Homemade CO2 Laser Tube
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- Опубликовано: 21 авг 2024
- As this video seems to be gaining traction, I feel I need to address a few things:
1) I didn't actually achieve an output here, I thought the camera picked up on some IR that I couldn't see, but on further research, there is no dang camera in this world (excluding IR cameras) that would pick up the 10.6 um that this tube should be producing.
2) I called what was happening here "lasing", it is not. What I achieved here was an electrical discharge, which is a big step in the right direction, but certainly not "lasing". (yet!)
I'm new to all of this and still learning! Just sharing my progress as I make it, and as with any learning process, there will be mistakes. I'm not trying to spread misinformation here!
I'll go over all of this and more in the next video! Thanks for watching!
Just trying to make my way into the future man
Excellent resource for homemade co2 lasers:
www.repairfaq....
outro music is by a friend of mine, check him out!:
/ badamericansofficial
intro music:
bensound.com
" I myself have no special talent . Curiosity , obsession dogged endurance combined with self criticism have brought me to my goals." Words of Einstein. I see all these traits in you. Well done.
Dude, thank you.
This comment definitely made me feel things
Dude new favorite quote thank you
I think people mistake talent for being born with some skill innate to yourself. Nah. Ever wondered why autistic people seem to have very specific talents?
Realy all it is is caring about something enough to do it every day. Thats what talent is. And you definitely seem to have it.
The Einstein quote is "have no special talent. I am only passionately curious"
@@cranktowncity
Can I use gt2 6mm belt for x and y?
Because it is only available in my place!
That's a very brave attempt at building a precision optical system.
Great you're being careful,
Best of luck to you!
Very cool! Mirror adjustment is definitely a key part of such a laser, I’d consider installing one of those 2-axis adjustable mirrors like you see on laser tables. Perfectly isolating the water jacket from the electricity would also be very useful, and I hear JB weld is surprisingly good for vacuum systems.
It may also be worth trying to assemble the whole thing out of borosilicate, seeing as you already appear to have welding equipment.
The gap between the mirrors has to a resonant cavity.
This requires a mirror to be "Tuned" to the wavelength of the light emitted by the lasing medium.
you did a nice job and did get a output from it. You may want to work on your power supply, most neon lights use a AC supply. So your laser has to trigger or light up on the very top and very bottom of the AC cycle. Like they said, use a DC supply with a current limit or bias resistor. This will have the high voltage to trigger the gas and then keep the laser run with out blowing the fuse on the varactor. Also, you do need very clean mirrors too.
Have fun and be safe. In 72, in high school, we built a neon laser. Shot it down the hall from the science room to the counselor office door, (50yds). It left a mark. 😎
I'd align mirror perfect and use a improvised output mirror with a tiny hole in the 100% coating. Your vacuum hoses should be the internal mesh re-enforced kind, and fine valve adjustment is mandatory.
All of your videos are insane. Love the effort you put into your DIY projects, dude. I’m super impressed.
The lasers I used to run were DC pumped, I think you're on the right track.
Well, in my physics studies, we used heavy tables with additional mechanic decoupling of the ground for laser experiments.
The most difficult part in your setup is IMHO is the alignment of reflectors, they must be exactly parallel, since an amplified photon ray should bounds back and forth infinitely, to get the full amplification effect.
So I would have expected some 3-point adjustable mounts in your build. Don't ask me how, I am a theorist, I don't know and would have to look it up too.
I know telescope some (cheap) telescope mounts use heavy springs with a washer and a bolt to implement an adjustable mount.
Instead of trying to rectify and filter a 15Kv source (which might not like a high capacitance on it's output), you might want to consider a Cockcroft-Walton multiplier. It's basically just a ladder of diodes and capacitors. It's one of the simplest ways to design a step-up converter, but it turns AC into high voltage DC, and apparently powering lasers is one of it's main uses.
The most likeable youtuber I've ever come across. Awesome content!!
Dude! You named the vacuum chamber the “suckbox”😂 that was the last straw… I’m subscribed now! Great content man!
