Yes, it is! It just had me and up with this!
Coherent 430nm DPSS 30-50mW
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Yes, it is! It just had me and up with this!
Coherent 430nm DPSS 30-50mW
hopefully you get it working, post pics when you do
Well, I know an engineer who worked on these systems for coherent. I just got off the phone with him. He said that these units take about 10 minutes to warm up/emit from the time you turn the key.
"nuclear flamingo" i'll use that more often!
Nice looking laser though. Hope you get it working properly.
Nor the question is, is the flamingo a beta, alpha, or gamma emitter!??
Interesting laser... and if it just needs a bit of time to start beaming, then you picked up a real bargain!Quote:
Originally Posted by Laser Ben
Pics, pics and more pics please ;)
Yep, I really do hope the delay is the only problem with it. I believe this is holographic quality??? Any one know the size of a Coherent Compass 532? Because this is the same size.
Ben the thread title sums it up. Thats a sexy sexy laser.
I cant wait for you to get us pix of it in action. A rare and magnificent find :)
Rob
Have I missed the power of it?
Or is it dead = 0mW?
Jim
I'm assuming they didn't give it enough time to turn on. The laser was probably cold from storage and takes a while to warm up before the controller gives power to the diode. Then again they might not have had the correct interlock.
But surely, they must have known what it's power was when they bought it.
Have you any idea what to expect?
Jim
It's rated to 30mW but they usually put out over 50mW after warmup.
Impulse buyers welcome...
http://cgi.ebay.com/12-Watt-Argon-Gr...QQcmdZViewItem
haha... I would love to buy it!
ok.... even better
http://cgi.ebay.com/Spectra-Physics-...QQcmdZViewItem
I'm a little concerned with that 12W that they do not have any pictured of their own! Dave should file a dispute for them using their pictures of the 30k system.
Also, from what I have learned. There are only 4 of these units at this power level.
Of course I understand your concern, especially with the seemingly high amount of fraud seen through ebay on laser listings. I am sure the 12w rating is a bit high, they are probably just reading the labels. The whitelight is rated at 15w on it's label. If I were to buy that 12w I would want to see it first thats for sure! I'm tempted to bid on the whitelight... but I have no idea how much a PCAOM would set me back....
The amount of fraud is crazy. I got scammed and received a box full of bolts and nuts when I ordered a bunch of optic mounts and crystal ovens. eBay referred me to PayPal. They only told me to file a police report with the local police. I couldn't do that because he was outside the county. I called paypal to tell them this and the guy actually told me to stop complaining about it then he hung up. The dispute was closed in the seller's favor about 10 minutes later with the reason that I agreed to a mutual agreement.
Im sorry but unless Ion technology has made leaps that Sp 2000 is never 5W. Look at the head its tiny - ok maybe not tiny but its very short I'm not up on that model but it sure as hell looks to me like it would be lucky to do a watt. My Sp 168 - which is an older model - has a metre long head and when im lucky will push 3.3W. I know in argon only fill a 168 will do 6W and with mixed gas you can get a shade over 4W but thats with a much bigger cavity than this.
I will be happy to stand corrected if anyone can provide informed comment on the 2000 series but right now I dont think its right.
Rob
PS the argon with the scanners is more believable but still a bit cuckoo as the 12W is clearly derrived from the safety label.
I think an SP2000's are only good for about 2.5watts with ar fill, so that ar/kr is probably under 1.5w tops.
An ar I70 should make around 7w IIRC. It probably could make 12w, but only for the few minutes it would take for the cathode to melt and block the bore :rolleyes:
how much do you guys think the whitelight laser would be worth with the amount of hours it has on it?
It went for $1600 last time...
its not the ammount of hours that you should be worried about. I would be more concerned that either the seller has no idea about what he is selling, or the seller does know what he is talking about and is clearly misleading the punters. In either case there does not appear to be any evidence it works. Ok you could say there is no evidence it doesnt work but unless you can see it working or some real proof that it does work then I would keep away. After a point it does not matter what it sells for - if its non functional it would not be within a hobbyist budget to get it going and then becomes an expensive door stop.
If you want to get silly about it look at the current bid $666 - if that doent tell you to steer clear I dont know what will! :)
Rob
hehe...Number of the beast!!
