Hello from the Bay Area

[38sFinest]

Hey yall. Coming from the Bay Area out here in Cali!
I was browsing the web looking for how to safely handle a new laser I bought and came upon this forum. I have some questions still after reading some older threads, but I will ask them in another section of this forum.
Till then! ✌

 

[Immo1282]

Welcome! Hope you enjoy your stay & find what you're looking for on here.

There's a lot one can learn - and here's a good place for a lot of that. What was the laser you got if you don't mind me asking?

 

[paul1598419]

Welcome to the LPF. There is a lot of knowledge here about all types of lasers, so I hope you enjoy your search and your stay with all of us here.

 

[cyberdoc]

Welcome to the LPF, 38sFinest! There are many nice and knowledgeable people here who’ll be happy to listen and to help you whenever possible. You should also use the Search button to access our extensive database with information about all things laser. Our chief concern is safety, so be sure to always protect yourself and others by using proper vision protection, and never pointing a laser at any living thing. Lasers are wonderful and fascinating devices, but also dangerous! Please enjoy your stay here, and always remember to be laser safe. Thanks and Take Care.

- cd





-cd

 

[38sFinest]

Welcome! Hope you enjoy your stay & find what you're looking for on here.

There's a lot one can learn - and here's a good place for a lot of that. What was the laser you got if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks for the welcomes guys. The first thing I did was read through the safety forum stickies.
I bought the 1.5w blue Kardel from burning laser pointers. And the 200mw Manny in green.
I didn’t realize at the time how dangerous these could be!

 

[Immo1282]

Oh very much so - I'd caution you not to power them up at all without some kind of appropriate eye-protection on.

1.5W is a lot of power - a collimated beam with that intensity is so dangerous because your eye focuses collimated light into a fine point on the back of the retina, which at that power level will immediately cause permanent eye-damage if not blindness.

Eagle-Pair from SurvivalLaser are the generally reccomended goggles for a good balance of cost and quality.

 

[38sFinest]

Oh very much so - I'd caution you not to power them up at all without some kind of appropriate eye-protection on.

1.5W is a lot of power - a collimated beam with that intensity is so dangerous because your eye focuses collimated light into a fine point on the back of the retina, which at that power level will immediately cause permanent eye-damage if not blindness.

Eagle-Pair from SurvivalLaser are the generally reccomended goggles for a good balance of cost and quality.

I see that. I read through xoul’s thread :/
I read about a few other occurrences as well.
At the time I just wanted something bright and relatively safe. I’m going to create a topic in the general forum about it. Thanks for the replies. I’m a bit nervous to even power it up with glasses on!
Edit: relatively safe meaning I could shine it in the sky at night without glasses. I know this is a subjective term.

 

[Immo1282]

The main danger when using lasers inside is reflections - it's fairly easy not to look directly into a beam, but much harder to avoid a beam that's accidentally reflected off a shiny metal surface, or a window. Outside, this isn't so much of a problem - as the further a beam travels, the more it spreads out.

Outside - the danger shifts somewhat from your own eyesight - to that of other people and animals. The sky's a busy place - It's dangerous to point lasers at planes and helicopters for example as it can dazzle the pilot. When outside - you can use far away trees and mountains as a safe beam-stop, but you should be careful and not point lasers at other people's properties or anywhere near any other people.

a "200mw" (it's more likely to be between 50mW and 80mW, as the vast majority of mass-manufactured inexpensive 532nm medium-high power lasers are) green will look very striking outdoors. The human eye percieves light of different colours at different intensities - so the Green will likely look comparably bright to the blue - even though it is much less powerful.

 

[38sFinest]

The main danger when using lasers inside is reflections - it's fairly easy not to look directly into a beam, but much harder to avoid a beam that's accidentally reflected off a shiny metal surface, or a window. Outside, this isn't so much of a problem - as the further a beam travels, the more it spreads out.

Outside - the danger shifts somewhat from your own eyesight - to that of other people and animals. The sky's a busy place - It's dangerous to point lasers at planes and helicopters for example as it can dazzle the pilot. When outside - you can use far away trees and mountains as a safe beam-stop, but you should be careful and not point lasers at other people's properties or anywhere near any other people.

a "200mw" (it's more likely to be between 50mW and 80mW, as the vast majority of mass-manufactured inexpensive 532nm medium-high power lasers are) green will look very striking outdoors. The human eye percieves light of different colours at different intensities - so the Green will likely look comparably bright to the blue - even though it is much less powerful.

Wow killer reply thank you very much.
If I was to shine the blue one at night from my families property way out in the hills of Napa, and use the mountain as a stopping point, anywhere from 300 yards to miles away, would it be damaging to look at the blue beam, so long as it was not reflecting off anything?
I admit I am a bit confused when people discuss ‘not staring into the beam’. They mean directly into their eye, not looking at it from the side right?

 

[paul1598419]

You needn't worry about looking at the beam as it travels through the air, nor of beam profiles on matte surfaces. It is only the collimated refection hitting ones eye that is of concern.

 

[Immo1282]

If I was to shine the blue one at night from my families property way out in the hills of Napa, and use the mountain as a stopping point, anywhere from 300 yards to miles away, would it be damaging to look at the blue beam, so long as it was not reflecting off anything?
I admit I am a bit confused when people discuss ‘not staring into the beam’. They mean directly into their eye, not looking at it from the side right?

Yep - "staring into the beam" means looking the beam going directly into the eye. The side of the beam is only visible in clean air because of particles in the beam scattering the light into random directions. The intensity of the side of the beam is tiny and as the light goes in random scattered directions, comepletely safe. This is why laser beams appear more visible in smoky/foggy air - as there are more particles (or water droplets) for the beam to scatter from. In a total vacuum (space), a laser beam would never be visible - only the dot seen when it hits something.

You can point a laser at fairly close range at dark objects and the reflected dot appear dark enough to be comfortable - but Paul's absolutely right that only a direct beam hit (or a direct reflection off a mirror/window/shiny surface - i.e. still collimated (parallel) light is really dangerous.

 

[BowtieGuy]

Thanks for the welcomes guys. The first thing I did was read through the safety forum stickies.
I bought the 1.5w blue Kardel from burning laser pointers. And the 200mw Manny in green.
I didn’t realize at the time how dangerous these could be!

Welcome to LPF, 38sFinest!
We don't get too many new members who read the safety snd sticky threads
prior to posting; very impresive.
I see that you've already received some good advice from some of our knowledgable members.

Have fun, stay safe, and enjoy your stay!