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Thread: Argon laser missing wavelengths.. UHHG!

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2006
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    Default Argon laser missing wavelengths.. UHHG!

    I have a Coherent enterprise 610. I powered it up yesterday, and the unit was only putting out something like 488nm + UV @ about 310mw. ( I could tell becuase I had a flourescent sticky note that glowed white when in the beam path). So I figured it was my mirror aligment, and adjusted, and my power came back to 1.2 watts with all lines. NOW, like an idot, I was using my tune function to peak out all the power (manualy) and.... BLINK... I lost the beam.

    I just spent 2 hours, on setup of an alingment jig. I now have my beam back, but once again I only have 488nm +UV. Only at about 54mw. I was @ 485mw @ 9.2 amps. If I fiddle with the mirrors (lightly!) I can see some of my green lines come back. Also If I run full power (24amps) I can see all lines...


    Do you think my mirros, are dirty, and need to be removed, and cleaned? or is it just the angle of which I re-alinged my beam on the mirrors?

    Any help would be nice!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
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    Melbourne, Australia
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    Default

    It sounds like the laser is still out of alignment. I would try to realign again. Sam's laser faq has many tips on doing this...

    Dave
    KVANT Australian projector sales
    https://www.facebook.com/kvantaus/

    Lasershowparts- Laser Parts at great prices
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  3. #3
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    Default

    Thanks Dave,

    I will check out the site again. Thats where I orginaly got the info to re-align the system, but that's what I thought was going to have to happen :cry: .

    Thanks for th info!

  4. #4
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    Default

    We have seen a similar problem, where the output was way down. We ended up playing around with alignment a bit more, and all came good. I think what had happened in our case, was the beam was bouncing off the side of the bore, instead of going straight to the other end...
    KVANT Australian projector sales
    https://www.facebook.com/kvantaus/

    Lasershowparts- Laser Parts at great prices
    https://www.facebook.com/lasershowparts/

  5. #5
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    D>>>M!

    I think you are right!!!!

    I noticed from the rear window, I saw alot of light of casting from one side. I bet that is what is going on! I am going to try to re-align once again, but now I know I have a solution!!


    Thanks!!!

  6. #6
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    You will have to be very careful that you don't lose the beam completely, otherwise, you will have extreme annoyance aligning the laser from scratch... Again, Sam's has useful info to help here..

    Dave
    KVANT Australian projector sales
    https://www.facebook.com/kvantaus/

    Lasershowparts- Laser Parts at great prices
    https://www.facebook.com/lasershowparts/

  7. #7
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    California
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    I will be as carefull as... BLINK.. darn it!... Just kidding, (I allready did that today, once is enough!), but yes I am going to try to "walk the beam" into alignment.

    Thanks for the info! It helps when you can bounce issues off of Pros, and get real answers!!


    I might just be able to do my friends new year show..... Hopefully not in UV.. :lol:

    Thanks!!

  8. #8
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    Just a thought, when I align these things after they lost the beam, I remove the mirrors and make sure that the non coherent output is nice and round. If you really lost it, then remove the brewster covers and put cardstock in on one side to help the alignment. This helps prevent the "minimax" problems. Since the rear mirror is slightly curved, there are a lot of "valid" positions which will lase, but there's only a small "sweetspot" which allows you to tune for the most power. The only reason not to look for that spot is if the mirrors are damaged and the sweetspot is not possible.

    P.S. post photos of your rail I like seeing what people do for them.

  9. #9
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    California
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    This may be a stupid question, but iforry for such novice question, but i have never re i remove the mirros, this is not going to "de-gas" the tube is it? I see a seperate coupling, but I am not for sure, as the mirrors are held in place by rubber O rings.

    Sorry for the novice questions, but i have never removed the mirrors before.

    Ps what did you mean by "P.S. post photos of your rail I like seeing what people do for them."

    you can check out my pics of the first revison of the system that I built from scratch @ www.mycoolspot.com/lpics

  10. #10
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    Default

    On a standard head with adjustable optics, the brewster windows holds the gas seal. You won't
    degas it unless you apply shear force on the brewster window/stem. On your specific head, you should
    see a knurled mount around the mirrors. If you twist those counter-clockwise, they'll come loose.
    The mirrors can then be pulled out. They should be keyed so they usually slide back to roughly
    the same place for relatively easy realignment. Keep in mind that both mirrors are not the same.


    P.S. I meant closeup of your launch table

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