LOL.
Well sad to hear you didn't get the unit working.
I hope you enjoyed the LEM, working with lasers IS dangerously addictive, and expensive. Once you have command of those photons, its very difficult to to relinquish.
Best of luck in your ventures
That said... I do still have it!Quote:
Originally Posted by zerowaitstate
I'm considering trying to take the YAG crystal out and turning it to a diode pumped unit, but I don't know if the YAG is suitable for that.
I brought a little 2W demon yesterday, gonna build a little driver for it and have a 'play around' I'll try not to blind myself! :)
LEM was great. I do hope to go up again when I've got my own vehicle.
Last time, I brought my 70kV XRay Transformer.. pity it died under the ability to pull a full load (Had 230V @ 32A avaliable!)
I arrived too late to see the X Ray transformer in action, although I was there to witness its dismantling; did you get it going again?
Still have the IGBTs waiting for me to start one of the projects they're destined for!
I didn't see this thread when originally posted. I have done a bunch of work with the Greenlight PV lasers like yours. I ended up developing a micro-controller board that fits inside and takes over the lamp and q-switch drivers. There is an external control box with an LCD that lets you set the lamp current and q-switch pulse rate and width. It takes care of the first pulse suppression and has nifty safety features like an interlock loop, water temperature sensor, etc. I had one out at CampLEM FWIW. Ping me if you have any interest.
Hi Junktronix,
Admittedly that would be quite interesting to me... However I really need to find the time and organize renting a proper workshop for myself to engage in this project as currently this unit sits at work wrapped up under plastic sheet. I'll probably sit on this thing for a while.
I'm working on trying to get a galvo and diode working, a huge fall from this monster... much safer first laser project.
Also got a 7mm x 70mm ruby rod I came across online :)
Whoa... I had no idea you were still producing laserscope parts dude! I know someone who might need to speak with you soon. He's got a pair of older scopes that he's probably going to need parts for. (One fell off a truck - literally - so it's going to need new flow tubes for sure.) I'll send him your way, if that's OK.Quote:
Originally Posted by Junktronix
With regard to these PV units, I thought they were all locked down with those encrypted "dose card" electronics boards that would prevent the unit from operating after a given number of shots? If so, how'd you manage to reverse-engineer all that? (Or did you just bypass everything and start from scratch?) Either way, pretty cool...
Adam
I dumped all my KTP/532 parts inventory when I started working on the Greenlight PV's, which IMHO are much better machines. I do still have a few a.l.e. controller boxes available though. My controller for the PV is microcontroller based and takes over the lamp power supply and q-switch driver. Once installed, you can remove the display and smart card reader permanently. It implements first pulse suppression in software and lets you control the lamp current as well as the q-switch pulse rate and pulse width. I can usually get 60+W out of them at 25A lamp current with optimal q-switch settings. 80-110W maxed out.
I just noticed this thread. It has a familiar ring and the responses have been sorta deja vu as well.
TC,
My personal opinion is that you should carefully inventory this laser, place it in storage and build, buy or work on a substantially smaller unit for the near future. The safety issues are certainly real and I don't discount them, but my primary reason is that you will get very frustrated even if you don't get hurt.
To ENJOY this project you need test equipment and skills as well as a proper, spacious and isolated working environment. Based on your posts and the image you provided, I suspect you need all of these things. Your applications sounded a bit like a man with a hammer looking for some nails. You didn't mention just looking at a beam with this much power or knowing that you owned such a beast, but for many of us that is in fact the primary reason we would want this laser. For the applications you mention there are more cost effective and functional laser sources.
I don't want to discourage your interest in lasers; moving more slowly along the power curve will be more fun.