Just got my first 3 gas lasers, 2x Cyonics/Uniphase and one Melles Griot HeNe

[dar303]

I met a guy at at party that told me he worked as a medical laser tech and had stuff in his basement that his wife wanted him to get rid of!
I just went to his place and picked up some of the lasers:

Cyonics





Melles


I tried the Melles, it needed 12V 1A but there was no current draw and no light output, the PSU is a small potted module with just 12V in and HV out.
Is there any easy ways to test for HV without a HV-meter?

Do you have any pointers about getting the Cyonics running? I need to convert to 230V, they are wired for 115 now. Also, is there a way to make out wich PSU is for which laser? They all have different dates of manufacture.
What signals needs to be applied to the control input?
One of the lasers is probably low output since it had many hours but the other one is a spare and only tested now and then I think.
This will be a fun journey into gas-land!

The guy said that he would get me more lasers since they were upgrading to new diode lasers everywhere, he had a 60mW HeNe that he wanted to keep for a while, it was like 3-4 feet long and had two tubes in it I think!
He also told me that they threw away all the old CO2's and YAG's six month before we met...bummer!

[StarryEyed]

Hey,

Damn,
You lucky guy!
What a pity for the co2 and yags...
By the way...if You need a good place to store your Lasers..just contact me.

Best Regards
StarryEyed

PS:
If you want to sell anyone of those lasers just contact me,really!

[Diachi]

Those PSUs should work with both heads.

I wouldn't try to convert them to run on 230, I'd get a large site transformer ( the ones you find on construction sites ) - One of the 3.3kVA units should do. You're looking to pull in the range of 1kW-1.5kW ( at full power ) possibly a little more.

Also, both of these heads are single line. 15SLB is spec'd at 15mW at 20SLE is spec'd at 20mW. SL means single line. the last digit is often something to do with the original buyer and can mean several things but can also denote the wavelength. I.E. SLB would mean single line blue. SLG is Single Line Green.

Check out Sam's laser FAQ - you'll find pinouts for making a controller there, with schematics and advice on running these small air cooled ions.

If they've been sitting for a while they might take a little while to get going as the tube pressure might be a little high - I myself have never had any issues with cyonics tubes, they usually start after a couple of clicks, even when they've been sitting for a while.

Hope this helps

[dar303]

Thanks for the tips guys!
I'll try to get them running and then see if I will keep them.
I have 3x16A 230V in my workshop so I should be ok with running one of these on one phase there. Does it draw full power at power on or does it ramp up with laser power?

I'll check out Sams faq!

[Diachi]

You'll have a lot of inrush current from the cathode transformer when you plug it in. When it fires it'll ramp the tube up to 10A for a split second, then adjust to whatever it's set at. The higher you turn the tube current up the more current you'll be pulling from the wall.

Going by the sticker on the front of one of the PSUs in your picture they should run on 230V straight from the wall, and the sticker suggests a current usage of 15A at that voltage, but it shouldn't use all of that while it's running.

I wouldn't run it at 10A for long, 8A is a safer current.

Check the FAQ, I can't mind if those supplies will take 115V AND 230V without chaning any jumpers or anything.