Argon laser

**djmatt** · 07-31-2009, 21:44

Hmm.
When a cord starts smoking, its not good!!!

Well I started the argon up this morning, and let it warm up, there turned the power up, and left the room for a min. came back and theres smoke coming from the tape on the cord. Im not sure what happend to it, but it was like that when I got it. So 15mins later I put a nice 10ga. SO cord on it

And not only is the cord longer, but now the laser starts in like 40 secs.!!

djmatt

**GooeyGus** · 07-31-2009, 21:54

argon lasers tend to find the weakest link in an electrical system

I killed a $150-dollar "monster cable" surge protector/power bar with only about 3-4 hours of a small argon running at ~5A. It got really hot and now just makes a beeping noise when it gets plugged in. It says rated for 120V/20A on the bottom. RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT......

Before it died, the laser would take like 20 clicks to start on that power bar... whereas when it's plugged into the wall it fires on the first click every time.

**steve-o** · 07-31-2009, 21:58

Are we having fun yet?

Don't set your house on fire

Yeah, put a 2 guage cord on it- that'll show it!!

**djmatt** · 08-01-2009, 08:14

Wow!!

Ive got this one pluged right in to an outlet.
And before it would take like 2mins or so to come on,now its very quick!!

This thing pulls 20amps... and I know right when its about to start, the lights dim down

djmatt

**steve-o** · 08-01-2009, 20:09

Good 4 U. Wire it in to the mains before the breakers and dont pay any attention to how much the lights dim. As long as the thing fires, that's what matters :\

**djmatt** · 08-01-2009, 20:13

Haha!!! Right...

Ill pass on that one!!

djmatt

**daedal** · 08-01-2009, 20:15

Originally Posted by djmatt

Hmm.
When a cord starts smoking, its not good!!!

Well I started the argon up this morning, and let it warm up, there turned the power up, and left the room for a min. came back and theres smoke coming from the tape on the cord. Im not sure what happend to it, but it was like that when I got it. So 15mins later I put a nice 10ga. SO cord on it

And not only is the cord longer, but now the laser starts in like 40 secs.!!

djmatt

OH! That's not good!!

I have personally not modified it... it came to me as it was... and I ran it for close to 2 hours on the longest run, but it was at idle the whole time... I probably only cranked it to full power a total of 10 minutes the whole time I had it... In either case, I'm really sorry I didn't notice that. I'm glad you did though!

--DDL

**djmatt** · 08-01-2009, 20:20

Oh dont worry about it!!!

I most of the time just leave it on low, its bright enough!!!

But it starts much faster now!!!

What the avg. life of a argon?

djmatt

**daedal** · 08-01-2009, 20:31

Originally Posted by djmatt

Oh dont worry about it!!!

I most of the time just leave it on low, its bright enough!!!

But it starts much faster now!!!

What the avg. life of a argon?

djmatt

Depends on how you drive it... the higher you drive it, the shorter it lives... If left at idle, I think a tube should live to over 10,000 hours... If driven to full spec, this can go down to ~4000-5000... If over driven, if can be down to less than 1000 hours.

--DDL

**djmatt** · 08-01-2009, 20:39

Ok. Cool!!

Thanks!! Now that tells me right there, to leave it at the lowest power,and to make sure the inside cooling fins are clean!!

Ive got to start writing all this down... its making my brain hurt!!!

djmatt

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