Need Help!- Cant afford to pay right now, need CO2 gas mix

[Lasershop]

Have a Coherent G-100. The lens on very the end of the laser head cracked. I suspect something somehow got on it, maybe a bug!! I pulled the lens and the gas escaped. Coherent wants 5700 to fix it. Biz just is not what it used to be, maybe a couple years ago I would just pay it. I am bent on fixing it myself, I really dont have a choice. Coherent wont tell me anything, its all a frikin secret. I found a new lens that is part of the set. It will work. I built my lasers 15 years ago and they work every day. I wrote all the software back in the nineties. I work on and maintain them myself. I am confidents I can do the gas. Its a sealed Co2. I have really searched for a mix that would work. It gets confusing. If anybody knows it would really help. I don’t have any aspiration that the laser will work top notch, I just need it to work. I don’t think the "standard" laser gas mix will last at all. If anybody knows what a sealed Co2 mix that is in the ballpark I would appreciate it.

[zax15uk]

You should be able to buy the correct gas mix from any larger welding gas supplier. Sam's Laser FAQ will probably help a lot in selection. Standard mix: 4.5% CO2, 13.5% N2, 82% He.

http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasercon.htm#concll4
http://www.airgas.com/browse/product...&Keyword=laser

Good luck,
Zax.

[Lasershop]

Originally Posted by zax15uk You should be able to buy the correct gas mix from any larger welding gas supplier. Sam's Laser FAQ will probably help a lot in selection. Standard mix: 4.5% CO2, 13.5% N2, 82% He. http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasercon.htm#concll4 http://www.airgas.com/browse/product...&Keyword=laser Good luck, Zax.

I talked to my gas supplier and they did tell me they could get me whatever I specify. From what I have read the standard mix is for a flowing laser and wont last in a sealed unit. What are your thoughts on that? I was looking through patents online and found a lot of them have "XE" also in the mix.

[zax15uk]

The standard mix I referenced is for a sealed unit, and should work just fine in most tubes. Another popular mix is CO2 4.5%, N2 10.9% and He 84.6%.

Hydrogen (H2) or Xenon (Xe) are sometimes added in small percentages (in place of some Helium and/or Nitrogen) to improve efficiency.

I don't know what the exact mix would be to provide optimum performance in your system, but any of the regular mix ratios would be ok.

Zax.

[Lasershop]

Originally Posted by zax15uk The standard mix I referenced is for a sealed unit, and should work just fine in most tubes. Another popular mix is CO2 4.5%, N2 10.9% and He 84.6%. Hydrogen (H2) or Xenon (Xe) are sometimes added in small percentages (in place of some Helium and/or Nitrogen) to improve efficiency. I don't know what the exact mix would be to provide optimum performance in your system, but any of the regular mix ratios would be ok. Zax.

Im going to give it a try. Ill let you know how it works out.