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Thread: Spectron SL 1310 Videos (no beamz, it's 1064, and it's not on yet!)

  1. #1
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    Default Spectron SL 1310 Videos (no beamz, it's 1064, and it's not on yet!)

    Hey guys,

    Just did some 'cover-off' videos of the new SL 1310 www.rlab.org.uk bought to run up our selective laser sintering, laser welding, laser cutting, laser blastering, smoke making power burning boiler etc setup.

    I've got the manual, I've got 3-phase almost wired in and plumbing almost done...now it's time to figure out how to use this damn thing! Really just looking for any advice anyone can give me about what to expect from this beast of a thing, and where to start with dusting it off and getting it running (what to watch out for etc)

    Haven't played with a YAG like this before, so I'm a bit apprehensive, and it's also going to be the most powerful laser I've ever played with if it works, so I'm trying to go slowly and make sure I don't balls this up.

    Also, I'm wondering how the hell to identify the deionizer filter cartridge and the particle filter cartridge that I need...there doesn't seem to be any info in the manual about part numbers. The DI one has a cartridge in it that I can photograph, but the particle filter one is empty...any ideas guys? Length and diameter good enough to start? What do I need to measure and who do I need to buy one from?

    Me rambling:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uARkfMNmz_c
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chhprsXnOGM
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKI8TGVdUcw


  2. #2
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    Neat toy, at first I read "smore making"...

    The thing with the conical thing in the center is a beam dump. The black thing is an intracavity beam expander. On my 400w luminics it compensates for thermal lensing of the rod.

    The filters look like generic 9" filters. I use a 5 micron particulate and a refillable DI cartridge. Both of these can be bought from online stores that sell supplys for reef tanks. DI lasts about a year before breaking down I am told.

  3. #3
    mixedgas's Avatar
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    OD6 safety glasses should be your first priority. I work with 1064 every week. It scares me, especially when teaching a new user every week.
    Respect and fear it.

    Your missing a Q-switch, its what probably sets on that plate between the rear mirror and the rod.

    Steve
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    Quote Originally Posted by mixedgas View Post
    OD6 safety glasses should be your first priority. I work with 1064 every week. It scares me, especially when teaching a new user every week.
    Respect and fear it.

    Your missing a Q-switch, its what probably sets on that plate between the rear mirror and the rod.

    Steve
    Yep, thanks very much for the tips and the concern, I've had a set for a while waiting for an excuse to use them! I've also got my eye on some safety glass that's OD6+ apparently. We're trying to set up for selective laser melting.

    The Q-Switch does indeed go there, it's in a box somewhere. I'm a bit curious about the 'multimode/singlemode' switch, it seems to be missing something from the front of the cavity (between the OC and the rod). There's some sort of prism looking thing on the very end of the pump chamber? The manual does say something about it being there for single mode.

    What would that beam dump be for? Why would you want to pick off to a beam dump like that?

    Thanks for the tip on the filters as well, another member of my hackspace happens to work for some serious marine people, so he's mentioned that he can help sort out filters! Does 9" describe the length? One is much shorter than the other, I'll take some more pics and stuff.

    If I scan the manual, where should I post it up? Do you guys think I should have the lid off the chamber and clean the reflectors and stuff or should I just not worry?

    R

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    My guess there was something to switch in different optics for single mode and multimode. Multimode us usually used for welding and single for cutting. In the case of my laser I have to remove the front and rear mirrors, front is replaced with an etalon, which is a slightly wedge shaped optical element and an aperture is installed in the rear mount. This increases the cavity length and also incorporates the intracavity telescope. The rear mirror is a curved mirror vs the flat mirror used for multimode.

    9" is the length of the filter, usually about 2.5" around.

    I am not sure what is going on with that beam dump and the pick off. Going to have to see drawings of it. In the case of my laser, which is a flash lamp pumped laser, the lamps run continuously at the power and rep rate selected. The beam is constantly dumped into the beam dump and when you want light the mirror moves out of the way and the beam progresses down the work end. The rotary solenoid that the mirror is mounted to is timed with the pulse of the laser.

    You could always post the manual to a public folder in a dropbox account. Also post high res photos instead of a video.

    My toy: http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/thr...r-Welder-Gloat

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    gashead's Avatar
    gashead is offline Admin Verified: Best Accent Ever(Tm)
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    Nothing quite like breakfast whilst watching Ryan talk about big lasers!

    Cheers for that

    Nige.


