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Thread: 10W CuBr Vapor laser wreck, reanimate or cannibalize?

  1. #1
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    Default 10W CuBr Vapor laser wreck, reanimate or cannibalize?

    Hi team, although this is a 'ma laser is broken' question, I post it here

    I recently bought this CuBr laser wreck for cheap, although I want to see it lase (guess) I question if this is easily possible.

    I read all the good stuff on sams faq about CuBr Lasers and some other sites, and have some understanding now how it works, so I have some basic questions:

    I cant get into re-gas or vacuum things, so, can this yr. 2000 made tube work in theory?

    The anode, cathode and mains wires have been cut. See pictures. I guess this has been done to 'disable' the laser.

    However, this was a medical laser, so it has TONS of security switches and shutters which might disable the laser as well.

    Any suggestions?
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  2. #2
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    i think the man youre looking to talk to is gonna be steve roberts. (mixedgas on here). he is the king of these older gas, ion, and "non SS" lasers.

    im sure he'll be chiming in soon!

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    thank you for your quick reply! I wait a day, then I'll PM him.

    Cheers!

  4. #4
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    CuBr lasers have a relatively short tube life. Maybe 800-1000 hours. Usually they need to be replaced, although some of the manufacturers can re process them. They are also quite cheap (compared to gas tubes). It is possible you may get a reprocessed tube from the manufacturer for about $2K - $2.5K. It is also possible your tube still has some life left in it.

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    Thank you. My fear is, that over the years the tube sealing (looks like it's silicone) might have become weak, and the the tube is therefor numb.

    So you think after the 8 yrs there is still a chance the clima in it is OK? That would be perfect for a serious try.

    I digged a little more into the laser, and it looks like the various safety methods are somehow shoutcut, looks like someone tried to get this laser to lase before. At least, I have all the diagrams which helps a lot. But nothing about it's history.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phatslug View Post
    Thank you. My fear is, that over the years the tube sealing (looks like it's silicone) might have become weak, and the the tube is therefor numb.

    So you think after the 8 yrs there is still a chance the clima in it is OK? That would be perfect for a serious try.

    I digged a little more into the laser, and it looks like the various safety methods are somehow shoutcut, looks like someone tried to get this laser to lase before. At least, I have all the diagrams which helps a lot. But nothing about it's history.
    is it Austrialian, Bulgarian or Russian?

    Mixedgas.

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    You mean, where is was produced? It's from Meditec/Asclepion, which are german based, this is a pdf for the laser:

    http://www.asclepion.com/root_corpor...Yellow+_EN.pdf

    The tube itself is from an Australian firm:

    http://www.norseld.com/index.asp

    Thanks.
    Last edited by Phatslug; 09-27-2008 at 12:33. Reason: Sorry, Norseld is actually Australian

  8. #8
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    If it were a spektronika, we could more easily get you help. Ok its a neon filled Quartz tube, remarkably similer to the russian/Bulgarian/CE Little design I've seen in Canada. The tube is a copper HyBrid style tube, its CuBR ie copper bromide plus neon plus hydrogen, CubR has a much, much lower melting point then pure copper. The idea is the neon gas heats the tube to some extent , then neon ions disassociate the bromide from the copper. A second pulse following very closely then excites the copper ions to lasing, and they lase for a few nanoseconds and the process repeats. BY pulse following closely, I mean between 200 nanoseconds and a few microseconds.

    There are two schemes for doing this, ultra high rep rate and double pulse. I don/t want to get into the mechanics of this but that seems to be a magnetic pulse compression switching power supply to do the pulsing. There is a thyratron correct? It is possible to excite the tube using pulse compression alone but thyratrons make it easier.
    So you need to charge a big cap from to 2 to 10 kv or more many, many times per second. the letters PFM come to mind, and not easy to sevice without a schematic.

    Since you need to 1 control the cubr resivoir temp
    2. warm up the tube (including possible heaters)
    3. light a hot cathode if used '
    4. charge the caps or pairs of caps
    5. fire the thyratron with accurate timing
    6. make sure the thyratron does not latch on
    7 control the cathode and hydrogen resivoir temps
    8 switch from warmup to run temps and pulse powers
    9, prevent the tube from cooking itself, etc

    That is not even the whole list.

    Not to mention whatever extensive medical interlock chain needs to be satisfied,


    About the only goog news I can tell you is since its a quartz tube, you can tesla the tube to check for the neon fill still being good before proceeding further.

    testing a thratron and a cap charging supply is not gonna be easy without the schematic,.

    I dont know how much more I can help you except to telll you the best book is by GG Petrash, a russian.


    let me know about any attemps to "tesla" the tube BEFORE you do it.

    Steve Roberts
    Last edited by mixedgas; 09-27-2008 at 22:13.

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    australian CuBr laser manufacturers ?

    where ? who ?
    Now proudly stocking and offering the best deals on laser-wave

    www.lasershowparts.com
    http://stores.ebay.com.au/Lasershow-Parts

  10. #10
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    oh, never mind! i need to read more...
    Now proudly stocking and offering the best deals on laser-wave

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    http://stores.ebay.com.au/Lasershow-Parts

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