HeNe Lasers I saw today (Pic Heavy)

[jcranmer]

So I really need to stay away from flea markets and yard sales they always get me in trouble. Today I stopped in what is now a flea market / surples equipment store that used to be a custom cabinet and furniture shop. This place was the oddest mix I've ever seen.

1960's Vietnam Army Jeeps
Custom speed boats
Harley's
All the old equipment from the assembly line and the lumber industry. Huge heavy equipment, some of which I can only guess at the original purpose.
Old hardwood lumber. (~$800.00 per board!)
Everything was for sale, even the stuff on the walls, clocks, soap dispensers, paper towels, fire hoses. Just about anything that was once at use in this company.
Typical yard sale stuff.

Then I found these guys down one of the aisles. I'd bet the 3 smaller ones in the bucket are dead. They look like they were treated poorly and one of the PS's actually said Bad on it. The large one have me interested though.

The 2 large ones are roughly 3 feet long and come with a built in power supply, since the AC cord goes directly inside he enclosure. $125.00 each was marked on them. One was sealed into a box with duct tape. The label says .9mw on these.

The bucket with 3 smaller ones are about 18'' and have separate little power supplies that connect to a smallish wall wart. 3 of them for $125.00

Lastly which I have the worst pic of, is around 18 - 24 '' and was marked as $80.00. It's also self contained and plugs directly into the wall. This has a weird removable mount on it.

I'm assuming these were all used in the lumber industry for marking boards to cut. I thought the prices were actually pretty high at the time, but they seem right on price according to units on SAMs Laser FAQs classifieds. He doesn't have anything listed quite like these, so I'm just going on physical shape.

I'm considering going back after payday and buying at least one of the large units if they are still there. I still need to plug them in and see if they actually work. I might see if they will take less for a package deal.

Do you guys think the prices are close to a realistic value?

 

[Event_Horizon]

Those large ones.... something isn't right. 0.9mW on a HeNe that big? It sounds to me like they might not be the usual 632.8nm. I would definitely pick it up, if its anything other than red, that's a hell of a deal. The ones in the bucket are probably damaged somehow, but also not an unreasonable deal for 3 lasers and 3 supplies.

 

[Trevor]

With 0.9mW, I'd suspect that it might be green for visibility. That or it's a more exotic wavelength?

If you want them to go to a good home (where HeNe's are well-loved) and they're not 632.8nm, I'll buy them in a hot second.

-Trevor

 

[Event_Horizon]

I'd buy one as well if it's not 632.8nm or 594nm because I've got those already.

 

[jcranmer]

Alrighty guys. I'll stop by and check them out later today. I'm pretty sure one or more of them were marked ~630nm though, so don't get your hopes up.

Also the long odd shaped box the large ones would have to ship in won't be very cheap.

First things first. Let's see that they work and what color they are. I've never seen anything other then standard red HeNes in person before.

I assume the oranger ones are goig to be obvious in color?

On tv saw mills always use red lasers.

 

[Event_Horizon]

The green and yellow ones will be very obvious, the orange one not so immediately obvious but for a laser geek you should be able to tell the difference.

 

[Meatball]

If they're old enough, they may simply be less efficient hence the size. But they don't appear to be so old to me. You never know with those all contained heads. The actual tube could be half the length!

 

[jcranmer]

If they're old enough, they may simply be less efficient hence the size. But they don't appear to be so old to me. You never know with those all contained heads. The actual tube could be half the length!

I was wondering about that too, since the PS is all built in, I have zero idea on the length of the tubes in the long ones.

Bad news though. I stopped by there today and they were closed. They are only open Thurs - Sun with very limited hours on Sunday. I'll have to try again later in the week.

I will stop by and try them all out though. I would be very surprised if any of them have been sold. This is a small southern Indiana farm town, I doubt that there are too many people that would even know there were lasers, much less be interested in them.

Well that was easier then I thought. Check out the website. Pretty sure these are the long ones. They do have something in them that produces a line, instead of a dot.

http://www.laceyharmer.com/products/lasers.htm

I also need to look at those heads a little closer, it looks like the beam exits the side of the barrel in pictures.

