- Joined
- Aug 14, 2018
- Messages
- 97
- Points
- 18
Hello there
I've learned that no matter what problem you might have, there is a forum out there that handles just that. So there you are.
As my headline might suggest, my background is astronomy. I'm not a Laser power junkie, although I can share the fascination of the matter - I'm just deeply frightend by the potential danger
The post of the poor guy who burnt his eye in a fraction of a second when his laser dropped off the bench is just what I imagine when I read about people fiddling around with this stuff in their spare time just for fun. Similar to the people growing poisonous plants or breeding dangerous animals - or jumping off a cliff with a wing-suit.
Our astronomy club started to use laser pointers at star parties to show the constellations some years ago. First the available <1mW red ones, later green pointers when they where affordable.
The reason why I'm in here is, that I lately found my "<20mW" pointer broken. Damaged by a spilled battery that I left in. That hurt me, since the pointer was quite expensive when I bought it. A little research showed me, that prices have dropped dramatically since. And that the wattage increased dramatically too.
I have a hard time to find something I might safely use on a star party with children running around in the dark.
Like it is in most countries, public use of a Laser stronger as 5mW is restricted here with a few exceptions like trained personal for astronomical use. For good reason.
Usually I'm not one of the "buy first, ask later" guys, but I already ordered a cheap pointer from laserpointerpro as a replacement for my broken one, before I hat a deeper understanding of the mater. Only later I learned that the usual safety measures are not standard anymore, like the propper shielding of unconvertet IR from the pump diode. While this might be no problem for the burn-holes-everywhere fraction, that would not want to waste a single milliwatt, visible or not, it might be a problem for my use.
The 20mW I had was a real bummer at night. Totally sufficient to point to the stars. Now I read that I might not only get 20mW green light, but another 200mW invisible radiation as bonus with such a cheap pointer. :cryyy:
And then they offer 50mW green pointers on a keychain as "an ideal gift for your children"... Well, there are countries, where minors are allowed half automatic guns, so this does fit in. :undecided:
While this order is already shipped, I might decide to just dump it on arrival and count the money to the learning budget, when anyone can recommend a safe device with a good beam quality, reasonable priced and well below the 100mW range. I don't want to risk someones health and I don't want to attract any officials that want to look who is operating a "Laser weapon" in the backyard since the source of the beam can easily be tracked down, due its very nature of usage. And I might have troubles getting it through customs.
So, that's me.
Nice to meet you.
I've learned that no matter what problem you might have, there is a forum out there that handles just that. So there you are.
As my headline might suggest, my background is astronomy. I'm not a Laser power junkie, although I can share the fascination of the matter - I'm just deeply frightend by the potential danger
The post of the poor guy who burnt his eye in a fraction of a second when his laser dropped off the bench is just what I imagine when I read about people fiddling around with this stuff in their spare time just for fun. Similar to the people growing poisonous plants or breeding dangerous animals - or jumping off a cliff with a wing-suit.
Our astronomy club started to use laser pointers at star parties to show the constellations some years ago. First the available <1mW red ones, later green pointers when they where affordable.
The reason why I'm in here is, that I lately found my "<20mW" pointer broken. Damaged by a spilled battery that I left in. That hurt me, since the pointer was quite expensive when I bought it. A little research showed me, that prices have dropped dramatically since. And that the wattage increased dramatically too.
I have a hard time to find something I might safely use on a star party with children running around in the dark.
Like it is in most countries, public use of a Laser stronger as 5mW is restricted here with a few exceptions like trained personal for astronomical use. For good reason.
Usually I'm not one of the "buy first, ask later" guys, but I already ordered a cheap pointer from laserpointerpro as a replacement for my broken one, before I hat a deeper understanding of the mater. Only later I learned that the usual safety measures are not standard anymore, like the propper shielding of unconvertet IR from the pump diode. While this might be no problem for the burn-holes-everywhere fraction, that would not want to waste a single milliwatt, visible or not, it might be a problem for my use.
The 20mW I had was a real bummer at night. Totally sufficient to point to the stars. Now I read that I might not only get 20mW green light, but another 200mW invisible radiation as bonus with such a cheap pointer. :cryyy:
And then they offer 50mW green pointers on a keychain as "an ideal gift for your children"... Well, there are countries, where minors are allowed half automatic guns, so this does fit in. :undecided:
While this order is already shipped, I might decide to just dump it on arrival and count the money to the learning budget, when anyone can recommend a safe device with a good beam quality, reasonable priced and well below the 100mW range. I don't want to risk someones health and I don't want to attract any officials that want to look who is operating a "Laser weapon" in the backyard since the source of the beam can easily be tracked down, due its very nature of usage. And I might have troubles getting it through customs.
So, that's me.
Nice to meet you.