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Registered Member #3272
Joined: Mon Oct 04 2010, 11:40PM
Location: Beaverton, OR
Posts: 101
I got a new toy about a week ago, an old laser welder. It was originally bought around 1985 by Tektronix for $270K to weld the Micro Channel Plate CRTs used in some scopes like the 7104 and the 2467. It is a flashlamp driven YAG and runs in two modes, multimode for welding where it outputs 400 watts average, 55J per pulse, up to 200pps, and pulse lengths between .5 and 20ms. The second mode is TEM00 where it averages about 120 watts and is used for cutting and drilling up to 5mm metal.
One of the scopes it was used to make:
A thread over on home shop machinist where there is more detail and pics
Registered Member #3272
Joined: Mon Oct 04 2010, 11:40PM
Location: Beaverton, OR
Posts: 101
Made a bunch of progress on the laser welder. Got the resonator fired up last week. Took out the tops of a couple pop cans with it. Needs more work, currently have the water pump apart to replace bearings and the mechanical seal. The cavity optics are pretty toast too, found a HR that ought to work, need to get a new OC.
Registered Member #56
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445
Holy smokes it lives! What sort of power are you getting out of the resonator? Looks like its ~50w judging by the burnyness, which is not bad for the first run of an ancient flashlamp cavity!
Registered Member #3272
Joined: Mon Oct 04 2010, 11:40PM
Location: Beaverton, OR
Posts: 101
Not sure yet on the power. I dont trust the power meter on the unit yet. I need to take my power meter over there and see what it is doing. An engineer at Coherent sent me info on taking long pulse power readings with my thermopile head and Labmax.
I am pretty sure the lamps in it are end of like and the OC is in pretty rough condition. And there might be an issue with a spot on one of the faces of the yag rod. I need to pull it apart and see.
Found a chinese company that sells replacement OC's for it for $50. Worth a try at that price!
Registered Member #3272
Joined: Mon Oct 04 2010, 11:40PM
Location: Beaverton, OR
Posts: 101
Got the cooling pump put back together today. I took my power meter over and with the new HR I got a peak average power of 114w. I really need to install a new set of lamps and start from scratch on this thing.
A friend got me in touch with a guy that used to work for Lumonics. He runs his own business now and says he can redo the coating on the rod and remount for $300.
Registered Member #3272
Joined: Mon Oct 04 2010, 11:40PM
Location: Beaverton, OR
Posts: 101
The guy that is going to do mine used to work for lumonics and knows how to deal with these rods. The stainless mounts are glued in place and the rod has a specific length it cant be cut down beyond. Worth it to me.
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My latest laser project: CNC Laser Welder
