Ion Laser Tech. Argon - Blue/Green

[billwx]

Greetings,
This could be an opportunity for someone to get a blue/green argon! About 3-4 years ago our planetarium laser projector was converted from gas (argon and HeNe) to solid state. The "old" argon head/power supply was moved to a smaller beam effects projector, but the way we have things set up, it was "too much". Also, the blue would "fade" after a while because of the optics being a bit out of alignment.
I had a student worker attempt to "tweak" it, but instead didn't listen to my "BE CAREFUL" and "DON'T TURN THAT TOO MUCH!" and wound up getting the optics further out of alignment.
I was given the whole works to try to fix or sell or whatever, but don't have the time or proper equipment to get the optics back into proper alignment. Now, we no longer have a use in the planetarium for such a bulky and heavy laser that needs a dedicated outlet. So it's sitting in a box.
So, I'm going sell the head/power supply/umbilical cord. The last I checked, it all worked - except the optics are still out of alignment, so there is no laser beam. The ceramic cavity glows a nice blue when powered up and the fans still work. So if someone can do proper alignment, it's a nice air cooled system.
It is an Ion Laser Technology (Model 5490A-00) and has optics for blue/green output. (Combined, so the beam can be optically split into both colors.) Here is a picture of it when it was in the laser projector at the planetarium:

When it was working 100% it was putting out about 150-200mw. A while back someone told me (maybe here) it could easily sell for $2000 if all it needed was alignment. (Again, it's the whole works - head, power supply and umbilical cord.) I'll also plan on making a donation with the proceeds to the planetarium for one of our new projects.
It would probably be best if someone "local" (NJ area - USA) could pick it up, since shipping would probably be expensive for such a heavy and fragile thing. So if anyone is interested, drop me a private message. Feel free to make an offer, as well.

-Bill

[billwx]

I'll just add a quick reiteration that if you're interested in this argon laser head/psu/cable, please do feel free to make an offer. I would prefer it being aligned and used, rather than sitting in a box.
-Bill

[billwx]

This ILT laser is still sitting here in a box. In a week or so I'm planning on putting it up on Ebay if no one here wants to make an offer. I'm also checking out some old HeNe tubes/heads/power supplies that may still work. If I can get a few going that we're not going to use, I'll post them in this section.

-Bill