ALC 60X tube and optics alignment

[Vidal Wolf]

I have an ALC 60X that was in a car crash last year.
It was doing 100 MW all lines tem00 before the crash.I dont remember the amps,maybe 10
Now its doing ~15 Mw 488 with the power suppy driving it max.(Gold box)
The tube and or the optics are way off .
I cleaned and aligned the optics ten years ago when I worked at Luxar laser.It was a pain. Its not something I have the ability to do any more,as I dont have the optical rails,alignment jigs,and other test equipment,not to mention the cleanroom,spectroscoptic grade methanol, alcohol,and ect.
May I get some advice as to who would do a good job of re aligning the tube and optics?
Many thanks!
V, Wolf.

[QUAZAR]

It is possible to align the optics using a spanner, pipe grips and a piece of cadboard. The fact your laser is already lasing makes this a lot easier. It sounds like you just need the end plates walking in a bit.

Using a spanner that fits the nuts on the front plate, turn 1 nut 1 turn (any direction) and see if this makes things better or worse. If worse, turn back. If better, try again. Do this to all 3 nuts. Tnen repeat on back plate. When this is done, repeat the whole process again.

By now, you should have decent power, if not, then something else is amiss.

[mixedgas]

You really dont want to do the corner pivot nuts just yet. just do the horizontal and vertical screws. If the tube didnt shift in the cradle, there is no reason to do the pivots. mark the TDC positions on the nuts and on the endplates with a pencil before changing anything,.


I align them from scratch, but shipping is expensive,.

Steve

[Vidal Wolf]

thanks Quazar and Mixedgas.

I read on sams and also was told from a tech from American Laser to not mess with the corner adjustment nut,that it would change the cavity length.

I have always made adjustments to the other 4 to bring the head to full power.

My *guess* is that the tube shifted in the mount,as after adjusting the 4 screws,and making repeated adjustments,and running the box to the limit (yep,blowing fuses & yep I know its bad for the passbank & yep i could suffer the dreaded bang of looserness) that it still is only putting out 15 or so Mw at the maxed power limit. It also has a stack of satelites,and a big arc of blue light surrounding the main beam.
So thanks for the advice so far.

[QUAZAR]

That does sound a bit more serious.