Well...I will gladly have an 2.5/5W whitelight lasers. (not watercooled)
it will be expensive!!
Hey Just a side note, I bought my complete Coherent Enterprise 610 from these guys for $1000 off of Ebay# 7582183478 from coolerthanmoney. They said it came from the NASA-Dryden Flight Research Center. When I got it would not fire, system fault. I found that the cable to the heat Exchanger had shorted pins together. Fixed that, and it Fired, and then found that tube was miss-aligned. After about 4 hours... whal-la nice bright argon beam putting 5 lines, @ 1.3 watts and tube only had 800 hrs. They we excellent on the whole transaction, and also quick ship (crated). It was a smooth transaction.
Oh yeah it was the head, power supply, remote, and heat exchange all for $1000
here's a picture: ( minus the computer, monitors, and table I built)
http://mycoolspot.com/lpics/1.jpg
I also then bought 2 fiber launches from them, from e-bay, and when I recived the fiber launches, they had included 2 filters for my coherent power supply, and a remote inteface bypass card, and a second set of keys for free.
Update!
Received the laser and it is amazing! The neatest device I have ever used! The inside is very... interesting! Looks like every laser is custom as the board is half premade and half developer's board for custom circuits. There is probably several hundred feet of wire inside this thing and the head is water cooled! I'll put up pictures soon!
I think I speak for everyone when I say... "I can't wait!"
And now that my Melles power meter and beam profiler is here, this will be an interesting review!
If that happened to me I'd log in with his account a few times and get it locked out for wrong password (of course not from my home computer).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Laser Ben
That's kinda a bad idea. I finally got paypal to issue me a partial refund but other then that, I hate paypal support.
Hate to dissapoint you there rob, but i worked on the developement team for the series 2000 laser. The laser was speced at 5 watts broad band argon (mirrors were hard sealed on the end of the ceramic tube) I was able to get a few to do 10 watts but that was years ago. I would be amazed if first- these lasers LIT at all, second if conditions were perfect that one could get 4 watts out of it BB argon standing on one leg facing Mecca and singing Karma Camellion during a full moon. I was never really a big fan of the series 2000 the 168 ROCKS ASS!!!!!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by stanwax
Pat - as I said I am happy to be corrected by anyone though I would never have beleived it 100% - but as its you then I know its gospel!
Pretty impressive to get 10W even only on occasions from one of these little lasers. How long is the cavity? And what makes it so special to get so much more power from a smaller tube/cavity?
As for the 168 - Well mine certainly rocks - I love it to bits and its mine 'til one of us dies :)
I converted everyone at the last UK meet who had never seen a decent ion laser in full flight, so they now know and appreciate a 'proper' laser though I know its only a baby to a 171. Im hoping that a few more will see the merits of the 'old school' at the meet in a couple of weeks.
Its the colours that just blow people away - the mix of colour and the shades are so so nice compared to solid state - mind you why am I telling you this?!
Rob
No problemo. The 168 in my opinion is the greatest ion laser ever manufactured (next to the 164 & 165 ofcourse) The 2000 laser is about the same length of a 168. It is a metal ceramic plasma tube with hard sealed mirrors on the ends. (VERY HEAVY) The series 2000 was the answer to the entertainment industry. Keep in mind that coherent had come out with the I90 and the I70 at that time (for a good time check out the law suites going back and forth back then (early 80's) It was speced at 5 watts but we couldnt ship them unless they were doing at least 7 watts. The plasma was so intense that the mirrors degraded quickly and bla bla bla (I could tell you stories but I would be either sued or killed) so thats all i have to say. I built a laser show that showed the laser running vertical for SP at their trade show booth at CLEO which was a big deal at the time. Attached is the brochure I produced for the series 2000 and 2011 laser at the introduction (if it had a SP logo on it...I was up to my eyeballs in it!)Quote:
Originally Posted by stanwax
Hey Ben - killer score, dude! :cool: Pix yet? That blue has got to be sooo amazing...Quote:
Originally Posted by Laser Ben
...and Rob / Pat - well, can't argue with Pat, being an 'SP company-man' and all :D, Buuut, I do beg to differ, at least in OUR case - Well, I guess, I have to 'qualify' that cause while our SP2K IS an SP2K tube/PSU, it DOES have non-SP German-made WL optics - peaked / tweeked and 'squeeked' (freshly-cleaned brewsters! ;)), I got 5.1 Watts of VERY NICE WL output at max current of 52.5 amps - (typically run it @ 42-45A, and it still does 4-4.5W (depending on magnet settings - fully adjustable mag, BTW) - can even get nice yellows out of the Kr, if I want, but usually, run it a little more 'balanced' - was pumped to 12% Ar and 88% Kr... It has only left the shop TWICE (on an emergency) - it is a HEAVY sucker, but stable, and I love it as a 'studio' / programming laser...
