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FrozenGate by Avery

Remember to exercise those argons!

bluestars said:
I'm more worried about the space and power requirements, since I live in a pretty small apartment. The little HeNe is already taking up a significant amount of my hobby space. :) If I saw one for a great deal, though, I still might have to jump on it.
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How small is small? Small air cooled argon lasers aren't too bad. My place isn't big either ... that said, I've got a 42U rack loaded with networking and server equipment so I don't really count when it comes to worrying about apartment space... :whistle:

Power isn't a huge issue unless you plan on running the thing 24/7 or want something other than a small air cooled. I run mine for 30 minutes now and then, doesn't really have an impact and power here is $0.35/kWh.
 





diachi said:
How small is small? Small air cooled argon lasers aren't too bad. My place isn't big either ... that said, I've got a 42U rack loaded with networking and server equipment so I don't really count when it comes to worrying about apartment space... :whistle:

Power isn't a huge issue unless you plan on running the thing 24/7 or want something other than a small air cooled. I run mine for 30 minutes now and then, doesn't really have an impact and power here is $0.35/kWh.
Click to expand...

To be honest, I could probably make it work, but I need some excuses to not jump in with both feet. :) Anyway, I'd rather look before I buy if anyone happens to be nearby. If not, I guess I'll have to wait for next year's NWLEM or something.
 
Gave my 300wc a jog this weekend in prep for a move to WI. don't know how long it'll be in storage before i can get access to 240v at the new house so hopefully an extra month or 2 won't degrade her too much.
 
It looks like today I'm going to get a nice long run for my Ar/Kr.

With the low temperatures around here (it snowed yesterday), and with our house heating not working, I finally have the perfect opportunity to use my laser space heaters. :D
I'm running my Ar/Kr at 7A right now, and I'll probably keep it running for a few hours. I'll likely run my argon later today too.
 
Mattronium said:
It looks like today I'm going to get a nice long run for my Ar/Kr.

With the low temperatures around here (it snowed yesterday), and with our house heating not working, I finally have the perfect opportunity to use my laser space heaters. :D
I'm running my Ar/Kr at 7A right now, and I'll probably keep it running for a few hours. I'll likely run my argon later today too.
Click to expand...

It's still too hot in Cali to run mine:scowl:
 
Mattronium said:
It looks like today I'm going to get a nice long run for my Ar/Kr.

With the low temperatures around here (it snowed yesterday), and with our house heating not working, I finally have the perfect opportunity to use my laser space heaters. :D
I'm running my Ar/Kr at 7A right now, and I'll probably keep it running for a few hours. I'll likely run my argon later today too.
Click to expand...


Lol, i was thinking the same thing! just got mine off the trailer today after the move so it needs to warm up before unpacking. :(
it was snowing the last 2 nights and chilly in the new house, wishing i coulda fired my Reliant 300 up for a few hrs and watched the beam in the snow!
(that reminds me, need to change my location! haha)
 
Fired up the mixed gas 643 today. Still started right up. Super cold outside so the heat was welcome for once. Did some mirror tuning and got the power higher. Must've not had it quite spot on the first time. Really sucks on these-quite inaccurate without lots of care. Got it up to 110mW of white. Looking as spectacular as ever!
 
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I have a LASOS LGK 7872 ML02 ArI laser which I forget
to light up often. I remember the days of vacuum tubes
and those high power tubes often requires a warm up period.

After about 5 months of non-use, I powered it up --- ~5 minutes
of filament ON and only then, turned on the lase switch. I had 8
lines in 2 seconds. "get 'em HOT before you slip 'em the POWER!!!
My JDS-2214 acts the same way.
HM
 
I need to run mine. The last time was 7-4-16. My JDS only has 50 or 60 hours on it.
 
Scott --- Light up the tube but DON'T turn the key
to lase. Let it warm a while, turn the key and if it
clicks a couple times with no beam, wait longer.
It has always worked for me. Don't let it sit there
snapping to ignite.
HM
 
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Hemlock_Mike said:
Scott --- Light up the tube but DON'T turn the key
to lase. Let it warm a while, turn the key and if it
clicks a couple times with no beam, wait longer.
It has always worked for me. Don't let it sit there
snapping to ignite.
HM
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Sorry Mike I should have been more clear. Mine starts every time on the first click. It's birthday is 7-31-03 and the tube only has 50 or so hours on it. I know it sat for a long time before I bought it but, she works great @ 160+Mw with 6 lines at full pop.
 
So after 9+ months of sitting on my shelf I got the Argon twins out tonight. Only have enough room in the workshop/office to set one up at a time thanks to the annoyingly short umbilical on the cylindrical head. Not really too surprisingly my bigger one fired on the first pulse which I honestly wondered if it would after 9 months. I'll be interested to see what the other head does when I fire it up tomorrow night.
 
Yeah realistically small air cooled argons generally don't care how long they sit as long as they're relatively unused as they have a finite gas fill. It's the well used tubes, and larger argons with gas reserves which are the ones that you have to watch out for. if they are not being used, then gas leaks back out of the tube walls and out of the gas reservoirs and causes over pressure. HeCds are like this too-they aren't designed to be stored forever sadly, as much as we want to preserve them. The things that were designed to save them and increase their lifespan begin to start working against them. Ironic isn't it?
 
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Finally made time to fire up my other argon and to my shock it fired on the second pulse after only warming for maybe 2 minutes while I attached the exhaust ducting to it. Maybe it is slowly getting nursed back to health when I actually remember to run it.
 
LtKernelPanic said:
Finally made time to fire up my other argon and to my shock it fired on the second pulse after only warming for maybe 2 minutes while I attached the exhaust ducting to it. Maybe it is slowly getting nursed back to health when I actually remember to run it.
Click to expand...

So much for that. It flat out refuses to start. Let it warm for 20 minutes and nothing. Just ticks away. Have to mess with it this weekend and see if I can get it to fire again.
 
I did mine last week :)
I have moved house since my last post and the Argon is now mounted on a trolley that I wheel out every now and again.

I went through a quadcopter drone stage for a while, and I'm currently doing glasswork in the garage and setting up a high vacuum system to evacuate glass tubes.
 
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