Medical Argon Lasers???

[DZ]

The clothes dryer will run an HGM5, while the stove outlet will run anything up to and including a Lexel 88 - assuming you have a single phase power supply. (Clandestiny had an Aurora PSU at FLEM last January. He plugged it into the stove outlet at the venue and used it to fire up his Lexel 88 that was mounted inside his multi-turret beam table. 2 watts of Argon magic!)

I though Clan had an 85 at FLEM. I don't think I've ever seen an 88 that ran on 3 phase. The one I had came from some type of medical unit and had the lexel power supply to go with it, which was probably 100 pounds on its own as it had a buck boost transformer built into it. I always ran it off of my dryer outlet and ran it full current without popping a breaker. I don't recall what full tube current was, it was either around 22 or 32 amps and gave 2.2watts. The nice thing about the lexel over the HGM's is that since its water cooled you can leave it at full output for as long as you want. Of course, dealing with water works was always a pain...


edit: Dug up some pics for your viewing enjoyment Lexel88 with a G-138 scan head with scanner flag blanking. Flag blanking gives the absolute most possible amount of light out of the projector. Great for beams, no good for graphics...

[DZ]

More 88 stuff. I just found a directory on my old pc with all kinds of old pics on it! These were pics from before I added the scan head. Hope you guys enjoy them:

[Laser Ben]

What should I expect from a Coherent Innova Enterprise II?

[clandestiny]

I have a pile of new 85-s heads, it was one of those. the 85s was a high grade tube with full stems and excellent beam quality. Although they where mostly shipped with single phase supplies, three phase supplies where spec'd for certain applications, and they are nice, i have a few, although its just easier to throw an aurora on it. umm, also the aurora will also run 3 phase if need be-

[eyceage]

When it comes to making use of medical argon lasers, I would highly recommend investing in a power supply first. Once you have one working it is trivial to test tubes and get a system up and running.

Dean Glassburn at Nitelite (http://niteliteproducts.com/) will sell you a "gold box" PSU from an HGM 8 for about $400. He has both 3 phase and single phase versions available (piles of them). You have to mod it for simple current control, but he has the schematics WITH the required mods written on them.

The HGM 8 power supply is very versatile and will run some large tubes. It's what I have and I can tell you it's well-worth the $400 investment!

[dave]

I quite like the lexel oem switcher to suit the 88's

32A tube current off single phase 220v

[mixedgas]

I quite like the lexel oem switcher to suit the 88's
32A tube current off single phase 220v

I run I90 tubes off the 88A or 88D, my record in the garage is 5.25 watts off a I90M (medical tube) argon, limted when my well water pump kicked in. kryptons have lower tube voltage and you can usually get a I90MK or a 95K up to enough power to use it. My limiting factor is my 7000 watt pole pig, and yes, if you disable the 88 overcurrent interlock, you can run a 88 or 85 tube to destruction off a 220V single phase american power line. I have to back off on the innovas when the water pump kicks on as my well is 135 feet down, thus causing droop of the input to the cathode tranny.

the good 88 tube has around 165 volts across it at speced current, so when you rectify the AC line you have more then enogh, and I can get to full power off a 208 line, I've done it, and the power supply is actually happier , the analog psu has a buck boost transformer, so the supply is rated to run from anywhere from 206 to 250 in.

single phase supplies are NOT hard to build,
An 85S is about 150-155 volts, so you can even get them to go to low power off a good 110V line. I have a buddy who uses water heater elements for limiting resistors, and runs his tubes that way, but if you dont have a huge bank of filter caps, the tube doesnt last very long from plasma oscillations, and you have one power setting, usually full blast. I have built supplies using 20 mosfets in parallel for 88 and 85 tubes, without needing a buck boost. There is a trick to it, but they are darn simple. The trick is keeping all the mosfet junctions at the same temperature so they track in gate turnon voltage. IRF series mosfets are 4-6$ a piece, the trick is the water flow in the heatsink must be fast, furious, and uniform.


The older hgm switchers will run anything.
The difference between and E5 and a E8 supply is a couple more filter caps and a 3 phase bridge, instead of a single bridge. I wired a e5 (model5) supply for a friend to run a I90MRA in a club, no problems. Just boosted the cooling and changed cathode trannys.

Single phase argon can be done folks.

Steve Roberts

[perseus]

I have just acquired an HGM-5 power supply that I hope to use to power an ALC 905 tube. Unfortunately there are very few markings on this PSU to tell me what all the wires hanging out are for. The anode, cathode and cooling fan wires are obvious but that leaves 12 wires unexplained plus the 26 pin connector on the back. Without taking it apart I am not even sure which of two possible pairs of wires are the power in. A contact advised that a simple 1 or two wire jumper on the 26 pin connector was all that was needed there and that R2 controls the output but I have not been able to get any further details. Does anyone have any information about this PSU that might help?

Thanks,
Roger

[buffo]

Roger, where are you located?

I've got an HGM 5 that is currently connected to a slightly smaller 903 tube. It's running just fine. I might be able to offer some assistance. Got pics of your unit?

Adam

[dave]

Whoo hoo,

The reemergence of this thread just inspired me to have a look at repairing the lexel switcher we have here. Turned out to be a little bit of corrosion damage to the control board..

Now I have a medical ALC909 tube making a nice 3w of Argon light