Lets discuss how dangerous > 100 mW lasers are

Hi there,

I'm new to lasers and just ordered an 150 mW green laser from optotronics (sp?) and am working on building a 125 mW blu-ray laser from scratch. These will both be my first high powered lasers and I was wondering what kind of precautions you guys take when handling them. I release I could blind myself in a second if one shines in my eye, and I'm also a bit worried of someone maybe picking it up and thinking its not very high powered and shining it somewhere where its not supposed to be. Many thanks for suggestions!

Well for starters, label it. Something like "150mW laser. DO NOT POINT AT ANY LIVING THING!" or "DANGER. HIGH POWERED LASER". And as far as someone picking ti up and playing with it, just dont leave it anywhere an inexperienced person might have access to it. Other than that just dont let people use it unless you have explained to them the dangers involved. Also to be on the safe side, I'd pick up a few pairs of goggles, at least one pair for each wavelength.