newbie allert...hello all

[lazergurl]

hello all, i am lazergurl. I am a receptionist at a middle school and when the science department got some new equipment i got a HEEne laser. It turns on ok but as it gets hot it fades in and out. I want to get my son (12 yrs) interested in lasers but he is still to young to be on the computer by him self alone so i will be teaching him. I hope i dont ask to many questions, i love to read so i will start to read here.

thank you

 

[lasersbee]

Welcome to the Forum...

You will find a lot of friendly and helpful members here...
There is a wealth of Laser related info in the Threads/Post....

Remember... the [Search] button is your friend...
To get you started... read the stickies related to New Members...

BTW... it is a HeNe or Helium Neon Laser...

Jerry

 

[lazergurl]

thank you jerry, i have been a member only about one hour and have got messages from two people

Yes, the tag says HeNe laser but it dosnt work very well after 4 or 5 minutes it fades in and out. I have seen battery powered smaller lasers before and this thing must be real old...it has a cord to plug in the wall. Can I get a HeNe laser that is powered by batteries?

I dont know what to search for, but I will remember that. Oh what are stickies? I know what pot stickers are...lol

thank you kindly for welcoming me

 

[JLSE]

In my experiance with HeNe tubes, one thing ive noticed is, when the incorrect resistor on the anode side is used, or the power supply is meant for a larger tube, the tube will get hot fast and flicker.

Do you have any pics of the setup? There are some pretty knowledgable folks on here in both high voltage power supplies and gas tubes. Pics are always a good start

 

[Lotus_Darkrose]

Hooray, another female! The only other female active poster on the forums as far as I know is Susie. We NEED more chicks on these forums. It's always nice to hear a woman's input on the hobby/profession/pastime...(With the exception of a significant other telling you how stupid you are for buying more stuff) ;D

Welcome, lazergurl. There is a lot to learn, and you seem very educated. After enough time, I'm sure you'll be contributing information as well.

 

[lazergurl]

In my experiance with HeNe tubes, one thing ive noticed is, when the incorrect resistor on the anode side is used, or the power supply is meant for a larger tube, the tube will get hot fast and flicker.

Do you have any pics of the setup? There are some pretty knowledgable folks on here in both high voltage power supplies and gas tubes. Pics are always a good start

I will try to take some pictures when my camera gets charged. It is a round tube with a big wire coming out going to a black box with a plug on it. High voltage sounds very scary. What kind of lasers in your picture there...they are pretty

 

[lazergurl]

Hooray, another female! The only other female active poster on the forums as far as I know is Susie. We NEED more chicks on these forums. It's always nice to hear a woman's input on the hobby/profession/pastime...(With the exception of a significant other telling you how stupid you are for buying more stuff)  ;D

Welcome, lazergurl. There is a lot to learn, and you seem very educated. After enough time, I'm sure you'll be contributing information as well.  

I really want to learn more, but it is for my son i am trying to motivate, all he does is skateboard and play video games, he likes science and he thinks lasers are cool but, ours dosnt work very well. Who ever said gals cant be good in science

 

[lasersbee]

The HeNe glass tube style lasers use a high voltage (2,000 to 8,000 volts) to
make the laser tube lase....  You may have a weak tube (they do wear out)
or a weak power supply... or like wannaburn said... a loose connection...
But if the laser was replaced for newer equipement.. I'd say age got it... :

For the money you would spend on repairing it... you could get a more powerful
(Laser Diode) Laser that would be much smaller and would work off of low
voltage rechargeable batteries...

Here is a site that sells some lasers... That is only to give you an idea...

http://www.dealextreme.com/ (go to the section called "Guns & Lasers")

There is a law in the USA that forbids the importation of lasers stronger than
5mW..

There are also members here that make and sell lasers... but before you do that...
find out what color of laser you would like to get... and FIRST purchase
a pair of Laser Safety Goggles for that Wavelength..

You will learn all about that as you read the info and do searches...

