Helium-Neon Laser Tubes

You might take the old tubes and soak them in Helium gas for a week or so. If their seals are in tact, that will replace the He that leaks out over time. Get one of those Mylar metalized balloons and put the tubes inside, fill with He gas and let it sit.

HTH tm

This was a problem with the original LaserDisc players.

By the way, at least one expert is predicting that, because we're using so much helium for trivial purposes, in 50 years or so we won't have any for scientific use.

This might work but the tubes are physical broken from students dropping the lasers or just general abuse. I was hopping someone had a stockpile of these tubes.

Sam's Laser FAQ

I took the liberty of cross-posting this reply to alt.lasers, as it still seems to get some traffic. Followups set to s.e.d.

Standard disclaimers apply; I don't get money or other consideration from any companies mentioned.

Matt Roberds

Uniphase and 155 spectra physics). Is it possible to find replacement tubes for these lasers?

I have three HE-NE tubes (New Old Stock) that I was saving for restoring old Pioneer Laser Disc players (think Dragons Lair - not CD). Would sell a couple I guess, but they are expensive ($150 each) - at least I can power them up to see if they still emit.

John :-#)#

Uniphase and 155 spectra physics). Is it possible to find replacement tubes for these lasers?

Do you have a service manual for a pioneer LD-1000, or do you need one for parts?

For anybody else, it's a top loading laserdisc player, complete with the fake wood- it would blend in nicely with quadrophonic sound system.

Uniphase and 155 spectra physics). Is it possible to find replacement tubes for these lasers?

I have the LD-V1000 top loading (lid) VRT-018-0 manual for the players as well as the additional service manual VRT-027-0 ("This service manual contains additional information to LD-V1000 Original service manual. When other information is needed, please refer to the original manual 'VRT-018'" ).

This model was used in Dragon's Lair by Cinematronics. 85 pages. Can make a good quality copy (B&W only) for $35 plus postage.

John :-#)#

Yes.

First of all, let us know what you need with this laser :

You can replace a gas laser by a laser-diode and so on.

Richard

The 155SL uses a JDSU 098 or similar long barcode scanner tube. These are readily available. I may be able to dig up a couple.

The 155 uses the old 060-4 side-arm tube. Electrically, it can also probably use the 098, but fitting it in may be a problem.

It may be better to simply buy some more modern HeNe lasers surplus. I have many available, though probably not quite as cheap as eBay. :)

it is avery intresting topic even used in ac and refigiration concpets awesome topic

i like it alot a great feild of science

many

Greetings Sam, I wondered if you might reply to this thread. Part of the welding I do in my shop is TIG welding and I do use helium sometimes. I also have a laser tube, the bar scanner type, that doesn't lase anymore even though the power supply is fine. If I was to put the tube in a pressurized vessel of helium do you know how much pressure and how long a time it would take to refill the laser tube? Thanks, Eric

many

Do you have an idea of the make and model of the tube? Most of these are hard-seal and never suffer from He depletion. And even those that have Epoxy seals often leak air in more quickly than He out.

However, you have He and nothing to lose, so put it in a bag of He at atmospheric pressure for approximately 1 day per year of age. So, if it's about 20 years old, try 3 weeks. Remove it and test periodically. If you go overpressure on He, there's no way to get it down quickly.

probably

many

Could one not make a photo-detector setup for semi-automatically recharging HE-Ne lasers? I'm thinking pressurized HE container, power laser and when light output reaches certain point release the HE via a valve...

John :-#)#

probably

many

I have no idea of the make and model of the tube. I bought the thing at least 20 years ago from a surplus store. This was when the used hand held bar code scanners were just starting to show up at electronic surplus stores. That laser was the coolest toy. I was very careful with it because of the high voltage and the laser light. I did machine up a new housing for the tube because the original one was cracked. I believe the tube is a hard seal tube though. I don't remember seeing any type of epoxy plug. I know the power supply is still putting out high voltage because it will arc to ground if the wires are removed from the laser tube. Maybe the start circuit is bad or something if helium won't leak through glass. Eric

probably

have many

It's tricky to power a HeNe tube inside a He atmostphere due to an increased tendency for HV breakdown. Or, so I've heard. One would have to do it in such a way that the high voltage parts are isolted from the He, but those are often exactly where the He needs to diffuse in. I haven't tried. :)

probably

have many

Sometimes it takes awhile to start, especially if it hasn't been used in

Take some pics.

probably

have many

Thanks Sam. I'll try shining a light. Eric

Uniphase and 155 spectra physics). Is it possible to find replacement tubes for these lasers?

Apparently I had one of those uniphase lasers. The tube was hard sealed, but the thing died when it was dropped and the mirrors got knocked out of alignment. I still have the transformer and probably the extruded case.

the thing was super super simple inside.