Oh, man, you gave me flashbacks. When you were shoving the glass tube into the aluminum with the O-ring, it made me remember when I was pushing a glass tube into a rubber stopper (chemistry class). Heard a "click", and thought, uh oh. Yup, the glass tube had broken and drove into my middle finger. 50 years later and I still have the scar, and the still-numb area due to the cut nerves. Just sayin', be careful applying force to glass with bare hands!
The number of chem students who do that is... staggering. (count me in)
OK. Was NOT expecting this video. It was like watching Woody Harrelson with hair working as a mad scientist. I think that is what I just watched. Having said that, this was really cool. Can't wait to see it cut metal.
... And all this is with the benefit of the knowledge of those who went before - it makes you really respect the people who did it for the first time.
Coming to comments to look for statements regarding voltage not being deadly. Just amps
Edit for those curious:
Your average taser/stun gun runs at around 50,000 volts or 50 kilovolts. Compare that to his neon sign transformers that were 10 and 15 kilovolts respectively.
Now the difference is the 15 kV neon transformer is 60 mA. Which is in a range of amperage that can cause respiratory arrest, muscular contractions (inability to let go), and even death.
While the taser/stun gun is around 50 kV it is usually less than 5 mA. Around 5 mA you will get shocked, but still be able to let go of an object. Intense involuntary spasms are possible, however, death is very unlikely.
Didn't even finish the video and subscribed. So impressive
Lol - "Hope we don't get an implosion, or if we do, it looks cool." The bite marks in the chair comment was also gold.
Yours works much better than the one i built when i was 12. i mean, they both lit up but yours is actually lasing. Well done mister. can't wait to see how a DC supply changes things for you.
Great video! One tip. When you tap aluminum, don't use oil, use alcohol like pure ethanol or isopropanol. Just put the tap in the alcohol and go to the town with that hole... This makes huge difference. Just give it a try next time.cheers.
Never heard of this before, I'll give it a shot!
Thanks man!
I used 99% denatured alcohol and isopropyl alcohol for years at a machine shop I worked at, I can confirm it works great for aluminum (it also works for brass or other nonferrous metals, but it will _not_ work for hard ferrous metals). I had an airbrush connected to a switched solenoid valve that I used as a coolant spray system, the airbrush was on an articulated arm and could aim wherever it was needed. The airbrush also drastically reduced the temperature of the alcohol by evaporation, the workpiece would get so cold that water would condense on its surface. There are some small size high-speed machining centers that only use alcohol as well, but they are rare and can create a serious fire hazard, most of them purge the enclosed machine with inert gas.
The video editing is top notch
I'm super impressed. This is the kind of resourcefulness every loner with a survival bunker wishes they had. When the end-times comes and we're eating sawdust and dirt grubs, you'll be sittin' pretty on the skull throne.
I know a guy who had a funky discharge from his outlet port. Probably due to contamination through contact with a funky inlet port. Anyway, penicillin cured it.
Most of youtube: I'll build a laser cutter, heres the co2 tube i bought
This man: hold my welder
I have some damaged tubes, you are a genius, I am a programmer and the operator of CNC machines from Morocco
Saw your post about this on hackaday, and after watching your videos I immediately new I have found The source of great videos.
Literally my favorite youtuber ever 5:56
Man o man! You would be a fun neighbor with these cool science projects! Thanks for the great video!
I enjoyed the seemingly unintentional "rectify" pun in your summary at the end :D
I very rarely if ever subscribe partway through the first video I watch from a new creator, but you made me do it.
Jeff Lebowski's son does physics. Perhaps a nice rug would really tie the shop together.
Well done brother I'm watching you from Gabon, Africa 🇬🇦 keep going
"Jealous of other people's machines"
Congrats man, jealous of your machines
Necessary, useful device for household chores! I think everyone should make such a device. Only in this design, special water is needed for cooling, otherwise there will be a short electrical circuit!
The tube is the missing link in diy co2 cnc. Great progress!
