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Greetings on Christmas Eve-Eve

Durge

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Dec 23, 2017
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Hey everyone, it's nice to meet you all and it's great to be a member of the forum. As you can probably tell, this is my first post here, but I've been viewing this wonderful resource for over a year. The wealth of information and love for the craft all gathered in one place is inspiring to say the least.

Interests
I'm currently a college student without much direction on my path through life. Many people that I talk to have a clean cut idea for their career goals; I'm not so lucky. Essentially, I feel that I may fall into one of a few categories: Teaching, Optics, Computer Science, or Art. One of my interests is that I enjoy helping people with problems. I've always been the person people come to for help and answers in grade-school, and I get a level of enjoyment from troubleshooting technical computer related problems. I love being a critic and quality assurer of all things, from art to English papers. I've also had some luck when it came to my own art, digital media, image processing, and graphic design. However, outside of a hobby, these art fields weren't for me. I find the arts to be too unstable, and the wages/security doesn't look great for many graduating artists. I'd much rather a more stable career. What draws me to optics is my natural love of learning driven by an intense curiosity about the world and how things work. I recently took a semester of astronomy with an overqualified professor. I had the fortune of studying under a professor who was a leading researcher in his field of hot and cold dark matter. This man was a wealth of knowledge on physics, cosmology, and especially the properties of light and matter.

Goals
Learning all about light, energy, and their respective roles in the universe has brought me into this hobby of lasing. Ever since I was young I enjoyed collecting things. But as I grew older, I ran into a dilemma. I'd find that I wanted to build a collection with certain goals in mind. The first goal is that the collection was entertaining, or interactive. The second goal is that the collection did not depreciate in value to quickly, or even potentially appreciated as time went on. The third and final goal is that the collection brought some utility to my life, such as attracting friends. Ultimately, such a collection has been difficult to find, but I think lasing could be my ticket. Lasers are great fun, and can be very interested when shared with friends. They may depreciate with value as time goes on, but not as quickly as something like playing cards. Finally, my inherent fascination with these ingenious devices is a great motivator for building a superb collection.

Collection
I possess a few <or=5mw lasers that I use often just for fun or play with the pets. I recently purchased a large toolbox for storing my collection. I've also purchased several pairs of protective glasses just to be safe, and to allow any of my viewers to use when I've amassed more powerful lasers for some spectacular shows or burning. I've been waiting to purchase any devices with higher output until I understand all that I needed to know about them. After well over a year of leisurely research, I think I have a fair understanding of it all. Fundamentally, I understand the necessity for eye safety, for a strict adherence to a duty cycle, and for the safety of others (I.e. never point at vehicle, plane, person, living being, others property).

Welp, that's just about it for my introductions. For anyone who took the time to read this, thank you. Thank you all for having me, and I hope to build friendships with you all. I'm not extremely electrically savvy, so I will likely stick to collecting and researching for the meantime, unless I find myself curious enough to try and build something far in the future. Until then, keep an eye out for some DIY protective digital goggles that I've been working on for about a month (don't be too skeptical now :shhh:); I plan to post about them soon.

Cheers,
Durge
 
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Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
17,622
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113
:wave: Welcome to the Forum Durge...
will be waiting to see those digital Googles
and specs.

Enjoy your stay and be Laser Safe.


Jerry
 

CurtisOliver

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Welcome to the forum Durge. :)
Enjoy your stay. :beer:
I'm interested to hear about these digital goggles.
 

Gazen

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Nov 13, 2017
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Welcome!
I look forward to those goggles. Good luck, and have a happy Christmas:yh:
 
Joined
Dec 15, 2014
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Hi,
Welcome and enjoy LPF digital you say cant wait..
By the way is it California Or Cali Columbia SA ??

Happy Holiday's
Rich:)
 
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BowtieGuy

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Welcome to LPF, Durge! :beer:

Have fun, be safe, and enjoy your stay here. :yh:
 
Joined
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Welcome to the LPF, Durge. IDK about digital laser safety goggles, but I try to keep an open mind. There is much to be learned in the field of lasers and optics. There are several very knowledgeable people here. I don't know if the search bar is working again, but it is an easy way to find answers to questions you might have. Enjoy your stay and be safe.
 

Durge

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Joined
Dec 23, 2017
Messages
29
Points
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Thank you all for the warm wishes. I hope you have a great holiday, and make some memories with friends and family!

Hi,
Welcome and enjoy LPF digital you say cant wait..
By the way is it California Or Cali Columbia SA ??

Happy Holiday's
Rich:)

That's California, thanks for asking =). I was born in San Diego, but lived in Tucson, AZ most of my life. Now that I'm back in Cali, I can't help but missing my desert home and monsoon season!

Welcome to the LPF, Durge. IDK about digital laser safety goggles, but I try to keep an open mind. There is much to be learned in the field of lasers and optics. There are several very knowledgeable people here. I don't know if the search bar is working again, but it is an easy way to find answers to questions you might have. Enjoy your stay and be safe.

Homemade laser safety goggles are to be generally discouraged, especially ones which attempt to supplement genuine filters with cellophane or sunglasses. Safety goggles/glasses implement special filters and materials which help to reduce the wavelength of light for ones specific use from reaching the eye and destroying the retina. The degree to which such light is reduced is tested and denoted by the optical density of the eyewear. Some dubious sellers of eyewear will advertise their safety attire as being of a greater optical density (or greater material quality) than it is in reality. Wearing faux eyewear such as this can result in lesser protection, the frames of the glasses melting, and/or permanent blindness when operating lasers over 5mw. It is for all of these reasons that purchasing quality eyewear is imperative - blindness is an immanent consequence in situations lacking legitimate laser safety.

This is the run down of my knowledge on the topic of laser safety, I believe I'm fairly knowledgeable, and I'm aware that this is certainly nothing new to any of the veterans here :). It's for these reasons that I have not purchased any laser (purportedly) above 5mw before possessing adequate eye protection and having full understanding of the repercussions. It's with these considerations that I've been building my digital goggles for the last month or two, and am excited to share with everyone in a few days. I find it to be a fun little project which results in some very promising eyewear. Safety is something I value highly and it's something I know that all of you here stress. I will be perceptive of your advice, and hopefully my future post will impress somewhat :p

Have a great night everyone,
Durge
 
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BobMc

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Welcome aboard Durge, and a very Merry Christmas to you and yours. Enjoy and be safe. :wave:
 
Joined
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Welcome Durge! :yh:

You have quite a similar story to me, well regarding your higher education goals. I honestly had no clue on what I really wanted to become until about a year ago. Before then, I had some ideas in mind, but never really went through and applied for a major in them. Not everybody finds their dream job quickly, some may take longer than others so it isn't something to worry about. :)

-Alex
 




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