Laserscope Modification Just Finished!

[Laserman532]

I use the model 1027 100 watt rf driver, with built in pulse generator and built in first pulse suppression (running around 80 watts RF) When properly aligned and tuned I am able to achieve around 90% depth of modulation depending on the PRF and the blanking signal frequency being sent. (they work together like a wobbling tuning fork) When shooting 50 watts in the sky as a beam you will hardley notice the 5 watts connecting the stop points get your FPS working properly or you will have a KTP eating monster.

I guess prodj was running CW at less than a watt for his photo, I am amazed itis that stable at such low powers.

[weartronics]

I use the model 1027 100 watt rf driver

Nice, I have some spares of this model from industrial YAGs. Unfortunately they are missing the interface boards, which have been out of production for > 10 years. But maybe you can appreciate this ...

(running around 80 watts RF) When properly aligned and tuned I am able to achieve around 90% depth of modulation depending on the PRF and the blanking signal frequency being sent.

That is even better than I was hopeing/expecting! Is 80W overdriving the Q-switch?

[Laserman532]

nice board, good copy. 80 watts is high yes but if you tune, clean & align it properly and your water lines are flowing properly then it is no biggie.

few grasp even the concept of what you appear to have mastered Congratulations!

[prodjallen]

Would a GM20 actuator work for blanking or way too slow? (flat mirror to beam stop etc). If not, does anyone have a spare 6580 Driver? I need one for blank scanner. And for the retrace lines go, i just threw that number out of my ass, im not sure, it was a guess, but i know you would have some bright ass retrace lines.

[weartronics]

Would a GM20 actuator work for blanking or way too slow? (flat mirror to beam stop etc). If not does anyone have a spare 6580 Driver? I need one for blank scanner

I think GM20 would be much too slow, but galvo blanking should work well. If you use the retroreflector blanking method, you can even get full analog modulation in this way.

[prodjallen]

I have the galvo for blanking, no amp tho, i was thinking about doing just a simple transistor based amp for blanking since i dont need anything fancy, but i dont wanna take a chance, and as for analog modulation, i have fake analog modulation by playing with the beam polarity with the stepper thing on the deck, i have full control from 5mw to 45w even with qswitch on, if you ever got a chance to play with the laser with the original computer, u learn a lot that way, i learned a lot from it...

[weartronics]

I have the galvo for blanking, no amp tho, i was thinking about doing just a simple transistor based amp for blanking since i dont need anything fancy, but i dont wanna take a chance, and as for analog modulation, i have fake analog modulation by playing with the beam polarity with the stepper thing on the deck, i have full control from 5mw to 45w even with qswitch on, if you ever got a chance to play with the laser with the original computer, u learn a lot that way, i learned a lot from it...

I think we're talking about different things here. You could use the surgical attenuator (if that's what you're talking about) to set the power, but there's no way it's fast enough for any modulation. Varying the lamp current is a more efficient way to set the power on this timescale, because the Laserscope resonator is stable over a wide range of lamp currents. Also, if you're getting 45W through the surgical attenuator, have you tried removing it? I estimate it wastes about 25% of power in any position, so you actually have ~60W!

[prodjallen]

The Stepper should be able to do it at 1/8 steps or 1/16 with driving @ 24V, using an Atmel chip for 0-10V == position in the stepper, and a switch on one end to tell its "home" location, i've seen people using steppers as scanners at slow scan speeds, and I dont think my scanners are moving that fast anyhow, hardly around 10-14k with 3mm thick mirrors which is pretty good actually.

[aijii]

I think if it was possible then it would have been done successfully many times already.

maybe you should listen to people like nick and pat..

*ahem*

[prodjallen]

Hey everyone, I finally got my scanner driver and galvo for blanking my laserscope, on my QM2000 I have the blanking scanner connected to Z, and for some reason i'm not able to blank the cw beam properly, i need to blank the beam in a straight line without turning mirrors and all that crap, no room for all that, so it would be like this Beam: -----------\\--- ---- --- -- -

\\ = blank scanner mirror

the image just seems to flicker when i turn the mirror into the beam to "blank"
maybe i didnt mount it properly? i'm not sure, also the driver isnt tuned to the scanner, because when i run it tuned it gets hot and so does the driver, i have the LF and HF all the way down and just the gain a bit up...

Any ideas?

-Allen