For me too...😀
Thanks. Feel better. Found your channel attempting to be assured somebody wasn’t going to run down the road with a homemade laser
What a great video, hilarious, I loved it, can't believe you pulled this off, you're a genius, thank you.
so the issue is you do not have an optical cavity because the mirrors are likely misaligned the mirrors have to be perfectly parallel to each other. few things: you might want to start with a dye pumped laser first, that will teach you the basics of what you need to achieve. Next you might want to get different o rings, the wrong type of plastic or sealant can introduce off gassing into the tube before the gas mixture can get into the system. You also might want to try to actually remove the mirrors entirely and instead put in a bit of glass that is transparent at the wavelength of light you are looking for this way you will be able to put the mirrors outside the tube and dial them in. Also look into getting some sort of optical table built.
Info i've seen from a few tube manufacturers is the mixture needs to be He:N2:CO2 ,8:1:1 +5% xenon. the gas pressure inside the tube should be 70-100 mbar (1-1.4 psi). Commercially available RECI power supplies are 35kV DC@ 23mA..
Before I am off to part 2: Wow-factor 1x10^infinity 😍
To smooth power after a rectifier, a low pass filter that uses a coil, ground, and a capacitor is needed. If you just use a cap, it will not take out all of the noise on the DC. Ideally, you would rectify, filter, then connect a battery, but at these voltages that isn't possible. You are also going to need to use wiring and components that can take that high voltage or you will fry them, even the wiring. You might want to consider building a voltage multiplier using diodes and ultra capacitors and just make a pulsed laser. There are demos of this circuit type on other channels on RUclips, but I must stress that if you are not trained to handle high voltage circuits safely, DO NOT build a voltage multiplier for high voltage.. It can easily kill you or start a fire.
just found this channel and 5 mins into this video you have already got my sub. love the little jokes and what not. keen to see where this goes
I really like how you do things with what you have. No frills. Sort of Festuvus for the rest of us.
way to go into the unknown! Never hesitate trying something new!
Nice low tech way of working, proves you don't kneed the best of equipments and a phd to suceed. Hell you don't even worry about keeping your optics clean. I like it a lot.
I liked the way he tapped the mirror with his finger at the start of the video
variac fuse gets me every time hopefully auto zones open
I love your presentation / delivery / style on these videos. Keep up The Great Work.
Immediately subscribed. Make a CNC cutter to cut parts to make another CNC cutter and then slowly build a self building factory.
think I found my new favorite channel
Hey that's like my science fair project from 30 years ago! I burned some stuff with that. I also concluded that DC was the way to go, but never actually got to that point before it broke.
146k views? RUclips broke man. U deserve beyond that.
3 whatever you were doing was great to watch subbed can't wait see were this goes. First video Ive seen from you. 👍👍
The reason is the alignment of the mirrors is so hard you have to put them on movable tilt with two direction to align the mirrors and movable laser He-Ne or red semiconductor laser and let the red laser beam come through the center of the two mirrors and you have to get multi reflection spot in one spot (center of the mirrors) and not scattered sopts .the scattered sopts means the two mirrors are not parallel .the maximum power you can obtain is about 270 watt at 30% efficiency Mohammed Jawad from Iraq .
1:18 the greatest part for those wearing a single wireless earbud on max volume
Great new channel.....Just love those who take your approach to projects. When I built my laser cutter I just bought a 60w CO2 tube....lol. Never though of making one. Regards Kevin
I love the high quality presentation.
Awesome stuff man!
also regarding the problems with the power output maybe its not related with the power you are supplying but with the alignment of the mirrors, the chance of a photon hitting an excited atom is quite low, for that to happen with a frequency high enough as to get stimulated emission you need the photons to go through the tube many thousands of times which means the mirrors must be really well aligned and the amount of atoms in an excited state should be enough, you are putting in 300w, idk for sure but that sounds like enough, the mirrors are aligned however with the accuracy that the lathe gives you for what i can see, that is most likely not good enough
This is a lot like the one i made back in high school. You can use plain old air as your nitrogen source if you like. The other gasses dont throw the lasing out by much.
