What should I do with my dead 612nm?

[djeric]

A few months ago I killed my double ended 612nm from an old laser chorus viper. It worked fine with a beautiful orange beam out of both ends until I broke the glass around the anode connection Actually it's a barely noticeable crack in the glass around the anode pin which let the HeNe escape.

So, since no one seems to repair & regas HeNe laser tubes, I do not know what to do with the dead tube.

Should I keep it and use it as a desktop conversation piece? Are the 612nm mirrors valuable to anyone? How can the mirrors be reused?

Any suggestions?


Thanks,
Eric in New Orleans

 

[Sigurthr]

Anyone with a 1 or 2 brewster tube can reuse the mirrors as long as they are not damaged. Do not just throw the tube out. If I had the equipment and gas fill mix to do it I would repair the tube (as long as the bore isn't damaged and it is just the outer jacket you can place the entire tube in a larger glass vessel, make the two electrical feed-ins, and repressurize).

 

[ultimatekaiser]

I will take it I am collecting orange mirrors for preservation until I can rebuild tubes or use them with my brewster tubes.

 

[ped]

Or..

/coat

 

[ultimatekaiser]

Or..

/coat

NO! sell it to me! I can use the mirrors!

 

[NightExplorer96]

I think the best thing to do is sell it to kaiser. Knowing him, he is bound to find some use with the mirrors

-Alex

 

[djeric]

ultimatekaiser,

I just got word from Sam G that it would be around $1000 to get it fixed and regassed, IF I could find someone to do it as a favor. I paid waaay less than that for it and no way I'll spend that to get it fixed.

I have to ask a friend of mine who works on medical lasers. He had mentioned to me once before that he has a friend that could do it.

If that doesn't work out, I'll let you know. If you can use it that would be better than it just sitting on my desk for my geek friends at work to look at.

Eric in New Orleans

 

[ultimatekaiser]

Sounds good.

Just a warning...

Regassing orange is hard...it's not so simple. It needs to be done at a factory. It'll be hard to get the fill optimal without a fresh getter and a very good pump. Red isn't so hard, but the other colors have to be perfect to get anything remotely good out of them. Each color has little quirks, so it's worth a try, but don't expect it to go over well. There's a reason it costs that much

I've done it, and if it's not perfect, it'll have a short life even if you do succeed. You'll have to breach it slowly at the exhaust port so you don't suck gunk in.

 

[Sigurthr]

^ Which is why if it were my laser I'd be looking for a bottle of the appropriate fill mix and a glassworker with precision vacuum equipment. I wouldn't bother remaking the tube as new, but simply enclosing it as is (sans broken sections) in a new envelope with a new getter. I'd just live with the loss from passing the output through an uncoated nonbrewster window.

But if you can find someone to actually repair it as new for an affordable price, then why not!

 

[ultimatekaiser]

^ Which is why if it were my laser I'd be looking for a bottle of the appropriate fill mix and a glassworker with precision vacuum equipment. I wouldn't bother remaking the tube as new, but simply enclosing it as is (sans broken sections) in a new envelope with a new getter. I'd just live with the loss from passing the output through an uncoated nonbrewster window.

But if you can find someone to actually repair it as new for an affordable price, then why not!

Sadly no such bottle exists. They're produced on a continuous flow back pump from multiple sources with a special two way regulator. And mixed on the spot by a machine. The tube is blown, and then cleaned with strong acids and then baked to evaporate the remnants and any trace gasses, and the electrodes and mirrors are added as well, and then the tube is vacuumed and the backfed the fill through a gas regulator and then punched off with a special tool that cold weld/fuses the metal shut. It is then bettered and tested, and aligned, then binned.

Some of it is, I'm told, done with He(III) not He(IV)

 

[djeric]

Sounds like I have the necessary equipment in my kitchen!

 

[Sigurthr]

Interesting. I had no idea they'd use He3. That stuff is incredibly expensive. Old He3 neutron detection tubes sell for small fortunes because of it.

I thought their direct tap setup was because of the production environment. They don't even bottle the mix for repairs? What about all the soft seal HeNes out there?

 

[bloompyle]

How did I know Kaiser would beat me to this ...

I surely do hope the reagssing goes well. Though as mentioned, there is a reason these cost so much. Also, there's another very valid reason for why a 632nm tube 24" long may get upwards of 12-15mW, whereas a 612nm tube of the same length will get 3-4mW. Or 543 may get half that.

612nm is very low gain, comparatively. It's possible but improbable to regas for 612. 632nm, 1.15, 1.53, and 3.39um are all eadily possible (even super radiant 3.39um is possible).

I'd have gobbled up these mirrors really quick, but Kaiser is likely going to do the same as myself with these. The upside is that he has a nice 1B tube to play with. Something I regretably do not have .... yet...

 

[ultimatekaiser]

Interesting. I had no idea they'd use He3. That stuff is incredibly expensive. Old He3 neutron detection tubes sell for small fortunes because of it.

I thought their direct tap setup was because of the production environment. They don't even bottle the mix for repairs? What about all the soft seal HeNes out there?

Generally HeNe dont get fixed. once they're dead they're dead.

How did I know Kaiser would beat me to this ...

I surely do hope the reagssing goes well. Though as mentioned, there is a reason these cost so much. Also, there's another very valid reason for why a 632nm tube 24" long may get upwards of 12-15mW, whereas a 612nm tube of the same length will get 3-4mW. Or 543 may get half that.

612nm is very low gain, comparatively. It's possible but improbable to regas for 612. 632nm, 1.15, 1.53, and 3.39um are all eadily possible (even super radiant 3.39um is possible).

I'd have gobbled up these mirrors really quick, but Kaiser is likely going to do the same as myself with these. The upside is that he has a nice 1B tube to play with. Something I regretably do not have .... yet...

While not as nice as my 580, I did almost manage to nab a 570 recently. someone beat me to it though. I wanted to get it for you, but sadly it wasn't to be. got outbid up to 580 bucks.

for a 20" tube, red may give around 16-20mW, orange would be likely around 6mW, yellow would be closer to 4, and green would be a mere 1.5-2 if conditions were absolutely perfect, and excluding overfills.

 

[djeric]

Decided not to try regassing. Sounds too expensive and unlikely to work.

PLUS I just bought another 612 that is NEW, NOS, unused. Never thought I would find a NEW one, very expensive but I couldn't pass it up because I might never get a chance at another NEW one again.

I can't wait to get home tonight to fire it up, measure the output and then check if it is more than one wavelength.