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Thread: SP168 in hospital - moved thread

  1. #1
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    Default SP168 in hospital - moved thread

    Due to the tangent that myself and Laserman532 had gone off on with the UK laser meet #3 thread I thought rather than continue the discussion there I should migrate to a new thread - so here we are.

    Pat as I see it I have 4 options available to me

    1 - Clean up existing connector parts using sandpaper or file and a flat surface, reassemble and keep my fingers crossed.

    2 - Clean up existing parts by machining til truly flat - which will take quite a bit of material away requiring me to make a gasket to go inbetween the slices from some good insulative material with a bit of 'give' such as rubber - or even delrin (see no. 4)

    3 - buy (if I can get my hands on one) a complete umbilical or connector which may be worn anyway and ultimately not much better than what I've got.

    4 - start from scratch and make 2 new slices from a suitable material. Favorites at this moment in time are Delrin or Tufnol. Both will machine well and have good mechaniacl properties, Delrin has surface resistivity of 10^13 ohms and electrical strength of 20kV/mm. Tufnol (SRBF) has a differnt spec sheet that does not include the same figures but is spec'd with the following - Insulation resistance after immersion in water 7x10^9 ohms and Electric strength, edgewise in oil at 90ºC 23kV.

    My favoured option is no.4 as i think it would be pretty staright forward to make the parts my only reservation is the material. I know tufnol is used as an insulative material but I think the Delrin would be a better bet - though is more likely to melt as I solder the connections back on when assembling, so requiring a little more care at this point

    Any comments?

    Rob
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  2. #2
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    Hi Rob,

    Glad you have found the problem with the SP168 - that's half the battle.
    If you go down the Tufnol route I can probably get you some suitable pieces.
    The other option is FR4 - not as kind to your cutting tools though.

    Robin.
    Lasers and beer don't mix. After 2 beers I lose coherence.

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    Thanks Robin

    If you have some tufnol bits n bobs or can get some easily I wouldnt mind some for other things - as I said at the moment Delrin is fave for the repair. I have some sheets of 3mm FR4 and I know what you mean - its not pleasant to work with as well as being harder on the tools. That said when its just drilling and tapping its a treat .

    Rob
    If you need to ask the question 'whats so good about a laser' - you won't understand the answer.
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Laserists do it by the nanometre.

    Stanwax Laser is a Corporate Member of Ilda

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    Quote Originally Posted by stanwax View Post
    Thanks Robin

    If you have some tufnol bits n bobs or can get some easily I wouldnt mind some for other things - as I said at the moment Delrin is fave for the repair. I have some sheets of 3mm FR4 and I know what you mean - its not pleasant to work with as well as being harder on the tools. That said when its just drilling and tapping its a treat .

    Rob
    Have you determined what the material is? (i dont know) Delrin kind of bothers me because it is fairly soft and with high currents the pins get hot (they will get hot) and might start to smell or melt.

    Some one out there should have a "replacement kit" Did you try to contact brian at cambridge lasers? He is the best bet because he took over the SP glass manufacturing facility. I will try to track him down tomorrow.

    I know nothing of tufnol.

    I am sorry for hijacking that other thread...my netetiquite needs some work. DID YOU LOOK AT THE ANODE FOR ME YET??? I really want to eliminate that from the equation.

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    clandestiny is offline Eleventy-Billion Watt Ar/Kr >:)
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    I dont now about mrwaxs" anode- but I have had 2 over the years go down that path-
    otherwise good tube- small drip at anode/block- bango wet short-

    still have those tubes- never did anything with them-
    go big or go home

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    Quote Originally Posted by clandestiny View Post
    I dont now about mrwaxs" anode- but I have had 2 over the years go down that path-
    otherwise good tube- small drip at anode/block- bango wet short-

    still have those tubes- never did anything with them-
    Sometimes the leak there dosnt kill the ps it just drops out the breaker. On 171's with leaks there, i have actually seen the water boil between the magnet and anode and it dosnt kill anything. Most the time the water leaks around the o ring at the bottom of the tee fitting inside the anode block (easy fix). if you get the leak at the glass to metal seal...that is a bad thing, however i have made repairs in the field using a dab of JB weld and it holds just fine. The fix was called a scaraficial anode- A hose with a metal ring is attached to the cathode water jacket and a wire run down to the anode block. Dont know exactly why that fixes problem...but it does! I heard less potential difference of the water at the glass to metal seal.

  7. #7
    clandestiny's Avatar
    clandestiny is offline Eleventy-Billion Watt Ar/Kr >:)
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    Interesting, very interesting- I love whats left of my glass sp equipment-
    I have 20 year old plus 171 argon tubes which still deliever about 22 watts-

    Brian at Cambridge is a class act- I haven't had any refurbs since the ion market tanked-
    I have enough Coherent's to get me by..

    I have dealt with water jacket leaks/cracks using gasket sealer- with good results- LOL- what do you do when it has to work right?

    So do tell laserman- does the liquid co2 trick work on overpressure units? ( quartz reservoir submersed- then actuator opened? )

    How about the 2000hr power supply service shutdown on the "second" generation units-?

    I have done my share of sailing- might have to re-visit those tubes with the sacaraficial anode
    technique- kewl..!


    peace
    go big or go home

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    Hi Robin

    I used to deal with a company in fife scotland
    The company still exists & it is called laser support services.
    www.laser-support.co.uk 01333 311938.

    When i last visited them I sold them one of my 168`s

    They had dozens of 265 p.s.u`s Argon krypton heads & lots of spares for them as they carried out the repairs & maintinence to them.

    I think its well worth you contacting them as they are bound to have the umbilical cable E.T.C

    I think the guys name is Graham Rogers.


    Hope this helps

    Ritchie

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    Nice 1 Ritchie - I have heard of them but didnt think about them for this but I will now
    Cheers

    Rob
    If you need to ask the question 'whats so good about a laser' - you won't understand the answer.
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Laserists do it by the nanometre.

    Stanwax Laser is a Corporate Member of Ilda

    Stanwax Laser main distributor of First Contact in UK - like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/FirstContactPolymerCleaner
    www.photoniccleaning.co.uk

  10. #10
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    Hi Ritchie

    I dropped them an email and Graham replied. I wasnt expecting it to be cheap but the best he can offer is a complete umbilical and lets just say I wont be buying one! Back to making one

    Pat

    Tufnol is a brown flakey/brittle (ish) synthetic resin bonded fabric which is good to mill, turn, or tap. Its often used for connector insulators - Im sure you have come across it at some point though I guess not under that name. Its often in sheet form of several mm thick and I think is also availabe in rod and tube form. On first glance - without close examination this is what I would have said the slices were made of. People often incorrectly refer to it as bakelite - which as far as I know is far more brittle than tufnol. The actual connector insulators have an almost graphite look to the surface - sort of mettalic loaded look though for obvious resons I know that is not the case
    As for anode leak - no Ive not tested yet for 2 reasons. Firstly until yesterday the head was still in my transport crate and so isnt hooked up to the water supply, and secondly because the problem with the connector is priority at the moment. I understand how important it is I check this and will do later in the week when I get a chance and certainly before I try to put power back on. Unfortunately work has a bad habit of getting in the way of lasers and taking up my time!
    Will report back when I have hooked it up and pumped water through the head.

    Rob
    If you need to ask the question 'whats so good about a laser' - you won't understand the answer.
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Laserists do it by the nanometre.

    Stanwax Laser is a Corporate Member of Ilda

    Stanwax Laser main distributor of First Contact in UK - like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/FirstContactPolymerCleaner
    www.photoniccleaning.co.uk

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