Re: Bypassing the 2-second delay on portable laser
lasersbee and others: A start-up delay isn't intended for lasers that are only ever used for "oooo, pretty colors" or pointing at distance objects for the sake of others. The delay is intended for what MOST large lasers are used for, industrial uses and in scientific labs. The delay, when combined with the output indicator, is supposed to be able to give you time to get out of the way if the laser accidentally becomes energized, or someone energizes it without you knowing while you're in a dangerous position. It could also give you time to de-energize the laser if there are other dangerous circumstances, like someone else shouting that they are in the beampath when the emission indicator warns them of impending light emission.
Say you're working in a lab aligning mirrors on a big bench set up, and your 5W 532nm suddenly comes on (maybe someone on the other side of the curtain flipped a wrong switch, or you bump a button). The emission indicator comes on, and the delay in the laser coming on gives you time to avert your eyes or get out of the path of the beam. Or you're in a lab and your 60W CO2 becomes energized, you need that delay to avoid a really dangerous situation.
Remember the rules were written in the 70s and are written for the majority of lasers in use; these handheld portable lasers didn't exist, and are still a tiny fraction of all the 3b and 4 lasers out there in use in the US (less than 1%?). The rule doesn't even say "2 second", it says enough time for a user to realize that the beam is coming on and get out of the way or to turn off the device. For a portable handheld laser, 2 seconds is definitely enough time to go "whoa" and point it away from your face, but in industry the delay may need to be longer if the laser is in some sort of large encasement and the person is actually inside the encasement doing maintenance. That person has to have time to get out of the encasement or to alert someone outside the tool to turn the frickin thing off.
They're not just trying to annoy you, and the rule makes sense for 99% of the lasers out there. For that other 1%, they have a process through which you can apply for an exemption to the safety feature rules when manufacturing the laser. Maybe that's what happened with the RPL: maybe they applied for an exemption from that requirement because of the "oh no, it's broken, let me look in the aperture" and then the laser kicking in and blinding someone, I don't know. But the rule does make sense for lab and industry settings were lasers are mostly used.
