Spectra Physics 171

[krazer]

We acquired a SP 171 laser system (including the massive power supply) about to be thrown away at my university (UCSB) and we are wondering if it is worth trying to power up, or if there is anyone who is looking for these beasts.

The head is massive, a good 8ft long, and is an Argon filled head with a tuning prism. The initial inspection of the system looked good, the tube looks great, there weren't any blown fuses on the passbank, etc. The hour meter reads just over 1300 hours, so it probably has a bit of life left in it.

I have a few pictures below, any comments? We could probably get access to some 3 phase, probably not the 50a that is needed to get it running at full power but we should at least be able to get the tube to fire.

[sugeek]

I know a place down the road that has 3-phase... Talk to the Janitor and Jon.

-Adam

[dsli_jon]

I know a place down the road that has 3-phase...

Hey Sir P -

Sure, bring 'er down... we'll set it right next to the rotting Ar, here, and we can 'race em' to see which one will start a fire in the loading-bay, first...



If that's too much of a difficulty fer ya (...not exactly gonna fit in the boot of a miniCooper.... Gimme a call and I can walk you thru a quick-easy way to test for gas-integrity....

ttyl...
j

[PhantomRage]

holey mother &^%$ me transistors......

[Diachi]

I'm curious. What are those white disks in the Gas Fill/Gas Return tubes?

[krazer]

I am not sure, perhaps one of the argon gurus can chime in, but they look like some type of getter or flow restricter. The shorter sp tubes (ex, 165) also have similar stuff hidden inside the magnet. They are white ceramic disks and some fine metal mesh stacked in with them.

I am pretty sure it is gas intact, I will double check next time I am up on campus using our tesla coil. The last laser we got (a 165, sans power supply) was gas intact but the filament had sagged. The one was removed as a system, so it seems plausible that it was removed for being a power hungry monster and works fine otherwise.

[sugeek]

I heard from a little bird that you will need to bring your own hoses for cooling, and money for lunch.

[swamidog]

and a latte.


"the myth of the killer ape is true"

I heard from a little bird that you will need to bring your own hoses for cooling, and money for lunch.

[mixedgas]

Ze little white disks stop ze plasma from going the wrong way. As well as slowing the flow down to a decent rate.

Let me know if you need ze schematics/partial manual.

Steve

[krazer]

Ze schematics/manual would be great, it sounds like we might find a way to get it to fire yet.

If we can get plasma going at a reasonable current (I should be able to get 20A here at ucsb) how hard would it be to align the beast?