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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

My Newest Argon

daguin

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I bought a Lasos argon laser from Chris awhile back.  Lasos is not very available in the US, so it took me awhile to get a PSU for it.  Then, the one I got was bad.  I ended up blowing the photodiode board.  I got a hacked Cyonics PSU to try to power it, but it wouldn't work with the blown board.  The result was that I started looking for another Lasos laser for parts.  I got one on eBay last week.  I wasn't too worried about the condition of the laser because I had a working tube.  I really just needed the photodiode board.  Well the new laser came today.  It looked to be in pretty good condition, but looks don't mean much with used gas lasers.  

So here it is
las1.jpg


It hasn't been run in a while, so it took a few "clicks" to get it going, but it lased
las2.jpg


BOY did it lase!
las3.jpg

las4.jpg


Here -- Count them with me:
1 -- 2 -- 3 -- 4 -- 5 -- 6 -- 7 -- 8
EIGHT color lines!!!!!!!  :eek:
las5.jpg


The camera wouldn't show the more subtle differences in color, but you can see them . . . . .
las6.jpg


All of this is at only 21mW  :cool:  I haven't got the PSU set up to work on current control.  Once I get that working, I should be able to get this up to well over the 40mW rating, eh?

Needless to say, I will NOT be tearing this one apart to make the other (older) one work.  Now it will be "parts."

Peace,
dave
 





jayrob

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Nice Dave! :cool:

Man!... Your wife must be a good one... I wonder if you even know how many different lasers and stuff you have?? Lol!
Jay
 

daguin

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jayrob said:
Nice Dave! :cool:

Man!... Your wife must be a good one... I wonder if you even know how many different lasers and stuff you have?? Lol!
Jay


She is a good one.  :-*   I am a very lucky man!  :cool:

You are right.  I have no idea exactly how many lasers I have.  There are 15 on my desk right now, although one of them is just a driver and diode in a module   :-/

Of course that doesn't count my lamp ;)

There are six more in one of my desk drawers  ;D

I think I need to have another "clearance sale." ;)  Good deals for all and clear shelf/drawer space for me   :)

Peace,
dave
 

diachi

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Oh noes , not another one ! :eek: No wonder I can't find any on eBay !


Still nice though, could you not operate the other one without the photodiode board somehow ?

-Adam
 

daguin

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Diachi said:
Oh noes , not another one !  :eek: No wonder I can't find any on eBay !
Still nice though, could you not operate the other one without the photodiode board somehow ?
-Adam

The short answer is, "Yes." However, I needed to know if the PSU was going to work before I started messing with it.

I'm what is known as a "plugger." I approach a problem one step at a time, usually starting with the cheapest possibility. The term "plugger" refers to the fact that sometimes you don't really need a tech sent in. All you really need to do is plug the machine back in ;)

A "plugger" looks to see that it is plugged in before moving on to more complex solutions.

(Also see "Occam's Razor")

Peace,
dave
 
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Dave --

I got a Lasos from Chris too. It has those 8 beams like yours but what are the other 2 beams? How are you splitting it so nice? I have one small prism which if held just so ......

My power supply has full and medium..... 23 mW and ~ 45 mW. Nice room heaters too :D

Mike
 

daguin

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Hemlock Mike said:
Dave --
I got a Lasos from Chris too.  It has those 8 beams like yours but what are the other 2 beams?  How are you splitting it so nice?  I have one small prism which if held just so ......
My power supply has full and medium.....  23 mW and ~ 45 mW.  Nice room heaters too  :D
Mike

I use a diffraction mirror, instead of a prism.  The other two beams are the original beam coming from the laser (from behind me) and a "full color" beam that is also reflected off of the mirror I use (@ about 45 degrees).  The diffraction mirror also sends another set of color lines back at about 90 degrees.  I also use a second mirror on the other side of the room to break this second, reflected beam into the color lines.  I have colors going every which way in the garage when I do this.  I have even broken up the split from this second mirror, but the colors end up looking like a rainbow instead of distinct dots.

My power supply for this only puts out one power for now.  It is a "hacked" Cyonics PSU.  I bought a Lasos PSU on an equipment auction, but it doesn't work :(  I am not competent enough in electronics to figure out what is wrong with it.  I tested all of the fuses, but that is about my limit in electronics  :-[  I figure I will hold it until I either get some free funds to pay to have it worked on or work something out with someone who can and is willing to look at it for me.  

In the mean time, I will attempt to get the PSU to work in current control mode.  GooeyGus said that he has an extra "fitting" for the remote interface plug.  I'm going to try to talk him out of it so I can set it up with the current control jumpers and potentiometer hooked to it, in case the "hack" won't allow the current control set-up to work.

Peace,
dave
 
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since i am an absolute idiot noob when it comes to gas type lasers can you school me on why it makes multi lines?

thanks
 

daguin

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thesk8nmidget said:
since i am an absolute idiot noob when it comes to gas type lasers can you school me on why it makes multi lines?
thanks


Many gas lasers lase at multiple wavelengths at the same time.  See the below link to look at how many different wavelengths are produced by the different gasses

http://www.lexellaser.com/techinfo_wavelengths.htm

The wavelength produced by a particular laser is set by optic "filters" (mirrors) that only allow certain wavelengths to pass.  A "single line" argon is usually the "blue line" (488nm).  There are also green line, violet line, etc. optic sets.  A "multi-line" laser such as this, has an optic set that allows several of the wavelengths to pass at the same time.  In order to see the different colors, you have to break the laser beam into its "parts" like letting the sun shine through a prism.  The beam coming out of the laser is a cyan color.  The diffraction mirror separates the wavelength so we can see them.

Peace,
dave

[highlight]**EDIT** [/highlight]Also see this page
http://www.lexellaser.com/techinfo_gas-ion.htm
 




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