FS: [UK, maybe EU] Box of miscellaneous laser parts, eBay - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2025, 12:03:19 pm
content: As part of an office clearout I'm left with whatever this is. Might be interesting/useful to someone. Very much sold as-is.https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/136145438419

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2025, 02:28:08 pm
content: If it's being sold as-is then it should be 'parts or not working'. If you sell it as used then the buyer can come back to bite you because you are saying that it is (to quote Ebay):Quote from:https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/item-conditions-category?id=4765You've said it's basically scrap, but if the buyer decides it's not the kind of scrap they wanted they would be able to send it back or just get a refund. If you don't want that possibility, class it as parts/not working.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2025, 09:58:19 am
content: Corrected the listing.

author: _Wim_
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2025, 08:18:46 pm
content: From the Ebay listing the following parts where included:1) Home made box with a Meanwell 12V 50W PSU inside, five high voltage power supplies (2 x 6kV and 3 x 25kV), and two USB control system DACs (LucidControl A04) (photos 1, 2, 3) (will be supplied assembled)2) What looks like some kind of laser head, with cooling, but I'm not sure exactly what this is (photo 4)3) The apparent laser head attached to a water cooling system from a PC, fan is missing, home made cooling system controller (photo 5, 6)4) Some kind of LED with a Peltier cooler on it, might be unrelated to the rest of the kit ( photo 7+8 )Today I spent the whole day playing around with these “new” toys, and below a short summary what I found out:1) Box with HV power supplies. The 5 HV supplies are controlled by a 0-5V signal generated by the 2 LucidControl A04 modules. The can be controlled via a command line tool, and all supplies seem to work fine. Will do some rewiring, as dodgy connections and 25kV is not the best combination. But certainly a winner this!2) This appears not to be a laser head, but a Microfluidic channels used for Microfluidic Diffusional Sizing (Technology - Fluidic Sciences Ltd). On the HV supply box a logo was pointing to this company. The HV voltage probes probably screwed into the back plate of these micro channels, and my guess is the HV was used for eletrokinetic pumping or electrophoresis. Not of much use for me this part, but was certainly was an interesting read trying to find out what this was…3) Re-installed a fan, cleaned up the wiring, and the cooler+pump seems to work fine and no leaks. The TEC can do 15V 9A and also works fine. Test without housing I could reach -12°C (room temp 24°C), with a Styrofoam housing I could reach -21°C. Temp sensor installed is a PT100. The homemade controller was based on a TC2812-RS232 module, after completely rewiring it (and eliminating the home made pcb in between), is also seems to work fine (ran a small test on the led module below.4) Exact Led type is unknown. Measured the spectrum and it appears quite a sharp peak at 442nm, which seems typical for scientific application. At The TEC module below is unlabeled, but does seem to work fine also. Temp sensor is a PT100. At 100mA and 2.8V the led pumps out 113mW of optical power! I tried with some high currents (up to 500mA), but optical power starts dropping at these currents, so probably not ideal.So, lots of parts that will be very useful in the lab for future experiments. Thanks to tom66 for saving this from the office clear-out!

author: Hydron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2025, 08:42:09 pm
content: Glad to see it went to someone here - I nearly bid on it but am getting enough other stuff I don't have space for right now!

author: _Wim_
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2025, 05:21:14 am
content: Quote from: Hydron on August 02, 2025, 08:42:09 pmThat is a widespread problem! For some reason I am much better at buying equipment than selling... Luckily, I am creative at finding new spots around the home where I can store additional gear!

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 04, 2025, 02:29:38 am
content: Quote from: _Wim_ on August 03, 2025, 05:21:14 amYou know me so well!