Cheap Safety Glasses - TESTED

[Ozzy357]

Lol... well I'll give you credit for being ballsy.

At the very least though, a test with an LPM is the absolute bare minimum.

I have one of these coming in the mail... will let you know what I find.

That will be great! Im getting a LPM next pay check.:beer:
I was going to throw away the goggles from lazerer but I think I will keep them to test with a LPM. They are REALLY horrible, now with these I can actually focus the damn thing.:crackup:

 

[tsteele93]

Why would they say not for use in laser protection when that's what they are perfect for?

Probably because of legal restrictions. We are talking about a large U.S., public company that is not going to put itself at risk for some hobbyists.

I am sure there are some ANSI or similar rules for laser safety glasses that require things that these glasses might not do - like withstand a direct, focused hit of 100W CO2 laser without melting for ten seconds or something like that.

I do not KNOW the answers to any of that. Those are my beliefs.

What I do know is that a company I trust says they block the wavelengths for 405-532nm lasers and in my personal testing, with several lasers of known powers and wavelengths, they do an amazing job of filtering those wavelengths to a level that I consider acceptable.

If you can afford to get OEM brand (or some other reputable, certified goggles) for yourself and all of your friends that you might have over, then by all means do so.

If you were just going to ignore laser safety goggles, then I think these are much better than not using goggles at all.

I have personally seen on this forum respected builders who have admitted to having no goggles at all, or using cheap goggles similar to these and even one video of a seller testing >2.5W 445's on video with no goggles at all!

These have to be a better option than that.

The people who argue against them are perfectly ok in doing so. Ideally we would all have a half-dozen glass, certified safety goggles for ourselves and our friends to cover every wavelength we owned and also cover us for any ir leakage that might occur.

But for someone who might have been playing around with high power lasers (405-532) with no glasses, these offer an inexpensive option that they might actually use.

 

[The Baron]

Good point, well said.

EDIT: 50th +1

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

I have personally seen on this forum respected builders who have admitted to having no goggles at all, or using cheap goggles similar to these and even one video of a seller testing >2.5W 445's on video with no goggles at all!

1. That specific guy realized how stupid it was.

2. The respected builders know what they are doing, and will still put on goggles for specific uses.

If anyone for a second thinks that the pro's don't use protection... just take a look at the OEM Laser Systems GB thread.

For some reason this feels like de javu to me.

 

[facsi]

Cheap laser protection? - YouTube

Maybe?
Could you test it putting 3d red blue glasses on the front?

 

[The Baron]

Cheap laser protection? - YouTube

Maybe?
Could you test it putting 3d red blue glasses on the front?

Yeah but I'm kind of thinking I would want to able to see well in BOTH of my eyes.

 

[Dogs Best Friend]

So here is a question:
These glasses seem to stop nearly all 445nm light, but when it hits the right material there is a great amount of fluorescence at wavelengths above those blocked by the glasses, and it can get unbelievably bright.
I was burning some random stuff just for fun when I stuck a post-it note in the beam. Whatever dye is in that paper lit up bright red, and bright enough to make me stop and shut the laser down.
Since the fluorescence can really be at any wavelength depending on the material, I can't imagine that any glasses (cheap or certified) which allow visible light through could completely protect against it.
Does anyone have any input about this?

 

[tsteele93]

That is an interesting question. I have yet to encounter this. I have hit stuff that I could see was reflecting back at me by a huge amount of glare or "brightness around the side of the glasses" but never have I seen anything come back through the glasses.

I would expect most fluorescence to be in the 405-445 range but I've never really looked into it.

Really interesting and worth investigating.

First look at wiki.

Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore lower energy, than the absorbed radiation. However, when the absorbed electromagnetic radiation is intense, it is possible for one electron to absorb two photons; this two-photon absorption can lead to emission of radiation having a shorter wavelength than the absorbed radiation. The emitted radiation may also be of the same wavelength as the absorbed radiation, termed "resonance fluorescence".

At first glance that would lead you to believe the light fluoresced would be at or below 445, I think.

Still reading...

