IsaacT
0
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2010
- Messages
- 5,947
- Points
- 83
Hello everybody 
So I recently got my first HeNe tube as a gift from Cheech226. She is so small and looks like something right out of a Sci-Fi movie. It is great! He didn't have a power supply though so after making a thread and receiving some advice from Daguin(Thank you!!!) I purchased this power supply:
When it got here, I realized that I had to figure out how to power the damn thing. The datasheet said 4.5V-6V in @ 1-1.3A, so I set off to Fry's. Nothing. They had nothing short of Bench PSU's that could do that. After a lot of thinking though, I went back to Fry's and got the following:
THE LIST:
1 x Project Box (Black)
1 x (4)AA Battery Holder
1 x Flip Switch
5 x Packs Tenergy AA Batteries
See I figured that AA batteries would be able to handle the current and with the battery holder being in series, I would have 6V! So problem solved, right? Wrong. Upon getting home and putting everything together, nothing was happening. So back to square one....or so I thought.
See, turns out I needed to use 3 wires from the Power Supply rather than just two. One of the wires "enables" the unit, and that is the one I hadn't soldered. So this morning when I realized that I went outside and put everything together again, this time with the enabler.
WHAM!!! A jolt of electricity at 1250V slammed into my body! I had never worked with high voltage before, so needless to say....it was a shock! Good news: My power supply was working and ready. Bad news: I was now shaking a little bit, and the bond I had made from the AA holder to the Project Box was now loose due to me dropping it. (Yes, I looked like an idiot. No, I don't have a video. Yes, I did laugh at myself)
So without any more rambling, here are some pictures:
The inside of the project box....I need to add a ground screw though, so it isn't finished
inside joke some of you will know about....for those of you who don't, read THIS thread(my first ever laser build). Looks like the photos in the OP have dissapeared but I linked straight to a POST with my ground screw mod
And now the whole of it put together....I decided to drill a couple holes and keep the laser on the box by use of Zip ties. If and when I can find some black ones I will change them out, but for now these will do.
And now Beam/Plasma shots!!!! These were a little difficult to do because if I kept the normal settings, the plasma would make my pictures flare pretty bad. So I had to reduce my aperture to let less light through. But if I did that you could barely see the laser. So what I ended up doing was taking a napkin, putting it in front of the flash to lessen the effect while still keeping the smaller aperture. That way you could easily see the laser AND the plasma.
Well, that is it, I really hoped you all enjoyed seeing my first gas laser! One small step for a hobbyist I want to again thank Cheech226 for the Tube and all of the people who helped me with my questions(Daguin, Sigurther, LaserBee, Cyparagon, and Bionic Badger) it really means a lot to me that those with knowledge deign to answer the questions of those who need it, especially so quickly. This forum is a great place to be :beer:
Thanks,
Isaac
So I recently got my first HeNe tube as a gift from Cheech226. She is so small and looks like something right out of a Sci-Fi movie. It is great! He didn't have a power supply though so after making a thread and receiving some advice from Daguin(Thank you!!!) I purchased this power supply:
When it got here, I realized that I had to figure out how to power the damn thing. The datasheet said 4.5V-6V in @ 1-1.3A, so I set off to Fry's. Nothing. They had nothing short of Bench PSU's that could do that. After a lot of thinking though, I went back to Fry's and got the following:
THE LIST:
1 x Project Box (Black)
1 x (4)AA Battery Holder
1 x Flip Switch
5 x Packs Tenergy AA Batteries
See I figured that AA batteries would be able to handle the current and with the battery holder being in series, I would have 6V! So problem solved, right? Wrong. Upon getting home and putting everything together, nothing was happening. So back to square one....or so I thought.
See, turns out I needed to use 3 wires from the Power Supply rather than just two. One of the wires "enables" the unit, and that is the one I hadn't soldered. So this morning when I realized that I went outside and put everything together again, this time with the enabler.
WHAM!!! A jolt of electricity at 1250V slammed into my body! I had never worked with high voltage before, so needless to say....it was a shock! Good news: My power supply was working and ready. Bad news: I was now shaking a little bit, and the bond I had made from the AA holder to the Project Box was now loose due to me dropping it. (Yes, I looked like an idiot. No, I don't have a video. Yes, I did laugh at myself)
So without any more rambling, here are some pictures:
The inside of the project box....I need to add a ground screw though, so it isn't finished
inside joke some of you will know about....for those of you who don't, read THIS thread(my first ever laser build). Looks like the photos in the OP have dissapeared but I linked straight to a POST with my ground screw mod 
And now the whole of it put together....I decided to drill a couple holes and keep the laser on the box by use of Zip ties. If and when I can find some black ones I will change them out, but for now these will do.
And now Beam/Plasma shots!!!! These were a little difficult to do because if I kept the normal settings, the plasma would make my pictures flare pretty bad. So I had to reduce my aperture to let less light through. But if I did that you could barely see the laser. So what I ended up doing was taking a napkin, putting it in front of the flash to lessen the effect while still keeping the smaller aperture. That way you could easily see the laser AND the plasma.
Well, that is it, I really hoped you all enjoyed seeing my first gas laser! One small step for a hobbyist
I want to again thank Cheech226 for the Tube and all of the people who helped me with my questions(Daguin, Sigurther, LaserBee, Cyparagon, and Bionic Badger) it really means a lot to me that those with knowledge deign to answer the questions of those who need it, especially so quickly. This forum is a great place to be :beer:Thanks,
Isaac
