# Spectra-Physics 10mW 488nm Blue arrived today!!!



## allthatwhichis (Jul 29, 2006)

This one is a lot bigger than I thought it would be...



and my camera's batteries are goin'...






























I think blue is my new favorite color...



Now all I need is a decent red, and to figure out how to turn the green one down. It has TTL but I am clueless on how to utilize it... The blue one's power supply is actually variable, so I thiknk it goes up to 25mW, but I have no way to test. I was thinking the local college, but the beast is almost 50 lbs together...


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## SuperBert (Jul 30, 2006)

so can I have it? Ill even pay shipping...


nice laser you have there either way... how much did you drop on it?

-Brett


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## allthatwhichis (Jul 30, 2006)

No you can't HAVE it... If I decide to sell it one day I'll PM you, but I just got it. Green has gotten kinda boring lately. With shipping it was almost $400. It sounds like a small airplane when you turn it on. I keep blowing my circuit breaker when I turn it all the way up. It's rated at 16 amps and my computer room is on a 15 amp breaker.  I keep forgeting... :candle:


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## N8YWF (Jul 30, 2006)

allthatwhichis said:


> I keep blowing my circuit breaker when I turn it all the way up. It's rated at 16 amps and my computer room is on a 15 amp breaker.  I keep forgeting... :candle:



Do you have 14 or 12 guage wire run to your computer room? If it's 12 guage then you can put a 20 amp breaker in your breaker box.

When I rewired my computer room/ham room. I ran 10 guage wire just in case I wanted to play with big toys.


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## allthatwhichis (Jul 30, 2006)

I live in a singlewide mobilehome, I can't imagine what type of wire I have... Actually most of that end of the trailer is on that breaker. It end's up being a 42in tv, big stereo, 2 computers, monitor, and then the laser... :duh2: It's amazing the breaker lasts as long as it does...  Maybe I can run a new run just for the laser and put an outlet on it's own breaker... I wonder how much it cost per month to run this thing. :thinking:


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## allthatwhichis (Jul 31, 2006)

Seem I have run into a power supply problem... While I was waiting for this module (this is supposed to be a SP 161C) to show up I saw an SP 163A on eBay. I decided to bid on it thinking the same manufacturer, similar model number... I also went to SP's site are verified that they are almost the same unit. So I won, hoping that when the 161C arrive I could test the 163A with the 161C's power supply, find which is best and sell the other.

Now that both have arrived, the 161C, the one I showed above, looks nothing like the 161C on SP's web site. I called the seller, and he said the seller of the 163A was wrong and sold me a Uniphase model...  I don't like to argue when it won't help... The 163A looks exactly like the 161C and 163A on SP's site. The laser I show above, 161C (incase you are confused ), seems to be a much older model than the one on SP's site... and while it works well, and I am happy with it, I had hoped to test the 163A with the power supply but the connectors are totally different.

Now for the question... :sweat: Does anyone know where to find a Spectra-Physics Power Supply model 263? that's NOT on eBay... I've seen that one, thanks.


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## jtice (Jul 31, 2006)

Cool you got it 

Thats crazy the PS is that large, and that its tripping the breaker ! :O
I guess thats due to it being a totally diff. technology than the GBS modules.

I was at my buddies farm the other night, and was running my GBS off a 100W power inverter, pluged into my ATV 

The blue sure looks cool though. :thumbsup:

~John


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## The_LED_Museum (Jul 31, 2006)

Looks a **LOT LIKE** the "little"  small-frame argon ion laser I have.
I got it in late-2003 in trade for a Z-Bolt green DPSS laser pointer.

(Edit, a short time later)
It consists of a Spectra-Physics 161B-060 laser head, and a Spectra-Physics 261B power supply.


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## allthatwhichis (Jul 31, 2006)

jtice said:


> Cool you got it
> 
> Thats crazy the PS is that large, and that its tripping the breaker ! :O
> I guess thats due to it being a totally diff. technology than the GBS modules.
> ...


 
Yea, it says 16 amps, which I didn't even look at...  but that's with the laser @ 12 amps. The PS has a nice power knob, I have been running at 8 to 9.5, after 30 minutes to an hour 10 amps will kill the breaker. I may replace the power line to one outlet and put it on it's own 20 amp breaker.  

For a good comparison, think of a yugo (green dpss) and an old school hummer (blue argon). 

