Pristine SP 171 Kr / 270 PSU FS...

[premierlaser]

Hey Kats -

Just thought those of you in DPSS-land might 'njoy seeing another giant, insane high-voltage-mixed-with-running-water work-of-art - been fixing our West Coast Sabre in the NY shop this week (I know... it's a mess in here, packing / loading for shows comin' up...) - had a shorted emission-lamp-monitoring diode on the head card, and man it drove me crazy trying to find the culprit... but, in the end, found what ailed-her, and she's purring along again... - (second 'eleventh-hour-victory-repair' this week, woohoo!)

...and this shot is only 2 W of 16+ possible with this beast..

peace..
J

...i have had the great honor to see that baby up close last Friday, when i went to Jon's unit. What an amazing sight. BIG RESPECTS TO GAS LASERS!!!!!

[dsli_jon]

Hey Adam -

...i have had the great honor to see that baby up close last Friday, when i went to Jon's unit. What an amazing sight. BIG RESPECTS TO GAS LASERS!!!!!

Thanks, and BTW, when I had mentioned that the Sabre was the "second 'eleventh-hour-victory-repair' this week..." the first was Adam's 265 for his 164, so he is ON - HIS - WAY to ion WL Heaven!! - woohoo, Adam!!!!

OK, so I found these on eBay this past week, (and just FYI, I am NOT the seller nor associated in any way, other than co-incidental proximity...)

SP 164 / 265 Combo #1

SP 164 / 265 Combo #2

...now, the only reason I point these out, is for anyone that MIGHT have a potential interest (ie; Rob (Stanwax): psu parts, etc; Other Ion gurus out there; someone new looking to get into the world of ion lasers on-the-cheap, etc, etc) because these are in the same town as our NY shop (Rottenchester , I was able to go down to the sellers' University where these are stored (U of R), and test to see what condition they are in (gas-intact or not, etc..) and, so, here is the report on what I found, for whatever it is worth:

SP Head #1, Serial #1004, is NOT gas-intact (I have a tube-testing-tesla), but it does seem to have an etalon, and all optics / general tube condition is good; Its' corresponding 265 PSU, Serial # 1739, was in decent shape, passbank was very clean, no apparent defects; Obviously, I did not have the op. to actually power-up, etc, but there it is...

SP Head #2, Serial #864, IS gas-intact, all optics / tube condition are excellent, and its' corresponding 265 PSU, Serial # 3499, was also in excellent condition, save for one missing SCR from the passbank (cheap fix)

Both systems have had all head-connections DISconnected, but NOT cut, as most universities disposing of lasers do (arrgh! so it will take some work, but not too much, to get these up and running again.

Also, they had a SP 2020 Argon Head (this same guy was also selling it, but I lost the link to it, and it is off-auction, now, but just FYI...) that is NOT gas-intact, but the head was PRISTINE - very, very clean - magnet looks great / all optics look great, really nice condition...Also, no PSU available with it...

Lastly, there is one more 265, Serial # 2492, (that appeared to go with one other head he had, there, that had NO tube, but the mag, and resonator / head cover, etc) and this PSU was hammered - possibly good for some parts, but it was pretty trashed - looked like the passbank had been allowed to 'sweat' and, so, 'POP went the weasel'...

Now, for any that might be potentially interested in these, FYI: the kid is super ready to dump these, so I am simply passing my opinion along that someone could likely offer him $1K - or less - for everything - and it would probably be yours.

I am out till the end of Oct. on shows, but when I get back, IF someone wants these, I would be in a position to help get them / crate / ship or be here for pick-up. I will not look to make anything on this 'deal', save for perhaps a reasonable amount for time / materials if someone wants me to build a crate / pack, etc... Other than this, I do not have time to fuss with any of this stuff, so this is all just a friendly FYI, to any that MIGHT be interested...

PM-me for further questions...

peace..
J

[Laserman532]

This was the SP 921 (we called it the white elephant) - There were only 4 ever built. I built the last two that ever shipped around 1980. I was able to find this brochure on it. It was two 171's end to end. She produced about 45 watts broadband Argon lines when properly aligned. Keep in mind there were only two cavity mirrors and due to the brewster window orientation she lased in a VERY large angle V (not a straight line). Think about it for a minute... OK, that's long enough. She ran on two 270 power supplies for (total consumption) of 440vac, three phase at 120 amps per leg and 7.0 GPM of fresh water at 60 psi. FYI the math works out to about 76 thousand watts of electrical power. Incase you are curious...she was 12 feet long (3.66 meters) and total shipping weight was 880 lbs. If you think adjusting the bore straightners on one 171 is hard, give this baby a try it would make you pull your hair out.

[dsli_jon]

Hey Pat -

This was the SP 921 (we called it the white elephant) - There were only 4 ever built. I built the last two that ever shipped around 1980. ...She produced about 45 watts broadband Argon lines when properly aligned.

OMG!! Yeah, I've seen this brochure, and was always SPELLBOUND (in my mind) imagining 45 W of Argon!!!!! ..most I've ever seen is about 36W (I-400)......and YOU got to bloody WORK on it!!!! (more spot-seeing jealousy / wish I had known you as a kid...) damn... And I loved how the always-ultra-conservative SP just could not resist in actually using an ADJECTIVE: VERY High Power Ion Laser.. LOL funny...

With 45W of argon, you could, say, in FL - where you get real nice, thick humidity - make some really amazing open-air sine waves, etc..,...but dang, man.... You got to work on those babies... Don't suppose you have any pix of the beast lasing in your amazing SP archives, do ya? Or, even cooler, shots of the un-covered twin-TUBE??? If so, PLEASE share!!....

peace...
j

[Laserman532]

No pics, there were no digital cameras, We didnt take pictures of anything we worked on unless it was at a trade show or something, to us..."it was just another gig". It was very simple...two 171's end to end about 1 or 2 inches between the brewster windows in the middle. It had the exact same temperature compensating quartz rod resinator as the normal 171. It was just a bit tricky to align...but basically it was just a LONG ASS ion laser. I think Lexel made a smaller version of this for a trade show one time if I remember correctly. Anyway thats all I gots!

[stanwax]

Boy oh boy Pat thats one silly crazy MF! - and to think I am so paranoid of my itsy bitsy 168 and its meager thirst for power . Its insane machines like that that make me love this game so much - 76kW Jeeeeez! You could provide heat for a small town with the waste water from that!
Awesome Pix Jon at the start of this thread - That Sabre looks like a beautiful bit 'o kit not that 7W of cherry red from the 171 would not have me reaching for the kleenex! And thanks for the heads up on the ex uni ions too - I think even cheap for spares the shipping would be out of my 'hobby' budjet.
And finally Piotr - great images - Nice

Rob