Homemade CO2 laser build photos via Hacked Gadgets. Tekwiz writes…
I purchased the tube, & built the rest, including a custom aluminum case & cooling system. The laser is basically complete, but my original power supply design failed on powerup, & is on the bench being rebuilt. The tube requires ~9kv @ 15ma, with a 16-18kv start voltage. I am using a 2 stage, 8 step voltage multiplier, driven by a microwave oven transformer. The multiplier is designed with much larger caps in the first 3 steps, so that it provides ~16kv until the tube ionizes & begins to draw current, at which point the second stage(5 steps) gets swamped out & the first stage(3 steps) supplies operating current @ ~8-9kv.
