ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 พ.ค. 2024
- Episode 40
#laser
#laserengraving
#electronics
In this video I tear down a Domino D100+ Industrial Laser Coder!
It has a high speed Galvo Scan head complete with all the amplifiers the drivers and Silicon mirrors, and beautiful Zinc Selenide (ZnSe) F-Theta lens.
There is also a II-VI ZnSe Collimating lens and of course a 15W Synrad Carbon Dioxide Laser, with an unusual wavelength of 9.3 microns!
Is it all scrap, or can it be brought to life? Watch till the end to find out!
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Helium Soak for Laser tubes:
www.repairfaq.org/sam/laserht...
Synrad Metal Laser tube Patent:
patents.google.com/patent/US4...
Synrad 48 Series User Manual (Includes Schematics!):
isurplus.com.au/manuals/Synra...
XY2-100 Library for Teensy 3.2:
github.com/Tuet/XY2_100
OpenGalvo (OPAL) Library:
github.com/opengalvo/OPAL
CO2 Laser Beam Expanders/Collimators:
ii-vi.com/product/beam-expand...
0:00 Intro
0:08 Domino 100+ Laser Marking head Overview
0:59 Harting Industrial Connector
1:36 Laser Scan Head
2:39 ZnSe F-Theta Lens & Galvo's
4:06 Galvo Driver / Amplifier Boards
4:46 Laser Head Teardown Synrad CO2 Laser & Collimating Lens
11:02 Synrad CO2 Laser teardown
14:00 Helium Soak and Laser repair and mystery fault
19:00 Laser scan head hacking XY2-100
21:02 Summary of parts recovered and Collimating Lens - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
The first "serious" laser I ever saw was a co2 laser when I was a kid visiting the Ontario Museum and Science Center in Toronto in the 80s. It had a power output of maybe 1 or 2 hundred W, was 15cm in diameter, AND TWENTY METERS LONG. It filled the entire large lecture room from one end to the other that they housed it in. I can't remember how many kW it consumed when they turned it on but it must have been insane. It had a control panel for firing it up that looked like a prop from the bridge of the Enterprise. Apparently it was built by GE France and originally part of France's "tradition and innovation" pavilion at the Montreal '67 Expo. They would dim the lights for the audience during the show at the science center, evacuate the clear room-long tube, and sequentially fill it with continuously flowing helium, co2 and nitrogen from large gas bottles while the tube was energized. You could actually see the characteristic light emission from each gas as it traveled down the tube and ultimately filled the room with a hot pink glow. After some tinkering with the optics they opened the shutter and shone the light at the focal plane onto various materials like plexiglass and a 2 by 4, which dutifully burst into flame instantly and made a kind of hissing noise as it was vaporized. Behind the focal plane in the experiment area, a beam stop made of red masonry bricks silently glowed white hot between material demonstrations. It was amazing. Sad there's basically almost no record of it or any video anywhere, with just a single small and grainy image of it in existence on the web so far as I can tell.
Awww man! That sounds epic! Such a shame there isn't a decent video of it! The hissing sounds familiar, even this little 15W when focussed to a point (just got a decent focusing lens in the post today), positively shreds ceramics, stone and glasses with quite an evil hissing sound.
The first serious commercial laser I can recall was at the end of my Physics/Electronics degree when the faculty was showing us around some projects looking for masters candidates. They had a laser set up to illuminate a magnetic storage device using polarised laser light to show the different induced states. The laser had 8kw mains input but I don't recall the output - less than 10 watts I think and was about the size of a carry on suitcase - presume a semiconductor laser - 1975.
@@rhiantaylor3446 probably argon-ion. if it was blue green, then definitely.
