Operating temperature for lasers....

[Schrecken_Licht]

Just wondering if anyone here (thru experience or otherwise) knows what the optimal room temperature range is for certain types of lasers, mainly argon and CO2 lasers. In other words, what sorts of temperatures should be avoided?

I'm in the process of moving all my lasers (the non-portables) to a spot in my garage. In the height of summer the garage can be up to 85 degrees F., even at night when I would be using the lasers. Could a room temperature of 85 degrees cause an air-cooled argon or water-cooled CO2 laser (lasers that are well-cooled and work fine at 65 or 70 degrees) to overheat? It's great in winter when it's 45 degrees in the garage and my gas lasers have more than enough cooling, but what about heat? I don't want to kill my gas lasers (I've got a He-Ne on the way and don't want to kill that one either!) with too much heat.

 

[Cyparagon]

It's tough to overheat a HeNe. A CO[sub]2[/sub] will perform better with cooler water, but as long as the water stays below 130F or so it should be OK. The argon should also be fine provided you have adequate airflow.

 

[climbak]

I dont know for sure about the CO2 or HeNe, but I believe my argon has an operating range of around 4-40 degrees C which I think is about 40ish to 95 F. You can probably look up a data sheet for the other two.