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Hello and argon lasers.

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Houdini0118

Mon Dec 10 2012, 08:20PM

Registered Member #8558 Joined: Thu Dec 06 2012, 11:38PM
Location: usa
Posts: 57

Hi im am new to these fourms but have been playing with mots and flyback for a while. So anyways i got this laser free and i was wondering if you can do anything cool with these. Its an argon laser and the output power is around 20mW and only has around 40 hours on it. The input power is around a kilowatt though so not the most efficient laser around. I also have some weird optics and fiber optic cables that came with it but i think i screwed up the allignment and lost a screw on those.So other than being a great hand warmer are these things of any use or value at all?

I also have another power supply that is broken but still makes the laser blink so i think the high power starter pulse still works. So is it possible to defeat the interlock and use that to power a small coil gun?

...

Tue Dec 11 2012, 12:47AM

Registered Member #56 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445

Nice find, it is useful for any application that needs a mid power laser... It would make a decent beginning to a laser projector, laser spirograph, 'liquid air' effect, etc

It is also worth a decent amount of money, again depending on the exact specifications probably a few hundred dollars.

As per the broken power supply, you may be able to use it to power a coilgun, although while the supply is a constant current supply it is not designed to be able to source current into a short circuit and trying to charge a capacitor with it will almost certainly damage it.

Shrad

Tue Dec 11 2012, 09:00AM

Registered Member #3215 Joined: Sun Sept 19 2010, 08:42PM
Location:
Posts: 780

I'd say more than a thousand, if it is only 40 hours

where are you from, and what is the model? can you take pictures of the stickers?

Meatball

Tue Dec 11 2012, 03:07PM

Registered Member #2401 Joined: Mon Sept 28 2009, 04:25PM
Location:
Posts: 74

As per the constant current from the supply, I'm pretty sure the plasma current experiences a negative resistance, and the cathode and anode constitute a positive one. Point is, I think the series resistance of an operating tube is very very low...

You could sequence DNA with it.
You could do fluorescence experiments with it.
You could try doing holography with it.
You could keep it as a space heater. :)

Houdini0118

Wed Dec 12 2012, 12:27AM

Registered Member #8558 Joined: Thu Dec 06 2012, 11:38PM
Location: usa
Posts: 57

What is the liquid air effect i couldnt find anything on google.

Also i know the power supplys are basically constant current but that part dosent work in the broken one only the pulse to strike the tube and that fires every second or so would there be enough energy in that for a little coil gun?

Also picutres My camera battery was dieing and the charger broke so they kinda suck. Also are the fiber optic cables/optics worth anything?

Meatball

Wed Dec 12 2012, 06:04AM

Registered Member #2401 Joined: Mon Sept 28 2009, 04:25PM
Location:
Posts: 74

Search "liquid sky" instead.

Here is a good example:

The pulse is to strike the arc, constant current flow only ramps up after an arc has been established. When the tube does end up lighting, there is a significantly large current that initially flows, (why the beam is very bright for a split part of a split second) which can exceed the set "run" or "idle" tube current. Starting arcs over and over again damages the cathode over time. Everytime the arc lights, tiny bits (generally insignificant, but measurable on the order of the tube's lifetime) of the cathode are effectively "blasted off".

Does your fiber directly coupled to the output? Is there a focusing mechanism to get the beam down the fiber?

Shrad

Wed Dec 12 2012, 12:59PM

Registered Member #3215 Joined: Sun Sept 19 2010, 08:42PM
Location:
Posts: 780

I may be interested in the fiber appartus if you're willing to sell it

such a laser on ebay with everything you have under hand would be worth selling, really, and at a good price

Houdini0118

Wed Dec 12 2012, 08:20PM

Registered Member #8558 Joined: Thu Dec 06 2012, 11:38PM
Location: usa
Posts: 57

I might be willing to sell it. I think i lost a screw from it though but im not sure i dont think its in allignment ill play with it later and see if i can get it to work.
What makes these things worth money? there are cheap handheld ones for 50$ on ebay that are 10x more powerfull?
what the optics worth? The cable in the bag came in a box saying Very expensive fiber optic cable do not throw away.

Houdini0118

Wed Dec 12 2012, 11:06PM

Registered Member #8558 Joined: Thu Dec 06 2012, 11:38PM
Location: usa
Posts: 57

are the optics so posed to make it back into a really fine point at the end because they *almost* do is there a way to make it focus better?

Daedronus

Thu Dec 13 2012, 10:39AM

Registered Member #2329 Joined: Tue Sept 01 2009, 08:25AM
Location:
Posts: 370

For once, the 50$ eBay laser pointer will not be a good laser for holography, for various reasons.
And some people simply like gas lasers, perhaps because they are not simple diodes.

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