This hits correct. Also, the rest is what, 20% oxygen and some trace gasses?. Simply use up the oxygen by putting it in a box with a candle or something. The resulting carbon dioxide can be calculated and factored into the mix.
Hey ! great video , I never even thought using Co2 to get plasma was possible. On that note, isn't it dangerous to casually break open CFL glass tubes like you did in 3:01 ? Those generally contain mercury vapor which is very toxic.
As far as I'm aware, the amount of vapor is more of an "oh crap if we don't dispose of all these millions of bulbs properly it's gonna release a bunch of mercury into the air" problem and less of an "oh crap I dropped a bulb my house is a superfund site now" problem
The amount of mercury In a single bulb is a tiny amount to help start the arc, so as long as you're doing it somewhere ventilated you should be fine. Still probably not worth risking it unless you've got a good reason to, though; it's not like there's a safe amount of mercury to breathe.
This is dope man. Clean Beam indeed.
That heat-cutting technique works a little better if the glass is scored with a glass cutter, first.
hollllly shiiiii... you made tube by hand !!!!!
The future is now mann!
Voltage doesn't kill. Amps do. FYI..
However. I like your video very much.. I think you should do another video explaining exactly what things are doing, and why, but overall great job... Thanks for the video.
congrats, im adding you to my short list of people invited to my doomsday fallout bunker😂
New sub. Love your curiosity!
You, good sir, if I ever get rich...will be the first on my team. I'm hopefully going to be posting more but I'll return as a different user 🙏
My guess is that you had not pulled enough of a vacuum initially. Gasses become much more electrically conductive as they approach a pure vacuum, and to generate plasma you typically only want a few tenths or less PSI. Tech Ingredient's video on plasma tubes is a good overview of the issue.
Very, very cool! Didn't know it was possible to DIY a laser tube.
Thanks man!
It's definitely giving me a hard time but we'll get there!
😂😂 at 4 :05. G.D. that is priceless...greasy fingers on important mirror
Awesome work! So Cool! For helium, the helium sold for balloons is nt pure helium, that way teenagers don't get asphyxiated when they try to breath it. I think it's even less than 50%. (I didn't see anyone else say this, so I thought I'd chime in). Can't wait for video #2!
The one I found says it's 95% helium, although I do have my doubts haha. I'll be buying a bottle of the good stuff once I button this whole process down.
thanks for the support!
@@cranktowncity 95% nice!
I dont know too much about your research, but check the coatings of your mirrors to maximize the output and reflection. Also, did you clean your glass tube as in perfectly before installing it? The gas mixture will be critical. Yeah, uh, a ballon and taking N2 from a car tire? Nyet. Also, you dont know the purity of your He. Impurities in the gas and an improper mixture will .... I am the terminator and I'll be booock!!! I suggest you consider moderate pressure source tanks and mix into a fourth tank with a relatively sensitive pressure guage and mix by partial pressures (or something like that - partial pressure just sounds good, doesn't it?). Each gas will give you a fixed pressure and by calc you can figure out the exact pressures you need for any sized container (the pressures will be the same no matter the container size - but temperature will be critical so watch out for that...make all your source tanks the same temperature before going at it).
Now for something else.... did you know this laser effect that you're experimenting with is the basis of the basic theory of global warming? the CO2 absorbs IR then re-emits it. The mirrors, BTW just reflect the IR along the axis of the tube (you lose everything else to the tube walls and end caps, hence the water cooling). Sooooo, those mirrors and their alignment are critical... lets get critcal, critical... - oh, yes that's physical. Oh well. So how do you do it, as in align relatively perfectly, by eye, like they do it in, say, Africa? Use a red laser in a turned mount to first set the 100% mirror, then do the same for the transparent mirror. Put a light colored target around your red laser output and you'll be able to watch the reflected dot to align it, if you're doing it by eye. You could do it with an electric eye of some sort, but hey?
