Laser Physics Reliant 300WC

[krazer]

After a very pleasant experience with user dsl_john, I am now the proud owner of this very nice laser


It had a loose connection in the interlock wiring, and needed some wiring to get the fan spinning, but it is now running quite happily making light that looks like this




My main concern is, the power is a bit low (I measured about 110mw, of the 300mw 'rated' power). This is expected, the laser was sold as doing unknown power below spec, but I noticed that with slight tweaking of the optics I could get a bit more power, so there is hope! But i am curious, how the heck is one supposed to align a tube like this? I want my nice screws from the ALC-60X heads

[Experimentonomen]

Wheres the rest of the housing to this thing ? Btw i wanna see a vid of this laser!

[mixedgas]

My main concern is, the power is a bit low (I measured about 110mw, of the 300mw 'rated' power). This is expected, the laser was sold as doing unknown power below spec, but I noticed that with slight tweaking of the optics I could get a bit more power, so there is hope! But i am curious, how the heck is one supposed to align a tube like this? I want my nice screws from the ALC-60X heads [/QUOTE]


The factory uses a jig with 3 screws at 120' apart that looks like a modified shaft collar.. Plus some other tooling. Alignment is by slight crushing of the tube, and does not drift much... Its not something you want to do without practicing on say a cyonics/uniphase/jdsu.

You could call DZ Laser, not "our" PL DZ, and see how much they would want to refill it or tweek it. If you have a graph of tube voltage VS current they could probably tell you where you are on the life cycle..

Steve

[dsli_jon]

hey P -

Bitchin, dude... very cool you got it going so quickly....

..Now, clearly, you know what you're doing, but I feel better at least saying something... make SURE you build a good, tight shroud for the airflow, since this one did not have one with it - the better airflow you can give it = longer tube life, and *probably* better performance / output...

RE: 'alignment', well, be carefull if you do-decide to 'bend' the stem at-all, but I'd first check 'cleaning' on your OC - which will be very tricky, since the aperture is so tiny... but some good spectro-grade acetone, and a 'fine' cotton swab (cause clearly, you'll never get lens-tissue in there... with very-light pressure and a 'one-spin' gentle 'swirly' motion (...I know - unorthodox-method, but how-else, in this case??) you might see a good jump in power... I suggest this, cause this head was sitting in an 'unsealed box' for several years, collecting dust, and that, after coming out of a smokey casino / likely fog-laden, too....

And when you get your 'hood' / airflow ducting worked-out, let this puppy run a good long while... might be a bit high-pressure...

Wheres the rest of the housing to this thing ?

Never 'came with it' - this is how it was 'ordered' from 'LPD', the manuf. of this system, cause it was installed in a larger projector, as an 'oem' laser... not-exactly sure of the 'rationale' for that-approach, but I suppose, #1, for better 'airflow' and #2, it was probably less-costly to get it, like this, than have them 'redesign' their system, to accommodate this as a 'custom-order' (no galvos, just laser and PCAO / back-plate controls, etc...) - still, why-not, then, just order a WL-head/psu from Laser Physics, direct?... really, I dunno.. wasn't my doing...

Anyhoo, good to see you got 'er lit, and yes, like 'Experiment' said, PIX and/or FLIX!

kit...
J

[Stoney3K]

That's a cute litte unit, actually. Does it set the record for "Smallest Whitelight Ever"?

Me want!

[krazer]

As to the fan shroud-
I found a piece of metal that had the right size hole for the fan, and quickly kludged it together with some duct tape (the metal kind made for, you know, ducts). I assumed that you are supposed to suck air through the fins as with an ALC head, but it would be good to get a confirmation on that. Also, it seemed like it was pulling more air from the OC end than the HR end, as a result the filament end seemed to get pretty toasty--is that expected? The exhaust air was about the same temp as from my ALC head (maybe 150-160F), so I figure everything is working about how it should.

As to the cleaning the OC-
I noticed its pretty dirty, and was just wondering how the heck I am supposed to clean that--I will try cleaning it and see if things improve much. BTW-The spash in my spectrograph is not due do a dirty grating, that is what the output from the laser looks like.

I let her run for maybe an hour yesterday at 50mw output power (was probably pulling 7-10a off the mains), but I am right in the middle of finals so my laser experimenting time is a bit limited by that. School is more important that lasers, school...more...important....

As to the smallest, I have my doubts, I think there were some ALC-60x size heads that put out white, but it was usually only a few mw for things like confocal microscopy and the likes. This baby is probably the smallest one that makes enough power for show applications

[mixedgas]

email john at JK Lasers and ask him if he still has pics of his:

www.jklasers.com

Tell him SR says hello..

Steve

[dsli_jon]

Hey P -

As to the fan shroud...I assumed that you are supposed to suck air through the fins as with an ALC head, but it would be good to get a confirmation on that.

Yeah, the 'goal' is to REMOVE heat from the tube, adequately and consistently - you NEVER want to 'blow' on the tube to remove heat - 'blowing' is for cooling your fork-full of spaghetti at dinner ...so, good you have that straight - - I'd also comment that I am not certain that that fan is 'OEM' / truly-best for this laser, long-term... personally, I'd get a large, obnoxious squirrel-cage blower, ie:



(...of course, you'd have to rig a different shroud / baffle..) ... but you might be alright, as-long-as airflow is good...

Anybody know the 'OEM-recommended CFM-requirements' for these? You could-then x-reference that CFM with the model# of this fan, and see how it 'compares'... since this was an 'as-is deal', I can't really promise that any of those 'aftermarket parts' I found with it are 'OEM-spec'... so, might be wise to do some 'homework' on that, capeach?

Also, it seemed like it was pulling more air from the OC end than the HR end, as a result the filament end seemed to get pretty toasty--is that expected?

How are you 'determining' that? - 'feel' or 'smoke-flow' test? Steve / DZ any other 'Reliant-experts' care to comment / advise?...

As to the cleaning the OC-
I noticed its pretty dirty, and was just wondering how the heck I am supposed to clean that--I will try cleaning it and see if things improve much. BTW-The spash in my spectrograph is not due do a dirty grating, that is what the output from the laser looks like.

yeah, as I understand, this was in some Casino for ?? years, so I'd expect a nice film of smoke / fog-juice, hairspray, etc - like I suggested (I know it's 'unorthodox' using a cotton-swab, buuut..) get a skinny-one, and you can 'thin-out' the cotton - except for the very tip, which will do the 'wipe'... and again, ONE 'spin-style' wipe, per 'tip' - DON'T re-use or 'spin' multiple times, with the same tip... But I'm sure you knew that...

Keep us posted...
njoy..
j

PS - NO 'x-rentals' to any 'un-Varianced Djs', OK?

[krazer]

Comment on hot filament area was noted during cooldown, after letting the fan run for a few minutes the OC end was room temp, but the anode end was still hot to the touch (maybe 120-130f). I am not too worried about it, I just would like to make sure that there isn't supposed to be another baffle or the likes on him.

As to the fan, I do worry its a little undersized, and was going to ask what the 'rated' airflow for one of these babies is, like I said the temps seem to be similar to what my ALC head was doing, so I know I am at least in the ballpark. The current fan is 350CFM.

Sorry to leave you guys hanging, but I will have to hold back from any further updates till Friday, half my GPA for the quarter is being determined in the next 15 hours

[Diachi]

If the filament end remains hot after you have turned of the discharge and ran the fan it's because the filament is still lit. Most of the time they stay lit even when the tube isn't lit, guess it saves strain on the cathode as it has to heat up and cool down less often?