    "The horizon leans forward offering you space, to place New steps of change"

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    mixedgas's Avatar
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    On CW arc lamp pumped Yags, you don't rapidly modulate the lamp, it will kill it. If you modulate the AO, you'll have possible issues with the beam changing with thermal lensing. This cavity appears to be set up for a precision beam quality. So if you like a precise, unchanging beam, you dump it some place rather then cooling down the cavity every time you want to modulate. You need the beam dump for tuning, anyways.

    The power meter is that sensor looking off the leakage from the rear mirror. You tune the laser for best beam quality using a piece of burn film in single shot mode with the Q-switch. You adjust for best centering in the rod using burn film. Then you peak for power using the sensor. This is done repetitively until you meet specs. While doing this, you need to dump the beam some where for safety.

    The beam has to land some where, at these powers it will cause lots of issues, especially when Qswitched. Just doing things like inserting a diverging lens with the curve towards the laser may induce air breakdown.

    What is the design rep rate and pulse length? That determines much about how this will behave. Don't assume it is a CW or High Rep Rate laser just yet. On a YAG, very small changes in cavity optics can result in large changes in operational parameters.

    Its not listed here:

    http://www.jklasers.com/images/pdfs/spectron_sl.pdf


    Have you contacted GSI-Spectron with a serial number and asked for a manual and specs?

    Steve
    Last edited by mixedgas; 10-08-2013 at 03:02.
    Qui habet Christos, habet Vitam!
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    When I still could have...

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    Quote Originally Posted by mixedgas View Post
    On CW arc lamp pumped Yags, you don't rapidly modulate the lamp, it will kill it. If you modulate the AO, you'll have possible issues with the beam changing with thermal lensing. This cavity appears to be set up for a precision beam quality. So if you like a precise, unchanging beam, you dump it some place rather then cooling down the cavity every time you want to modulate. You need the beam dump for tuning, anyways.

    The power meter is that sensor looking off the leakage from the rear mirror. You tune the laser for best beam quality using a piece of burn film in single shot mode with the Q-switch. You adjust for best centering in the rod using burn film. Then you peak for power using the sensor. This is done repetitively until you meet specs. While doing this, you need to dump the beam some where for safety.

    The beam has to land some where, at these powers it will cause lots of issues, especially when Qswitched. Just doing things like inserting a diverging lens with the curve towards the laser may induce air breakdown.

    What is the design rep rate and pulse length? That determines much about how this will behave. Don't assume it is a CW or High Rep Rate laser just yet. On a YAG, very small changes in cavity optics can result in large changes in operational parameters.

    Its not listed here:

    http://www.jklasers.com/images/pdfs/spectron_sl.pdf


    Have you contacted GSI-Spectron with a serial number and asked for a manual and specs?

    Steve
    Thanks again for the tips! I can't see a power meter in there, the rear mirror is blank and the front mirror just has an intracavity shutter, but I'll post some more pics soon.

    I probably should have read this before making this video but...

    http://youtu.be/4lWYK6vHdck


  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by macona View Post
    My guess there was something to switch in different optics for single mode and multimode. Multimode us usually used for welding and single for cutting. In the case of my laser I have to remove the front and rear mirrors, front is replaced with an etalon, which is a slightly wedge shaped optical element and an aperture is installed in the rear mount. This increases the cavity length and also incorporates the intracavity telescope. The rear mirror is a curved mirror vs the flat mirror used for multimode.

    9" is the length of the filter, usually about 2.5" around.

    I am not sure what is going on with that beam dump and the pick off. Going to have to see drawings of it. In the case of my laser, which is a flash lamp pumped laser, the lamps run continuously at the power and rep rate selected. The beam is constantly dumped into the beam dump and when you want light the mirror moves out of the way and the beam progresses down the work end. The rotary solenoid that the mirror is mounted to is timed with the pulse of the laser.

    You could always post the manual to a public folder in a dropbox account. Also post high res photos instead of a video.

    My toy: http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/thr...r-Welder-Gloat
    Awesome! Thanks for the tips on single vs. multimode... any idea why this is the way? Does cutting produce more reflection? Is it desirable to have a smaller beam when cutting and singlemode operation can do that?

    There's definitely single mode gubbins in there, but I removed them to get it to work :/ I re-fit them easily after today's playing and the manual has details of how to re-align them, so I'm going to do that tomorrow.

  10. #10
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    ps.... this thing has a lot of extra room on the rails, and I have another two medical YAG's...

    dumb question in all likelihood, a long shot at least, but can I just put all the YAG things on one set of rails, with one beefy pair of mirrors and one beefy q-switch and get all the watts?

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