Homebuilt 3-5W Copper Vapour Laser System

[CurtisOliver]

Good job Laserbuilder. Very impressive. +rep :beer:

 

[bloompyle]

Well...this has been a decent read. It's a been a while since anyone's tackled a CVL, or even an MVL of any kind for that matter.

Kudos, and well done. I cannot wait to finally move and have the space to get my hands dirty again..

 

[XenondiFluoride]

You mention that you are missing some yellow, however as far as I can recall, the yellow is only created at higher temperatures and there is normally less yellow than green. I was going to try to build a copper vapor laser, but I chickened out at the cost of a hydrogen thyratron... Congrats on having such a fine work of art!

 

[Gordon Shumway]

That my friend is a highly impressive yet overwhelming laser, I love the 5-watt 510nm line. I have wanted to build a copper/bromide laser as a kid, since they are slightly easier to operate and construct. Kudos on your find, I hope it serves you well for many years to come.

 

[Laserbuilder]

I had made a new HV transformer for my CVL, it gives 7 kV AC instead of 4.5 from two MOTs. The transformer is fully custom built and submerged into an oil tank. the tank is custom made too. Also there is a copper tube inside the tank for cooling down the oil by passing cold water through the tube. There are loads of photos, so I'll leave a link to my album in the social network.

https://vk.com/album31425290_244754473

 

[diachi]

I had made a new HV transformer for my CVL, it gives 7 kV AC instead of 4.5 from two MOTs. The transformer is fully custom built and submerged into an oil tank. the tank is custom made too. Also there is a copper tube inside the tank for cooling down the oil by passing cold water through the tube. There are loads of photos, so I'll leave a link to my album in the social network.

https://vk.com/album31425290_244754473

Awesome, once again! :beer:

 

[paul1598419]

Very interesting once again. Plenty of photos to see the plan taking shape. I noticed in one a large green wire wound resistor that looked burned. I am assuming it is not. Would love to see photos of it working now. Thanks.

 

[Laserbuilder]

It is already working and I got some nice lasing yesterday. But I've encountered a problem that with the raise of the voltage I got sparks and arcs in the places where they must not appear, inside the Blumlein generator. Now I'm improving the insulation and adding a snubber circuit for the main thyratron.

 

[Laserbuilder]

Today I've squeezed everything out from my CVL tube. With the improved power unit I could push in 2.2-2.3 kW of power and got much more yellow light than in previous experiments. The beam is much more "lemon" in colour, not pure green. I think I have 5 real watts of light here, it burnt wood very well. Here are some photos with different camera settings.

 

[paul1598419]

Those look great. Nice job, Laserbuilder. I do like that color very much.

 

[ultimatekaiser]

yeah it's a nice lemon yellow. there's nothing else that's really quite like it.

 

[Laserbuilder]

The CVL project is finished! The laser head is complete now!

 

[paul1598419]

That's amazing, Laserbuilder. I do love that color. You said you think it's about 5 watts. Do you not have a way of measuring the output power? Congratulations on a fine build.

 

[diachi]

That looks nice! Good job!

 

[Encap]

Nice work as always!! :beer:

All of your lasers have been outstanding efforts.

Am always amazed at your success in building them with the resources you have at hand

 

[Laserbuilder]

Do you not have a way of measuring the output power? Congratulations on a fine build.

I don't have a proper power meter yet. I have found one, but than it turned that it measures energy in Joules, not power in Watts, so it is for single-pulsed lasers.