need help (netherlands) spectra-physics 168-35 whitelight

[laserwinkel]

lol this sounds scary :P what would be a safe distance?
anyways mixedgas have you sent the pdf to stoney yet?
then i can make an appointment with stoney to fix this laser

[mixedgas]

How about you request it, PM me, and I'll send a pdf of the schematic to you, the whole manual weights in at about 4 kilograms.

Stoney doesnt own the laser, you do.

Steve

[Stoney3K]

How about you request it, PM me, and I'll send a pdf of the schematic to you, the whole manual weights in at about 4 kilograms.

I thought you had the manual in a digital format, instead of a pile of paper.

Stoney doesnt own the laser, you do.

Steve

True, although I have some tech expertise, I'm not going to do all of his homework. And I am going to give *NO WARRANTY* that this thing will work after the wiring's been repaired

[Laserman532]

you dont need a manual, if you are not colorblind you should be able to splice wires back together. Sometime everyone makes things way too complicated.

[mliptack]

Yeah please keep the camera rolling when you turn on the power. I love fireworks.

I'll be an optimist... Keep the camera rolling I like lasers ...

Like Pat said, it will be pretty easy to splice the black wires to the black wires, the red to red etc.... Just make sure whatever you use to splice them can handle the power.

[Stoney3K]

I'll be an optimist... Keep the camera rolling I like lasers ...

Like Pat said, it will be pretty easy to splice the black wires to the black wires, the red to red etc.... Just make sure whatever you use to splice them can handle the power.

I'd rather see some numbers on the maximum current the wires should be rated for, before he starts randomly splicing wires together.

Judging by the power consumption (15kW give or take) at 208V per phase, it'd be somewhere round 20-25A, so 32A three-phase cable (4qmm) should be sufficient.

The order in which the phases are connected isn't important, that's only important when you're wiring electric motors. I guess the PSU has quite a honking' rectifier in its input stage. Just be sure not to wire any phase wires to ground!

I'd rather leave wiring things like this up to someone more qualfied, though. When it's not done right or it's improperly insulated, a lot of bad things can happen (shock hazard, fire through short, explosion of capacitors, etc...).

So be patient, we'll fix this lady in Eindhoven. Just make sure the head cable is in proper order, as that's a little harder to fix!

[Stoney3K]

OK, little update, we're planning to fix the Spectra friday since laserwinkel couldn't make it to the LEM in December.

I'm finishing up on all of the start-up procedures, I'm planning to do the first run on Friday at low tube current (1-2A), just to make sure the tube is able to start and there are no apparent faults.

The procedures are, for the most, pretty straighforward, but I've got a few questions still open. Obviously, you will want to check for inlet and outlet water pressure/temperature, leaks, and no power faults in any of the cabling before starting.

I'm still a little confused about the FIELD regulator though, I know what it does, but not what the effect will be on the actual laser output. Should it be on MAX when starting, or at 50% and adjust later when the tube is lasing? I know running an argon head with no magnetic field is a bad thing.

Furthermore, what's the expected current at which the tube should start lasing? If I know that, I can set the current control accordingly and proceed with aligning the mirrors if there is no laser output. I don't want to run the risk of running the tube in LIGHT control mode and maxing out the current because the laser output is zero (and, possibly, damaging the tube).

If we're lucky, you can expect some nice photographs of a running Spectra by Friday evening. If we're not so lucky, I just hope we have a live uplink for some questions.

[Laserman532]

here is a post I made a while back...

When you get the supply hooked up to three phase power and get the water so that it will flow with no leaks. Here is your quick test.

a- using a dvm measure 208vac phase to phase and 110v phase to ground FIRST. If you have one hot leg remedy that problem. Start your water flow.

B- get a boyscout compass ready. If you lift the breaker you will see the cathode start to glow. 30 - 45 seconds later the time delay relay will close allowing the start light to light (it will if your relay is working and if you have doubling voltage)...DO NOT PRESS START BUTTON YET.

c- take your compass and hold it close to the brass ring of magnet on anode end one end of the compass will point strongly to the anode. Slowly move your compass towards the cathode end of the magnet. You will see the compass switch needle ends. This tells you the magnet is working, it dosnt tell you how strong it is but it tells you that it is working.

D-Get your DVM set it to a high voltage range DC. Put the red probe in the center of the set screw of the red wire attached to the anode. (this keeps you from slipping off) Put the black probe on one of the cathode wires. DO NOT PUT YOUR PROBE BETWEEN THE CATHODE WIRES Put your probe on the outside of either one of the wires. You should measure approx 540 vdc. If you measure 540vdc you may REMOVE THE TEST PROBES!!!!! (warning if you hit the start button with DVM connected it will EXPLODE VIOLENTLY IN YOUR FACE) may be I should have said to put on safety glasses

e- When you measure 540 vdc that tells you that your voltage doubler ckt in the ps is working. IF you only measure 220 to 250 vdc YOU HAVE A PROBLEM in your doubling ckt. (i will have to clean some cobwebs to figure that out)

F- if you measure around 540vdc REMOVE PROBES and push the start button with the current control pot set to minimum. (have your hand ready to throw down the circuit breaker on the front panel if it runs to max current) (But it wont, it will be just fine) Your plasma tube will start and have the video camera ready because you will have to post the video of you guys doing the ceremonious dance in the endzone.

