Future of lasers

[dressur4]

I have one of those sky blue Weller solder station. it seems like a decent unit. Has temp control and ESP safe all that mess had it for 22 years and never let me down

 

[paul1598419]

Weller makes fine soldering stations. I have used them for almost 50 years. My first solder gun was a Weller. Man, that was a long time ago. I wonder what ever happened to that gun? Must have lost it somewhere in all my travels.

 

[Richie89]

Thanks, Richie. I have spent a lot of money on test and work equipment. Trying to replicate what I had in my professional life. I'm not there yet, but am always on the lookout for a good deal. You will have to spend some money on soldering station, tips and solder if you even want to be able to do very good work. I couldn't get by with a cheap 30 watt iron that just plugs into an outlet.

lmao thats what i use and i totally understand why you cant "get by" because i sure have a hard time soldering with this thing.

I have one of those sky blue Weller solder station. it seems like a decent unit. Has temp control and ESP safe all that mess had it for 22 years and never let me down

its amazing how when you see someone on here you always assume they're a different age than they usually are, i actually thought you were in your 20s dressur4 but its now obvious youre older than that arent you? :wave:

Weller makes fine soldering stations. I have used them for almost 50 years. My first solder gun was a Weller. Man, that was a long time ago. I wonder what ever happened to that gun? Must have lost it somewhere in all my travels.

its horrible when stuff like that happens, my dad told me he had a picture that he would do anything to get back after losing it at some point in his life during traveling or moving. it was a picture of him holding an otter sanding in between 2, 1965 mustangs. who knows where that iron is but if its still around then you couldnt imagine where on earth it could be

 

[dressur4]

lmao thats what i use and i totally understand why you cant "get by" because i sure have a hard time soldering with this thing.


its amazing how when you see someone on here you always assume they're a different age than they usually are, i actually thought you were in your 20s dressur4 but its now obvious youre older than that arent you? :wave:


its horrible when stuff like that happens, my dad told me he had a picture that he would do anything to get back after losing it at some point in his life during traveling or moving. it was a picture of him holding an otter sanding in between 2, 1965 mustangs. who knows where that iron is but if its still around then you couldnt imagine where on earth it could be

No I am not in my 20s,, wish i was,,,,,, well actually no,, 30s yes I am in my late 40s. But I am not old thinking. also on here grammar is not my strong point so that may skew someone's perspective of my age

 

[Richie89]

No I am not in my 20s,, wish i was,,,,,, well actually no,, 30s yes I am in my late 40s. But I am not old thinking. also on here grammar is not my strong point so that may skew someone's perspective of my age

funny you mention that because grammar definitly isnt my stong point as well. i always feel like i put periods and comma's in the wrong place a lot. I think its funny because i always considered my brother the grammar police because he reads like 2 books a week and almost knows exactly how to write a paragraph so everytime i text him im always afraid im gonna put a comma or period in the wrong place :crackup:

 

[dressur4]

Yes me too. and I put too many commas in and or run on sentences. I did great in English in college but there I had to write papers and did well on here I just type and don't pat attention, I am trying cause you probably aren't the only one that thinks i am younger than I am. but in real life off of here I have lived my 47 years and been through a lot. but lasers are my hobby among many others. my main hobby is restoring my motor coaches and transit bus. If I knew as much about laser as i do buses I would be pretty high on the list here. But if I keep digging in the archives I will get this stuff too.

 

[Richie89]

Yes me too. and I put too many commas in and or run on sentences. I did great in English in college but there I had to write papers and did well on here I just type and don't pat attention, I am trying cause you probably aren't the only one that thinks i am younger than I am. but in real life off of here I have lived my 47 years and been through a lot. but lasers are my hobby among many others. my main hobby is restoring my motor coaches and transit bus. If I knew as much about laser as i do buses I would be pretty high on the list here. But if I keep digging in the archives I will get this stuff too.

thats pretty funny I know exactly what you mean, youre definitly not alone on here, i also wish i knew as much about lasers as i do some other things and to be honest sometimes when the big time laser veterns talk about somethings on here im like WHAT!? i have no idea what theyre talking about. a lot of driver wiring sometimes confuses me. another big example is i really wish i understood how to build a driver or dummy load from scratch even though all the info is here on the forum :thinking:

 

[dressur4]

thats pretty funny I know exactly what you mean, youre definitly not alone on here, i also wish i knew as much about lasers as i do some other things and to be honest sometimes when the big time laser veterns talk about somethings on here im like WHAT!? i have no idea what theyre talking about. a lot of driver wiring sometimes confuses me. another big example is i really wish i understood how to build a driver or dummy load from scratch even though all the info is here on the forum :thinking:

Exactly... The way I learned how to fix motor coaches was to get them with issues. my latest a Van-Hool was a bus used for bands (Metallica rented it) and it had a little fire from a cigarette someone left in the bunk area it did very little damage to the bus except the main wiring harness between the rear circuit panel to the front circuit panel and the fire department cut out the side skin so i welded it back and sanded it , now i am going to have to paint it and replace the air lines and a valve got the engine running and all that. But what I paid for it was so little that I got a two for one special and a damn good bus for less than 10 grand .learned how to weld stainless steel and learning how to fix air brakes and lines, my point is, you have to grab the bull by the horn wrestle him to the ground and claim victory by practicing and sometimes just doing it. You will break a few eggs when making an omelet still cheaper than trade school.

