Synrad / Laakman 10W CO2 Laser...

[Hemlock Mike]

My light coating of high temp flat black paint didn't seem to change my readings either.

Mike

[mixedgas]

That will basically ruin the calibration of your detector. The paint will have different absorbance that the standard surface...

You want to place a bet on that? Flat black krylon paint is loaded with carbon black. Adding a layer often does not make much of a difference, I've had to repair several sensor heads.
Usually less then a .1% change.
Steve

[Hemlock Mike]

Steve --

I got an ebay head which was burned -- WTH ?? -- The "secret coating" cleaned off with paint thinner and I used the HT paint --- Light coat, don't glop it on.
Works great for me.

Mike

[Hemlock Mike]

evil ---

This is a pix of one of my RF CO2's I got early. It is a single unit RF supply. There weren't many of these but the others are as good.
Mike

[mixedgas]

[QUOTE=Hemlock Mike;79640]Steve --

I got an ebay head which was burned -- WTH ??

end quote

Excimer and Ultrafast lasers can do a real number on the coatings. My good head has whitish bleached spots in the carbon. The only idea I have is the binder has something glassy in it, like sodium silicate, or something that oxidizes.

Even with the bleached spots, the meter tracks other meters quite well.

Steve

[GregR]

Hello Evil,

I purchased a similar Co2 laser tube off eBay a few years back, but am missing the electronics on the tube. Any suggestions on purchasing/getting that board?

[Henk]

A blast from the past like, some time ago I got one of these tubes from Hemlock Mike, who also posted in this thread (thanks Mike), but this one isn't very well.
Applying RF doesn't do the trick, I also applied 15KV (non rectified) to the tube, and I saw a pink glow in the tube, but when rectified, no show.
So I'm afraid the Genie is out of the bottle.
And since this tube is way too handy to hang it on the wall, I don't mind spending some time trying to revive it.
Mind you, I don't know too much about lasers, but I read on Sam's laser FAQ, that the gas mix composition appears to be very critical, and for that reason a very well kept secret, but then again, what can I lose?

So I'd appreciate some hints to get this thingy lasing again, and since I'm from the Netherlands, there's fat chance to score one of them on a flea market for grabs.
It should output ~ 7 watts, and that should be enuff to do some engraving.

If someone could be so kind to do some close ups of the RF amp, it also would be very appreciated.

[mixedgas]

The RF is 27.125 Mhz thru an impedance matching network that should be attached to the tube.

For the gas mix, which for a sealed tubes sometimes is rumored to start with 1:1:5 or 1:2:3 ratio Co2, He ,N2 you need to buy a paper called:

" Optimization of system parameters of a sealed-off CO2 Laser."
Authors Cheng Cheng ; Jianhua Yao ; Zhijun Xu

I cant download it... sorry.

Traces of Xenon, Carbon Monoxide, and Hydrogen are usually added to stabilize the mixture from degradation when sealed. With sealed tubes, small variations in gas ratio make a huge difference in power. This is contrasted to flowing gas mixes, which are pretty much standardized around 1CO2:7N2:12He.

I got rid of mine long ago, I have no pictures for you.

Steve

[turbohead]

What the hell are you gonna do with 10W of CO2... Mix it with that Ruby? Be an intersting optic.

What else but rule the world (Pinky and the Brain).

[swamidog]

that should be plenty for engraving leather/wood/anodized Al, etc.

A blast from the past like, some time ago I got one of these tubes from Hemlock Mike, who also posted in this thread (thanks Mike), but this one isn't very well.
Applying RF doesn't do the trick, I also applied 15KV (non rectified) to the tube, and I saw a pink glow in the tube, but when rectified, no show.
So I'm afraid the Genie is out of the bottle.
And since this tube is way too handy to hang it on the wall, I don't mind spending some time trying to revive it.
Mind you, I don't know too much about lasers, but I read on Sam's laser FAQ, that the gas mix composition appears to be very critical, and for that reason a very well kept secret, but then again, what can I lose?

So I'd appreciate some hints to get this thingy lasing again, and since I'm from the Netherlands, there's fat chance to score one of them on a flea market for grabs.
It should output ~ 7 watts, and that should be enuff to do some engraving.

If someone could be so kind to do some close ups of the RF amp, it also would be very appreciated.