RF excited CO2 lasers

[Hemlock_Mike]

The input lens is 0.5" Dia @ -1.39" FL --- $54
That FL gives me opportunities for a shorter barrel.

Mike

 

[nightstick]

I will be wasp hunting this spring no muss no fuss to hell with the wasp I'll go straight for the nest Im sure its flamable ;D

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

NS -- Glad you got the ZnSe Optic.  
Mike

This is part of the mess machining plastic. -- get a lathe !!!!
Don't light up a wasp nest under a wood soffit.

 

[nightstick]

nice machine

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

NightStick --

This is my latest design using the 5" FL objective.

Mike

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

Here's Star Wars CO2 so far with 5x expander I still need to add the target laser from Susie when it arrives. Then fancy paint.

Mike

 

[Event_Horizon]

Mike, put a red dot sight or a scope on that along with a pistol grip and it would look completely and utterly awesome.

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

I'm building the grip now. It will use a green target laser.

Mike

 

[nightstick]

That is looking fantastic!!! looks even better with the expander great build Mike cant wait to see it painted and with a grip but it looks great just as it is

 

[Event_Horizon]

Just got my unit today (Its about time!)

I don't have my elaborate power supply even close to ready quite yet but I just want to go over the connections to be completely sure I don't explode something when I hook it all up. If anything is wrong please correct me!

See this image to see what I am specifically referring two.



First of all, the connector directly attached to the laser itself (number 1) is the 32 volt connection. I'd be attaching my 32 volt supply with + on the red and - on the black wires here.

Now, the base of the BNC connector (2) and also the metal assembly the laser is attached to is a common ground for the 12V and 5V connections. So the - end of both my 5V and 12V supply will be soldered here.

The +5V lead of my power supply connects to the solder lead on the very edge of the board, behind the BNC connector in that picture.

The +12V lead connects to J8 (just to the left of the BNC connector in this pic) which is a jumper that has a solder bridge between both terminals.

Q7 is a massive transistor and this is what needs to be heatsinked, I would assume the heatsink attaches to the back of this thing, on the gold metal plate with the screw holes in it.

Finally, the orange wire coming from the board (number 5) is the TTL control where I apply a variable voltage of 0-5V to control the power of the laser, with 5V being fully on and 0V being fully off (but not necessarily safe to look down the tube of course )

Is that basically right?

Also just want to throw out a quick thanks to chris for the nice packaging and declaring it as a "printer part." Customs didn't even bother opening it

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

EH --

Your driver is different than mine. There are several different ones which were sent. The "TTL" input is just that. Feed it ~5 volts for full output. Below that , zero output. I'm using a PWM driver to adjust power out.

Mike

 

[Event_Horizon]

Hmmmm, but in the group buy thread I could have sworn that someone said the TTL input was an analog input and it changed the average amount of time the laser ran at full power per second. I'm looking at the instructions that were included and it refers to it as a PWM connection actually not a TTL.

Also could anyone with the same driver as me confirm my connections please?

 

[Tottish]

Nope, you COULD use the TTL input to adjust the output power of the laser but NOT with an analog signal. That will have to be done with a 24kHz PWM-signal... Assuming all the drivers TTL-input are the same.
Talk to Chris if you're interested in adjusting the output-power and he could hook you up with a PWM-module. If not, like Mike says. Just give it around 5V for full power and 0V for no power.

Good Luck powering up the beast!  
/Tottish

BTW: Nice job on the phazer-gun Mike! I'm still working on my CNC-router but when it's done I'm going for the laser...

 

[Event_Horizon]

Alright I PM'd Chris for more info on the topic. Thanks for the help you guys I appreciate it.

I did get my laser running today. A pretty rudimentary setup, its powered by a variable DC power supply, six (!) IBM laptop power adapters and a Chinese cell phone charger. Taking up a total of 8 plugs. Its also resting on a stand made of rubik's cubes if it wasn't wonky enough for ya.

If anyone cares to see my temporary setup I can be seen burning a CD case here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/194074669/co2.mp4

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

Here it is with the grip and 2.5x beam expander.  I don't have the targeting laser yet but the trigger is there.  Now I'm thinking it looks a little like the Barbarella mini rocket gun !!!!  
Remember Barbarella???  You're old !!!!

Length -- 25"

Mike

 

[daguin]

Have you found the hand stock yet

Peace,
dave