Congrats, glad to hear you are enjoying it!
^Agreed hehe.
I want to see 612nm as much as possible!
-Alex
oklol
@Joey do you have a "normal" 633nm HeNe to get some comparison pics with? It's always cool to see how much of a color difference there is between the two
yeah, it'll get fairly warm, not hot enough to burn, but pleasantly warm. the heat is normal and actually is taken into account as the tube operates. as the gasses warm up and the tube expands it will actually tend to allow the power to rise to a point. I generally don't notice mine getting too hot, but definitely warm. If it's getting excessively hot then it may have a minor electrical leak or the current may be too high. just because it says 6.5mA on the sticker doesn't mean that's what its outputting. excessive current and heat will shorten the tube's life a bit however. it's pretty easy to check however. Its also possible the tube is just a bit old, (usage wise) which will cause it to consume more power to stay lit.