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Eli Rothenberg wrote:
> 
> You can either fix the Argon, or replace it.
> Argon Lasers are old technology, and I find them unreliable.
> I recently bought a 50mW 488, Coherent sapphire, costs
> roughly 15-11K. Replacing the tube of Inova-C Argon laser
> will cost you about 8K (rough estimate). 
> 

Two comments:

1. Replacement of the laser in the radiance with something that is not 
the same form factor is not easily done. Unlike the MRC-1024, in the 
Radiance, everything is stuffed into the control box. I would only try 
it if someone who already did it is able to share their experience, and 
describe how they aligned the beam into the AO modulator.

2. If you will anyway have to dig the laser out of there, try cleaning 
the cooling fins on the tube (without removing the tube! just blow them 
out). Every now and then the Argon laser on our 1024 starts to 
spontaneously shut down, and the cure has been to clean those fins as 
best we can. If those fins are not cooling efficiently, then the laser 
wil overheat and shut down until it cools down a bit.

3. Whatever you do, make sure you get a proper service manual. The 
disassembly, assembly, and alignment are tricky, and it pays to do it 
right. There is a biorad mailng list that may be able to help. I dont 
work with the Radiance, others on that list may be able to help. That is 
also the place to find out if anyone replaced there argon ion laser with 
a solid state laser.

4. If you go the solid state route, you lose some lines (458nm, 514nm). 
You might consider a dual line solid state laser (I think Cobolt make a 
488/532 model).

--aryeh
-- 
Aryeh Weiss
School of Engineering
Bar Ilan University
Ramat Gan 52900 Israel

Ph:  972-3-5317638
FAX: 972-3-5340697