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Thread: Omnichrome/Melles Argon - Starting Issues

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    Default Omnichrome/Melles Argon - Starting Issues

    I bought this argon off ebay a while ago in as-is condition knowing I could very well have a dead laser on my hands, but after wiring it everything seems functional except that once the discharge ignites it only lases for about 2-3 seconds before it goes out and tries to re-light the discharge. Not sure weather or not it's a problem with the light board inside the head or the power supply itself. The head is an Omnichrome 532-prep-a01 and the supply is a 170B.
    http://media.putfile.com/Omnichrome-Laser

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    Quote Originally Posted by MarioMaster View Post
    I bought this argon off ebay a while ago in as-is condition knowing I could very well have a dead laser on my hands, but after wiring it everything seems functional except that once the discharge ignites it only lases for about 2-3 seconds before it goes out and tries to re-light the discharge. Not sure weather or not it's a problem with the light board inside the head or the power supply itself. The head is an Omnichrome 532-prep-a01 and the supply is a 170B.
    http://media.putfile.com/Omnichrome-Laser
    it sounds like it is overheating or high pressure. Do you have a high CFM fan blowing?
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    Quote Originally Posted by Laser Ben View Post
    it sounds like it is overheating or high pressure. Do you have a high CFM fan blowing?
    it doesn't run long enough to even get warm - it has a high cfm squirrel cage blower to cool the head

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    Sounda like it is either high pressure or has a faulty power supply. If it's lighting, the starter board is fine.
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    Hey mario glad you came here. It's lasing I told you over on LPF that's it's gone high pressure from not being used regularly. It has a very very good chance of working well if you get it running and bake it for a while to bury some gas back into the tube. The tesla/oudin coil trick should work to get it to stay lasing just long enough to heat up the tube.. or like I said sit it outside with the case open on a hot sunny day and let that tube get warm and then fire it up and let it run for as long as you can.

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    depending on which end of PA you are on (hopefully pitsburgh) when Xmas break starts you could bring it over to me and we could try to run it up on my bench psu and oudin coil it. I'm just outside akron ohio. If your on the pittsburgh end you could ship it.

    Steve

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    i'll have to see what i can do as far as trying to get it heated up - and thanks for the offer mixedgas but Emmaus is right near Allentown so i'm pretty far to the east

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    Hmm, this is an interesting issue. One of the things that I noticed in the video, right before it winks out it appears to get very bright. For some reason the current is ramping up shortly after it lights. Is there a knob on either the head or the power supply? If not, perhaps its running in light mode and after the supply reads a successful start, it ramps up the current to what ever is needed to output a preset power. There should be a way to turn this down on the light card in the head. Just a hint though, kind of a quick test for an argon, after starting one at low power and ramping it up real fast, if it winks out like that, it usually means its near end of life. Using the oudin coil isn't going to help as it is clearly sustaining discharge until it appears to ramp up. Regarding the offer from Mixedgas, just to let you know, he is the MAN when it comes to gas tubes and probably knows more about the physics behind gas tubes than any of us here. If he made that offer to me, my laser would be on the next flight to Ohio! :P

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    i had it set for current control, i've tried setting the pot at different positions but it doesn't seem to have any affect on the way the laser behaves :\ unfortunately going to an ohio would be a bit costly for a senior in high school

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    Quote Originally Posted by MarioMaster View Post
    i had it set for current control, i've tried setting the pot at different positions but it doesn't seem to have any affect on the way the laser behaves :\ unfortunately going to an ohio would be a bit costly for a senior in high school
    how close to Philli are you? Sam Goldwasser is in Philly and can help you out (LASER faq editor) I can email sam for you if you wish. Besides, he may get you a tour of drexel.

    Steve

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