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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

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This will be my first post.

I've always been fascinated by lasers, and after reading this forum and elsewhere on the net a bit terrified.

My first laser I received as a gift from a friend. It was a < 5 mw (at least I think it was) red laser in a small host with 3 pen batteries. I shone it in my right eye not knowing any better. Luckily it wasn't strong enough to cause any damage. I would never do that today with any laser though.

Recently my interest for lasers has been rekindled after ordering several lasers from wish.com.

They're probably more in the 50 mw range and I try to treat them with respect. I don't own any laser glasses yet

I feel I'm not mature enough for a burning laser yet because I know what kind of damage they could do, but who knows what will happen.

Currently I have three generic "eBay" lasers and the smaller one I have owned for years with another laser with 5 star caps on the way.

One blue / violet 405 nm, one greenie 532 nm (probably lacking an IR filter, it pops balloons if shone through a magnifying glass), one red 650 nm and another red laser I assume is also 650 nm but not as powerful. I like the green one the best because you can actually see the beam in low light conditions.

It amazes me that powerful hand held lasers which would require extensive security measures in a lab setting is easily available to the general public. I think this forum has a mission to educate people about the dangers of lasers and to warn against abuse.

That being said lasers is a fun hobby albeit a bit dangerous one, but people should be allowed to have dangerous hobbies as long as they don't put other people at risk.

I hope to contribute and to read lots of interesting threads here.
 
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Encap

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Nice introduction. Welcome to the forum. Is a great place to share anything laser or laser related.
 
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Wow. I can't believe your first instinct was to shine a laser in your eye. Are you still fairly young? You have much to learn and you are very lucky to have vision in that eye. You should start by reading the stickies. They are there to answer FAQs and to inform you of the dangers. Enjoy your stay and be careful. You will need googles, so save up, if necessary. You only get one mistake like that. Most don't even get that. Welcome.
 
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^As Encap said, great welcome post. Glad to see you've decided to join the forums! Yes, lasers are a very fun hobby, but only if you do so with safety, and the fact you are worried about eye damage is a good way to enter this hobby! Finally, make sure to not spend too much money like most of us have already. I'm broke :(

-Alex
 
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Wow. I can't believe your first instinct was to shine a laser in your eye. Are you still fairly young? You have much to learn and you are very lucky to have vision in that eye. You should start by reading the stickies. They are there to answer FAQs and to inform you of the dangers. Enjoy your stay and be careful. You will need googles, so save up, if necessary. You only get one mistake like that. Most don't even get that. Welcome.

I was probably around 25 years old when I did it. At that time I didn't know that even supposedly weak lasers could be dangerous. I just assumed it was harmless. As I said I know better now. I now know that cheap lasers from China could be vastly overspec, and shining a laser deliberately in your eye is a very bad idea no matter what strength it is.

I never had any glare or residual effects from shining the laser in my eye though, and I only swiped the laser across my eye for a second or two.

The risk of eye damage can't be overstated. People don't know about the dangers of IR or that simply looking at the dot of a high power laser could be dangerous. Having a permanent black spot in my vision or worse going blind on one or two eyes is terrifying.

Laser eye damage could also be cummulative or the damage might not be apparent for several years. Laser eye damage could degrade your eye making you feel age related effects much earlier than normal. If that doesn't inspire respect I don't know what would.

I probably sound a bit paranoid right now, but a laser is much like a gun or like handling radioactive materials. It should be treated with as much respect as a gun, and you should know the basic rules for handling a laser before you use it.
 
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welcome, you can learn a lot the are some members very smart and educated about lasers,electronics and more.
like i say don't judge a book by its cover hehe :)
 
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:wave: Welcome to the Forum and telling us a little
about yourself.
Better paranoid than careless when dealing with
Lasers...

I would suggest to get some appropriate Laser
Safety Goggles/Glasses for the Lasers you have.

Enjoy your stay.


Jerry
 
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welcome to the forum,enjoy your upcoming lasers and be safe.i did stupid things with lasers when i was a kid so im on the same lucky boat as you that our eyes still work :p i remember having a green pen laser that the batteries was low and there was only those red glow(ir) and what i did???i put the damn laser in from of my eye for more than 30s and was keep watching the awesome "red sun".i had no idea about infrared light back then and im very lucky i still got my vision with some very small spots on one eye thought
 
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