Safety and Age

well I just recently read a post someone particularly, well younger than myself anyway. was posting about how he wanted to build a laser. this isn't a rip on someone post btw. this person was 13.
now although I had a lot of curiosity at that age most of my experience with with anything like this came around the age of 16-17 in high school and even then I think there are plenty of kids that age that could easily hurt themselves or others.
I think it is great that a person is interested I say support anyone's non criminal interests.
however


how old are those of you reading this?
do you have kids? (and would you feel that a 75+ mW blue laser should be indiscriminately given to them)

I don't have kids and am 28 years old, I don't think I would like my 13 yr old son with such a laser. I know myself at that age would have gotten curious and something or someone would have gotten hurt.

sound off all

There is a member here on the Forum that has 2 children...
They both have lasers....
The lasers come with strict supervision and lessons on safety...
The lasers are not to be used without that supervision...
(Right John..??)

To indiscriminately give it to a youngster without any usage/safety
knowledge is irresponsible...IMO

You might as well give a turned "ON" 200 mW green laser to a monkey in
a crowded room...


Jerry

I am right with you on that one.
I think at times that alot of us that use these lasers on a daily basis and dream of lasers may have become void of some of the inherent dangers.
IMO these are not toys. parents should be aware of this when there child walks up to them and says.
"Hey Dad, I want to build this laser I think it is really cool"
alot of people have seen and played with the benign 1-2 mw red cat toy lasers and they may not realize the true potential of a laser.

I know when I brought videos of my red lighting matches and cutting black tape everyone that saw it was wowed they have never seen such a thing.
I would love to bring it in to show some of my co workers however I work in a school and there are way too many eyes around too much potential for error.

I don't want to be that guy.

My son is 10 he has had some 30mW greenies, and now on to the reds and violets.

I started him young, and I was hard on him from the start about the responsibility
on these units.

I could challenge some members here against him now on safety and etiquette on these... sometime he's like Dad what are you doing? were's your glasses.LOL!!!

He will be joining this forum when he can convince his mother that he's ready.

I don't know of any certain situation where father and son have been log on here at one time. Here's too ya little man looking forward to seeing you contribute.

sweet.
it is really good to hear that your able to work with your son on such things like this.
it reminds me alot of my dad and I. I grew around guns and in a hunting family I can remember going out to the range when I was five with my dad. he always stressed safety. and that it can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

I hope that all of us on here understand these things when they are working on building a laser for someone and not to be afraid to say no to someone when they feel "hey this person sounds really young" maybe I should try some way to verify their age etc.

I work with computers. they don't make braille monitors. it is kind of scary knowing how easy it is to make these things and if one of our kids gets a hold of one a simple accident at school could put me out of a career.

The eye injury can happen so fast- I would not be comfortable with kiddos just being 'supervised'- before I quit trying to buy/sell greenies I gave each customer a printed advisory-- 'If not prevented by extreme measures(ie locking them away)children WILL play with your lasers when your are not around- thats what I did with my Dads guns and thank God no one ever got hurt- but the possibility was there- and I had ALL the training and guideance a good dad can give- Boy Scouts- trips to gun range -hunting rabbits and pheasants since I was 8 yrs old-- long talks about gun safety etc.--STILL boys will be boys-I pray our kids will be safe- but it is up to the adults here-not the minors. I say all this with the best intentions- not to tell anybody how to raise the children.--peace-- hakzaw1

Amen. Hakzaw1
curiosity killed the cat as they say.
satisfaction can't bring your eyesight back.

schmag said:

they don't make braille monitors.

Click to expand...

Actually they do. It's more a sort of braille printout, a line with pins controlled electromagnetically at the top of the keyboard. It might be that there's something doing graphics as well in the meantime.

Also... you're 28, your son is 13? There are more dangerous things to do at age 13 or 14 or so than playing with lasers :wave:

dr-ebert said:

There are more dangerous things to do at age 13 or 14 or so than playing with lasers :wave:

Click to expand...

