GooeyGus
0
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2008
- Messages
- 2,669
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So I took my argon head (cyonics/uniphase 2201-40MLA) apart tonight with the intention of giving it a good cleaning. I figured it was made in 1997 and has about 3000 hours on it, it's bound to have some dust accumulation on the heat sink blades inside. I was very pleasantly surprised.
Upon initial inspection of the outside of the head, every single screw looked flawless, like a tool had never touched them. So I proceeded to take them off. Each screw has a locking washer (a washer that is not quite a complete circle, and not completely 'flush') on it. Well, when I removed the screws there was only one mark of where that washer had ever been. Also, every screw seemed to be at the exact same tightness. With this information, I'm guessing this was the first time anyone has gone inside this laser since it was made
So I got the outside cover off, and peered inside. Everything was immaculate. I literally gave the entire inside the 'finger swipe' test and couldn't get dust from anywhere. I was really shocked at how pristine this laser is. I talked to the previous owner of the laser and he said he personally removed the laser from some sort of DNA analysis machine, and that it had been idled it's entire 3000-hour life. I'm guessing this machine must have been in some sort of clean room.
ANYWAY... enough babbling... onto the pictures!! (some are a bit fuzzy... cell phone camera :-/ )
The outside, nice and pretty:
I took a picture of the fan for schrecken in case she could use the info! The fan is all metal and seems very beefy:
The overall inside shot:
This is the circuit board that faces the vents on the side of the head, this is where I assumed a lot of dust would be, but nope:
From the output end of the tube:
The HR mirror at the end of the tube. Also you can see the number for the tube etched in the metal:
This is the output end of the tube:
Circuit board on the opposite side. Some big caps on there!
Another overall view: (Oh yeah, I was wondering if anyone knew what the white thing on top of part of the heat sink is? It has two wires coming out of it which lead to the fan wiring harness, but on the connector harness the pins are just connected to each other (See the last picture))
Another picture. You can see the electronic aperture shutter on the front:
And here is the picture of where those two wires lead from the white thing on one of the heat sinks. I'm guessing it is some sort of temp sensor, but what is it supposed to control? the two orange wires lead to it. Again, that is the connector for the fan.
And of course, a lasing picture:
So thats it! I really enjoyed taking a look inside, and was really happy about how clean everything was.
The only bad thing that has arisen from the purchase of this laser is my addiction to ebay. Ever since I found this deal I'm constantly scouting for cheap laser stuff. ;D
Did I mention that I got this whole setup for $250?
Upon initial inspection of the outside of the head, every single screw looked flawless, like a tool had never touched them. So I proceeded to take them off. Each screw has a locking washer (a washer that is not quite a complete circle, and not completely 'flush') on it. Well, when I removed the screws there was only one mark of where that washer had ever been. Also, every screw seemed to be at the exact same tightness. With this information, I'm guessing this was the first time anyone has gone inside this laser since it was made
So I got the outside cover off, and peered inside. Everything was immaculate. I literally gave the entire inside the 'finger swipe' test and couldn't get dust from anywhere. I was really shocked at how pristine this laser is. I talked to the previous owner of the laser and he said he personally removed the laser from some sort of DNA analysis machine, and that it had been idled it's entire 3000-hour life. I'm guessing this machine must have been in some sort of clean room.
ANYWAY... enough babbling... onto the pictures!! (some are a bit fuzzy... cell phone camera :-/ )
The outside, nice and pretty:
I took a picture of the fan for schrecken in case she could use the info! The fan is all metal and seems very beefy:
The overall inside shot:
This is the circuit board that faces the vents on the side of the head, this is where I assumed a lot of dust would be, but nope:
From the output end of the tube:
The HR mirror at the end of the tube. Also you can see the number for the tube etched in the metal:
This is the output end of the tube:
Circuit board on the opposite side. Some big caps on there!
Another overall view: (Oh yeah, I was wondering if anyone knew what the white thing on top of part of the heat sink is? It has two wires coming out of it which lead to the fan wiring harness, but on the connector harness the pins are just connected to each other (See the last picture))
Another picture. You can see the electronic aperture shutter on the front:
And here is the picture of where those two wires lead from the white thing on one of the heat sinks. I'm guessing it is some sort of temp sensor, but what is it supposed to control? the two orange wires lead to it. Again, that is the connector for the fan.
And of course, a lasing picture:
So thats it! I really enjoyed taking a look inside, and was really happy about how clean everything was.
The only bad thing that has arisen from the purchase of this laser is my addiction to ebay. Ever since I found this deal I'm constantly scouting for cheap laser stuff. ;D
Did I mention that I got this whole setup for $250?