How's that inverter work? It's be cool to get a laptop and your scanner and do a nice, legal show (yes I know it'd be a decent amount of paperwork, or good planning) outside on a foggy night. Once I get the idea in my head working, I may look into finding out what would need to be done out at my house. I live right next to a national forest though. Nothin' but woods out here. :candle: 

The blue is much easier on the eyes... Did you figure that TTl out yet?




The_LED_Museum said:


> Looks a **LOT LIKE** the "little"  small-frame argon ion laser I have.
> I got it in late-2003 in trade for a Z-Bolt green DPSS laser pointer.
> 
> (Edit, a short time later)
> It consists of a Spectra-Physics 161B-060 laser head, and a Spectra-Physics 261B power supply.


 
Nope, I would not say a LOT, exactly like is more like it. That is the same laser and power supply. The seller of mine said the tube has been replaced with a National Tube..? And yes, it is definatly a little... 50 pound laser/power supply. 

I want to take it somewhere to get the output tested. The seller said it he tested it at 23+/- the last time he tested it, but it looks bright next to my 100mW green. Not brighter mind you just brighter than I though it would compared to the green. 

You would know an answer to my question above do you? A power supply for a newer SP 163A... :help:


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## jtice (Jul 31, 2006)

Yea, its just a totally different technology.
Kinda like Incans vs. LEDs, just takes alot more power input.

Still cool though, looks more impressive than the GBS 

All I have done with the TTL is hook a puch button to it, and yes, it will blank the laser (turn it off) when you press it.

Gonna be quite some time before I can get any sort of control buiilt for it 

My next test, is going to be with those galvos i won,
I want to see if a can make a simple X Y setup with them, 
controlled my a couple knobs, and see if I can make a little adjustable positioning unit.

~John


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## allthatwhichis (Jul 31, 2006)

I was starting to wrap my wind around the Greek speak in the other thread. Would you have to get the laser to blank at whatever frequency to dim it. Making the laser technically "on" for a shorter time each second so it "appears" dimmer? Or am I totally wrong. It's OK, I can take it...

Will those galvos work with your scanner? And I dont' speak German either. where can I get a board like the one you have? :huh2: :huh2: :huh2:


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## jtice (Jul 31, 2006)

You are correct  see, you CAN do it 

"Blanking" the laser on and off really fast, is jut like the way some lights dim.
Its call PWM Pulse Width Modulation
Basically, its flashing the LED, or Laser, at certain speeds and duty cycles (how long it stays on for each flash)

I got my board used,
from a person that originally bought it from that site.
So I am not sure how you would go about buying one.. maybe email them.
I have no idea if the galvos will work, I will have to look into that.
~John


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## allthatwhichis (Jul 31, 2006)

jtice said:


> You are correct  see, you CAN do it
> 
> "Blanking" the laser on and off really fast, is jut like the way some lights dim.
> Its call PWM Pulse Width Modulation
> ...


 
No, no, no, I can understand the theory... that's a far step from even design, much less implementation.  Which I'm sure will help in desciphering the German on that site. I am stubborn though and will keep at it...


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## jkaiser3000 (Jul 31, 2006)

You can use PWM to dim a laser through the TTL cables, but in my opinion, it will render the laser somewhat useless for a show, as it will project a dotted line on a wall, or an "interrupted" liquid sky on fog. For that purpose, you'll nedd a ND filter to reduce the intensity, or a simple beamsplitter to split the beam's intensity in 60/40 for example.

Implementing PWM or TTL blanking is very simple with a 555 timer chip. With that, you'll have aproximately 50% duty cycle, and can easily vary the frequency by changing just one capacitor. At aproximately 10KHz, the intensity drops noticeably. But, again, it produces a dashed line and, the faster the line is scanned, the more noticeable the dashes become.

By my calculations, with the liquid sky scanner running at 8000RPM and the laser at 10KHz, you'll have each line scanned at 1/800 sec, containing around 12 dashes, spread around 5 degrees each for the total of 60 degrees scanned. But the lines won't be standing still, as they will be moving, perhaps quite fast, and probably unnoticeably, I haven't tried it. So, if you do this, let us know how it turns out. Might be an interesting effect :naughty:


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 1, 2006)

jkaiser3000 said:


> So, if you do this, let us know how it turns out. Might be an interesting effect :naughty:


 
 
You didn't read my last post did you...  I think I will go the beam splitting route. I was hoping one of ya'll would have something easy to make... :ironic: or a spare something I could purchase... I am into building computers, but the cards/chips will only fit into one slot/socket one way. This building a circuit board BS... I picked up a soldering iron once... and burnt my self... That whole pice of metal gets hot...  I though only the tip did...  

