Remember to exercise those argons!

[vk2fro]

My power supply is coming any day soon for the ILT I bought off ebay. Have a mate staying on the weekend for a movie marathon and 8 bit computer gaming weekend (commodore 64), but we'll also play lasers. We'll video the disassembly and inspection of its guts, then we'll tesla it, get out the soldering station/hot air rework system, attach the fan, replace the key switch in the psu (missing key), change the transformer taps, convert it to current mode (in case mirrors are misaligned) and see if she lights

To check the fan voltage of the 208V power supply converted to 240V, we'll leave the key switch off and have a meter clipped across the input side of the fan thermal switch with the fan return. These lasers don't start their fans unless the tube has warmed sufficiently. So they may be no light off until I can get some 120V fans for it, or rewire the supply for 240V fan output.

 

[paul1598419]

@ Laserbuilder.

That Soviet power supply looks ancient. If it were American, I'd guess it to be 1950s era, but Soviet technology is out of my area of expertise. Nice job repurposing these old units. + rep

 

[hakzaw1]

Ty for the reminder--we had a cold front come thru last night--it was in the 80s and 90s until now.. plus I now have a new and well calibrated Hyperion to take power readings--soo YAY!
4 SLs first THEN my ML.. (it always gets the most use)

 

[paul1598419]

We are into some cold weather here, but I'll have to wait until I have healed a bit more before pulling that boat anchor out to run it. It would be a good time right now as we have had some 30 degree weather recently.

 

[hakzaw1]

30!!! just reading that gave me a shiver--hard to believe I used go out in the snow on purpose..

 

[ultimatekaiser]

yeah its been like that here too. the ar/kr or my hecd lasers often are relegated to keeping my room warm in standby

 

[paul1598419]

30!!! just reading that gave me a shiver--hard to believe I used go out in the snow on purpose..

Yeah, that's quite cold around here for this time of year. I hope to pull it out in the next few weeks and let it run for a couple of hours.

 

[vk2fro]

I will hopefully be exercising MR ILT 2 tomorrow once I get a plug top for the cord and move that blasted grey wire to the correct tap.

edit: strike 2 - another dead laser - all voltages appear correct so I think it might be on the start card. I'll check that tomorrow - probably the firing SCR (I can't hear it ticking after a minute).

edit: since this post I put a meter across the tube to time how long I had to get my eye out of the beam path should it fire. Cathode is fine, and normally a cathode would open up if the tube is up to air. Saw it glowing. Starter just needs repair so I'll fix that when I take the laser head apart later

DONT DO THIS - I knew this laser would not fire as its got something wrong with it, even after 4 minutes of the power supply being on, there was no ticking. Even so, like I said I timed how long the supply took to apply anode current to the tube and got myself out of the beam path well before this.

 

[LtKernelPanic]

*looks at the date of the last maintenance burn* *looks at today's date* DOH!

 

[n2stuff]

*looks at the date of the last maintenance burn* *looks at today's date* DOH!

Ooooops. I think its been longer for me. :crackup:

 

[paul1598419]

Me, too. I've just had so many projects get in the way of setting my beast up and running it. I will just have to make the time before it gets time to turn the A/C back on again.

 

[ultimatekaiser]

you dont wanna know how long its been for me. lol too long.

 

[swamidog]

always a pleasure to fire up one of the argons in my house.

 

[paul1598419]

Very nice beam shot. Gotta love those diffraction gratings. :yh:

 

[swamidog]

Very nice beam shot. Gotta love those diffraction gratings. :yh:

that was actually a double amici prism and not a diffraction grating. i really need to take a shot of my ArKr through it...

 

[n2stuff]

that was actually a double amici prism and not a diffraction grating. i really need to take a shot of my ArKr through it...

Hey Swami, would a roof prism from a binocular work? Oh, do you have a link to your videos? It's been awhile since I've seen one of those bad boys.