Oh how I have missed this place....

[djmatt]

Well it seems the harder I try to stay away from lasers....they find me...Was contacted by a high end jewelry store we have done a lot of work for for electrical work for, and they have a YAG laser welder they use for repairs...well it died...and I was the first one they contacted to look at the thing...and oh boy....it was bought new in 05 and sadly never had any service done to it....(they didn't know, nor did the company even tell them)
So yeah...its my headache now
All that aside...I need help to come back to what I left years ago....you guys and lasers!!!!

[djmatt]

Well this is what ive done to it so far....
Changed out the cavity
Cleaned the YAG rod as it was covered in green copper deposits (more on that later)
Flushed the water system with tons and tons of RODI water (yes I make it in house now)
Refused the simmer PSU
Cleaned the water jacket
Relamped it (it needs new sockets bad!!)
And when it actually lights...it actually works very well!
Was able to weld 2 pennies together

[Vidal Wolf]

once you see the light you 'nere again free!

[VDX]

... me too! -- have tw or three basements full of lasers and related bits'n'bytes ... and ever now "crys for help" or assistance

Viktor

[djmatt]

A few more pictures finally…
get ready for some pure carnage

[VDX]

... I've started brazing and "micro-welding" with a 9Watt@975nm IR-laserdiode, focussed on a spot of 0,1mm diameter ... have now some with 270Watts on 0,2mm (or CW-fiberlasers with 130Watts on 0,02mm)

Viktor

[buffo]

Wow! Look at all the verdigris in that water block! Time to get out the CLR and go to town... (Not sure if you remember all the work we did on my old Laserscope during SELEM 2014, but that unit was in similarly bad shape!)

I'm guessing that they didn't bother to change the DI cartridges, and when it shut down on low resistivity (poor water quality) they just left it sit for months? Sigh.

You said that after everything you've done, the unit works well "when it lights". Does that mean you still have an intermittent problem, or is it fully operational now?

Adam

PS: Good to see you back, Matt!

[djmatt]

wow finally caught a break to catch up on things...lol
Sorry for the delay...
Well an update on the unit...its now mine..they bought a new one for $18k and said just keep it...so its now in my garage behind the corvette...lol
From what I understand the lamp holders have come apart and the lamp is pitted badly....so new lamp holders and lamp and its ready to rock again....I have no use for it, so I have no clue what to do with it...

[buffo]

Hmmm. So, pulsed IR at 1064 nm... Not much use for light shows. Even if you could double it to 532, it's still pulsed.

But it's a fairly decent welder; maybe that has a use? Worst case, I'm sure you could sell it on E-bay (especially if you replace the lamp holders and install a new flashlamp to get it back to race trim).

Adam