Re: laser lifetimes

Posted by Craig Brideau on
URL: http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/laser-lifetimes-tp2187288p2207256.html

What you don't know can't hurt them huh?  That's terrible; I'd never deal with a company after they did something like that.  When it comes to all these laser systems shop around and get the company's reputation from a variety of sources.
We've had a Nikon system with a yellow HeNe (594) and an Argon (488 only) and (knock on wood) they've been going strong since 2002-ish, with pretty frequent usage.
I'm leaving for Photonics West tomorrow!  Maybe I'll see some of you there!

Craig

*The Bio-Rad engineer mentioned that their argon lasers had an hours 'on'
counter and that they generally failed before the 8,000 hour rated
life-time. When Bio-Rad raised this with the laser manufacturer, they
responded promptly by removing the external hours counter.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr Keith J. Morris,
Molecular Cytogenetics and Microscopy Core,
Laboratory 00/069 and 00/070,
The Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics,
Roosevelt Drive,
Oxford  OX3 7BN,
United Kingdom.

Telephone:  [phone]
Email:  [hidden email]
Web-pages: http://www.well.ox.ac.uk/cytogenetics/

-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On
Behalf Of Philip Oshel

Sent: 20 January 2009 16:17

To: [hidden email]
Subject: laser lifetimes

Listers,

We're in the midst of grant-writing and budgets, and I'd like to get
some folks' experiences with laser lifetimes and maintenance issues.
Specifically, multi-line argon lasers and 405 and 559 diode lasers.
These diodes in particular add a fair amount to a service contract.
How necessary is it to include the lasers in a service contract?
Currently, our old instrument has a single-line 488 argon and a HeNe
543, no contract and no problems, so I'm tending to excluding some or
all of the lasers from the contract. But ...
Thanks for the information.

Phil
--
Philip Oshel
Microscopy Facility Supervisor
Biology Department
024C Brooks Hall
Central Michigan University
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
[phone]