 

[LtKernelPanic]

daguin posted some good pics of his HeNe lasers here.

http://laserpointerforums.com/f48/my-rainbow-post-pics-yours-32900-5.html#post388369

I think you can see the difference between 612 and 633 pretty easily.

 

[jcranmer]

:drool:

OK now I need to find some other colors. I had seen that photo, but it had been awhile ago and I forgot how stunning the other colors can be.

daguin posted some good pics of his HeNe lasers here.

http://laserpointerforums.com/f48/my-rainbow-post-pics-yours-32900-5.html#post388369

I think you can see the difference between 612 and 633 pretty easily.

 

[jcranmer]

Well a little bad news. All the ones I tested (at least one of each type) were the normal red HeNE wavelength.

The good news is the one long blue one I tested worked perfectly and it makes a very nice bright line. Not only that, but the light exits via the side of the tube. I've never seen anyone change the direction of a HeNE tube by 90 degrees. I only checked the one that was open. The sealed one should be the exact same model.

The black one also works just fine. In fact it may very well be brigher then the longer blue ones. It's marked as 5mw not the typical < 5mw.

The small ones in the bucket are a mixed bag. 2 of the 3 power supplies are dead. 1 of power supplies was missing the fuse and I didn't mess with it long enough to try and change it out. 1 other one didn't show any power lights when powered up.

Out of the one "working" power supply I had, I eventually got one of the three tubes to lase. However I don't know if these things have a very long time delay or something else is wrong. I left it plugged in for at least 45 seconds and didn't get anything. The second I pulled the power cord from the wall out let, it let out a small flash that I almost missed, but my wife pointed out to me. Right away I plugged it back in and the tube lased just fine, right away.

I couldn't get the other 2 small tubes to work with this power supply. They also have a small unusually shaped connection on the back of the power supplies that looked like something was missing. Perhaps it's either an interlock connection or some sort of modulation hookup?

All units that did work, generated nice bright lines though. The small blue tubes and the black one have the typical "at the end" output. The two long blue ones have the output at a 90 degree angle and have a nice plastic protective cap to cover the lens. (Chained onto the end of the enclosure)

I took a few pics of them working today, but they are on my wife's phone at the moment. I'll upload them in a little bit or tomorrow.

I want one of the long tubes for myself for sure. I actually like the fact that it makes a line rather then a dot, the cool factor of the blue anodizing, and the fact that the beam exits from the side of the enclosure. Hopefully they are still there after payday.

btw: NEXT time I'll remember to stay clear of the high voltage Alden style connections after the tube has been powered up! One of the smaller tubes I was putting back in the bucket after I couldn't get it to lase. The bare connector shorted for a moment on the metal casing of one of the dead power supplies. I *knew* that could happen, but didn't think it fully though today. I forget the tubes themselves can store a charge!

 

[jcranmer]

Double post. But at least it's my thread.

Here are the pictures:

Large blue tube, notice the way the beam exits the enclosure. The dark gray / black things are just packing foam. The one hanging down with the chain has the cap inside that covers the aperture.

Small blue tube

I like the brackets. Each small laser has one of these single blue anodized bracket with it.

And I REALLY like this bracket. This comes in the bucket with the 3 lasers

Black tube. The long rod is some odd mounting hardware but looks like it can be removed

 

[Don't Laze Me Bro]

Really like the line projecting HeNes, they appear to have a fair bit of power to them aswell.

-Dustin

 

[jcranmer]

I finally had the money to go back today and of course the one unit I really wanted (Long blue one) was gone.

The other sealed box contained a pretty dinged up ForestLine red HeNe with a pretty dinged up yellow enclosure. I ended up buying the ForestLIne and the shorter black Carter laser.

They only wanted to go down on prices if I bought every laser they had left. The yellow, the black, the bucket of 3 with 2 dead power supplies, and a small ac powered 635 diode laser. I just couldn't do the $350.00 they were asking for all of them.

Still going to be kicking myself for a long time for not being able to get the blue enclosure ones.

Oh yeah that also marked the bucket of 3 up from $125 to $250! WTH?