Believe me on this. The internal software is needed until you have mastered 'scope diagnostics. Do NOT modify the cooling system, keeping the rod at a constant temperature is very important for thermal lensing.
FAA wants a variance. Even todays "meh!" CDRH is going to look long and hard at issuing a varience for a 'scope only user. Especially in the DC Aerospace area.
These drill anodized aluminum. They etch uncoated metal, which blows back crud on the optics and kills the laser. It is a very high peak power system. Just finding a good beam dump can be problematic.
Very little in Allen's on-line manuals is useful. The manual is set up to meet the bare minimum FDA requirements that require enough data for an end user to theoretically be able to maintain the unit. In reality medical manufacturers are not inclined nor required to put everything you need to know in the basic service manual. I spent a year working for a medical equipment manufacturer, and the regulatory system really requires you to attend a factory course for a reason. You follow the exactly the steps in the Lscope manual, you will probably end up at a dead end. You will find yourself making phone calls to find out why the system just shut down. That is done for safety reasons industry wide.
Allen was/is showing poor judgement and mental illness in his attitude and safety practices with regard to these units. So rule him out for advice.
Tuning it correctly requires two very good power meters. One sensitive one and one brute force one. Both are in use at the same time. Advanced users can get by with one really good LPM, but that comes with some risks.
Beware of the modified so called "service" firmware that is floating around for these things for show use. It has a serious safety glitch in it. The one ON-LINE mods schematic is down right flawed. On some models it will kill the doubling crystal very quickly from lack of giant pulse supression.
Going from "NO PEAK POWER" CW lasers to one of these is awakening in how little one knows. As a service engineer, I teach pulsed laser users on a daily basis in the nanosecond and and picosecond regimes. Just knowing when you can remove the safety glasses requires serious effort, thinking, and measurements. The precautions required need a great deal of discipline. I'm good at what I do, however, My employer does not like some of my lasershow habits, with regards to beam viewing, and he has a point. Just because I do it intrensically and instinctively does not mean some one who is watching me will do it correctly down the road.
You need room, you need power, you need beam dumps and goggles and fire extinguishers, , you need tooling, You need spare lamps, crystals, and spare mirrors, and you need training on the system. Anything else is an invitation to disaster, or a lot of expensive repair parts. In the field, you need a trained assistant or two, you should not work on these alone. In the field, when working at these power levels, I either kick everyone out of the room, or EVERY move is discussed and briefed beforehand.
Please don't point me to all these youtube videos where unskilled people have not followed that route. Those systems are coasting along based on their inherent design stability. Which degrades even when setting still, inoperative.
Your already dreaming of modifying this system when you have no idea how it works, and that is a BAD thing.
I'm not going to teach this over the phone. It is mentally intensive and dangerous. You need to hire Jon.
The Per'fesser's services for pulsed laser show lasers are 1500$ weekend plus airfare, plus you have to attend one of the three or four one day laser safety courses I approve of, before hand. Ie Greg Makhov, Casey Stack, Rockwell, or James in England. Plus waver of liability. There is also an evaluation of you as a reponsible person. For CW I come out for 1/3rd of that,(or often just to make friends) so that should tell you this is not a light undertaking.
I'll see if I can find a decent on line safety manual for you, but beware, this thing bites. If you do not have glasses on and you accidently view a terminated spot from even say 20 feet, the afterimages are massive, painful, debilitating, and can last for hours, if you do not do damage. NOT A TOY!
Steve
Last edited by mixedgas; 06-20-2013 at 06:10.
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Originally Posted by telmnstr
You need pulsed-laser system safety fundamentals session, first and foremost. This is *not* a 'learn by trial and error' kind-of laser system. Even if you didn't 'mind being blind', the 'typical' first-temptation is 'show the new hot rod off to-friends', etc, and as the saying goes, 'friends don't let friends blind other friends'. 
So, yeah... training, *first*, then, help towards 'proper conversion path'... Which will also-be based on your 'intentions' for-use (ie: public-shows, of any-sort, v/o a Var, etc.. = Ø help. 
....and armed only with his trusty 21 Zorgawatt KTiOPO4...
