Would anyone like to see a strange 532nm labby? - for $40 ;)

[rhd]

Here's the brief story -

But first, please excuse the tacky kitchen workspace featured in these photos. As you'll read in a few seconds, I was planning to dismantle this machine, I didn't expect the thing to lase! I was looking for some laser surplus stuff to use for a labby casing. Found some stuff on eBay. Had no idea what it was. Asked the seller some questions. He didn't really know either. He offered to send it to me for just the cost of shipping ($20). I felt a bit guilty and sent him $40. A week later this arrived (along with 6 or 7 self-contained 532nm lab/portables that didn't work).

Had NO idea what this thing was. Upon inspection, I came to the conclusion that it was a 532nm laser (that was easy - label). But the weirdest part (at least for me, someone with limited knowledge of 532nm lab lasers) was that the IR diodes seemed to project into a PBS first, and then out through a bunch of weird optics into the crystal assemblies etc.

With some help from Aryntha (thanks!), I managed to play around enough to figure out an approach to testing it. Bypassed the internal driver and connector pinouts, and soldered new leads to the TWO infrared diodes.

Gave them some current - 80mA, then a bit more, then a bit more, up to 250mA. Nothing. Back into the box it went until the weekend.

So tonight I grabbed it thinking it was time to gut the laser and re-purpose the very awesome PBS assembly to make something new. For the hell of it, before doing so, I thought "why don't I crank in some more current?"

So I did... and at about 1.2A per diode, this started producing a beautiful green beam!

The only downside, was that it LPM'd at about 30mW. I added a bit more current. With 2A going to each diode, I got the LPM up to about 50mW. It was an attractive beam, but in the end, not worth saving for such poor efficiency. I pushed the diodes up to 2.5 before dismantling the laser, just to see what would happen, and they died.

Despite the relatively low power, this was a neat thing to see. FYI, the infrared went into the PBS and combined BEFORE the DPSS process. If this is totally common, then chalk my thread up to inexperience with this type of laser. But for me - this was pretty cool. the resulting case has TEC built in. Just need to decide what I want to build in it

 

[Trevor]

Re: Would anyone like to see a strange 532nm labby?

I want. Very much. Drool.

-Trevor

 

[rhd]

...and the graveyard. Looks morbid. But I'm going to try rebuilding it when some 9mm 808s arrive.

 

[Trevor]

Given what it probably cost new in 2002, that's horrifying.

-Trevor

 

[rhd]

Since the label says <500mW and the serial number / part number has a 200 in it, I'm guessing that this was a line of lasers that ranged up to 500mW, and that this particular model was 200mW initially.

My guess is that you'd be looking at... $5,000 back in 2002 ? Is that too high an estimate?

 

[Trevor]

Since the label says <500mW and the serial number / part number has a 200 in it, I'm guessing that this was a line of lasers that ranged up to 500mW, and that this particular model was 200mW initially.

My guess is that you'd be looking at... $5,000 back in 2002 ? Is that too high an estimate?

2002... I'd say five figures, but I'm not sure where in that range.

It probably also depends on the prestige of the company, the power solution, and any relevant software packages. Hard to say. :yabbem:

-Trevor

 

[qumefox]

You can't really go by the warning stickers and tell anything about the product line. I know *every* small air cooled argon-ion laser i've ever owned had <500mW stickers even though none i've owned could get up to even 1/3 that, even new. . Its just a generic warning sticker that shows they aren't class IV and shows up *ALOT* on lasers between 5mW and 500mW.


I'm in agreement with Trevor though. Not fun to see a working and interesting laser torn up for no reason.

 

[rhd]

"torn up" is a bit harsh. I've very careful taken apart the components, all of which screw back together. I have new 9mm IRs on their way, and I'm going to attempt rebuilding this at a higher power. If the DPSS components can handle it, I'll keep this as a green. Otherwise, I'm going to *recycle* it into a magenta build. I see nothing wrong with giving new (and different) life to an aging laser.

 

[Trevor]

Off topic: While this thread still makes me sad, I am rather amused that you took this apart next to your kitchen sink.

-Trevor

 

[rhd]

Off topic: While this thread still makes me sad, I am rather amused that you took this apart next to your kitchen sink.

-Trevor

Lol, that just speaks to how much I truly didn't expect it to run. Don't be sad something equally cool will come out of this. Think of it as an upgrade

 

[qumefox]

I think purely the... unique arrangement.. of the pump system will likely make this a pain to align again heh, so I wish you luck making it lase again. Though I do wonder why you think the pump diodes needed to be replaced? Did you try realigning the system while it was still lasing to see if it's output could have been improved any with the existing diodes?

The reason I say 'torn up' is because very few DPSS lasers, even cheap ones, that i've dismantled, have ever worked properly again.

 

[rhd]

I did try re aligning as much as possible with the mount system it uses.

I wan't too interested in keeping it as is, with roughly 0.3% wall plug efficiency

 

[Trevor]

I wan't too interested in keeping it as is, with roughly 0.3% wall plug efficiency

I take it you're not interested in owning an ion laser?

-Trevor

 

[rhd]

You KNOW that's a silly conclusion to draw.

If a 445 was doing 900mW output with 1800 mA input, you probably wouldn't feel bad about recycling it's internals. But if you got that same 10% WPE from a 532, you'd be ecstatic. Its relative to the technology.

 

[qumefox]

I don't think the issue here is with the technology. The issue here is that this was a relatively unique laser, even if it was inefficient.

And if you think that doesn't matter. Try finding a 612nm HeNe now days.

 

[Trevor]

You KNOW that's a silly conclusion to draw.

Just giving you a hard time.

-Trevor