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Thread: A gas laser question

  1. #1
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    Default A gas laser question

    I just received a reliant 1000M air cooled argon.
    The laser was run in a nightclub on a ML-10 rail for who knows how many years. The air intake fins/vents are jammed about 95% of the way shut with fog/haze/nicotine/dust/smoke/dirt ect.
    The laser is reported to be doing between 25 and 100 mw. It was a 1 watt laser when it was new. I got it as is with all faults disclosed.
    I am wondering how badly the tube gas pressure will have been compromised by running it in an overheated / clogged condition.
    Will the tube be heavily over pressured from the overheating? I'm not confident that this will ever run at anything near a watt without reprocessing due to the state its in.

    I'm very intrigued by this failure as Ive never seen heavily plugged cooling fins before on an ion.

    Any advice? thoughts?
    I will be taking it to work tomorrow and cleaning the intake fins as best I can.

    Thanks everyone for the input. =)

    ~Nate.
    Will there be three phase!!!!

  2. #2
    swamidog's Avatar
    swamidog is online now Jr. Woodchuckington Janitor III, Esq.
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    maybe you'll get lucky and it will be back up to power when you clean the goobers off the optics and tweak the alignment.

    Quote Originally Posted by Vidal Wolf View Post
    I just received a reliant 1000M air cooled argon.
    The laser was run in a nightclub on a ML-10 rail for who knows how many years. The air intake fins/vents are jammed about 95% of the way shut with fog/haze/nicotine/dust/smoke/dirt ect.
    The laser is reported to be doing between 25 and 100 mw. It was a 1 watt laser when it was new. I got it as is with all faults disclosed.
    I am wondering how badly the tube gas pressure will have been compromised by running it in an overheated / clogged condition.
    Will the tube be heavily over pressured from the overheating? I'm not confident that this will ever run at anything near a watt without reprocessing due to the state its in.

    I'm very intrigued by this failure as Ive never seen heavily plugged cooling fins before on an ion.

    Any advice? thoughts?
    I will be taking it to work tomorrow and cleaning the intake fins as best I can.

    Thanks everyone for the input. =)

    ~Nate.
    suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconciousness.

  3. #3
    mixedgas's Avatar
    mixedgas is offline Creaky Old Award Winning Bastard Technologist
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    When you clean it, wear goggles and gloves as you now possibly have a HUGE mass of concentrated Nicotine and other nasty stuff. Nicotine that concentrated is poisonous to skin contact. When that thing was installed, smoking indoors in clubs was still allowed.

    As for the tube, it will be much happier with clean fins. See what happens, that is all you can do. Watch for signs of instability such as flickering.
    There are threads here for discussing how to run a Mobo Reliant with the 15 connector bypassed.

    As to which way the pressure went, I have no clue. One tends to suspect Low if has thousands of hours on it.

    When the fins are jammed at 80-90% blockage, the tube warps just a tiny bit and will tend to mis-align. With the fins now clean, that alignment drift will go away.

    Steve
    Qui habet Christos, habet Vitam!
    I should have rented the space under my name for advertising.
    When I still could have...

  4. #4
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    I spent about 9 hours this afternoon disassembling the laser, cleaning the circuit board, reflowing a lot of the solder joints,and gave the tube a real good bath.(and yeah, I used gloves and goggles to prevent any of that goop from touching me.)
    I finished at about 1 a.m. and will wait til tomorrow to fire it up and see if it goes ding or bang.
    I have to say, I love doing this kind of work, its dirty, and you have to be meticulous. In the end I hope It will perform a bit better than when it arrived. =)
    Does anyone have info on what pins on the 15 pin female connector need to be jumpered?
    I will post pics tomorrow I promise. Its 3 a.m. & Im toast.
    Will there be three phase!!!!

  5. #5
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    allright, So I finished my teardown and rebuild of the laser. looks like new.
    I tried to fire it up and it did not go. I was concerned that maybe it had some failed components. However a couple forum members mentioned that the laser needed to have 12 v on a set of pins. I tried it and it came to life.
    It lit on the first pulse and powered up to full from idle.
    So Im happy that I have a new-used argon again.Click image for larger version. 

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    Will there be three phase!!!!

  6. #6
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    So...how is it working? What are you getting out now? Just curious. Best, Phil
    Phil Bergeron( AKA 142laser)

  7. #7
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    Its working ok. I dont have a meter to measure the power,but compaired side by side with my ilt, its a bit brighter. My ilt is doing 750mw.
    Will there be three phase!!!!

  8. #8
    swamidog's Avatar
    swamidog is online now Jr. Woodchuckington Janitor III, Esq.
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    i have a good power meter here. bring it on over!

    Quote Originally Posted by Vidal Wolf View Post
    Its working ok. I dont have a meter to measure the power,but compaired side by side with my ilt, its a bit brighter. My ilt is doing 750mw.
    suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconciousness.

  9. #9
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    Oh ok.... I will be.right over after dinner.
    Will there be three phase!!!!

  10. #10
    swamidog's Avatar
    swamidog is online now Jr. Woodchuckington Janitor III, Esq.
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    if you come earlier, i'll order thai and show you some super secret LSX work in progress.

    Quote Originally Posted by Vidal Wolf View Post
    Oh ok.... I will be.right over after dinner.
    suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconciousness.

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