Want to build a He-Ne Lamp, help.

[Fiddy]

G'day,

So ive never had a gas laser and after seeing the lamp that Jayrob built.

I want to make one myself.

So what i need help with in matching is:




HV power supply, 12VDC, how much HV current will i need to driver the tube listed below?

Potential psu's
PSU1 , PSU2, PSU3

He-ne Tube, wanting a 632.8nm one with lots of transparent glass for looks, is this one a goer? Potential tube

Tube mounts, where do i get them from?

Cheers! Fiddy.

 

[lasersbee]

The 1st PSU seems a little too high in current and
voltage and price.
The 2nd and 3rd PSU seem to be the way to go.

The tube also seems usable in your project..
You can sometimes find HeNe tubes that do not
lase anymore but still have gas ignition at a
really cheap price.


Jerry

You can contact us at any time on our Website: J.BAUER Electronics

 

[Things]

As for the mounts, contact someone with a laser cutter

I'd offer but having just moved, I won't have access to it for quite a while

 

[icecruncher]

1st PS is a 110 not 12v if I read correctly. And as mentioned, is too high voltage for what you want.

Others are 12v and so need a wall-wart in addition to the HeNe PS.

Personally, I think you are better with a 110 PS and avoid the wall-wart completely.

Second, the tube you picked as a sample it not a good choice if looking for plasma display. Half the tube is not visible.

You'd be better with something like this

NEW 543nm 2mW GREEN HELIUM NEON LASER TUBE HeNe melles griot jdsu science fair | eBay

This is green and can be picked up for about $100

You can get a red version for 30-50 if you watch carefully on ebay. Tube and ps sometimes.

For what you are looking at, you DON'T want one in the aluminum tube. Too hard to remove and potential for breaking.

Find a Melles Griot from about 12"-16" long. They have about 2-3" covered at the end and the rest is just glass.

This is a 6" tube I did
http://laserpointerforums.com/f43/6-hene-heres-what-i-did-63396.html

This one is about 14" I did
http://laserpointerforums.com/f43/copy-cat-46581.html

G'day,

So ive never had a gas laser and after seeing the lamp that Jayrob built.

I want to make one myself.

So what i need help with in matching is:




HV power supply, 12VDC, how much HV current will i need to driver the tube listed below?

Potential psu's
PSU1 , PSU2, PSU3

He-ne Tube, wanting a 632.8nm one with lots of transparent glass for looks, is this one a goer? Potential tube

Tube mounts, where do i get them from?

Cheers! Fiddy.

 

[Fiddy]

Thanks ice man.
Yeah no good on the 110v supply, 230 in Australia.
Ill use a wall charger as supply a lot safer to work with.
Not a fan of the green tube. If you see one that's red and 10" long that's a clear tube let me know!

 

[icecruncher]

Thanks ice man.
Yeah no good on the 110v supply, 230 in Australia.
Ill use a wall charger as supply a lot safer to work with.
Not a fan of the green tube. If you see one that's red and 10" long that's a clear tube let me know!

Yeah, I wasn't suggesting buying the pricey one!!!

BUT, you can find 110v supplies for under $50 easy- if you look.

I've got a couple dozen HeNe tubes and about half are bare tubes, half are in aluminum.

BTW, with the Green HeNe tube (or yellow or orange for that matter) are ALL red plasma. the plasma color doesn't change! Just the output color.

If you were looking at only the tube you wouldn't know what color the output was!

So imagine red plasma with a green beam

 

[LaZeRz]

You can buy tube mounts/psu's and tubes from sam @ samslaserfaq

Sam's Classified Page

Edit: You can get the same tube you mentioned in your first post with a psu, resistor, mounts etc. for 50 bucks

 

[Fiddy]

yeah i know the plasma is red and beams green lol jsut dont like those colors together for the lamp.

LaZeRz how do you purchase from that website?

 

[Sigurthr]

You just send Sam an email asking to buy what you want from him, and then pay via PayPal. I've bought from him many, many times.
Click this link to use his email tool:

Sam's Classified Page

 

[lasersbee]

Thanks ice man.
Yeah no good on the 110v supply, 230 in Australia.
Ill use a wall charger as supply a lot safer to work with.
Not a fan of the green tube. If you see one that's red and 10" long that's a clear tube let me know!

The potted PSUs as in your 1st link (PSU1) are generally
good to use on 115VAC or 230VAC 50Hz or 60Hz.

Don't forget that a 12V PSU will draw quite a bit of current
on the 12VDC side. I have one here that draws ~2.5 Amps.


Jerry

You can contact us at any time on our Website: J.BAUER Electronics

 

[LtKernelPanic]

I've kicked around the idea of making a similar lamp but using a smaller 6" tube.

I'd worry about finding a matched tube and PSU first then whether or not it's AC or DC. If it's DC just buy a wall wart off fleabay or somewhere that's the right voltage and amperage, chop the end off and make permanent connections inside your base. If you want the supply to be removable pick up a DC input jack for a buck or so and wire the PSU to that. If it's AC you're good to go since the PSU should already be wired up with a mains plug. An AC supply is really no more dangerous to work with than a DC unless you have exposed mains wiring and if that's the case you deserve a zap for being a doofus Definitely check Sam's classified page. I bought my small bare red tube from him and as others have said he's a great guy to deal with and since he's practically the patron saint of the laserist community you're not going to get screwed.

I would recommend against those green HeNe tubes for two reasons. Finding a PSU to power one is harder and pricier and two it'd be, IMO, a waste to take a new tube like that and put it in a lamp where you'll never see that sweet lime green beam.

 

[Fiddy]

Im electrician by trade so i know my way around electricity 12 dc is much easier and safer, plan to add lighting and a on indicator led to the circuit too.

Yeah don't like the green beam and red plasma combo.

 

[AUS]

You can often pick up the little 4" HeNe's they used to use in bar-code scanners Fiddy, I have a 12v one here I bought on the forums for about $40.

I'll take a pic if you like..

 

[Fiddy]

Kool! 4 inch is a bit to small for a display.

I ordered a tube from Meredith instruments:

SPECIFICATIONS:

Manufacture / Part Number: Melles Griot, model 05-LHR-038
Output Power: 2.0 mW minimum, 2.4 mW typical
Wavelength: 632.8 nm RED
Polarization: Random
Mode: TEMoo
Beam Diameter: 0.49 mm
Beam Divergence: 1.65 mRads.
Light Exit: Cathode end of tube.
Operating Voltage: 1450 VDC (with 68 K ballast).
Start Voltage: 8 KV.
Operating Current: 3.7 mA Ideal.
Recommended Ballast Resistor: 68 K Ohms, 2 Watt.
(Add in series to the anode lead within 3" of the tube.)
Recommended Power Supply: E-21, F-22.
Dimensions: 9.57" (243 mm) long x 1.12" (28.5 mm) diameter.

now i must choose a 12V PSU, which one should i get for this tube?
(i also ordered a 3W 68K ballast resistor with it)


I also bought a set of an anode/cathode tube mounts from Sam's Classified Page

Also bought some nice switches, panel mount LED's and a project box

 

[jayrob]

That looks exactly like the same tube I have for the lamp I built...

I guess you already asked Meridith about the mounting hardware?

 

[Fiddy]

i bought a few of their tube mount's to try, also have the anode/cathode mount which looks like what you have, what current are you running your tube at jay?