Hello Les. I just ran across your channel and found this video. You have done a good job at troubleshooting this laser. Full disclosure I work on Synrad and other CO2 lasers for a living. The laser you have is a J48-1. It was probably around 15 watts when it was new. I believe the power range was written on the tube. Just like the wavelength of 9.3. These are called "blue tubes". They are made to mark pet bottles. This would be water bottles, coke bottles etc. A typical CO2 laser is 10.6um. The full unit was made by Sator laser in Germany, which was bought out by Domino printing Science in the UK. Anyway, the tubes are filled at less than atmosphere. I'm actually filling a synrad tube while I'm writing this now. They are filled at 82 torr. Atmosphere would be 760 torr. So when they leak, they actually suck in air. This is why your helium bag trick worked. More helium will make it easier for the laser to light, but what is happening is the gas is breaking down and causing the light off problem and will cause modulation problems. Meaning it will only run at low duty cycles. You might see the same power or even less at 90% compared to 50% Once the gas breaks down enough, it will no longer light. Then you run the risk of blowing the transistor. We see this alot. Having said all that, these synrad lasers can last a long time. So great job troubleshooting and getting it to run.
Thanks! And thanks for the info!
I managed to get hold of a copy of the tuning guide after this video was published as well, so I will get some use out of it, even iif it meant I need to re-tune it occasionally.
I'm curious about the gas fill, is it a standard CO2 Laser mix (what are the ratios), or is there some secret sauce (additives like Xe, etc)? No pressure if it is a trade secret!
Thanks for the tip about the output transistor, those things are not cheap!
Cheers!
There are some secrets. I'm assuming that someone who can refill a laser already knows the basics. Also, I'm not exactly sure what Synrad uses, but i can tell you what would work. 10% Co, 10% Co2, 75% He and yes you made a good guess 5% Xe. This mix will run that laser. I believe I mentioned 82 torr before, actually for that model 75 torr works better. If you ever need to get that laser refilled. Let me know.
@@7TIV Need some N2 up in there and no bespoke CO at filling, just CO2. Synrad runs Xe-rich compared their competitors so Xe in the 48 series will be closer to 8%.
Domino Laser. I worked there in the 80's. Actually the CO2 heads are from Directed Energy, Inc from Irvine, CA.
As always, a "very very, very very....reallyreally" cool video.
Thanks!
05:38 The connector is called DE-9 :)
Every day is a school day, you are right! Common mistake: www.sgconnector.com/what-is-a-db9-connector.html :-D
Great teardown and what a result !...cheers
Thanks! I did not expect to find a Synrad in there, they are the Cadillac of CO2 Lasers!
I have learned so much from your channel thanks for all of your fantastic content.
Thanks so much, I appreciate your support!
Wow great find
Absolutely! These (and similar variants) seem to be popping up on eBay quite a bit now, must be reaching end-of-life.
Heh.... I picked up a 17 year old CO2 marker like this with a Synrad Firestar 30w RF tube... Works great :)
Nice!
Awesome video to watch on Friday! Great video!
Thanks! :-)
CO2 laser refills aren't really that complicated or expensive, and can be done in a home lab. The gear required is a bit of a wallet biter(forepump + turbopump + baratron + piping + micrometer valve), but if someone is already playing with vacuum-related stuff, the rest is just an adapter to whatever fill port the tube is using. In you case it's a bit of a pain, since you need a mechanical passthrough to screw the port shut while it's at fill pressure, but still very doable.
Surprisingly enough, the gas mix is a common line item pretty much everywhere in the world, and is sold for very little money! My guess is that it's sold in bulk to supply open-style ultra-powerful(kW level) lasers, which have the gas as a consumable.
The XY2-100 protocol is simple - there's one PDF that you can find that explains basically everything in just a few pages. There's nothing to it, so your conclusion of "very little info" is pretty much spot on. Besides the extended control/status channels, which are implemented at-will by scanhead manufacturers(no spec), the actual X/Y/Z channels conform to the same standard.
