trying to repair two Quantum Entertainer

[steve-o]

Hmm, maybe tune into the big green thread over yonder to learn how to rebuild them .. or, maybe even hot-rod them a little ;] (there's some big brains over there a-working) you can see the smoke comin' out of that thread .. ~ whew .. ~

[mixedgas]

I can't believe how crappy all of the machining is in those things.

Chad

Wait till you see the $9000 one in the other thread. They look like a million bucks on the outside. But inside, ahhh beginners level manual Bridgeport...

[mixedgas]

Check and see if the pump diodes have changed wavelength from metal migration.

Then disable a diode TEC for just a few seconds. Make sure you re-enable it quickly. Does power go up or down?

Got access to Liquid Nitrogen? You just need a tiny bit of cold, dry, N2 vapor streaming under the diode, over the TEC. Does power go up or down?
Dont crack the TECs, they do not like temperature shock.

You want anything cold away from the optics, least it cause condensation. I would not use component cooler spray for this trial, unless it is on the aluminum case when sealed.


Steve

[steve-o]

I work with LN2 almost everyday . Unfortunately, it's in fairly large chambers and not confinable to a small area.. If I can help, let me know ..

[dsli_jon]

I can't believe how crappy all of the machining is in those things.

Yeah, I gotta say, I'm flabbergasted.. I mean, based-on how these things have always performed / are tough-as-nails.. but these look like they gave a fork and butterknife to a 6 yr old! I really-do wonder if these two might-be 'early-gen' or even in-house 'engineering-samples'.. ..curious Mat - what are the 'serial #s? Might tell us something..

..The 'bottom line' is those things do-produce an amazing beam, like 0.25 mRad, and just last and last and last, just like the Excels and Elites, at least, in our experience...*still* have one of these lil' pups down in El Sal, still doing ~800mw, (as-of last Dec, granted..) but the head was sold in ~2003 (!) so.. And one in Spain (iirc..) still going-strong, afaik.. And a few-Clients with the 2.5W Excels, on-Tours, and they testify they're just (still) bulletproof.. And even the little Entertainers always did really-good power for us..

(...and, yes, this was 'IR-filtered'..)

I guess it all gives 'encouragement' to the '2 Watt project-thread', looking at the materials / fab, in-here.. don't see much of anything 'not-doable', and much-better, given the right optics / specs / temps, etc..

Mat - did you verify that the TECs are actually *working*? Does-appear like the one, at-least, looks 'kinda baked', ya? http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...0&d=1352723588 Just a thought..

Another silly-question - have you actually tried to 'tune' the back-plate to peak the sweet-spot? Yeah, it ought-to be 'perma-locked', but.. what have you got to lose, besides 50-70mW? I-do also think the optical-cleanliness has a lot to do-with these things outputting to-max (or not..).. Again, the only time we've seen 'drops' in power like this, (over about 6 units..) was with the old black-head's seal-integrity-issues.. Nothing like this with the 'gold' heads / your-Gen... (???)

.02
j

[matratzki]

Hi, so next week my exams are over and I get some time again to spend on my quantum baby.
So now I am going to buy two new Pumpdiodes to test them with the Laser.
Does anybody of you know if a Pumpdiode of a Quantum entertainer head uses a FAC lense???