The proper effective cheap safety glasses

AMooMooCow · Feb 24, 2016

LEDbeam said:
I can't find the thread, but there was someone who sounded very experienced who said that the whole thing about safety glasses is overblown. He was saying that if a person uses reasonable care and doesn't shine the laser at shiny objects indoors, they would be fine. I imagine this to be especially true if someone was using even the cheapest safety glasses. It seems that if you don't look at the dot up close, or shine the thing directly at your eyes, or view the reflection of either, you're fine. Shine it into the sky and view the beam and you're fine. But many people seem to view lasers up close, such as when burning things. THAT'S when you'll need serious protection. Distance takes quite a bit of power from a laser's hazardous radiation as long as it's not a direct viewing of the laser source.

You are correct that if you don't get a beam in your eyes, you won't go instantly blind; and at the same time, you shouldn't point any laser into your eye and press the button. The quote you're talking about is probably about lasers under 200mw. Any class 4 laser is unsafe to view (the dot) without glasses, because it will slowly break up the light-sensing cells in your eyes. You may find if you constantly shine a 1 watt laser around and stare at the dot, that 5 to 10 years later you'll have a darker spot in the middle of your view.

Here at LPF, we want to create an OSHA-like understanding of the danger. It is not wise to dismiss safety for class 3B lasers. You should wear safety glasses any time you work with a laser with power over 5mw. This way there is no way you can be blinded. Even if you're playing with a common 30mw laser (any cheap green laser), yes, there is a great chance that if you get the beam in your eye that you'll end up with eye damage. It's much safer with 5mw lasers.

LEDbeam · Mar 6, 2016

Ok, I hate to ask this for risk of being thought of as a troll or an idiot, but would the red side of those paper red/blue 3D glasses block even a good amount of light from a 445 nm blue laser? I don't mean a direct hit, but rather from looking at the beam, or looking at the dot from around 50 feet away.

What I was thinking of was having 2 pairs of these glasses, cutting them in half and then joining the 2 red sides to form a pair of red glasses. I have these and noticed blue light blocked quite well through the red side. I viewed the blue background on my computer and it looked black. Also, the green indicator lights on my computer seemed to disappear. That got me to thinking about the blue light from a blue laser and how it could be blocked--or at least substantially reduced, when viewing the beam or dot at long distances.

Here is an example of what I'm talking about: Paper 3D Glasses Red/Blue Lenses

AMooMooCow · Mar 6, 2016

LEDbeam said:
Ok, I hate to ask this for risk of being thought of as a troll or an idiot, but would the red side of those paper red/blue 3D glasses block even a good amount of light from a 445 nm blue laser? I don't mean a direct hit, but rather from looking at the beam, or looking at the dot from around 50 feet away.

What I was thinking of was having 2 pairs of these glasses, cutting them in half and then joining the 2 red sides to form a pair of red glasses. I have these and noticed blue light blocked quite well through the red side. I viewed the blue background on my computer and it looked black. Also, the green indicator lights on my computer seemed to disappear. That got me to thinking about the blue light from a blue laser and how it could be blocked--or at least substantially reduced, when viewing the beam or dot at long distances.

Here is an example of what I'm talking about: Paper 3D Glasses Red/Blue Lenses

I can't find the thread, but someone on the forum had made their own safety glasses with some of those flimsy filters, the same in those glasses, and the light burned through them and they got permanent eye damage. Do not make that mistake. If you're going to buy a serious laser, buy some serious safety glasses.

Pi R Squared · Mar 6, 2016

LEDbeam said:
Ok, I hate to ask this for risk of being thought of as a troll or an idiot, but would the red side of those paper red/blue 3D glasses block even a good amount of light from a 445 nm blue laser? I don't mean a direct hit, but rather from looking at the beam, or looking at the dot from around 50 feet away.

What I was thinking of was having 2 pairs of these glasses, cutting them in half and then joining the 2 red sides to form a pair of red glasses. I have these and noticed blue light blocked quite well through the red side. I viewed the blue background on my computer and it looked black. Also, the green indicator lights on my computer seemed to disappear. That got me to thinking about the blue light from a blue laser and how it could be blocked--or at least substantially reduced, when viewing the beam or dot at long distances.

Here is an example of what I'm talking about: Paper 3D Glasses Red/Blue Lenses

I wouldn't do that if I were you, if you must get cheap glasses for now then at least get these:
Uvex S0360X Ultra-spec 2000 Safety Eyewear, Orange Frame, SCT-Orange UV Extreme Anti-Fog Lens - Safety Glasses - Amazon.com
Or these:
http://www.amazon.com/HDE-Protectio...asses+for+green+and+blue+lasers+with+case+red
Be aware that there are some cheaper red glasses that are the same style that are made for green only, the HDE are for blue and green, I have both of these glasses and they are both good, they would likely protect you from a direct hit long enough to move out of the way. I wouldn't want to use them with some of the more powerful lasers some of us are building these days.