Back to the easy way... I have seem someone on the web use regular glass microscope slides as beam splitters. Has anyone else heard or seen of this technique?


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## jkaiser3000 (Aug 1, 2006)

> You didn't read my last post did you...



:laughing: sorry, I didn't .

The easiest way of reducing the power would be using a beam splitter, as you mentioned. Any piece of glass (or plastic for that matter) works, but it's somewhat inefficient. If you go this route, make sure the reflected beam is the one you use, as it'll be the dimmer one. The transmitted beam will be about 80% intensity, I guess.

The other easy way is using a neutral density filter, which is something akin to a sunglass. It's a piece of glass tinted to absorb light equally across the entire spectrum. If you use plastic, just make sure it won't melt with the heat from the absorbed light .

As for soldering irons, yes, they do get hot :laughing:, experience tought me that also.


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 1, 2006)

I have a few prisms, but I though they were supposed to be or have Anti Reflective Coatings on them but these don't. They came out of binoculars. I had hoped to use them as beam benders and spliters but they seem to project too many beams for me to keep track of. I saw a site where someone used microscope slides and it looked like it worked really well. I'll have to look for the site and post a link... 

Off to Google... Should have bought that stock when it wnet public...


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## jkaiser3000 (Aug 1, 2006)

Yes, you can use any piece of glass, even a broken pane from your windows (not xp, though). The problem is, the thicker the glass is, the more beams you end up with. These ghost beams are produced by internal reflections, regardless of antireflection coatings. That's why your prisms produce so many beams.

It's not hard to get rid of the unwanted beams, just use some kind of block, like a pinhole, to let only one through and the rest will hit the blocking whatchamacallit.

Also, two polirizing filters, even from polarized sunglasses, can be used to do this, just put them one in front of the other, and turn only one until you can't see anything when looking through them. put that on the laser's path and you have a variable, neutral density filter :naughty:


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 2, 2006)

Damn, can't find it on google... 

Oh, well... He had a row of about 6 slides, held verticle with holders, all at 45 degree angle to the beam and it would, as you say, pass 80% of the beam through each of the 6 slides while reflecting/refracting 20% of the beam at a 90 degree angle from the main beam. He ended up with 6 seperate beams going in one direction and one beam going straight from the laser. Look like good... beam managment.  It makes for some interesting math though. :huh2: 







Damn, I had to make a jpg to show that... VB Editor wouldn't let me do it...


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## Corona (Aug 2, 2006)

Forgive me if I missed it in the thread - but is this bad boy a HeCd?! It sure doesn't look like the output from an argon laser (maybe it's the color rendition of the digital photos and/or my monitor).

15A @ 120VAC in...that is a helluva low conversion ratio...10mW out for 1800W in, that's 0.0005% efficient 

Most excellent!


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 2, 2006)

It's an argon, because I have an almost identical unit.

If I remember correctly, one of the primary visible wavelengths of a HeCd laser is 442nm.
This one is what I believe is a single line TEM00 argon ion laser at 488nm.


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## jkaiser3000 (Aug 2, 2006)

> Oh, well... He had a row of about 6 slides, held verticle with holders, all at 45 degree angle to the beam and it would, as you say, pass 80% of the beam through each of the 6 slides while reflecting/refracting 20% of the beam at a 90 degree angle from the main beam. He ended up with 6 seperate beams going in one direction and one beam going straight from the laser. Look like good... beam managment.  It makes for some interesting math though. :huh2:



I really don't see the benefit of using more than one slide. If you want a 26mW beam at the end of the sixth slide, I'd just use the 20mW beam reflecting off the first one. But, that's just me :lolsign:.

In any case, you could use the extra beams for more effects out of several projectors :naughty:.



> 15A @ 120VAC in...that is a helluva low conversion ratio...10mW out for 1800W in, that's 0.0005% efficient



I believe at that current the thing would be producing around 20-25mW, so the conversion ratio would climb to an astounding 0.001% :lolsign:


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 2, 2006)

I was going to use all the beams, but I was just doing and showing the math. It was a slow night at work.  I want to get a beam from this room to every room in the house... one day. That project it looking to be more difficult that I had first thought. :huh2: I want to take the first 20mWs for the laser show.

I was told the laser will do 3 to 23+\-mW. I have a SP 163A-1202 head that I am wondering if it has a better tube in it. The tube in this one is supposed to be a newer tube than what came in it. The seller said it wa a "National" tube..? I have seen the 163A rated at 40 to 50mW, so I may try to myself or try to find someone to swap tubes. I want to find a PS for the 163 to test it... I had hoped the 161C's PS we are discussing would work on both heads... but I was wrong.