15Kw x 50 mA = .75 watts over an about 1/4" dia circle (judging from your red dot on the 2x4) or about .023689 watts per sq mm. Sunlight in a bright location is 750 watts per sq meter. 1 sq meter = 1M mm, so sunlight is .00075 watts per sq mm. Your output looks to be about 1/4" diameter which is 6.35 mm, or 31.66 sq mm. 31.66 x .00075 = .02375 watts over the same area as your output. So you're outputing about 31.5 times sunlight on your target. So if you want to fry an ant with sunlight, you use a 3" diameter lense to create a 1/4" diameter circle of death (the death rayyyy) and you get 3.42 watts per sq mm. You can see that you're outputting at best .02375 watts per sq mm and 3.42 is required to smoke an ant, so dont be disappointed at your output (never mind the ant is probably getting UV as well).
Then there's the delivery of your power to the plasma.... yeah those electrodes and their makeup are critical as well. Oh, yeah you can get bailing wire or barbed wire to work (I think), but one of those weird metals beginning with a "P" probably would serve you better and not NiChrome. Something about corrosion at the anode or cathode or whatever, then you get contamination. Back to contamination, aren't we? Contamination in Mikey's CO2 laser is like a boron rod in a nuclear reactor. Probably worse.
If you think about it, effeciency is the key here. You need to figure out your desired output wattage per sq mm, then back calc your input power figuring on an effeciency of about 10% for your system. You'll see pretty quickly why you need rubber gloves and a refrigerated cooling system on your water supply. One way to achieve is to scale down your output target area. I wonder if a spherical partial reflecting mirror, at just the right radius and then a corrector lens outside the system would refine the beam back to a beam instead of a cone. Some cool optics there. Look up the Schmide Cassegrain telescope, it'd be something similar to that system.
So: your mirror coatings and coating thickness (pure gold and thicknesses to match the wavelength of your output IR, mirror alignment, purify everything, get your gas mixture perfect (not just good enough) and perfectly clean with a perfectly clean delivery system, and pump that baby with power until Sunday and you likely will see an order(s) or magnitude increase in your output. I was wondering about those arc welders under your bench, they output in AC, so coupled with the right transformer, that your local power company has, you'd get the power supply you're looking for...(this is starting to get crazy)
disclaimer - keep your finger on the power switch as that 2x4 will not resist the beam for long and dont pump so much power as to blow the circuits in your neighborhood grid. IR is invisible, so be careful for reflected or partially reflected beams (even coming out of the sides of the tube - you might want a shield there), and check that your glasses work for IR, not just red.
You've done something few could do in their garages. When armageddon hits, you'll be the one that survives. Until then.... I hope you're not my next door neighbor.
Hey, too lazy to dig through the comments to see if anyone else has mentioned it, but I possibly noticed one of the issues. "Helium" sold for balloons can actually be air with nearly the minimum amount of helium required to make balloons float. If it doesn't display the percentage of helium, I'd assume it's lower than you'd hope.
been shocked by neon back in my theater electrical contractor days ..shit aint no joke!!
You could make your own mercury arc rectifier, probably don't need a starter with that voltage.
Just for reference, any contact with first surface mirrors causes damage, and the very act of cleaning them destroys their surface. Wear ultra clean gloves when handling them and only touch the sides, or you'll lose a ton of power and efficiency to scattering. I was cringing when I saw those dirty greasy fingers contacting that gorgeous surface🤣. Great work though, that's beyond what many laser hobbyists are willing to go as far as building your own tube, good luck getting it fully functional.
The algorithm has recommended this now. Why 5 months late is beyond me, but better late than never :D
Thats the same that happend to me.
Bro i can't believe i haven't found you sooner
nice!! leaks are major issues when dealing with low vaccuums in my experience.
@ #CranktownCity ...Oh man, I'm going to show everyone this video, as it shows what I learned at trade school. I'm a "Mechanical Fitter" by trade. As we call the trade, in Australia. Everyone thinks I learned how to fit car parts. Nope. Start with raw materials, measure, cut, machine, drill, tap, lap... I do the High voltage stuff too, but self taught. Have you considered using a plasma ball transformer and powering it by induction ? I can light yard long neon tubes, by proximity... Just a thought. Love your tenacity, Mr #CranktownCity ! You should be the president of America when Joe quits. You have talent, mate!
