Affordable laser goggles for 532 nm and 650 nm?

Hi!

I'm a noob on lasers, and I'm going to build a laser spirograph using 10 mW ebay cheap lasers at 532 nm and 650 nm. The 532 nm probably does not have a built in IR filter, but I'm going to add a IR filter lens on it to remove the IR portion of the laser. This should hopefully make it easier to find laser safety glasses as well.

I am looking for glasses which would cover both the 532nm and 650 nm spectrum as I'll be working with both these lasers at the same time. I will assume that they are underspecced at 10 mW, so perhaps a 50% allowance to say 15 mW would be realistic? I will not be working with any high power lasers for the time being, so I only need "good enough" glasses on the lowest end of Class 3B lasers.

Link to my thread discussing the spirograph project: http://laserpointerforums.com/f47/safe-laser-power-diy-spirograph-line-galvo-scanner-100264.html

Keep in mind you won't be able to see the beams/dots with laser safety glasses on. You may also find it hard to see in general with glasses that block both wavelengths at once, low visible light transmission is a possibility (VLT%).

Check the B/S/T section, there are some people selling good laser safety glasses on there just now.

May as well buy something that's OD3 or higher, that way you can use them for up to at least 500mW (more if >OD3) in future.

The plan is to make a laser show which does NOT require glasses to observe, it will be projected at a white wall and white ceiling, possibly with a fogging machine. It will not be directed towards anyone, tunnel effects are cool, but not worth the risk IMO. So I basically only need glasses while working with the lasers, i.e. aiming them, aligning the optics and so on, so I need to be able to see the beam light, but don't need it to be bright. I've searched around quite a bit, and find it difficult to find glasses which covers the wavelengths of both lasers, and not costing 150 bucks in the same time. I understand the need for such glasses for >100 mW lasers, but can't imagine that you need it for relatively low powered ~10mW lasers.

I'll check the B/S/T, thanks for the tip

I just compared these to the $40 eagle glasses from SL..

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0050YOOA8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Gotta say, I'm impressed, very good blockage. I feel it's sufficient for my 6W+ laser, so I'm betting it's MORE than enough for your 10-15mW

CoryB said:

I just compared these to the $40 eagle glasses from SL..

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0050YOOA8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Gotta say, I'm impressed, very good blockage. I feel it's sufficient for my 6W+ laser, so I'm betting it's MORE than enough for your 10-15mW

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I'm also ok with these and also compared them to my Eagle standard pair.
The only problem is there are way to many look alikes. The best you can do is make sure they are marked Ansi code at least.
I got a simular looking pair that the lenses just about fell apart of the frame from picking them up and were just must thinner in thickness and no markings what so ever.
Same for the blue lens glasses that are made for red lasers.

GSS said:

I'm also ok with these and also compared them to my Eagle standard pair.
The only problem is there are way to many look alikes. The best you can do is make sure they are marked Ansi code at least.
I got a simular looking pair that the lenses just about fell apart of the frame from picking them up and were just must thinner in thickness and no markings what so ever.
Same for the blue lens glasses that are made for red lasers.

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VERY true. I have a pair that was shipped out with an ebay laser, literally useless. I have no idea why they even bothered to include them..

To have a beam visible at low power, without requiring eye protection, it has to be 5mW or less, and you still don't want people to be staring into the beam itself regardless.

To do this, you can get a nice low power labbie, that can run pretty much indefinitely, setup inside a plastic container, isolate the labbie, put in a low power fan to create circulation, some dust, or sparkly dust if you're feeling fancy, use anything black at the termination point of the beam, and voila, you have a super safe to view laser beam that requires no goggles.

About goggles, due to the fact that there are just so many variations of those red ones, I do not think they can be trusted at all. My vote would be for the Uvex, which are linked in my signature under better than nothing.

I like the idea of isolation tube, but not gonna work in my application. As stated, I'll need the glasses while aiming and aligning the beams and optics. Once the project is done, it will be in a closed box with no access to the actual lasers, it will be mounted in such a way that the laser emitter will not be directly visible unless you climb up on a chair or something. Then it will be aimed at a wall or a ceiling, so the laser show itself should not require goggles to be viewed. It's not intended for "crowd scanning" or whatever the term is, strictly home use. I may add a fog machine to increase the beam visibility, but undecided at the moment.

I don't have any plans to get lasers which are more powerful right now, if I change my plans later I'll be buying certified glasses when that time comes. Right now, all I want is a "good enough" solution for max 15 mW lasers. I wouldn't mind buying a pair of glasses at 40 bucks or something, but I would not want to buy 2 pairs of glasses for 40 bucks each to cover the wavelengths if it's avoidable. I also don't think two separate glasses would offer enough protection when working with both lasers at the same time.

GSS said:

IE buddie, weren't going to do a for the "forums good" a little burn through test on your Eagles at least on one of the corner guards?
The isolation tube type of thing is a good idea..

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Life kind of got in the way

I'll try to remember to do it this weekend.

Skauber, yeah we got a bit of track of what the projects about.
I didn't seem to catch in your original post that your planning cheapie ebay 532's and 650's??
Those laser's even though rated at 5mw are most likely going to be way way overspec and not underspec, as the 532 anywhere from 30mw to 80mw and the 650's could be 100mw plus.
I will add that even a 650 at 100mw will not be super bright and could be worked with without glasses but still dangerous for a direct eye hit. The 532 will be uncomfortably bright, even looking at the spot so glasses are a must.
For about $10 each look at CoryB's link for a pair of blue and green laser glasses and a pair for red lasers. These cheapies should do fine, providing you get the true ones claimed.

These are the lasers I ordered:

Red/Dot/10mW with holder and adapter

Green/Dot/10mW with holder and adapter

And I'll be adding this IR filter lens to the green laser, as I will assume it does not have integrated IR filtering: IR filter

First thing I'll try is to light a match or something like toilet tissue with the lasers, if I've understood correctly, a true 10 mW is too weak to ignite or burn stuff, so that could be one way to check. Yeah, I know it's not definitive, but it's one way to test. They are focusable, so should be able to aim a fairly tight beam at something like a match to see if it ignites.

Those red goggles are made of polyvinylchloride and are about half that price on eBay. They aren't even rated.