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 3, 2006)

The_LED_Museum said:


> Looks a **LOT LIKE** the "little"  small-frame argon ion laser I have.
> I got it in late-2003 in trade for a Z-Bolt green DPSS laser pointer.
> 
> (Edit, a short time later)
> It consists of a Spectra-Physics 161B-060 laser head, and a Spectra-Physics 261B power supply.


 
:help:
Nothing serious, but might I ask a wee favor... When you change the "current/power" switch to "power", is that an acurate mW measurement? I was curious if you had checked this with your meter. When I put mine to 9.5 amps and flip the switch it says 23mW. I would like to know it this is correct or at least close.

I'm also itchin to see if this 163A is good, or how good it is...  I can't find a power supply under $300.


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## jtice (Aug 3, 2006)

Heh, I also had planned to bounce the beam all around the house, or at least my large room.
That is NOT easy to align, especially when you try to use little home made mirrors.
I took a bunch of broken mirror pieces, smoothed the edges, as to not kill myself, and epoxied them to stiff copper wire to use as a base.
They dont work toooo bad, but you have to bend each one about 20 times before you get it aligned how you want.
And, being just normal rear coated mirrors, they create alot of scatter.
I really wish we could find a cheap adjustable little stand.

~John


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 3, 2006)

jtice said:


> Heh, I also had planned to bounce the beam all around the house, or at least my large room.
> That is NOT easy to align, especially when you try to use little home made mirrors.
> I took a bunch of broken mirror pieces, smoothed the edges, as to not kill myself, and epoxied them to stiff copper wire to use as a base.
> They dont work toooo bad, but you have to bend each one about 20 times before you get it aligned how you want.
> ...


 
HAH! You said cheap... :laughing: There is a gentleman on eBay that has 12, 15x.80 inch first surface mirrors starting @ $10. I have yet to see more than 1 bid for any of the auctions. You just have to cut them. I am about to find a way to nominate the creator of poster puddy for some kind of award. I have used this stuff for numerous... laser related things. I even need to get more today... Works on mirrors well...


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## jtice (Aug 3, 2006)

I have a few first surface coated mirrors already,
and I did see that auction you mentioned also, good price.

HA, poster puddy, I use that all the time !!!!

Ive used it to hold lights in place during runtime logging
and to position my old laser pointer. 

~John


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 4, 2006)

jtice said:


> HA, poster puddy, I use that all the time !!!!
> 
> Ive used it to hold lights in place during runtime logging
> and to position my old laser pointer.
> ...


 
Yes, I saw that. You're where I got the idea from...  Should patent it and sell it on eBay. Just like those pot mod instructions... :lolsign: 

I use it on everything. Holding the galvos, the fan, the mirror on the fan, the greenie in place, pieces of the laser fx housing... I got a few microscope slides, puddy goes well on a short side to make a base... :goodjob: This shitte's the bomb!!! $0.97 for five 3 inch "slabs".


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## jtice (Aug 4, 2006)

lol hey, you are going to have to start paying me royalties


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 4, 2006)

NOOO, that was a suggestion... I'm too lazy to sell stuff on eBay.


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 8, 2006)

allthatwhichis said:


> :help:
> Nothing serious, but might I ask a wee favor... When you change the "current/power" switch to "power", is that an acurate mW measurement? I was curious if you had checked this with your meter. When I put mine to 9.5 amps and flip the switch it says 23mW. I would like to know it this is correct or at least close.


I'll make that check at 10:00am PDT - this will give the laser 30 minutes to warm up.


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 8, 2006)

Ok, with the meter reading 16mW, a laser power meter read 16.6816mW.
So yes, the meter on the laser's PSU appears to be at least reasonably accurate. :thumbsup:


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 8, 2006)

The_LED_Museum said:


> Ok, with the meter reading 16mW, a laser power meter read 16.6816mW.
> So yes, the meter on the laser's PSU appears to be at least reasonably accurate. :thumbsup:


 
:bow: :rock: Thank you Sir!!! I have been running it at 20mW mostly. At least while I'm watchin music.  About 9.5 amps. I've decided I want to try an get a solar power kit for this hungry beast. I think a lot of it is the fans. I thought for a moment a 120mm computer fan would work... :huh2: Now that I have this thing I know better. I bet this fan'd cool the "F" out of a comptuer case. Or throw it on a watercooling radiator... :naughty:


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