 

[Dogs Best Friend]

"In most cases, emitted light has a longer wavelength," -Wiki

This is the part I'm concerned with. A substance can absorb 445nm and emit longer wavelengths (red). A lot of things seem to fluoresce a little bit and appear to put off an orange or even red glow.

Although I am careful not to point at any obvious reflectors like mirrors or windows, I have had diffuse reflections come back at me from other objects. These reflections are obvious when they happen, but the glasses block them almost entirely, just as the block the laser 'spot'.

I used my laser to burn a few pests in a saltwater fish tank and got all kind of colors out of it (marine organisms are full of fluorescent proteins), including a very high wavelength RED that was not blocked by the glasses at all. It wasn't really bright, but it was notable because of the color which was roughly the same color as my 660nm laser. The Post-it note was the first really BRIGHT fluorescence I have seen, but it got me thinking. If something like that can produce >600nm who says it's not producing invisible IR?

Fluorescence should be much more diffuse than laser light, and it will be unpolarized and not coherent, so I would guess that the dangers from fluorescence would be minimal, but I think it is definitely worth looking into.

 

[The Baron]

This is a very interesting idea you have there. I just purchased a pair of these glasses for others to wear when I'm using my eagle pair. I'll see how they are.

 

[Dogs Best Friend]

I think it's important to note that this issue does not only apply to these glasses. ANY glasses (even expensive certified ones) which are designed to block specific wavelengths are also designed to let other visible wavelengths pass (or else we could not see through them). Fluorescence can come in many wavelengths, and it appears to be very unpredictable (at least to me, so far) what wavelength a material will produce.
At this stage, I am inclined to believe that burning unknown materials and putting your eyes in close proximity is a bad idea regardless of eye protection used.

Maybe a pair of UVEX Shade 3.0 or 5.0 (last on the list), or glasses with a similar tint, would be a good idea to use specifically for burning stuff.
http://www.uvex.us/uploadedFiles/Uvex_Lens_Tech_Broch(1).pdf

 

[LightBeamConcentrate]

Probably because of legal restrictions. We are talking about a large U.S., public company that is not going to put itself at risk for some hobbyists.

I am sure there are some ANSI or similar rules for laser safety glasses that require things that these glasses might not do - like withstand a direct, focused hit of 100W CO2 laser without melting for ten seconds or something like that.

I do not KNOW the answers to any of that. Those are my beliefs.

What I do know is that a company I trust says they block the wavelengths for 405-532nm lasers and in my personal testing, with several lasers of known powers and wavelengths, they do an amazing job of filtering those wavelengths to a level that I consider acceptable.

If you can afford to get OEM brand (or some other reputable, certified goggles) for yourself and all of your friends that you might have over, then by all means do so.

If you were just going to ignore laser safety goggles, then I think these are much better than not using goggles at all.

I have personally seen on this forum respected builders who have admitted to having no goggles at all, or using cheap goggles similar to these and even one video of a seller testing >2.5W 445's on video with no goggles at all!

These have to be a better option than that.

The people who argue against them are perfectly ok in doing so. Ideally we would all have a half-dozen glass, certified safety goggles for ourselves and our friends to cover every wavelength we owned and also cover us for any ir leakage that might occur.

But for someone who might have been playing around with high power lasers (405-532) with no glasses, these offer an inexpensive option that they might actually use.

I am new here, and dont want to get into an argument with anyone(yet), but have read through a lot of this thread, and although I am not a laser expert, I can give an analogy that I think is a great parallel to the point you have repeatedly tried to make, and should help explain/justify that point.

This does not involve lasers, but it does involve potential eye damage.

I was working for a lawn mowing company back in the early 90's, and although the owner has now built the company into a much larger business, back then it was just 3 of us. I was there for 1 year.

Anyway, we used high powered, professional weed wackers after mowing to do the trimming, and the owner had idiotically removed the trimmer guards from behind the base of the trimmer head, where the line spins at high speed, making it more dangerous(but not increasing the effectiveness of the trimmer at all!).

So we were 'advised' to wear safety glasses, but the owner did not provide them, so it was 'optional' and we had to buy them for ourselves.

