Whether you can post or not, it would be nice to know what the"best practices" are for attaching the high voltage to the laser. There are lots of opinions out there, ranging from "wrap and solder to the leads on the tube" to "absolutely do NOT solder to the leads on the tube" to "use alligator clips" (<-- which is NOT a good idea..)
In the past, I have had problems with arcing. I really do not want a repeat of a previous incident.
This time around, I used a butt connector. Yesterday, I literally filled the connector full of solder. I then heated it just enough to let the exposed end of the wire slide in. I let that cool. Then I heated it just enough to allow it to slide onto the lead of the tube. That was then covered in Shoe Goo to fill in small voids and then slathered in more shoe goo and then covered with silicone tubing which was held in place by, you guessed it... more shoe goo.
This pic is after the butt connector was soldered in place, but before the shoe goo or silicone were put on. You can see the silicon tube in position further up the wire
Not sure if any of what I did is in the realm of "best practices" but I figured a good clean in-line connection that is completely insulated by several layers of silicone shouldn't be too bad.
Steve