A hint for actual marking use of the scan head: the XY2-100 protocol is usually piped directly into DACs and is immediate, so you should have a bit of dead time after large jumps, to let the mirrors settle before you fire the laser. If you don't, you'll see "fuzzies" around the corners as the mirrors ring.
it might be more nuanced that that for sealed tubes. As far as I am aware, sealed tubes require a gas mix that is quite specific, the additives that allow the catalytic conversion of Carbon Monoxide back to Carbon Dioxide, and is therefore a different composition than for flowing gas CO2 lasers. That said, I am happy to be proven wrong, and will possibly even attempt it if this tube fails.
Thanks for the hint regarding the scan head. The library example include a delay, and if it is to small, there are fare worse side effects than ringing! There is a cool lib called Opal for the teensy that I am going to play with, all I need is a simple drawing program that will spit out GCode.
@@LesLaboratory You can run pretty much any mix in a slab laser, it'll just degrade way faster(i.e. years instead of decades of runtime). Not that big of a deal for hobby use.
But in any case, mixing your own gases isn't that complicated either, just have to buy a few extra valves and cylinders as separate.
@@Spirit532 Thanks for the info, that is interesting, if I had to do it every year, it wouldn't be that bad. I already have a forepump and a small diff pump that I used back in the day to build x-ray tubes and stuff, so it would only be a small outlay. The valve will be a pig, but I'm sure I can arrange something if sufficiently motivated!
@@LesLaboratory Beware that with an oildiff you will *need* a cryo(dry ice bath) baffle or submerged coil condenser.
Lasers do NOT tolerate contamination, especially of the oil backstreaming variety.
@@Spirit532 Totally, X-ray tubes aren't too happy about it either. The thing is internally baffled (a total pain when I refurbed the thing). I will work something out, but in the meantime I will keep an eye out for a decent turbo-pump. I have always wanted one anyway for other projects.
I must admit I was very sceptical of your assertions that it wouldn't work.... because.... I'd seen the thumbnail! ;)
LOL! Honestly when I was making the video I thought "no chance" until things were on fire!
Dear Les, i am happy to see that you succeeded to drive the Galvo head with the Teensy! Is that an SN75174N that is recommended by the OPAL Repo?
It would be awesome to have a detailed description of how you wire it up, with some schematic!
Hi, yes indeed it is the SN75174 line driver, send me an e-mail (address on my about page) and I will send you a copy.
You are great sir thanks ❤
I just found your channel, and have been binging it the last couple days. I gotta say - its absolutely fantastic.
Thanks! I'm so glad people like this stuff!
Nice vid Les good find indeed looking forward to seeing what you do with the galvos ;-)
Thanks Simon! Got real lucky with this stuff!
Thank you in advance.
Show us those galvos. That's a pretty big mirror. That could be a Cambridge.
Ive had similar units and they had synrad lasers in them that usually worked well. Got one working that was made by Markem then hacked the living 💩 out of the controller so it could mark greyscale images on stuff. Also found that changing the final lens can drastically improve the usable field. 😁
Wow! Great video and "cool" laser!
Thanks! I did not expect a Synrad in there, it is a nice score :-)
Frequency of oscillation, the laser tube is, I think, a resonant cavity so if the RF is the wrong frequency it won't lase?
That was my thought, I have tweaked that variable cap, and it seems to be behaving...for now.
@@LesLaboratory When you expanded the pulse to 50% (at around 12:45 in the video) , what was the oscillator frequency they were feeding to the tube? I'm guessing that based on the mechanical variations in the tube manufacture, that they would measure the output power, and adjust the RF frequency for peak performance. Consider the RF as a source of POWER into the cavity to excite the CO2 so it can do it's laser thing. The excitation frequency is NOT related to the 9.3um optical output wavelength. (Just as with a DC-excited High Voltage glass tube. There are lots of ways to excite the molecules.)
Hmm, I have a few of these at work which we have replaced, they still worked when removed, I always wanted to get the galvos working, but I didnt realise it would be this easy. Ill have to grab one before we throw them out.
Definitely recue them!