So I bought a pair of heavy duty safety glasses, built for a certain level of toughness, and I wore them most of the time. But when we were using the weed-wackers, we'd have debris being picked up by the trimmer line and thrown back at our bodies and into our faces.

A new guy started working there, and the first day, I told him he should buy safety glasses. The next day, he showed up, but with no safety glasses. So, although I didnt have a spare pair of "official, safety tested, certified safety glasses", I did have a cheap pair of sunglasses. So I gave them to him to use til he would hopefully buy safety glasses the next day.

That was fortunate, because about 4 hours after we finished mowing this apartment complex, we then spent another 3 hours walking around with weed-wackers doing the trimming. During this time, his weed-wacker picked up a large piece of broken glass, and flung it at high speed into his right eye!

It slightly cracked the lens of my sun glasses that I'd lent him, but it completely protected his eyes. If he hadnt been wearing them, there's no doubt he'd have been permanently blinded, and he'd still be blind in that eye today!

So, granted, those shades I lent him weren't "official" or certified, they certainly did save his eyesight, and they certainly were better than nothing..

That seems to be the point of the thread, that some people(like many of us here when we were younger), will not take the necessary precautions sometimes, and if safety equipment is hard to find or extremely expensive, many people will simply go without it, to their own peril, and end up injuring themselves, unnecessarily.

So if people who get into this hobby end up using this particular set of glasses, because they were cheaper, then they are certainly safer than they would be if they choose to use no safety glasses, because they cant find, or cant afford a $160-$300 pair of certified laser safety glasses.

But I can also see the point made on the other side that they'd be better off with the more expensive, proven pair. But remember, something is better than nothing!

I think the term for this type of thread is "Harm Prevention"

 

[IRSmurf]

Thanks for the write-up. I've been reading LPF for a few weeks, but just made an account today. I have just ordered a pair of these glasses for $8.43 with two day shipping (prime).

I recently ordered an Arctic S3 (432 nm @ <1W) [prior to reading LPF's warnings] and, as of this weekend, a (used) E3 (532 nm @ ~125mW). I was only going to have the safety glasses included with the Arctic. But I needed another pair in order to entertain with another person on location. These are a fantastic bargain. I simply could not afford a pair of $100 OD-6 glasses that offer top-of-the-line protection. I understand this protection is limited, but I behave like the responsible adult I am. I've seen some great glasses for $70 or so with shipping, but the additional protection of those glasses don't seem to be proportional to the financial burden they pose on me.

Can anyone tell me, is shining the 1W 432nm into water (I'm on the Gulf) an unusually dangerous activity? Or does the water do a good job dispersing the light it reflects?

This absolutely terrifies me: http://laserpointerforums.com/f53/hit-eye-1000mw-445nm-blue-laser-69469.html

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Can anyone tell me, is shining the 1W 432nm into water (I'm on the Gulf) an unusually dangerous activity? Or does the water do a good job dispersing the light it reflects?

This absolutely terrifies me: http://laserpointerforums.com/f53/hit-eye-1000mw-445nm-blue-laser-69469.html

The water will absorb quite a bit of the power, but will still reflect back some. No telling how much exactly. With waves you're also not looking at a flat surface.

Basically you just have to make sure that the beam cannot ever reflect back at you, or anyone else. Start out with something other than a class four laser to get a feel for reflections... Like say a 5mW green.

 

[The Baron]

From shining my ~2+W 445, I'd say the light goes mostly through the water, but it seems to reflect about 10-20%. I live in Newport beach and the water is not very clear in the harbor. It isn't as cool as it seems to shine it into the water.

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

From shining my ~2+W 445, I'd say the light goes mostly through the water, but it seems to reflect about 10-20%. I live in Newport beach and the water is not very clear in the harbor. It isn't as cool as it seems to shine it into the water.

Regular glass is usually in that range, I tested several pieces of of glass with a 1.1W laser a while back.

Still, 10% of even 100mW is no longer safe when you're dealing with specular reflections. Here we're talking about 1W+.