Hmm, any JDSU argon I've ever used has had locking collars on it. Oh well ...
Give the mirrors a go and see what you can do, it's not easy with sealed tubes though. If you can't get it to lase you could always keep the head and PSU and just dump the tube, the parts could be used as replacements on other argon lasers, or you could find another tube to go in the head.
Try the slip the insulated pipe over the mirror mount trick. Usually a little pressure in a circular method makes a flash at some point, then the elasticity of the metal moves it back. Be gentle. At that point of flash you can either bend the heck out of it or pay a $1.25 for a collar at the hardware store.
Sam describes this in the faq/
steve
Qui habet Christos, habet Vitam!
I should have rented the space under my name for advertising.
When I still could have...
300Evil,
I was "the guy on LPF with the similar problem" - with a 2214-xxMLUP. In my case, it was a dead filament. Might as well rule this out by testing continuity between the filament lugs. If you don't see an open circuit, you're probably good to go in that department. Unfortunately I wasn't so lucky.
If it's remaining lit, then that's probably not your problem. (Mine only lit for a second or so.) I believe the power supply quickly gives up if it sees an open circuit on the filament. As far as mirrors go, A friend of mine had a 2214-30SL with a similar problem, and he used the screws on the locking collars to adjust (bend) the necks of the OC and HR mirrors ever so slightly until it would lase; he eventually got it up to 47mW with no collars installed. So it is possible for them to get out of alignment in a laser such as the 2214; and also certainly possible to bring them back into alignment.
I'm interested in hearing the outcome of this one, as it's kind of a hybrid of the two last gas laser problems I had to deal with, so certainly let us know.
I think i'm probably this 'friend' that Aryntha mentions. In getting my 30SL realigned I also discovered why most 2214 heads don't have locking collars. Thermal expansion. I used a pair of locking collars salvaged off a MG hene tube and I could never get the beam power stable with them installed. The mirror alignment was changing depending on the temperature of the laser. If I adjusted the mirrors with the tube running at idle current, then cranked up the current, laser output would jump up, then slowly fall off as the tube heated up. Turn it back down to idle, usually it wouldn't be lasing at all, then the beam would slowly come back as the tube cooled. And yes this was running it with proper cooling. I ended up using the collars to 'force' the mirrors where they needed to be, then removed them. When I got rid of the collars all the thermal drift issues went away.
If the 25ML of the original poster is maintaining an arc, it should output something at 10amps even if it's EOL. It just needs the mirrors poked at until the beam is found. That or a proper alignment jig fabricated, and use a hene to sight along the bore to figure out if it's the HR or OC that's out of alignment. It's usually one or the other. Though if somebody else has messed with it, it might be both.
I believe Sam's laser faq discusses both techniques, and the tool that needs to be made to adjust the mirror mounts. But a locking collar works just as well to 'bend' it, It's just not quite as precise.
I have two more 2214-40ML's now, one just 'ticks', the other is new (only 100 hours on the tube) -- but only outputs a purple glow. I've been poking it with an MG locking collar to no avail...
Really upsetting; as far as a 2214-xxML this is my third strike. Qumefox -- you wouldn't happen to have these alignment capabilities would you?
Only for the 'poke it with a stick' method. I seem to have plenty of experience with that one though. I could make a jig but I don't have any working hene's anymore since my last MG cylindrical one lost the fight with gravity when I accidentally knocked it off the desk.
Hey Guys,
Thanks for the reply. I made a nice "tool" out of a nylon rod with a piece of fiberglass shoved down the center. It does a great job of grabbing and manipulating the cavity mirrors. Unfortunately, I was just about to start aligning when the PS decided to take a shit. I shelved the project after this.