I managed to suffer through the first 35 seconds... just couldn't deal, ya know? I was physically ill from shame. Had to pause, subscribe, comment, and you bet your ass I rung the bell! (3rd time ever)
2:53 Please: Don´t forget to have a deep breath, to really get all that mercury vapors !
mmm I love the feel of it eating away at my brain
no creo,
A large tube contains about 4mg of mercury. That small one at most would probably be about 1/8th or about 0.5mg by estimate. A can of tuna has about 50 ug per can. That equates to about 10 cans of tuna which is absolutely nothing unless exposure is frequent.
@@memejeff It depends: Where has the tube been manufactured?
As long as the lamps have been manufactured in Germany for example it was alright and lower than 5mg per tube.
But the tubes manufactured in Poland or China later had much more Mercury in them because there they did not have the expertise to control the precise dosing of such small amounts. So they did: the more, the better...
Love your work. Great video. Keep em coming mate 👍
You're like the love child of Albert Einstein and Jeff Bridges. And also my hero...the dude's abidment is relative!
You should try to tune by varying the length of the cavity . How ?? By placing mirrors outside the vacuum tube
lol this guy is like a character from a videogame. this is dope as hell. one day ill have plasma cutters and lathes and shit
this channel gives me hope I can make my own channel.
He has the combined energy of Jesse Pinkman and Walter White while still sounding very knowledgeable and resourceful.
This guy is insane, real life Rick from rick and morty.
Amazing work
Чем длиннее трубка тем больше мощность, можно что-бы не переделывать блок питания дополнительно к трубке, к длинной трубке преслонить катушку Теслы. А в некоторых случаях делают не в трубке, а в прямоугольной камере ставят зеркала. Например 4 зеркала непрозрачных с зади и 3 непрозрачных с перед, а четвёртое тоже спереди полупрозрачное выходное лазера . Всё зеркала под некоторым углом, но не параллельно как в трубке. Причём электроды как у конденсатора сверху и внизу 2 пластины. Зажигают ВЧ Высоким напряжением, причём разряженный газ ещё прогоняют вентиляторами для охлаждения по кругу через батарею типа радиатора. Мощность таких лазеров уже до 100 Киловатт. По спорит даже с военными лазерами.
would have loved to hear more about this build and how it works and so on but loved the vid. vary inspiring!
Thanks so much!
I didn't get too in detail as I'm just learning this myself. I posted a link to a forum in the dooblydoo that has a huge amount of info on these lasers.
Once I button down the design more I'll do a more in depth explanation in the next video!
@@cranktowncity sounds good man keep it up!
aim for 30ma, toss (the correct) series resistor in there. V=I*R stuff. you're way over driving the discharge just by the the side light color and brightness. Also, you can get the whole power supply voltage (then current) into yourself through gas lines or the mirrors. treat everything as "hot". it would be good to be able to see you do other projects, and be alive.
get a thick sheet of polycarbonate to put between you and the laser "stuff" which may periodically explode the way you're going. that will also absorb the 10.6 micron wavelength of laser light you'll make. (regular old safety goggles- yep)
One of the few things I remember is that pure water is a very poor conductor.Heat the glass tube. Usa a wet kitchen knife and touch the tube. The heat dif will give a good straight break (most of the time).
Oh, and the reason you are getting discharge through the fittings is because neon sign transformers have their secondary center point grounded. So if you have a 15kv transformer you will have 7.5kv from each terminal to ground. It's a safety thing. You might just consider buying one of the Chinese 40w co2 power supplies. 60ma is way, way too much for a tube that size.
Already got one and damn does that thing make an ionic wind hahahah
I kid you not, I got an ad from oree laser while watching this.
While watching this, the first of your videos I've encountered, I saw the Suckboi 9000!!!
I knew instantly that I had to subscribe.
I did that, and then watched the rest of the video.
I have taken some medication to keep my bowels under control, and will watch more of your videos.
I know good shit when I see it.
master. many time wait for co2 laser. thanks
You are a genius.
Awesome video! Liked and subbed.
Me too...