What is your OLDEST HeNe or other gas laser (working)?

[lasergal]

I have a 1994 and a 1987. Does anyone have any from, say, the 1970s or even the 1960s, that still work just fine?

I'd like to hear from anyone who owns a 'vintage' working gas laser!

:wave:

 

[Cyparagon]

He's not on this forum, but I know Eidetic is an avid collector from that era.

I've got argon from '96, green HeNe from '93, dye laser (not working yet) from '87, and a medical argon from '85.

 

[bloompyle]

I have a working 4mw red HeNe from '83, and let me tell you, trying to solder onto 29 year old corroded wires to fix a connection is a real pain in the arse. I also have a 1mW red from '96.

 

[aryntha]

I've got a Hughes tube and PS from 1978...

 

[bloompyle]

I've got a Hughes tube and PS from 1978...

The moment I saw you commented I knew you'd walk in here with some dinosaur :na: How old is the tunable?

 

[lasergal]

I've got a Hughes tube and PS from 1978...

That's cool, and everything still works? I have a 1987 Hughes laser head and PS that so far works perfectly. I'm just a tad bit concerned about the age of it though.

 

[ARG]

My oldest tube is a melles griot from 1992.

 

[cheech226]

the orange tube i have is the oldest '91


well.....that might not be true. i just received a tube i won on ebay. said to come from a laserdisk player. looks like the mirrors are glued on. has a brewster near the hr end. no date on it, but it looks old. damn brewster window throws out laser radiation at an an angle to the tube too, caught me unawares:wtf:

 

[LtKernelPanic]

JDSU ML Argon: June 1996
Coherent green head: March 1999
Melles Griot red head: February 1992

I also habe teo red and a green bare tube but of them have dates on them but I bought the green tube new in early 2011.

 

[jaredian]

Hughes Aircraft Company 10mw red HeNe September 1982. Only puts out 4 mw, but still my favorite laser.

 

[Bionic-Badger]

Got an '83 Spectra Physics I bought off Daguin (always a bargain). Also some HeNe inside a 1986 particle counter. I haven't taken it out of the particle counter yet as I'm not sure if it actually works as intended.

No < 1980s lasers though.

 

[lasergal]

Hughes Aircraft Company 10mw red HeNe September 1982. Only puts out 4 mw, but still my favorite laser.

Nice! My Hughes is supposed to be somewhere in the range of 7-15 mW, but I don't have any way to test it. I do know that it was waaaay brighter and more impressive than my other little HeNe (Uniphase) which is probably about 1-2 mW.

 

[Cyparagon]

Argon from 1967

 

[lasergal]

Argon from 1967

Wow, that IS impressive! But, I couldn't see the pics because I'm not a member of that forum. :yabbem:

 

[Polonium210]

I have a 1988 Laserex LLP-100 handheld 1mw. It runs on two 9 Volts.
And it still works

 

[VidalWolf]

1973 spectra Physics 4 mw he-ne its a model 132 I think.