Hi Claudio, I have been using the Spinnaker for the last 5 years. The laser goes wonky nearly every time I take a few weeks holiday. The cause is a small wheel or cog inside the laser which rotates with the water flow. This wheel gets sticky when not in use and either stops rotating or rotates intermittently thereby affecting the water flow and cooling. A technician from our workshop usually takes care of this problem for me, the job takes about 30mins. You could also check that you have no kinks or leaks in the hoses and also if you have a filter in the water line it might need replacing. The temperature of the cooling water should also be checked. When I have problems with my lasers I get our workshop to deal with it -which is why I still have a 12 year old Innova 90/5 which got retubed 2 years after it was bought(don't know why- not here at the time). Anyway it's still going strong, seldom problems and so far max. downtime 2 days. I do remember however allowing a 2 yr old laser (different brand) to be taken away for repair and then being told 6-weeks later that it needed a new tube. As it was a single laser instrument, I was out of work for quite a long period of time. so supporting Karim's comment: "The thing that surprises me the most is that it takes so long to make a single diagnosis or at least a restricted set of possible explanations. I may be biased by my background as a medic, but usually a combination of symptoms, interview with the user(s) and approriate tests (some already within the cytometry lab) should fit in a sensible standardized flowchart quickly leading to some answers and clearly excluding others. Some expediency from their part is important when you as a user have to look for a budget." I agree totally with this. Maybe a survey on type of lasers used and how often lasers need replacing would be informative. regards Ann At 11:37 20.08.01 +0200, you wrote: > >Hi, > >I am experiencing some problems with our Spinnaker Laser (from >Spectra-Physics) and would like to ask if somebody can tell me what is >happening. The Spinnaker is a water cooled 1 Watt Ion Laser. It's maximal >output is 272 mW as measured on the multimeter of the remote controller. I >usually use it at 30 mW, where it consumes 7.8 AMP. > >After coming back from Holidays (Laser has been 3 Weeks without running) >the laser started to give troubles. It would turn up, but after a certain >period at 30 mW it just would stop lasing (more than 30 minutes). The same >effect could be reached in a few seconds if turning the power higher than >150 mW. Though, it did not completely stop leasing, as there were sparks >of blue light generated. The indicators on the remote control did not show >anything unusual even when the laser was sparking (AC ON green / Emission >white/ Sum Fault, Interlock and Water Flow OK). The only unusual thing >which I had noticed was that some weeks ago, when putting the laser at >maximum output it took it some seconds to reach 272 mW while usually that >is not the case. After I let it run for a 30 Minutes at full output this >behaviour had disappeared. I do not think the problem I have has to do >with cooling as there seem to be no problem with the water (Though I can >not be 100% sure). > >BD told me that I have to buy a new laser and while searching money to do >that I replaced the Spinnaker with the second Laser (I am working on a >Vantage), so we can at least work with 3 colours in the meanwhile. But when >I tried to turn on the Spinnaker the next day (just for fun) the laser was >working normal again. On the third day I had again the problems, but just >once, when turning it on a second time it just worked normal. Since then it >seems to have no problems. > >Can somebody tell me what happens? Will I need a new laser very soon? Could >the laser be repaired? Does Spectra-Physics still exist and what is their >address? Is there a good book out there about Lasers with the topics: how >they work, how you maintain, troubleshoot and repair them? > >Answers to any of above questions very appreciated > >cheers > >Claudio > >=================================================== >Claudio Vallan PhD Phone Lab: 031 / 632 88 76 >FACS-LAB DKF Phone Office: 031 / 632 99 68 >University of Bern E-Mail: vallan@dkf7.unibe.ch >c/o Institute of Pathology >Murtenstrasse 31 Insel hosptial area only: >3010 Bern Beeper: 181 67 59 >Switzerland >=================================================== > > > >
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