This is NOT to disagree with the 168 (and 171) accolades - the 164s and 168s are totally awesome little lasers - I sold my 168 Ar in like '94, (needed to buy a new car, and biz was just not 'there' yet...sad, sad day :() but also, they were just a bit un-practical for heavy-travel sho-work - it's just the law of 'probablility' - the more times you ship a glass-tube, the more chances you'll end up having to face 'talking yourself out of 'hari-kari' when your show-laser gets to the venue with a forklift having run it-thru' :mad: I-90s, for all the crits, for us, anyway, became the small-frame of choice for the ROAD. I'd still buy-back my 168 if I could, though - just to stare at that beautiful 'eye-cooking' plasma-glo! :D
...Now, Ben - you gotta post pix of your blue-bombshell, there - I don't wanna get accused of 'thread-jacking', here - this was your 'ride', man - let's see some BLUE, bruthuh! (when ya can, I know - just being a dork...) :rolleyes:
peace..
-J
Jon
the plasma glow. Yes Yes Yes!
I could happily stare at that for hours - its so fickin gorgeous!
See below for my pix
Rob
Hey Rob - 'YEEEEEAAAAAAHH Baby! ...Very shagadelic'!!!... (sorry, really bad 'Austin Powers', there...;) - Great pix, BTW :)Quote:
Originally Posted by stanwax
Just be careful (which I am sure you already know:cool:) about staring at those TOO long, cause of all the UV coming off those babies -
ask Pat (Laserman) about it...:eek:
peace...
- J
yes the 2000 was the one pictured by jon. The 2010 was the one pictured in the ebay aucton. hell I was only off by 10 points in 2000. The laser jon pictured i also dont like. (heavy and electronics very complicated) Robust for sure for shipping, but watts per pound cant compare to a 168, 265ps...Life is about balance. I guess that i am SOOOOOO old school i never liked metal ceramic lasers. The glass tubes to me were art. different strokes for different folks.
rob...staring at the plasma glow ruined my eyes.
Thanks for the concern guys - I dont mean I literally stare at it for hours - yes I am aware that its unkind - i was just sayin how the plasma is a very beautiful thing. Its not very often that its operated with the cover off, and that isnt for reasons of plasma emission but rather to protect against the electrical death hazard!
Rob
Sorry ben for tread jacking i am curious if you do get it running and get good light out of it.Quote:
Originally Posted by stanwax
Rob how come your laser is only doing 3.3 watts? BBMM (-17 & -18 optics i believe) you should see about 8 watts. BBSM optics (20-9 & 610-1 optics) should easily give you 5 watts. Sounds like you might need a little fixin there. I do field calls :D
I really dont know what optics are in - is there any easy way to id them? When its first on I often get a yellow line in the output which soon fades as the tube warms up - its rarely there after 1 min @18-20A
The laser has got a cambridge Ar/Kr fill tube which was fitted in '96 and as far as I know has done little in the way of hours untill I got my hands on it.
It was refurbed for Laser Magic here in the UK and apparently they did not use it for its intended and sold it on to the guy I bought it from.
I dont run it hard but when I have eased it to 34A 3.3W is what I have acheived. I didnt think this was too bad - considering the spec sheet that Brian from Cambridge provided me shows 4.4W @34A in '96 when the tube was first refurbed. Their spec shows optics of CCLinc fitted during test - does that mean anything? I bought advertsised as a 2W whitelight, after realigning, walking and sorting out a problem with my mains supply at home - fluctuating between 248 & 207VAC depending on the time of day, I mangaged to see 3.3W at 34A with the field down at min. This is only indicated on the power meter on the 265 panel so I dont read it as gospel. One day I will get a thermopile head infront of it and measure properly - lasercheck is a joke for this baby :). I relly wanna do this so I have some idea of the accuracy or probable inaccuracy of the panel meter.
