Thoughts on Ebay Ar

[pullbangdead]

Found an argon on Ebay, just wanted to see if someone might know exactly what it is/how much it would be worth.  It's pretty cute.  I could find a power listed anywhere, and the website of Showa Optronics says they make air-cooled Ar lasers from 5 to 100mW. It looks pretty small, so I'm guessing it's on the low end of that.  Also, I'm not sure what kind of power supply it would require, any guesses if this is worth the time/money?  I found a surplus stie where the company says they have 50 of the things, so I would offer less than the posted price ($300) and shipping to me would be less than $30, but I would have to pay sales tax since I'm in CA.  Thoughts?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Showa-Optronics...NameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ShippingPayment

 

[GooeyGus]

I would try to get some more info. Finding a power supply for that could prove to be quite the challenge, or it may be easy, but I dont think I've seen one on ebay in last few months. I would just find a nice JDSU tube and power supply. I can get you a really really cheap PSU if you want, then you'll just have to find the head which should be pretty easy. PM me if you want the info

 

[Cyparagon]

It looks like a non-mainstream connector, but disassembly could identify all the leads. The 3V rating is for the cathode, the 70-100V reading is for tube current, and I'm assuming the 24V reading is for the indicator light, fan, and/or starter. It's probably a multi-line from 20-100mW

Ask the guy for more info printed on the head. At only 4 years old, I'd have to assume it still works.

 

[rkcstr]

I think it would be possible to build a supply based on those ratings on the unit. You would likely have to buy 3 separate power transformers and then build the DC supply portion (bridge rectifiers, large caps), but should be possible. Though, given that you'd probably need pretty big transformers on the 70-100V and 3V portions, it may be cheaper to search around for a pre-built PSU first.

 

[pullbangdead]

Hmmm...I need to do more reading and watching. I'm much more of a diode kind of guy (materials science will do that to you), but my next big laser ambition is to get my wife a little more into lasers, aka let me play with them more. Her favorite color is Carolina blue (she went to UNC), so I'm trying to decide the best way to get her a laser of her favorite color without blowing my graduate school budget. I figure if she has a nice blue one of her own that she actually likes, she won't roll her eyes nearly as much when I want to play with green, red, violet, whatever. Thanks for the replies.



What I really want to happen, and hopefully sooner rather than later, is I'll be making diodes of my own in the lab. That's what she has already says she wants: a Carolina blue 473-ish handheld pointer, completely made from nothing by me. (Well, the diode materials I guess actually come to the lab in gaseous form, but you get the idea). That'll be the ticket, one day...and until then, I'll keep reading and searching about argons or DPSS. Thanks again.

 

[MarioMaster]

Hmmm...I need to do more reading and watching.  I'm much more of a diode kind of guy (materials science will do that to you), but my next big laser ambition is to get my wife a little more into lasers, aka let me play with them more.  Her favorite color is Carolina blue (she went to UNC), so I'm trying to decide the best way to get her a laser of her favorite color without blowing my graduate school budget.  I figure if she has a nice blue one of her own that she actually likes, she won't roll her eyes nearly as much when I want to play with green, red, violet, whatever.  Thanks for the replies.



What I really want to happen, and hopefully sooner rather than later, is I'll be making diodes of my own in the lab.  That's what she has already says she wants: a Carolina blue 473-ish handheld pointer, completely made from nothing by me.  (Well, the diode materials I guess actually come to the lab in gaseous form, but you get the idea).  That'll be the ticket, one day...and until then, I'll keep reading and searching about argons or DPSS.  Thanks again.

I would just skip over it, sometimes you can get a head + psu that is tested working for this kind of money. Also stay FAR away from items that are "untested" I got burned on an argon for $400 that way.

 

[heruursciences]

That is a clone of a NEC 3030 or Toshiba argon laser. It will run off of a SP 162 power supplier with a photo flash cap and boosting circuit added. The output is probably single line blue 488nm at about 30mW maximum power. NEC lasers need a good kick in the pants to get started, and have quirks about the tubes that will blow up power supplies such as the ALC-60xxx and the JDS uniphase 2114 series.

BTW, I'd sell you a COMPLETE argon laser system for the $400 or so DELIVERED you want it )

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

Argon power supplies have involved circuitry to control the cathode current (B+). True, you can get one to go with a few parts but they need control to be stable and long lived.
I have bought two argons from Chris at Heruur..... and they meet or exceed advertised specs. Talk to him.

Mike