 

[Richie89]

Exactly... The way I learned how to fix motor coaches was to get them with issues. my latest a Van-Hool was a bus used for bands (Metallica rented it) and it had a little fire from a cigarette someone left in the bunk area it did very little damage to the bus except the main wiring harness between the rear circuit panel to the front circuit panel and the fire department cut out the side skin so i welded it back and sanded it , now i am going to have to paint it and replace the air lines and a valve got the engine running and all that. But what I paid for it was so little that I got a two for one special and a damn good bus for less than 10 grand .learned how to weld stainless steel and learning how to fix air brakes and lines, my point is, you have to grab the bull by the horn wrestle him to the ground and claim victory by practicing and sometimes just doing it. You will break a few eggs when making an omelet still cheaper than trade school.

thats actually very true dressur4. they always say the best way to learn how to do something is to try it yourself many times. thats actually really cool that you know how to do all this with tour busses and coaches. good thing for me is that im in the laser hobby for the long haul. hopefully
i just hope that i dont get bored with this hobby and wanna try something else, i doubt that i will since ive been doing nothing but collecting lasers since May 2015 :beer:

 

[dressur4]

thats actually very true dressur4. they always say the best way to learn how to do something is to try it yourself many times. thats actually really cool that you know how to do all this with tour busses and coaches. good thing for me is that im in the laser hobby for the long haul. hopefully
i just hope that i dont get bored with this hobby and wanna try something else, i doubt that i will since ive been doing nothing but collecting lasers since May 2015 :beer:

Yeah I have a soft spot in my heart for the argons. I just bought an Innova 200 needs 480 @ 80 amp. but I have that power so no problem.Sometimes you can buy an Ion laser on Ebay and actually get one that works. People buy them from colleges and think they can just plug em in and have a working laser. I installed a huge extrusion machine ran an 800 amp service to the building and installed a 75 KVA transformer so i get 208 as well.
I got a laser for nothing from a guy in Columbia as he got a Spectra Physics 2020 laser from the university there as they I guess got DPSS not sure but they got rid of it. I think that tube had to have been replaced as it works . I got a Spectra Physics head and when I uncrated it, the tube was broke at the back,,Then I bought another 164 head and it had the tube replaced sometimes taking a risk on ebay works out

 

[paul1598419]

For a long time those big liquid cooled argons were necessary for any kind of laser show. I recall seeing Yes for the 5th time back in the 1970s and they had a huge argon laser for their show. This was an indoor venue in Houston and you didn't need to add fog back then as the pot smoke was always heavy in the air in those days.

Hey, Richie. Where did you get that 2.2 kW 589nm laser in your signature from? That must have set you back quite a lot.

 

[dressur4]

For a long time those big liquid cooled argons were necessary for any kind of laser show. I recall seeing Yes for the 5th time back in the 1970s and they had a huge argon laser for their show. This was an indoor venue in Houston and you didn't need to add fog back then as the pot smoke was always heavy in the air in those days.

Hey, Richie. Where did you get that 2.2 kW 589nm laser in your signature from? That must have set you back quite a lot.

Yikes I can imagine what an ion laser would cost in the 70s people were getting insane prices for them in the 90s I remember one guy selling an argon/krypton for 25k in 1993

 

[paul1598419]

I think this was around 1977, so I'm sure the owner of that laser shelled out a hell of a lot of money for it. It was done very well as the laser as they used it was eye safe. They had hundreds of 3-4 inch beams circling the audience and it wasn't even too bright to look into. But, you could clearly see each beam as a circle of them were vertical, then were lowered to scan at different levels of the 25,000 seat arena.

 

[Richie89]

Yeah I have a soft spot in my heart for the argons. I just bought an Innova 200 needs 480 @ 80 amp. but I have that power so no problem.Sometimes you can buy an Ion laser on Ebay and actually get one that works. People buy them from colleges and think they can just plug em in and have a working laser. I installed a huge extrusion machine ran an 800 amp service to the building and installed a 75 KVA transformer so i get 208 as well.
I got a laser for nothing from a guy in Columbia as he got a Spectra Physics 2020 laser from the university there as they I guess got DPSS not sure but they got rid of it. I think that tube had to have been replaced as it works . I got a Spectra Physics head and when I uncrated it, the tube was broke at the back,,Then I bought another 164 head and it had the tube replaced sometimes taking a risk on ebay works out

good god man that's absolutely insane! even if I got a hold of something similar to that or the same, my house couldn't handle that kind current. my lights dim a tab bit even when I run the washer and dryer :crackup: that's so cool though man, so you're not entirely new to this hobby huh? I eventually wanna try my hand at some ion or NeHe's sometime soon, eventually I wanna get an Argon Ion 488nm that almost everyone on here has even though they usually only output like what 4-8mw? still cool though.

 

[paul1598419]

Most of the argons that are air cooled output between 20 mW and 175 mW. So, a bit better than 4-8 mW.

 

[dressur4]

But air cooled ions are more valuable than the large frame 3 phase units right?