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FrozenGate by Avery

ADVICE to advice givers

hakzaw1

hakzaw1

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Joined
Apr 2, 2009
Messages
10,661
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I just read a thread about getting a 7 yr old a laser 'toy'.
One new member said to get him a 5mW green as they are eyesafe.
I could not, in clear conscience, let this pass and neg repped the advice- giver.

IMO there are no lasers that should be considered toys. And 7 yrs old is just too young for anything more than a 1mW red, and even that can lead to unsafe use if and when this youngster gets his hands on something more powerful.

Giving out bad advice is very dangerous.

Eye safety is not to be taken lightly, especially concerning kids that young.

solo mis dos centavos

hak
 
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I saw that, I neg rep'd him As-well. To be honest, i don't think a 7 year-old should have a laser to begin with, but one of those cheapy 1mw red lasers at Walmart or dollar store wouldn't hurt.
 
InfinitusEquitas said:
Bad advice is worse than no advice imho. /QUOTE]

This is very true, and I'm seeing a lot of new members giving some pretty bad advice lately.

Please, don't post if you are unsure about the subject. If you must post, please add something along the lines of "but I'm still fairly new to the subject, I suggest you wait for someone else to confirm my advice." Once you hang out here for a while you will figure most stuff out and then you will be able to give good solid advice!

I just commented in a thread where a new member gave a suggested current for a random unknown diode. When someone else pointed out that it's not possible to set a current without at least seeing the diode he replied with something along the lines of "I don't know about DVD burners, but I told him that so he could blow his diode and we could tell him to buy a LPC." That is NOT cool!

New members, if you think you are being given bad advice please do a little more research to make sure what you are being told is accurate.

I'm not putting down our new members that want to be helpful, but please guys! Just listen and read for a while before you shoot off advice willy-nilly!

:thanks:
Click to expand...
 
Wow. That was a noob with bad advice.. :eek:

Hopefully he learns after 4 neg reps... :tsk:

I agree with Pontiac. Noobs, we want you to contribute to the forum, but think before you type. Please!
 
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I think what people don't realize is that a 7 year old kid doesn't really understand cause and effect completely, and the issue of him 'shining the laser in his own face' isn't the only risk.

Even in that case, 5mW green probably isn't too healthy. But the bigger issue is that he probably doesn't know better than to shine it at cars from his window, etc, possibly causing other problems.

Another reason why I'd advise against even low power lasers for a really young kid -- is that a lot of these folks are going to go to a cheap chinese shop or ebay to get said "5mW" or "1mW" pointer. We all know what happens then -- most of those are quite overspec.

I'd hate to see a kid waving around a 15mW 405 that was purchased from eBay, that looks really dim to the parent, but is really busy doing all kinds of retinal damage to their kid and friends without their awareness.

With the current state of lasers today, i'd agree with Hak in saying that kids just shouldn't have them. I had a self-contained 0.5mW HeNe when I was a kid. (And I was thankful! Uphill! Both ways!) And even that had me blinking a few times after I took some eyeshots when playing around. It's just bad news bears with the power and unpredictability of cheap DPSS handhelds out there today.
 
Pontiacg5 said:
I just commented in a thread where a new member gave a suggested current for a random unknown diode. When someone else pointed out that it's not possible to set a current without at least seeing the diode he replied with something along the lines of "I don't know about DVD burners, but I told him that so he could blow his diode and we could tell him to buy a LPC." That is NOT cool!
Click to expand...
Someone else being me,

The guy in question was trying to give a miliampere rating of a diode based solely on the drive speed it came off with.

I have taken apart many 16x speed drives (breaking point speed in diode distribution :p ) and in many drives of the exact same make and model, sometimes I found short closed diodes, sometimes long diodes.

My opinion is that short diodes should not be driven above 250mA and long diodes not above 450mA (though some say 420mA, and then you've got ones driven at half amp and still kickin', ask daguin).

Guy's reccomendation was 180 to 210 mA max. Only one diode type that I know of matches that kind of rating, and it's an old-type GGW 405nm (back when they were still good).

I also do not exactly understand what he meant by, "we can direct him to buy a new LPC".
 
^^^ these posts ARE all good advice-well said by all-thanks for backing me up!

Len
 
i read this thread also, even as a noob to lasers myself,something told me his advice was sketch.....a while back i was hit with a 3mw red and was seeing spots for like 15 minutes. ever since i havent turned on any laser regardless of output or wavelength,without the proper goggles(REAL proper goggles..not those shitty ones i got with my WL E3). however all that neg rep he got should deter him from speaking his "Opinions" in the future.........well...either that or he will have blinded himself running around playing with lasers with no goggles,and will no longer be able to type.
 
I've seen diodes go up to 2W your's should work great at that power for being a random unknown diode :D
lol but jk you guy's make a valid point we noobs if anything should just redirect others to more reputable threads for information or avoid giving advice on delicate subjects.
 
Cam453 said:
I've seen diodes go up to 2W your's should work great at that power for being a random unknown diode :D
lol but jk you guy's make a valid point we noobs if anything should just redirect others to more reputable threads for information or avoid giving advice on delicate subjects.
Click to expand...

You can contribute to the conversation...just think before you post and use common sense. If you don't know an answer, don't say anything.

A lot of people here comment anyway and type out a load of BS, which is usually called out by someone who actually knows what they are talking about. ;)
 
I was merely trying to bring some humor into this post :P thanks for making a clarification on what I was getting at.
 
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ok people i am so sorry that i gave that wrong advice :/
i dont wanna be hated or anything at this forum. i am now in the proces of ordering a nice pair od safety goggles.i read all the safety threads and saw that till 5mw you dont need glasses so i just tought logicaly that if it hits you in the eye, you wont be damaged.
i am really sorry for that one post that i posted, now i fell sad because everybody is giving me negative reps :(
i was just trying to get only ONE god damn positive rep, but instead i got OVER 9000 negative reps.
you guys can make fun of me and this post even more, but i hope you wont.
and i am being VERY careful with my laser, i am only pointing stars untill i get the goggles. i am not like those other idiots.
i am still new to lasers so dont be so hard on me. i hope you will somehow understand. i didnt mean anything wrong.
when i read first that 5mw is eye safe, i was thinking no way. and now that you guys have bitched me all over place, now i know that it is not eye safe.
thanks for reading.
 
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You are "not" your reps. You are not the contents of your wallet, you are not your khaki's.

No one hates you. And you should not try to get reps. Reps just..come..and go...You will not be a good member when you have great reps, you will have reps because you are a great member. You must stay and learn.

^_^
 
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lovellaser said:
ok people i am so sorry that i gave that wrong advice :/
i dont wanna be hated or anything at this forum. i am now in the proces of ordering a nice pair od safety goggles.i read all the safety threads and saw that till 5mw you dont need glasses so i just tought logicaly that if it hits you in the eye, you wont be damaged.
i am really sorry for that one post that i posted, now i fell sad because everybody is giving me negative reps :(
i was just trying to get only ONE god damn positive rep, but instead i got OVER 9000 negative reps.
you guys can make fun of me and this post even more, but i hope you wont.
and i am being VERY careful with my laser, i am only pointing stars untill i get the goggles. i am not like those other idiots.
i am still new to lasers so dont be so hard on me. i hope you will somehow understand. i didnt mean anything wrong.
when i read first that 5mw is eye safe, i was thinking no way. and now that you guys have bitched me all over place, now i know that it is not eye safe.
thanks for reading.
Click to expand...

Next time... research the information you give out...:beer:

Jerry
 
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