Alan

Benm · Mar 7, 2016

The type of glasses with foil lenses are not suitable - as mentioned a laser will burn through them very quickly even if they effectively block its wavelength.

The foil for these lenses is very thin, more comparable to saran wrap than to electrical tape, and we all know what lasers do to the latter.

As for using amber colored safety glasses that are intended to protect against schrapnell impact and such: it's at your own risk entirely, and you should verify that they actually block the laser light coming out of a 405 nm. In many cases they will, but there is -NO- guarantee of this in any way. These glasses are tested to standards that apply to withstanding mechanical impact and sometimes UV light, which is <400nm. These are no requirements as to blocking any light over 400 nm.

LEDbeam · Mar 7, 2016

AgentMcBaine said:
I can't find the thread, but someone on the forum had made their own safety glasses with some of those flimsy filters, the same in those glasses, and the light burned through them and they got permanent eye damage. Do not make that mistake. If you're going to buy a serious laser, buy some serious safety glasses.

When you say the "light burned through them", are you referring to a direct hit? I wouldn't be using them with the laser close up. The distance to the dot would be around 50 feet or so. If light were to burn through glasses at that range, then everything within 50 feet would burst into flames!

LEDbeam · Mar 7, 2016

Pi R Squared said:
I wouldn't do that if I were you, if you must get cheap glasses for now then at least get these:
Uvex S0360X Ultra-spec 2000 Safety Eyewear, Orange Frame, SCT-Orange UV Extreme Anti-Fog Lens - Safety Glasses - Amazon.com
Or these:
http://www.amazon.com/HDE-Protectio...asses+for+green+and+blue+lasers+with+case+red
Be aware that there are some cheaper red glasses that are the same style that are made for green only, the HDE are for blue and green, I have both of these glasses and they are both good, they would likely protect you from a direct hit long enough to move out of the way. I wouldn't want to use them with some of the more powerful lasers some of us are building these days.

Alan

Looks like the HDE ones are the only ones they'll let me purchase. The first one is what they call an "add-on" item that they won't allow purchase of separately. I can't believe they charge so much for shipping! I just received 2 batteries and a charger today and the shipping for those was less than half of the shipping for a pair of plastic glasses.

FWIW, I've been to Walmart and Menards looking for red glasses. Walmart only has clear and yellow. Menards has none that I could find, although their website has 3 pages of options--none of which are red. Harbor freight tools has nothing but clear ones. It seems like a pair of red safety glasses would be easy to find locally. I live in a town of 65,000 people, so it's not like we don't have enough stores.

AMooMooCow · Mar 7, 2016

LEDbeam said:
When you say the "light burned through them", are you referring to a direct hit? I wouldn't be using them with the laser close up. The distance to the dot would be around 50 feet or so. If light were to burn through glasses at that range, then everything within 50 feet would burst into flames!

If you are to engineer your own safety glasses (and as an engineer, I strongly advise against it), then you need to first purchase proper safety glasses that you can wear while testing the light transmission through the material onto an LPM sensor via direct hit.
What I mean to say is that using 3D glasses to protect your eyes is not worth it. As an experiment to measure light transmission, it sounds like a fun experiment, but you need the proper safety glasses to go ahead and do it.
I understand that you're pointing the laser at a matte surface 50m away and you're saying it is effective to block the reflected light from the dot at 50m, but if you get up close to it, they will not protect your eyes from the reflections. The light from the reflections will come back at you like a thousand 1mw laser pointers, and since it's already so bright you won't consider that this light is entering your eyes directly as laser beams

LEDbeam · Mar 7, 2016

AgentMcBaine said:
If you are to engineer your own safety glasses (and as an engineer, I strongly advise against it), then you need to first purchase proper safety glasses that you can wear while testing the light transmission through the material onto an LPM sensor via direct hit.
What I mean to say is that using 3D glasses to protect your eyes is not worth it. As an experiment to measure light transmission, it sounds like a fun experiment, but you need the proper safety glasses to go ahead and do it.
I understand that you're pointing the laser at a matte surface 50m away and you're saying it is effective to block the reflected light from the dot at 50m, but if you get up close to it, they will not protect your eyes from the reflections. The light from the reflections will come back at you like a thousand 1mw laser pointers, and since it's already so bright you won't consider that this light is entering your eyes directly as laser beams

Ok, I might go ahead and get these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/cart/view.html/ref=gno_cart

I've never ordered anything from Amazon before. In fact, the laser (which I don't have yet) and batteries with charger (just arrived today!) are the only items I've ever ordered on the internet. That's saying a lot since I'm almost 45! I noticed there's an Amazon Visa card that gets offered that gives me a $50 credit if I'm approved when I order these glasses, making them free! Is that something I should take advantage of, or is that more of a scam?