The other thing thats in the equation - and you may remember this has popped up from time to time on alt.lasers - is the fact that the previous owner has done a single phase mod to the 265. I run it through an auto transformer to give me 220v - depending on the tapping and the supply volts this sometimes creeps to 225v - I try and keep it as near to 220 as I can. If its down at 215 then it can struggle to acheive the higher tube currents so I dont push it up that far. Though I do like the 265 - its a solid old bugger - Ideally I would like to pick up an aurora 40 - though one for reasonable money is a rare thing on the s/h market.
BTW Pat out of interest were you involved in the development or design of any of these lasers we are talking about here? Im just interested - or rather fascinated by your time at SP.
Rob
long tread, short answer- you have a white light, i thought it was an argon only (my bad) your are getting what you should (around 4 watts) with the PS mods you have. Brian is the best BAR NONE for glass plasma tubes. Brian and I go back 25 years at least. Glass pts were at SP when I got there. I was service engineer then applications engineer. Traveled the US servicing ions, installing PT's, Clean and aligns, and installing pico second and stabilized ring dye lasers. As apps eng i was given the new products coming out of engineering to test drive, and suggest mods and improvements, some were accepted some rejected...thats big business. I also ran the demo lab, a beautiful facility with a 4 x 10 floating newport table and i would set up different systems for potential clients to come look see and buy (hopefully). Mode locked- sync pump- cavity dump- dye lasers were my specialty.
BEN- I looked at the blue auction...i'm concerned- The winner "Cheap optics" is no longer a registered user is that you?
Rob ...
I have a Gentec Laser power meter with a thermopile head that can read upto 10KW will this be big enough :D
this one
http://www.lambdaphoto.co.uk/pdfs/TPM-300.pdf
actually the thermopile that i have with it does upto 300W
i can bring it to the meet if you want to take some readings
all the best ... Karl
Karl
Yes please
I remember you did offer last time but in the excitement I forgot :)
Rob
Hey Rob - (sorry, Ben... BEN????:D)Quote:
Originally Posted by stanwax
Couple thoughts, relating to your 'lowER power output': I assume that with the spec sheet Brian gave you (GREAT guy, BTW!!) they listed proper tube voltages @ X Amps to allow you to keep an eye on gas pressure? They should have, and that's something to keep an eye on - and yes, I would not rely on the meter, especially if the 265 has been modded - who knows how accurate it's tube pressure readings might be...IF you've never read tube voltages directly off the tube, that is something BEST SEEN DONE LIVE, BY AN EXPERT, FIRST...for obvious reaZZZZZZons! :D
No reason to be 'afraid' of it, cause with a well educated, (where you can touch / where you can't, etc) healthy respect (not fear), you, too, can keeps tabs on your tube voltage / gas pressure, and keep it from ever getting close to 'tube-killing' low-pressure "oscillation", or suffering from 'hard starts' and low-output from high-pressure.
I have (somewhere) a video of tube voltages being taken LIVE, directly off the tube, with narration, so that could serve, BUT I imagine there are plenty of blokes over there that could show you (that is IF you don't already know, etc) - point is, you should endeavour to check it before too much longer / keep an eye on it - yellow lines CAN be an indicator of low-pressure, which is a more 'dangerous' (and more easily-remedied) condition than high-pressure... For example, how is your RED output vs blue/green? 'Strong'? 'Faint'? 'Low' Kr output, especially if 'un-improvable at lower mag-field settings', CAN BE an indicator of low-pressure (also can be dirty HR/OC/brews, but assuming those are clean, good alignment, etc, is it STILL 'low' / weak?)
Last thought is, when was the last time you cleaned your brewster windows? Even with the dust-tube sleeves over them, after awhile, they can get a coating on them / dusty, and I have seen EASILY a Watt + of improved performance from JUST cleaning the brewsters...again (and please don't take it bad if you already KNOW - it's only cause I don't know what you do and don't! ;)) something best done AFTER you SEE an EXPERT do it, live, not only 'cause #1, you do it with the head-cover off (again, need to be careful of thoZZZZZZZe certain areaZZZZ! :D) and laser-running, but #2, done INcorrectly, can result in a big LOSS of power, and if done REALLY wrong, even damage to the window... so, again, just some 'friendly fyi's' that can make big differences in the world of 'output power'...
