WTB: Mixed gas tube for Lexel 95 head; PCAOM

[mixedgas]

BTW, Only thing I can do for you right now is set you up with a I90MRA mixed tube, and it will NOT fit in a Lexel head by any means. It will run off a 95 supply.

Steve

[bradstockdale]

Holy!!! I got wrapped up with work and some other stuff for a few days, and come back to find ten replies to my post!! Awesome!!

I quickly scanned through the replies... Just came back from the hospital, pumped up with CT contrast material and irradiated, not thinking the best... BUT, before I run off to try to sleep, I want to thank you all for replying! At first, I wasn't wrapping my head around the Brad situation, but then I saw what you meant (at least part of it). Ahh, I got it now. A little slow on the uptake. Hah.

I am indeed in the United States...

I'll read through everything tomorrow morning when I'm thinking more clearly.

BTW, fitting into a Lexel 95 head isn't necessarily a requirement. It would be convenient if I could re-use one of my 95 power supplies, though.

Thank you!
Brad

[Bradfo69]

At first, I wasn't wrapping my head around the Brad situation, but then I saw what you meant (at least part of it). Ahh, I got it now. A little slow on the uptake. Hah.

I seem to have developed a reputation around here for err.... buying things. There have been interesting accusations about some sort of computer shenanigans alerting me to posts in this thread. Some would even like artificial time limits imposed on when I can even "see" new posts in this thread. To say I've got "spendmoneyist" down a lot better than "laserist" is to put it mildly, an understatement. If they only realized the financial torment I save them from....

Ion's though mercifully haven't been my thing but, when I DID buy one, I went big. The "Mother of all ions" is how it was first described. (You familiar with Grand Coulee?) Someday I may actually finally have possession of it but, that's another story for another day.

[dsli_jon]

...The "Mother of all ions"...

...and (although I have, sorely.. +_+ ...thoust Mother shall Not-forsake / dissapoint thee..

[bradstockdale]

Hi Bradstockdale,

Where in the world are you located. I am in the UK and have a couple of PCAOMs and drivers which are excess to my needs. Just not sure about how much the shipping might be to you. They came out of an old high power mixed gas ion installation and will handle the power perfectly. I will try and dig them out and send over some pictures and any tech spec. I will also take a look and see if I have a mixed gas tube for your Lexels, what type of power were you thinking of? Here again the location may be the limiting factor. But I will definitely see if I can help you out.

Cheers

Steve

Steve,

Thank you for looking into your stockpile... I am reading over the information on the PCAOM's now.

From what I can recall, I remember mixed gas tubes for Lexel 95 heads being around 2 watts... I might be wrong, but that seems reasonable... Honestly, I'd be happy with a watt of white light...

I am in the USA.... Pennsylvania, to be specific. I've had some experience shipping ion lasers internationally, and out of the three lasers I've had shipped from other countries, two arrived intact. The third had a brewster stem snapped off, foot prints all over the crates, and forth. Obvious signs of mishandling. I do understand that shipping tubes is risky... Also from what I can recall, shipping companies were tending to not want to honor insurance claims involving lasers. Not sure if that's still a big problem or not.

Looks like the PCAOM's would do the trick. Now, if I can just find a white light laser to go with it, I'll be set!

I'll PM you.

Thanks,
Brad

[bradstockdale]

..anybody else find the irony of seeing (yet another..) 'Brad' and 'WTB' being in the same thread.. amusing? Must be some 'cosmic-force' out there with a healthy sense of humor..
(..small 'inside (PL) joke'.. Nothing-bad on you, bradstockdale.. (or our Dear 'BB'..) Welcome to PL..

re: 'Where are you', Yes, indeed, as If you are in the States, there is a 'Steve' (...also highly-ironic..) who's handle, here is.. wait for it - 'mixedgas' that is The Maestro of Lexel Ar, Kr and/or, well, Mixedgas-tubes.. If you are State-side, Steve can fix you up, proper..

