Welding goggles?

Will a pair of oxi welding goggles work to block out a 445nm 1W laser?

You would need to do a test using a calibrated LPM to be
sure...
I would purchase a proper pair of Laser Safety Goggles...

After all... that's what they are designed for...


Jerry

Thanks for the input :yh:

Indeed - the main function of welding goggles is uv shielding, as well as some degree of neutral densitry filtering. This doesnt translate in any way to 445 nm performance. Unless the goggles came with some spectral response guarantee, measuring is the only way to figure it out.

Short answer...NO. Just buy some proper goggles.

Ok so welding goggles are out but does anyone have input on these
Argon KTP Laser Safety Glasses & Goggles
There meant for argon gas lasers I think. But will they keep my eyes from turning into useless globs of semi-radioactive goop?:thanks:

remmy black said:

Ok so welding goggles are out but does anyone have input on these
Argon KTP Laser Safety Glasses & Goggles
There meant for argon gas lasers I think. But will they keep my eyes from turning into useless globs of semi-radioactive goop?:thanks:

Click to expand...

Looks good for green, blue, and blue-ray 405nm. No coverage on red or IR.

If they make good on the rated specs, they should be fine. Looks like they also block CO2 10.6 um line, but i suppose most goggle materials (glass, plastic) do that anyway without explicit mention.

not so sure about welding goggles being no good

I have seen and used a pair of black tinted laser goggles that looked exactly like welding goggles - I even said to the people in charge that these look like my welding goggles and they said its designed for about 400-500nm lasers so it would work for a ark welder because the ark is usually in the same spectrum, plasma cutter or cutting torch wouldnt be good though

they moved on to talking about other things after that and it never went that far

someone with a power meter should test this with a cheep pair of welding glasses and see if they are good for the 445nm lasers and any others

- welding goggles are not designed for a direct laser hit
- a black color suggest a low VLT and equal attenuation for all colors. You either don't see a thing or are in danger because the protection is too low. Or both.

Same question, me too

Well, I don't know if it would be better to start a new thread, or tag onto this one, but I have the same question that has been asked over and over again, welding glasses/goggles for red laser protection.

Via searching on the board, it appears the answer is always no, welding goggles will not help with laser protection, they are not designed to block the wave length of red laser (approx 650-660nm). Then they go on to mention black, smoke, grey etc and compare to sunglasses. The thing is, my welding glasses, and all I have seen over the years are not black. They are green.

I own a Dilda, a laserbee LPM and 2 sets of Jackson Nemesis Safety Glasses. Once I was driving from one job to another while wearing them, and I ran a red light. That is when I learned "crap, you can't see the color red with these things on!" Anyhow, here are the shade 3 ones I own and the shade 5 ones I own. I don't actually where them while welding of course, only grinding and oxy/acety cutting operations, but that is besides the point.

My Dilda tests at a solid 196 mW on the laserbee, I then pass the Jackson glasses in front of the thermopyle and the reading drops to zero (takes a few seconds of course.) Does that mean they are a safe alternative to blue colored lenses in 660 nm laser goggles?? Or am I missing something here? I certainly could be, remember I am new still

leftkidney said:

someone with a power meter should test this with a cheep pair of welding glasses and see if they are good for the 445nm lasers and any others

Click to expand...

After getting a reply to my prior question, I would be happy to do this as well. Some feedback about the best possible testing scenario would be helpful.

Well, goggle certification is just that: certification. Certification means that a trustworthy authority has verified that something meets a certain standard. If you can verify to yourself that your goggles provide adequate protection for your eyes, then it should be good enough (provided you can trust your own equipment and testing methodology).

Therein lies the problem. Possible flawed testing methods. What wavelengths is the thermopyle in my laserbee capable of testing? Despite the fact the Jackson googles claim to block 99.9% of UX and an unspecified amount of IR radiation, could there be some light not visible to me and not picked up by the laserbee that could still cause me danger? I understand the thermopyle to simply sense heat, and whether the light is visible or not should have no effect, correct?

I did some testing with a PHR at 100 mW and an A140 diode at 330 mW. I don't have my A140 heatsinked as well as I would like at this point is why I didn't test at higher currents.

The Jackson Nemesis shade 3 and shade 5 both blocked enough of the light/radiation that the LPM read zero with the glasses between it and the laser. However, I will say this LPM also reads 0 mW when testing on a claimed 5 mW green as well, so I don't know how sensitive it is at lower powers.

With the shade 3, visible light transmission is worse than my OEM laser systems (AL3 19% VLT) but tolerable. I wouldn't recommend the shade 5.

I won't go so far as to recommend anyone wear these glasses as primary protection. But, in a pinch, they do seem to work.

Depending on the coating, the thermopile should be able to measure any wavelength within reason. However, I think the Laserbee has a minimum of 5mW for detection; so it may inappropriate for measuring < 5mW for goggle purposes. I personally don't like having the transmitted power around 5mW anyway, since it still looks pretty bright as a dot on the wall.