Synrad / Laakman 10W CO2 Laser...

[300EVIL]

Hi Everyone,
As some of you may know. I purchased a couple of these tiny RF pumped CO2 lasers at a local swapmeet last week.

Well, I just started reassembling the power supply for this laser and having no experiance with RF supplies,,, I have a few questions. Here are a few pics of the laser head with the RF amplifier I just installed along with the RF pre-amplifier/modulation board.





So, I installed the RF amplifier board onto the laser head and used solid copper wire to run the connections along with covering the sharp connections with hot glue to keep the RF from dissipating.





Here are my questions.....

It seems I need a fuse on the board that powers the large MOSFET amplifier. What is the value of this fuse supposed to be?

Is the input on the amplifier power board +12VDC?

Is this where the pre-amplifier RF signal goes?



Here is the pre-amp board. I'm guessing I need +12VDC for the modulation for full on. Is this correct?

What is the other input and voltage? Is this an interlock or something?



Here is the other end of the board. I'm guessing the main power for the board enters here as +12VDC and the RF output exits via the BNC connector and connects directly to the laser head amplifier.



Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Adam

[mixedgas]

Eh, there is something wrong here. One the RF amp board needs a heatsink for that big RF transistor. They only last a few microseconds if not heatsinked right, There should be a scrw sticking out of the transistor for the heatsinking, or some form of mounting bracket on it. Two, the "preamp"board is something else, as the coax should go straight to the matching network,

I need more pics of the RF Feed end of the tube, the little board you call a preamp (both sides) and some time to figgure this out. Yours are a far newer genration then mine is.

Steve

[tocket]

I think dar303 has one of these. Let's hope he can shed some light on it when he finds the topic. Or you can try sending him a PM to get his attention.

[300EVIL]

Eh, there is something wrong here. One the RF amp board needs a heatsink for that big RF transistor. They only last a few microseconds if not heatsinked right, There should be a scrw sticking out of the transistor for the heatsinking, or some form of mounting bracket on it. Two, the "preamp"board is something else, as the coax should go straight to the matching network,

I need more pics of the RF Feed end of the tube, the little board you call a preamp (both sides) and some time to figgure this out. Yours are a far newer genration then mine is.

Steve

Hey Steve,
Yes, I was definitely planning on putting a heatsink on the RF pre-amp transistor. Yeah, the "pre-amp" board was cut from a larger PCB so I have no clue if it is the original equipment or not. My guess is that the head had a BNC connector on it at one time and has been removed at some point.

The two boards on the head were put there by me since they looked like their original/logical location. I may be wrong though. Anyway, I'll take some pics and post them before I leave. Thanks a lot for your time.

I think dar303 has one of these. Let's hope he can shed some light on it when he finds the topic. Or you can try sending him a PM to get his attention.

Hi tocket!
Thanks for the info. I'm sure I'll get this little CO2 running between the knowledge of Steve and dar303. I'll send him a PM.
Thanks!
Adam

[300EVIL]

Here are some more detailed pics for ya Steve. Let me know if you need pics of anything more specific. I can also draw up a schematic on the main amplifier portion if you need it.

[dar303]

Sorry, I didn't buy one of these since I already had a Synrad 48-1...but I did tip of a few other people on a Swedish electronics forum of these lasers and I know that a few bought lasers.
I'll tell them to pop in here and take a look!

[Meduza]

I am one of the guys that dar303 did tip of these lasers, but i bought the complete package with the original drivers so i am unfortunatly not able to help you with that one...

I know that the one of the other guys on the same forum as me and dar303 also bought the complete package and not this option...

[Tottish]

The other guy, that would happen to be me, can't help you either since I have a different driver/amplifier but I advice you to contact Chris Leubner (heuurscience @ laserpointerforums) assuming you bought it from him. There was a laser/HAM-swapmeet in Waukesha, Massachusetts (EDIT: brainfreeze. I meant Wisconsin) a few days ago if I'm not mistaken and word is that Chris was there so chances are high you bought it from him...

Good Luck, I'm sure you'll get it up'n'running!

Regards,
Tottish

[mixedgas]

I may be mistaken, but it looks like you have a Class E Rf amp (that big FET) bolted to the laser heatsink and a seperate class C rf amp on the board. Do you have a ham radio operator friend nearby, that has a RF wattmeter ?

It also looks like someone bandsawed off just the amp, that may or may not be a problem.

I still cant see enough details of the matching network on the laser head that couples the RF into the tube, some of what I need to see is buried.

It certainly does not look like the matching network on mine, although my tube is the same.
I've never seen mine run, the guy I sent the RF amp to repair it never sent it back. I could have, and should have, done that repair myself.. I have the RF gear to do it.

BTW< the RF is channeled for 27.120, and cb channel 14 is 27.125 Mhz. You want to jam some CBers, it looks like you have about 20-30 watts, and they have 4 max.

So I'd make sure your not radiating, least 4 biker dude truckers want to bust down your door at 4 am.
If the tube lights, its adsorbing the energy and your not radiating that much.

Steve

Draht!

Steve

[allthatwhichis]

What the hell are you gonna do with 10W of CO2... Mix it with that Ruby? Be an intersting optic.