..IF, however, you're on the 'other side of the pond', the (posting..) Steve, Laserhobbit, I am sure can / will also fix you up, proper.. He is, likewise, a Gentleman, and knows his kit, well..

..If you Are in the States, I might be able to help with an AO, but.. I'd rather not-sell, unless you're 'really stuck'.. Laserhobbit-Steve's 'AA' are good kit, also..

Lastly, too-bad you've got such an 'itty-bitty resonator'.. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Coherent-Sab.../191502694630? ..in case you find a way to 'stretch' your 95-chassis..

fwiw.. cheers..
j

Hah... Took a look at the Coherent Sabre tube. Yeah... Definitely not going to fit THAT beast into my Lexel 95 head.... Maybe if I wish in one hand, and... Lol.

I am in the United States. It seems that Laserhobbit may have a PCAOM, so I'll explore that route first.

Thank you for the reply. I do really want to get back into the addiction err, ..... hobby ...... But to really push things towards completion, I just have to figure out a white light source....

I think I'm going to go ahead and grab an Ether Dream DAC, too.

Thanks,
Brad

[bradstockdale]

Diodes are nice for the reasons you mentioned, no water/chillers to deal with, no 500CFM fans, no tapping into your air conditioner mains to run them. However, there are certainly huge drawbacks. I have yet to see a modern projector of any serious power that had matched beams that didn't have spatial filtering and beam shaping optics. Different emmiter sizes, different divergence, different fast axis... The other problem with diodes is the CRI for white... put simply, the white on diode projectors sucks a lot. Mixed gas also doesn't suffer the beam alignment headaches that diodes present.

I was under the impression 'back in the day' that diode lasers hadn't quite made it to the point to be a true replacement for ion lasers, but was hoping that the intervening years had helped catch things up. You mentioned some problems I knew of, and a few I had not thought about..... Ion lasers have always just had an allure for me. Those new fangled diodes are something I just don't have any experience with....

[bradstockdale]

BTW, Only thing I can do for you right now is set you up with a I90MRA mixed tube, and it will NOT fit in a Lexel head by any means. It will run off a 95 supply.

Steve

I suppose I could try to track down another head with a larger resonator that would fit an I90MRA tube... I'm assuming the best would be, well, an Innova 90 head. Lol. I vaguely remember the MRA's being longer than a standard one though. I'm going to have to refresh my memory on the I90MRA and the Innova series in general. I've always been a Lexel guy.

Thank you for mentioning this. I'll PM you.

[bradstockdale]

I seem to have developed a reputation around here for err.... buying things. There have been interesting accusations about some sort of computer shenanigans alerting me to posts in this thread. Some would even like artificial time limits imposed on when I can even "see" new posts in this thread. To say I've got "spendmoneyist" down a lot better than "laserist" is to put it mildly, an understatement. If they only realized the financial torment I save them from....

Ion's though mercifully haven't been my thing but, when I DID buy one, I went big. The "Mother of all ions" is how it was first described. (You familiar with Grand Coulee?) Someday I may actually finally have possession of it but, that's another story for another day.

Well, if you're going to do it, you might as well do it right! You have piqued my curiosity a bit...

I am not familiar with Grand Coulee. But, a quick Google search resulted in information about a dam?

[Bradfo69]

Hi neighbor! Where in PA? I'm in Delaware (and we had a second home northwest of Reading in the Blue Mountains that was just recently sold.)

I'm referring to a Coherent Sabre whitelight system w/low divergence optics running around 16 watts that was to be the engine for a permanent install with fibre fed remote scan heads in the banquet and conference facility I manage. A rather major undertaking that is behind on delivery due to a large number of various occurrences. The Grand Coulee reference was to the dam in the pacific northwest that regularly produces lasershows on the face of the dam from between 1/2 mile and a mile out and, if I recall correctly, it was done by Sabre(s). I know the install in Dayton Ohio also used 4 of them - 2 argon 2 krypton because I almost got it at auction a couple of years back. It's a beast of a laser. 480v 3 phase with stupid amounts of power. Someday...