LL great video! I gotta go find something like this on ebay n make some good stuff like you!
great find, would have picked up myself when one would show up over here.
i got this synrad j48-1 co2 laser aswell,
built in 1999, still works at full blast. its supposed to be a 10W laser (but has written 30W on it) mine consumes about 200W at 100% duty cycle
refills are unfourtainly not cheap.. they know where they can get your hard earned money
i wonder why synrad didnt include the tickle signal generator onto their control pcb.. they rather sell you a UC1000..
i once had a 150W coherent sl800 tube, it required like 3kW at full blast, its pwm input only went up to 60% duty cycle.its divergence was like 12mrad, and due to its internal mirror arrangement it had a axis that had more expansion than the other, it came with a slightly curved mirror to counteract this.
Thanks! Sounds awesome, yeah refils are about $1000USD or there abouts, still cheaper then new I guess.
Yeah, it is weird, perhaps the signal was external for OEM applications. They are very nice compact lasers though.
Nice! I have been offered some more CO2 goodness for free (watercooled, part of an engraver), but I have to wait for it. It is not as high as 150W, but that would be nice to see
@@LesLaboratory If ever there was a project for the community this would be it. The local pack of thieves want USD 3500 to re-gas a 30W Coherent unit. Often wondered if we could use the Laser gas that we get in for our 2KW Rofin and change it regularly.
I loved your video and would like to see more video's like this one. Can you please explain how you tickled the laser without controller?
Thanks! I just used a function generator to provide the tick and PWM signals. I am waiting on some parts and will be building a controller for it. For a full featured controller with XY2-100 implemented for the galvos, see this video: th-cam.com/video/w4mWgVDPIiQ/w-d-xo.html
Looks like something NASA would use to etch bar codes and other data onto distant planets they just discovered 😂
I know you’re probably tired of hearing it but would love to see more post nitrogen laser projects 😁
Yeah, agreed! I need to get back to 'real' lasers. Too much engraving stuff lately. Trying to start a side hustle to support the fun stuff on here!😁
Les, please tell me you've seen the film "Real Genius"? lol
I only recently discovered your channel, and it's been great.
I was always a fascinated with lasers, but never owned anything on the scale you have there.
The teardowns of this stuff are particularly interesting, as it's gear that we don't usually get to see.
I owned a couple of Argon lasers in the past (A JDSU 2214-40MLAM, and some other thing with an NEC head), and I built a few RGB lasers with galvos.
But I sold the Argon lasers in the end, as they rarely got used. I instead built a much smaller 3 Watt RGB laser, using an RGB module from AliExpress. It took a lot of hassle out of the alignment.
I managed to immediately pop the Blue diode when I got it. lol
I was too eager to test it, and hooked up a separate wall wart to drive the analog input, and it popped the diode.
It was easy enough to replace, though. A standard Nichia blue diode from a Casio projector worked well enough, but it does have quite a wide beam now. I have some anamorphic prism blocks somewhere, which I'll add to the blue diode later.
Anyway, I think I'm gonna like this channel. I have a lot of binge watching to do. ;)
Of course, and everyone else should as well, it's a moral imperative!
I was looking at those Aliexpress RGB Lasers a while back (still in my shopping basket), but I have too many other project on at the moment!
Thanks, there is some cool stuff on here including a nice Multilin Argon-Ion Laser and other fun stuff!
@@LesLaboratory haha, I thought you might.
"I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates who said... I drank WHAT?!"
I just watched your vid on the DIY nitrogen lasers earlier, and the multiline Argon last night.
So yep, that was the same model I had.
I have a very old video on here somewhere, showing the different lines, with a cheapo grating.
I didn't have much use for it once the initial novelty wore off, tbh, aside from using it as a 1KW heater. lol
The 3W to 4W RGB modules on AliExpress are well worth playing with. I think mine was around £300, but it made the whole build simpler and more compact.
Thinking about it again, I think it only has anamorphic prism correction for the red diode, but it does have a
Galvos are just a cheap PT-35K, IIRC.
The first galvos I had were PT-20 (Phenix Technology). I wasn't expecting too much, but they were actually great for the money. I bought them direct, and only paid around £70 for the galvo pair, drivers, and PSU.
