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FrozenGate by Avery

My first HeNe laser - WOO HOO!!!

I have two "melles-griot" type tubes I purchased from Meredith many many many years ago. But never got around to build the power supplies (even though I had gathered all the parts). I'll try to find the old "Radio Electronics" magazine that featured the build and get to it. It would be a great rainy days project, as well as an interesting conversation piece.

Daguin's conversations about his numerous HeNe tubes has revived my interest in this long-abandoned project... What would one do with a weak, power hungry gas laser? A stunning desk lamp!

You guys are making me go crazy! I've already a few lasers ordered from a few sites, as well as my blueray build... what next? Argon laser? CO2? Maybe one of those star-wars x-ray lasers! LOL!

i'll pull out the tubes and take pictures this weekend. One of the things i'll need though is a pair of those tube-end clips to secure the tube, and I guess an all-plexiglass enclosure would be best, but I have very little experience (none) at cutting plexiglass. I foresee the utter mess! ;)

Robert
 





roddenberry said:
One of the things i'll need though is a pair of those tube-end clips to secure the tube, ;)
Robert
Click to expand...

We have kind of Jacked BrewCityMisic's thread here, but we are really just wasting time WAITING for pics of his lamp . . . . . :na:

There is more than one "model" of HeNe, but if there is a metal "end" with the mirror attached, you can usually just use a "snap ring" of the correct diameter and simply "squeeze" the wire between the ring and the metal.

Snap ring
521-SR%20Snap%20Ring.jpg


Peace,
dave
 
daguin said:
We have kind of Jacked BrewCityMisic's thread here, but we are really just wasting time WAITING for pics of his lamp . . . . . :na:
Click to expand...

You're right... Anyway, I'll create a new thread when I'm ready to post some pics of the future build (and maybe ask for advice from our veteran gas guys) ;)

As for the tubes, they are very much like the one pictured just above, maybe a bit shorter though. Both are brand new. I thought of buying the clips available at Meredith Ins. that look like 2X sized glass fuse end clips. They look nice and would look nicer in an encased plexi enclosure.

But i'll definitely inspire myself by the designs i've seen in other posts, and of course, those of the OP, which I await eagerly. :D

Robert
 
Thanks for the "Push", Dave - I bought the materials Monday and should hopefully get to the actual build tomorrow (my last day off til next Tuesday, sheesh!) ...

And i totally agree, the glow is as cool if not moreso than the output, this laser is (according to the seller) rated at 2-3mW, My Laserbee I only goes down to 5mW I believe (the output of this laser doesn't even register) but I WILL say this is the smallest, tightest beam I have EVER seen on a laser, very impressive!

And on a humorous note, there are definitely places on these lasers that shouldn't be touched simultaneously, even for just a second .....
 
The beam specs from an uncolimated, single-mode HeNe are really nice.

About the shock -- People need to be aware that BOTH the PSU AND the HeNe tube itself act as capacitors. Not only will they bite you when the power is on . . . . They will bite you after the power is off!

Get in the habit of only handling things with one hand at a time (even just unhooking a tube that is OFF) and short out the components before working with them.

The shock probably won't kill you, but it will hurt, startle you, and could cause you to drop/throw your tube :cryyy:

No need to ask me how I know ;)

Peace,
dave
 
BrewCityMusic said:
So I can see 2 problems here, I only have 3 phase in the barn and I only have a decent water supply at the house ... I guess I saw 10-15 Watts of blue laser and panicked, sorry!
Click to expand...

nothing more simple than building a standalone watercooler! halfway decent waterpump (gardensupply), radiator from a car (small one from the inside heater, or the big main cooling radiator), and a small reservoir of water (for catching airbubbles out), thats all! calm, low powerconsumption, easy, cheap! you wouldnt want to feed it by tapwater anyway, would you?

more hints? ask the people with all that stuff in their computercase! (me included)

manuel
 
Krutz said:
nothing more simple than building a standalone watercooler! halfway decent waterpump (gardensupply), radiator from a car (small one from the inside heater, or the big main cooling radiator), and a small reservoir of water (for catching airbubbles out), thats all! calm, low powerconsumption, easy, cheap! you wouldnt want to feed it by tapwater anyway, would you?

more hints? ask the people with all that stuff in their computercase! (me included)

manuel
Click to expand...

Not quite, you will need to be able to dissipate ~10kW from the water at high pressure and fast flow rates. It is not a trivial thing to cool a multiwatt argon laser, you really want full flowing water from a tap going full flow through a garden hose at 60 PSI.
 
uh, 10kw? thats a bit more than expected.. hehe
well, with such an electricitybill, i guess the waterbill isnt the main problem any more.. ;-)

manuel
 
Wow, did I say $72/month? Its $72/DAY. $2000 per month. 10W of (we'll say average of) 490nm is 1400 lumens. So I guess its not that dim, but its 100W incandescent equivalent light output uses 28,000 watts.
 
Cyparagon said:
Wow, did I say $72/month? Its $72/DAY. $2000 per month. 10W of (we'll say average of) 490nm is 1400 lumens. So I guess its not that dim, but its 100W incandescent equivalent light output uses 28,000 watts.
Click to expand...


How did you get 28kW? 208V 3 phase @ 45A = 9.36kW + a generous 3kW for power supply inefficiencies. that's 12.36kW with a 75% efficient PSU.
 
..some nice heater you have there.. and i dont mean the all-igniting beam ;-)
heck, i would let it run an hour a day in winter, should be enough for the whole day!

manuel
 
Pump the discharge water through a baseboard heating radiator....

Then see if HEAP will pay for running the laser.

HEAP = Government assisted heating program
 
lol right, i forgot that it *must* be watercooled! :-)
..get a car-radiator for almost free, dump the water after it flew through it?

manuel
 
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