Here is a sticky for newcomers......

http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?virboard=b_other;num=1206843997

and here is another good one to get you started....

http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1186280644


Jerry

 

[lasersbee]

Hooray, another female! The only other female active poster on the forums as far as I know is Susie. We NEED more chicks on these forums. It's always nice to hear a woman's input on the hobby/profession/pastime...([highlight]With the exception of a significant other telling you how stupid you are for buying more stuff[/highlight])  ;D

Welcome, lazergurl. There is a lot to learn, and you seem very educated. After enough time, I'm sure you'll be contributing information as well.  

You wouldn't get that from me.... : : :

Jerry

 

[lazergurl]

I dont think this laser is like you have, this one is much smaller and just plugs into the wall.

I like the smaller ones that fit in your hand, and the batteries sound like a good idea so I can get rid of the cord. My husband has the safety goggles in the garage so I am covered there. I have seen red, green and blue ones in this group. I like the purple colored ones the best, i think.

I clicked on the yellow text and read a little...WOW what a lot to learn

I think i understand you said stickies, because if all that information dosnt get stuck in your brain
you have to re read it until it does stick. I showed my son the eyeball picture and he said ewwuueeee. I thought it was interesting. I will go back there and try to read it all again and maybe some of it will stick...lol

I can not believe...this is a group but with very fast e-mail sort of. wow

 

[lasersbee]

I dont think this laser is like you have, this one is much smaller and just plugs into the wall.

I like the smaller ones that fit in your hand, and the batteries sound like a good idea so I can get rid of the cord.  My husband has the safety goggles in the garage so I am covered there.  I have seen red, green and blue ones in this group.  I like the purple colored ones the best, i think.

I clicked on the yellow text and read a little...WOW what a lot to learn

I think i understand you said stickies, because if all that information dosnt get stuck in your brain
you have to re read it until it does stick.  I showed my son the eyeball picture and he said ewwuueeee.  I thought it was interesting.  I will go back there and try to read it all again and maybe some of it will stick...lol

I can not believe...this is a group but with very fast e-mail sort of.  wow

Any HeNe gas filled laser tube big or small requires thousands of volts to run.... I have 2 foot
tubes and as small as 4 inch tubes.....

A stickie is an important Thread that is stuck (<--stickie) to the top of certain sections...
To see the different sections on the forum... click on <Home> near the top of the page...

I've been here about 6 months and I'm still reading info in threads/posts...
don't get discouraged....

Jerry

 

[Lotus_Darkrose]

[quote author=Lotus_Darkrose link=1238807111/0#4 date=1238809556]Hooray, another female! The only other female active poster on the forums as far as I know is Susie. We NEED more chicks on these forums. It's always nice to hear a woman's input on the hobby/profession/pastime...(With the exception of a significant other telling you how stupid you are for buying more stuff)  ;D

Welcome, lazergurl. There is a lot to learn, and you seem very educated. After enough time, I'm sure you'll be contributing information as well.  

I really want to learn more, but it is for my son i am trying to motivate, all he does is skateboard and play video games, he likes science and he thinks lasers are cool but, ours dosnt work very well.  Who ever said gals cant be good in science [/quote]

There are lots of girls who are good in science. I'm just glad we have another female on the forums that is into lasers. Which reminds me of a conversation I had with Susie on MSN Messenger. I recently made her a buddy icon on there, but the time before I asked her a random question involving lasers. Her response made me crack up for about 5 minutes. Susie: "Why do men like laser so much?" EPIC.

 

[lazergurl]

she sounds like fun. Im just trying to do the right thing for my son. When i do get this thing running for a bit. I find myself just gazing at that spot, something very hypnotic about the color, or brightness or something, I have to shake my head to stop concentrating on it.

Now i am just being trying to be funny here... But is there any competition amongst the men to have bigger lasers all the time Sorry I could not resist...

I just thing they are pretty and amazing when I shake the pillow in the air above the beam That was my first experiment I learned, plus...I got clean pillows at the same time ;D

 

[Lotus_Darkrose]

Well as far as most powerful handheld Blu-Ray lasers go, Daguin's got the biggest ;D

 

[lazergurl]

Well as far as most powerful handheld Blu-Ray lasers go, Daguin's got the biggest  ;D

Oh My...where can I see it

 

[Lotus_Darkrose]

http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1236464366/192

At the bottom of the page