An idiot with a laser!

Chief-Eamonn · Sep 28, 2007

how close were you to the balloon :-? i think theres a bit of hysteria here ;D i dont realy think you should be worrying about stray reflections of balloons.. notice it says on your laser 'danger laser radiation avoid direct eye exposure' (well something along those lines anyway) you should feel safe shining your laser around as long as its not at yourself or others.

Aseras · Sep 28, 2007

it depends on just how powerful your laser is. when the ballon pops, it's quite possible that perhaps there was condensation from when you inflated it from your breath that the inside was wet, you could easily get a specular reflection of the entire beam right into your eye. I'd say that's very unlikely but if you have luck as bad as me I guess it could happen.

no one ever plans or suspects they will get lasered. It almost always either operator error or accidental, an unintended consequence. Once you start putting variables into the equation of things you can't control such as, any moving or changing object in the light path of the laser, you no longer can entirely control the outcome and you should be using protection.

pseudonomen137 · Sep 28, 2007

Chief-Eamonn said:
how close were you to the balloon :-? i think theres a bit of hysteria here ;D i dont realy think you should be worrying about stray reflections of balloons.. notice it says on your laser 'danger laser radiation avoid direct eye exposure' (well something along those lines anyway) you should feel safe shining your laser around as long as its not at yourself or others.

Well, if you want to look at it that way:
A 99999TW green laser bouncing off a flat dielectric mirror with 99.99% reflectance straight into your eye is not "direct eye exposure".

See where I'm going with this?

Chief-Eamonn · Sep 28, 2007

oww please pseudo whos gonna have a spare 99999TW greenie hanging about.. ;D

Ok it can be dangerous but these kind of mishaps are bound to happen you shouldn't be frozen with fear of your own laser you should be able to enjoy the colour when you want..

and wear the goggles when burning of coarse.

point taken.

philguy · Sep 28, 2007

Well, per definitin, a class 4 laser's reflection off low-reflectance surfaces will still be harmful to the eye. something like that.

Although this was not a +500mW-Laser, the balloon reflects quite a bit back!

And still, I think this should not be played down as "careless" handling of lasers is dangerous. Next time he takes his 10W-"pointer"?

Anyways, better to learn it that way - i.e. better to have temporal eyesight damage and learn to respect (not fear) lasers than to learn it by losing eyesight, so lucky one.

jasturbo02 · Sep 28, 2007

The baloon was about 7ft away and the laser was a NOVA x-105 at 118mW. The baloon was a light blue color with a black square sharpied on it. I had been doing this for days and the only effect when the dot missed the square was the baloon lighting up like a lamp which was pretty cool. I thought this was pretty safe as there were no other reflective surfaces around. The sudden unexpected reflection felt similar to getting caught in the eyes by a reflection of the sun when a car drives by. My eyesight still seems fine and the incident has caused me to not use the laser inside until I get my Nova goggles....which didn't come today

I have been going outside at night and just playing with it in the sky which doesn't seem to cause any issues.

LarryQ · Sep 28, 2007

Sounds like you Dodged a bullet there....

I'm happy to hear your not hurt!!!

Lesson learned...and at a very low cost...THIS TIME!

LarryQ

Nano · Oct 10, 2007

When I was young I used to play a game with my brother and see which one of us could stare at the sun the longest.

Thories · Oct 10, 2007

Nano said:
When I was young I used to play a game with my brother and see which one of us could stare at the sun the longest.

wow... that is REALLY dumb

. i think a reflection off a balloon you'll be fine, just be careful lol.

Nano · Oct 10, 2007

Thories said:
[quote author=Nano link=1190895181/15#23 date=1191984244]When I was young I used to play a game with my brother and see which one of us could stare at the sun the longest.

wow... that is REALLY dumb

.[/quote]

Yeah, I got cataracts at age 6. haha :

jasturbo02 · Oct 10, 2007

I've learned my lesson and bought plenty of goggles. I got one pair from Nova because they look cool AND provide good protection and then I bought 3 pair from NES_DS for the family which work really well. Now I just need to find some decent goggles for the red Sentorch I ordered from SenKat.

LarryQ · Oct 10, 2007

Yeah...I think we could all use a good source for good goggles for reds!

I hate sending people to WL!!!

LarryQ

tomcat · Oct 29, 2007

i use my 650 red on everything iv caught a few diffuse in the eye before TIP= if burning up close at like a foot use your peripherial vision to "see" where your burning and let your eyes unfocus into the distance....

Phazonx · Dec 9, 2007

I only use my goggles indoors. There is absolutely no point of pointing at stars and stuff if you can even see it.

An idiot with a laser!

Chief-Eamonn

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