some vibration from the fan effecting the head- the hose usually eliminates the vibration- this would also depend upon your fan and any vibration created by it.

 

[hakzaw1]

At this rate us laser experimenters will be using every part of those projectors!

That gave my the idea of using the ca5io case and one of its fans and some added vents to make a laptop cooler- may be a tad loud but surely effective. make one with four fans pointing down and it will prolly be a hovercraft.lol they move some serious air. I have many FS if anyone is interested.

the use of four of them to cool an Argon is very ingenious but somewhat ghetto looking. lol hope you have them attached to pull the air, I read that is the better way.

 

[ElektroFreak]

I was doing some investigating in preparation for my ML Agron laser (Thanks again Elektro!) and found the following inline 200CFM blower - looks like it may be a good option at $75...

New 4" Inch 200 CFM Inline Exhaust Duct Fan Vent Blower - eBay (item 150536501675 end time Dec-26-10 20:39:27 PST)

200cfm is good.. the 2214-40MLA requires a minimum of 115cfm IIRC. The fan I've included with the laser is 200cfm. You really might be ok just using the included fan, the head never gets too hot, but if aesthetics are your thing you might end up wanting something a bit different.

 

[Escher]

Elektro - No worries bud - I was just researching, as is my nature... I am trying to decide on how I will mount everything - and I may mount the supply a bit away from the Head, possibly exhausting the heat outside - but thats up in the air at the moment... so I was looking at different fans that I could use as an inline setup attached to an outside vent similar to a dryer vent.