G- if it starts fine and you have current control. Increase your field control to max and slowly turn your current up to 30 amps. At 30 ammps field max you may measure the tube voltage and it should be in the range of 237 - 243 vdc./ If it is not in this range you should call me and I will give you personal guidance as to what to do next. DONT WORRY ABOUT LASER LIGHT AT THIS POINT. Lets get the plasma tube to operate correctly first.

Sorry for long post but I think it was important i gave you some details And you guys may know some or all of this but this was a little information to the rest of the community who may want to do this someday

[Stoney3K]

here is a post I made a while back...

When you get the supply hooked up to three phase power and get the water so that it will flow with no leaks. Here is your quick test.

a- using a dvm measure 208vac phase to phase and 110v phase to ground FIRST. If you have one hot leg remedy that problem. Start your water flow.

B- get a boyscout compass ready. If you lift the breaker you will see the cathode start to glow. 30 - 45 seconds later the time delay relay will close allowing the start light to light (it will if your relay is working and if you have doubling voltage)...DO NOT PRESS START BUTTON YET.

c- take your compass and hold it close to the brass ring of magnet on anode end one end of the compass will point strongly to the anode. Slowly move your compass towards the cathode end of the magnet. You will see the compass switch needle ends. This tells you the magnet is working, it dosnt tell you how strong it is but it tells you that it is working.

D-Get your DVM set it to a high voltage range DC. Put the red probe in the center of the set screw of the red wire attached to the anode. (this keeps you from slipping off) Put the black probe on one of the cathode wires. DO NOT PUT YOUR PROBE BETWEEN THE CATHODE WIRES Put your probe on the outside of either one of the wires. You should measure approx 540 vdc. If you measure 540vdc you may REMOVE THE TEST PROBES!!!!! (warning if you hit the start button with DVM connected it will EXPLODE VIOLENTLY IN YOUR FACE) may be I should have said to put on safety glasses

e- When you measure 540 vdc that tells you that your voltage doubler ckt in the ps is working. IF you only measure 220 to 250 vdc YOU HAVE A PROBLEM in your doubling ckt. (i will have to clean some cobwebs to figure that out)

F- if you measure around 540vdc REMOVE PROBES and push the start button with the current control pot set to minimum. (have your hand ready to throw down the circuit breaker on the front panel if it runs to max current) (But it wont, it will be just fine) Your plasma tube will start and have the video camera ready because you will have to post the video of you guys doing the ceremonious dance in the endzone.

G- if it starts fine and you have current control. Increase your field control to max and slowly turn your current up to 30 amps. At 30 ammps field max you may measure the tube voltage and it should be in the range of 237 - 243 vdc./ If it is not in this range you should call me and I will give you personal guidance as to what to do next. DONT WORRY ABOUT LASER LIGHT AT THIS POINT. Lets get the plasma tube to operate correctly first.

Sorry for long post but I think it was important i gave you some details And you guys may know some or all of this but this was a little information to the rest of the community who may want to do this someday

Thanks for the help. I don't expect the PSU to have any electrical faults, since the unit was salvaged in working condition, but the cable connecting the step-down transformer and the PSU had to be cut because the crew was unable to remove it otherwise. I will check for phase-phase and phase-neutral shorts (and earth faults) in both the step-down and PSU to be certain. The PSU itself is unmodified and undamaged, so I don't expect any problems to arise there.

When starting, should the field control be at zero, just above zero (minimum) or any other setting before increasing it to MAX when the tube's working? I don't have any manuals for the 168, only a general understanding of its workings, which should be useful since then I know where to look for certain test points or plug pinouts. Laserwinkel seems to be quite clueless about the unit's workings, that's why I decided to give him a hand and told him not to touch anything, for his own safety's sake

I'm not sure if we can run the tube up to 30 amps, IF it runs, since we have about 12kW of three-phase power (3x16A @ 400V) available, which should only be just enough to run the unit. I don't want to be overconfident, run the unit flat out and find out that we either have steam coming out of the water dump line or a set of circuit breakers in the distribution box getting really, really hot

If we're really, really lucky, this puppy will have OK gas pressure, start on the first button hit and the mirrors may *just* still be aligned, giving a nice bright white spot on the opposing wall ... But honestly, I don't expect the optics to be in good condition after the way the laser head seems to have been handled and transported. The electronics can take a beating, but the optics are somewhat sensitive to movement and misalign when transported often. If we get first plasma out of this thing, it's time to crack open a beer.

[Laserman532]

if your tube is high pressure you will want the field knob at max, if it is low pressure you will want it at minimum. basically...it dosnt matter.

if you get plasma glow and current to 30 amps and no lasing, no biggie you are 90% there.

if you get steam out of the output hose you are not flowing enough water and or your flow switch is defective or mis callibrated.

just hook the sucker up and go for it.