After buying this rare, beautiful beast ---> ORIGINAL SALE THREAD HERE
I am afraid to say I have managed to break it !
I spent about 2 weeks solid reverse engineering the electronic internals and successfully managed to hotwire it for lasershow use.
However, after about 10 minutes continuous use at a low power output whilst fitting/aligning some galvo's, the laser stopped emitting a beam.
Please note, during this procedure, the Q switch was physically removed to prevent high power output and I was wearing suitable eye protection.
Unusually, the pump source flash lamp was still lit and consuming the correct amount of current so I assumed it was an alignment issue as these lasers have a few extra mirrors in the main cavity.
I checked the alignment best I could but could not get any green light at all.
Next, I suspected the KTP crystal had died so removed the entire oven assembly out of the cavity expecting the 1064nm level to return but nothing !
The only thing left to check was the YAG Rod itself which is deep in the lamp housing and probably the most fragile part of the laser.
30 minutes later, I had it all in pieces but the fault may be very hard to see...lol
For those who couldnt see... the YAG Rod is a bit cracked. !
At least the lamp survived and looks brand new which is a bonus in my opinion !
After a bit of head scratching, I have discovered the problem...
These lasers have 2 water cooling circuits of which the internal is a De-ionised closed loop which only has temperature and pressure monitoring.
I did incorporate these interlocks into the system hotwire mods but it would appear you can still get good pressure and temperature when the internal tiny reservoir (0.5 Litre) is low level.
There is no way of visibly checking this without adding external pipes nor is there any electrical interlock -- poor design by the manufacturer !
When low, the pump cavitates silently and pumps tiny air bubbles around the circuit which can lead to hot spots... BANG !!
Needless to say, I shall incorporate my own level detection in the interlocks to prevent this happening again.
Lucky for me, on ebay, I have managed to locate a replacement YAG rod for less than 120 USD.
I have been asked to include some pictures with measurements as there is interest in how this tiny machine produces so much output !
YAG ROD....
LAMP....
I was hoping to take this to the UKLEM but the parts wont be here on time...