Uh, sorry, "dangerous things" ? ..... those was not called "funny things" ?

:thinking: ..........

Oh, right i got the point ..... nevermind.

(j/k )

dr-ebert said:

Also... you're 28, your son is 13? There are more dangerous things to do at age 13 or 14 or so than playing with lasers :wave:

Click to expand...

lol. I don't have a son. well not that I know of anyway. there was a 13 yr old on here that wanted to build a laser and it looked like someone was going to do such. I didn't think it was that good of an idea.
no I am 28 tech coordinator, with a g/f that is a teacher in another district.

cheers.
Jeremy

I definitely think lasers can be good parent- child projects. I also think that if the safety aspect is stressed enough, that any child can be grown into a responsible hobbiest. The curiosity at younger ages amazes me. I am 18 years old, and the only reason that I'm into electronics at all, is because of the good 'ol father son projects I worked on with my dad since I was 7.

However, this thread leaves me to wonder..

Are childrens' eyes any more susceptible to indirect eye damage? Are their eyes any more sensitive?

with the correct supervision oh by all means let the kid operate the deathstar. I just think it is kind of irresponsible for us build such a thing for people we don't know.
if we don't know them we don't know their age do their parents know (mute point if they are over 18). I think if we just started building lasers for anyone with the money that could lead to at least some bad publicity in the least.

oops just saw this one yea of my three sons and 1 daughter only Justin really likes lasers
he has several and if he uses anything besides the cat toy or leadlight
he uses the others only if i am there with the proper PPE
safety is a big issue and should never be overlooked justin is almost 14

he has an Aries -50-70 mw
a 5 mw leadlight
a kryton @ 100 mw
several low mw reds

I think it is partly a question of teaching the kid everything about safety and partly knowing what he/she is capable of at his/her age.
A 12-year old who is generally responsible and has been taught about safety precautions might be WAY safer to hand a laser to than giving it to a 30-year old who is irresponsible and/or uneducated on the matter.
Obviously there is some sort of age limit.. probably around 10.. where it would be too big a risk to take to let the kid use a laser, no matter how many times you have told him/her, but if you are the parent you probably know what you can expect.

ANY person using a laser should be fully briefed before they handle it. I always give my friends a little lecture when they want to borrow my stuff - and afterwards they understand why it was necessary.

Beyond the idiots who shine lasers at planes, helicopters and so on I also have a separate story to show how dangerous adults can be:
At a party I had brought two lasers as I heard the host has some lighting and a smoke machine going - and I always like to show off how cool lasers are.
The lasers were a 30mW kaleidoscopic green from DX and a 50mW green LEDshoppe - I only bring the cheap stuff to parties.
I started out by shining the kaleidoscopic on the wall, turning the cap and letting it do its magic - everyone was amazed. I then asked people to be careful and stay behind me, screwed off the cap and fired both lasers, their powerful beams amazing everyone - After I had given some safety instructions a group of us stood outside pointing at stars with the 50mW - then suddenly I saw a green beam coming from a window above me, shining along the road. I checked my pocket and realised someone had taken the kaleidoscopic from my jacket, so I ran upstairs to find this complete moron, Dan, trying to hit cyclists and cars with my laser. I obviously got really mad at him and that was the end of letting anyone at the party try my lasers. To this day I still keep every one of my lasers in my trouser pocket where I can feel if someone snatches it.
I thought I was at a place with responsible people - this guy was 21 and still managed to act like a particularly stupid 12-year old.

Seb

My 10 year old would have scolded his arsh for that. ^ never point lasers at people.

well curiosity gets the best of everyone sooner or later it just matters how it gets a hold of them. that is why I don't like the thought of younger people owning one of these lasers without know who the parents etc are.
you are right anyone at any age can get pretty dumb at times. I just think it is alot more likely with an avg 13 y/o than with the avg 25 or even 18 y/o. curiosity kicks in and some people just completely forget anything that was taught.