Anyway, I need to stop rambling. lol
Do you have Twitter or are you on any chat groups at all? (hope you don't mind me asking on here.)
How to safely clean the lens?
Hello,
I wachted this video and was wondering if the helium is the only thing that fixed your laser or did you find some other problem? It worked for now but did you make any changes for it to keep working? I think I have a similar problem with my Synrad laser. Eighter the laser powers up to slowly and in that way skips the beginning of my drawing or it won't start at all. Only after I touch the probe that goes into the laser it will fire again. Any information would be helpfull :)
Thanks for this great video!
Thanks! It turned out in the end, that tweaking the variable capacitor in the head, just a little, allows it to reliably start. I think Helium had nothing to do with it. Synrad has an RF tuning guide I believe that discussed the process of tuning the RF section correctly,
Awesome! Thanks for your videos, they are superb... Sticked to your channel from minute 1, whooooa! (about this co2 unit, just wondering what was the deal, a big bunch of quids?) :)
Thanks! 175 bucks I paid for this. I figured the optics alone were worth it, so to be able to repair it was a total bonus!
@@LesLaboratory absolutely nice!
Any plans for making TEA type DIY CO2 lasers? Curious about those, not many projects online like that.
Yes! It's been on my mind lately, I just need to get around to ordering optics and mounts!
@@LesLaboratory Any idea does it lase without mirrors like nitrogen? Been so long since I last read Sams laser FAQ :)
@@Dagosaatana It might, the gain is pretty high, but I suspect you would need a very long tube for this to occur.
@@LesLaboratory How did the lasing time differ from nitrogen? How fast does the pulse need to be
Your shop is getting pretty crowded! :)
It sure is! I need way more space, you want to see the clutter that is off Camera! :-D
@@LesLaboratory Thank god for small-angle lenses... Anyway, great video and great "catch" on Ebay!
How much does it cost to repair a universal 30w tube? And where are you from in the world?
I heard of someone recently that got one re-gassed for about $1500 in the US. I'm located in the UK, and don't think anyone here does re-gassing.
Wow, sounds like you scored big with this find. I'm curious what you paid for this gem. Although, I understand if you don't want to share that info. Edit: Nevermind, I found my answer in another comment. I think you made off like a bandit in the night for $175. Excellent find!
My synrad had a blown output capacitor of 150pF that head to be replaced. Unfortunately the gas was depleted so I only could engrave on a very low power output. Even tuned the rf to squeeze out the most power. The efficiency of these lasers are unbelievable low... you need 200-250 Watt input.
That is a shame. Yes, the efficiency is pretty poor, that said, it is pretty convenient and compact compared with a water cooled setup, and the drive circuit is not overly complex. Pluses and minuses with all these things!
holy cow， this is cool！ how much is it to buy such a used laser？
Thanks!
I got this for about 150 bucks delivered. Of course repair work was required! As always safety first when working in equipment like this ;-) It gets better, I have another video on this in the works!
9.3 micron light = 9300 nm...... infrared's around 800nm... so that's super into "really long wave heat beam"
A literal beam of heat!
@@LesLaboratory So ..... like........... a Death Beam! - evil laugh - mwahahahaaaaaa!
Sir I have rofin laser tube and RF I need repair please help
I have never repaired a Rofin RF laser, but send me the model number, the nature of the fault, and I will see if I can dig up some manuals!
Hello sir how to repair rofin RF
I have never repaired a Rofin RF laser, but send me the model number, the nature of the fault, and I will see if I can dig up some manuals!
power hungryyy
Yes I have 2 argon UNIPHASE laser I'm looking to sale cheap , model 2114-12SLAB
From the patent paper "...provide a structurally homogeneous laser capable of low-cost fabrication.... " low cost my ass, they charge an arm and a leg and an eye for those.
I'm sure any machine shop could build one, but then they would have to pay royalties.... :-D
Well, it was a big improvement in the 80s...