AMooMooCow · Mar 8, 2016

LEDbeam said:
Ok, I might go ahead and get these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/cart/view.html/ref=gno_cart

I've never ordered anything from Amazon before. In fact, the laser (which I don't have yet) and batteries with charger (just arrived today!) are the only items I've ever ordered on the internet. That's saying a lot since I'm almost 45! I noticed there's an Amazon Visa card that gets offered that gives me a $50 credit if I'm approved when I order these glasses, making them free! Is that something I should take advantage of, or is that more of a scam?

Not a scam, but beware that rates on store cards are huge compared to bank cards.. but you could cancel it right away like one of my friends always does. Make sure it's on the real amazon site instead of a third party ad
:beer: here's to the wonderful world of internet shopping

Benm · Mar 8, 2016

LEDbeam said:
When you say the "light burned through them", are you referring to a direct hit? I wouldn't be using them with the laser close up. The distance to the dot would be around 50 feet or so. If light were to burn through glasses at that range, then everything within 50 feet would burst into flames!

A direct hit will punch straight through them indeed.

A reflection on a matte surface 50m away will be harmless without any protection.

The problem arises with things like accidental reflections from shiny surfaces. This is something often underestimated, but something like a doubly paned window can refect back up to 10% of light even when hit at a 90 degree angle. Things like poster frames, laptop displays can give direct reflections of 5% or so - enough to cause instant eye damage when working with 1 watt - you will NOT have time to blink.

Safety glasses are not intended for looking directly into lasers, but to protect from accidental exposure from, for example, reflections that you did not count on. And believe me, there are LOTS of reflective surfaces around the average house or lab.

GSS · Mar 8, 2016

LEDbeam said:
Looks like the HDE ones are the only ones they'll let me purchase. The first one is what they call an "add-on" item that they won't allow purchase of separately. I can't believe they charge so much for shipping! I just received 2 batteries and a charger today and the shipping for those was less than half of the shipping for a pair of plastic glasses.

FWIW, I've been to Walmart and Menards looking for red glasses. Walmart only has clear and yellow. Menards has none that I could find, although their website has 3 pages of options--none of which are red. Harbor freight tools has nothing but clear ones. It seems like a pair of red safety glasses would be easy to find locally. I live in a town of 65,000 people, so it's not like we don't have enough stores.

Those Walmart or Harbor Freight clear or yellow glasses are just regular tool working protection glasses and the yellow's might be for better night time driving. Unless im missing something. I got a set of the red HDE glasses on Amazon with free 2 day shipping and thought all was great till about 2 months later my paypal account had a $99 auto withdrawal. I'm remember vaguely signing up for this free shipping but didn't read the fine print and ended up paying $112 for the HDE glasses. Like agent said welcome to the wonderful world of on line shopping. Now if you want I would try the free shipping Amazon says with just enough in your account for the glasses then cancel it after getting the glasses. I'm not a person to con someone believe me but this one hurt and I got charged for 10 items instead of 1 on something totally different that was never resolved. I'm just "saying":shhh:

LEDbeam · Mar 8, 2016

GSS said:
Those Walmart or Harbor Freight clear or yellow glasses are just regular tool working protection glasses and the yellow's might be for better night time driving. Unless im missing something. I got a set of the red HDE glasses on Amazon with free 2 day shipping and thought all was great till about 2 months later my paypal account had a $99 auto withdrawal. I'm remember vaguely signing up for this free shipping but didn't read the fine print and ended up paying $112 for the HDE glasses. Like agent said welcome to the wonderful world of on line shopping. Now if you want I would try the free shipping Amazon says with just enough in your account for the glasses then cancel it after getting the glasses. I'm not a person to con someone believe me but this one hurt and I got charged for 10 items instead of 1 on something totally different that was never resolved. I'm just "saying":shhh:

I believe you. I even did some reading of reviews about that card advertised on Amazon's site, and at least 95% of them were negative. They said they didn't get the credit at all, or got charged as you did. They also point out that Amazon doesn't help their customers when things arrive broken or missing either. I guess it's something to stay away from.

GSS · Mar 8, 2016

LEDbeam said:
I believe you. I even did some reading of reviews about that card advertised on Amazon's site, and at least 95% of them were negative. They said they didn't get the credit at all, or got charged as you did. They also point out that Amazon doesn't help their customers when things arrive broken or missing either. I guess it's something to stay away from.

I think the credit card issue is something else in itself, probably very high rates like Agent had said. I would think that the $99 they took out for me for free 2 day shipping would be a great deal on someone who buys alot on Amazon. That $99 was for a 1 year. I just didn't read the fine print like I said and now that I think about it, I believe it was a free trial period involved and I never cancelled in time because it did take a few months for payment to be taken. For $12 those HDE glasses are decent, I would give it a try.

Pman · Mar 9, 2016

I love amazon prime

Use it all the time and worth every penny to me.

Pi R Squared · Mar 9, 2016

Amazon is one of the largest retailers in the world, I have been buying things for years from them and never had a problem, I never bothered to pay for prime but I usually wait until I can buy more than one thing so I can spend enough to get the free shipping.

Alan

The proper effective cheap safety glasses

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