Also, just an fyi, I (as I am sure do several others, ie: Steve (Mixedgas), etc) have a TON of spare parts for the 265s, (caps, hard-to-find fuses, etc) as well as 2-complete extra units, so, just another resource IN CASE you ever need something (that will be less $$ than good 'ol Brian! :D)
Lastly, as to the Aurora - would not recommend it - talk to Brian @ Camb, there about the Aurora FIRST, before any purchase (if you ever find one)-
AGAIN, SORRY, BEN - PLEASE DON'T BANISH US!!! :D
peace
- J
Jon First off this qualifies to hijack the thread becase it most certainly was an impulse buy!Quote:
Originally Posted by dsli_jon
In 2004 I decided I was gonna treat myself to some scanners - probly CT6800's. I saved my pocket money (well ok maybe not pocket money I am nearly 42!) and then just missed out on an nice air cooled 1W argon on eblay (Alc909 iirc) from a guy I had sold stuff to several years before. I was gutted ...until a week later when he listed the 168. I had to have it - and I won it for a bloody song so ended up with a whitelight laser and a Neos cell & 8 channel controller (for more than the CTs ...but not much more! :)) but no bloody scanners! For some months this thing was the most impressive laser crab (black widow) in all of the civilised world!
As for the other stuff. I have cleaned both brewsters and cavity optics and it was following the alignment I did after this that it really seemed to cook :) I need to check them again but will do so after the UK meet cos I know I wont get time to spend on it to do it properly before the meet - and we know what happens when you rush things.
As my background is in electronics I know the dos & donts and though im a light current kind of a guy I know the respect needed of all electrickery. I have measured the tube volts - leaving the meter off until AFTER the start pulse :) - I find they work better when not scattered around the shop im a million pieces - there is a slip of paper kicking around here in the abyss with figures on but this is old - maybe I will take some more this week as Im due to run the baby up.
Whenever I get something or get interested I will find out as much info as I possibly can - just cos Im an geek :) I listen to all - the gospel from people like Pat B and Steve R, but also the bullshit from the know it all numpties out there.
So though I would never profess to being an eggspurt or to say I know it all - I think I know enough to get by - such as dont fire the start pulse and turn current straight up to 11!.
I cant wait to show it off again in 2 weeks - yes 2 weeks tomorrow! whey hey!
Can you tell im excited :)
The yellow line is only fleeting - worse if the alignment is walked off a little - but I get loverly colour balance - red seems strong enough - with the field at zero - so reckon it cant be too bad. See below to see me enjoying it :)
Rob
Hey Rob -Quote:
Originally Posted by stanwax
LOL... well sounds like you're 'captain of your ship', there! :D great to see! - RE: tube voltages / pressure - I am sure if you send an email to Brian (or Peter Holley) at Cambridge, they'd be more than happy to supply you with the 'optimal' numbers for each Amp-range for the 168 - also, let them know what AC voltage-ranges you are using - which taps you are using on the transformer CAN affect PSU performance relative to AC V input (which I am sure you know!:D) - anyhoo.. But yeah, if you are seeing good Red, even at slightly higher mag settings, then you're prolly not more than 5-10V out - more to worry about much PAST -10V low...
RE: pix - YES, with REASON you are jazzed!! I'd DARE any of the DPSS'ers - analogue control included - to match your colors, there - just beautiful, mate!! even when one day, we 'go all-DPSS WL' for 'practicality / to stay 'competitive', I will be always partial to an Ions' color palette' - there is just a 'special quality' to it as well, beyond the inherent lines... dunno, just 'magical'..
Anyhoo, Good Show!, and cheers! :D
- J
beautiful picture rob...borderline orgasmic. For a normal argon 168 TV's will be between 237 - 243 vdc @ 38 amps field max. A white light laser will want a little lower than that. For a white light that you operate around 35 amps with the field at middle i would use 235 to around 238. Now of course Brian may suggest something for his formula...go with what he says. Any yellow is a good thing in my book. If you do choose to do a fill shot wait at least 20 minutes then measure again. IMHO the input voltage probably wont matter because a 265 is regulated very well not like lexels...anyway my .02 ...cool pix man.