Help - My First Build - Laser Cigarette Lighter

[FireMyLaser]

I'm simply replying to those who speak to me. The arguing was because of misunderstanding and refusal to acknowledge what OP meant to do. That can just be let go.

 

[gazer101]

1000 IQ move:
Use an ir laser to light the sig (and have a properly rated OD filter for ir) and after some smoke has accumulated pass a 5mW laser beam of your choosing through it. This could be done using a simple timing circuit and a PBS cube

That way you get the benefit of a laser-lit cigarette along with the beam without any of the eye hazard

 

[skijohn]

1000 IQ move:
Use an ir laser to light the sig (and have a properly rated OD filter for ir) and after some smoke has accumulated pass a 5mW laser beam of your choosing through it. This could be done using a simple timing circuit and a PBS cube

That way you get the benefit of a laser-lit cigarette along with the beam without any of the eye hazard

But what's the point if the beam you see isn't lighting the sig, you might as well just light the sig with a heating coil and forgo the IR laser?

 

[gazer101]

But what's the point if the beam you see isn't lighting the sig, you might as well just light the sig with a heating coil and forgo the IR laser?

A heating coil would be visible, with an IR laser it would look exactly like the 5mW laser was the one doing the lighting

 

[CurtisOliver]

NIR lasers are not eyesafe just because they aren't as visible. One of the biggest hazards that surround NIR lasers is brightness misconception.

 

[gazer101]

NIR lasers are not eyesafe just because they aren't as visible. One of the biggest hazards that surround NIR lasers is brightness misconception.

You are still putting the IR-blocking layer, but the 5mW visible wavelength would be able to get through it

 

[CurtisOliver]

So you are having a NIR and a separate visible diode in one product?

Anyway, this still doesn't solve the problem of accessing the Class IV beam. If the beam is in anyway accessible which for this sort of device it is necessary. Then the Class rating has to remain Class IV. No filters are going to change that. The cigarette has to come into contact with the beam at some point. Class IV's are more than just optical hazards, but also skin burn and fire hazards.

 

[FireMyLaser]

The cigarette has to come into contact with the beam at some point.

What does that have to do with the class rating? It's the cigg that gets exposed, not you. That can make this device class 1, depending on how safe you want to make it.
Also, a 7W laser is 14 times as dangerous as 500mW. 500mW is just a threshold for the class rating, the danger level don't just stop at that. 7W will mess you up FAR easier than 500mW.

 

[CurtisOliver]

I'm a product designer, if the product has a part that is exposed and capable of harm then it is important to note. In this case you have a Class IV laser which isn't fully protected and is still exposed. Therefore not all risk has been eliminated for exposure and can not be classified as anything less than Class IV. Class I devices are enclosed and do not have any chance of exposure unless the enclosure is damaged. Unless this cigarette lighter has sensors and safety mechanisms preventing unwanted tampering and exposure that is. You like to take things out of proportion a lot. My point didn't desensitise the danger of a 7W, it sensitised the danger of 500mW. It doesn't matter in this instance whether the beam is 500mW or 500MW. It falls under the same class, and expert safety recommendations covers those eventualities. It is common sense that the more power you have the more hazardous it becomes. That would be like me saying that at 499mW you would have no real concerns because it no longer is Class IV.

 

[gazer101]

Of course it's still class IV! But under normal operation all someone would see is a nice {insert color here} laser beam lighting a cig inside an enclosure

The safety mechanism could be a contact switch that the cig has to press from inside the enclosure to turn the lasers on (meaning the entry hole is blocked by the cig)

 

[FireMyLaser]

The laser don't have to be viewable have possibility to escape at all. It all comes down to how it is destined and built in the end. There's clearly a spectrum of laser danger/safety depending on just how you would build it. This device is just a novelty, and not very practical, but novelty doesn't mean it's stupid or shouldn't exist.

 

[CurtisOliver]

I’ve already said more than what I was going to on this topic. I’m moving on. This novelty project is the sole liability of the op and not of the forum. Really not sure why you have problems with a static 7W if you think this sort of thing is acceptable if it’s ok not to be practical, is a novelty and only exists for the fun of it.

 

[FireMyLaser]

I am positive that a 7W, or even 500mW pointer is far more dangerous than this is. I'm fine if we disagree, but I wanted to defend a new thing. Pretty much any idea from new member here is instantly shot down and I get tired of it.

 

[RedCowboy]

You can put a spring loaded cover over the " Insert cigarette hole " which is the only place where you can even see 1/4 inch of the laser beam FROM THE SIDE.....actually lets make it a spring loaded camera iris to hide the diffuse glow around the cigarettes perimeter when igniting it, we don't want a distraction when we use it at night while driving.

There really is no danger here for a self made personal device......Now if you wanted to sell it to the public ......... hell people are idiots, nothing keeps someone from holding a data projector up to their eyeball, or jabbing a kitchen knife into their eyeball as they catch it between themself and the kitchen counter when they try to catch the falling knife.

Honestly the simple enclosed design I scribbled out is safer than a kitchen knife or a data projector and add the spring loaded iris over the cigarette hole, then the only way you can see the beam is from the side and only 1/4 inch of the beam from the side inside the enclosure if you open the iris and activate it without a cigarette inserted.

The enclosure could be a tombstone shaped, dental floss sized enclosure with only one opening, the 1/4 inch cigarette hole with a spring iris covering the insertion hole, hell make it look like a little tombstone and write DON'T SMOKE across the top.......ATM I am thinking about a self made item not for sale to the public, but in reality it could be.

Let me add the edge of the iris will be thick enough not to damage the cigarette and the spring tension soft enough to close around the cigarette but not damage it significantly, so the user would press with a thumb the iris tab, insert cigarette, release iris tab, press igniter and suck on the cigarette.......then snatch the lit cigarette out no doubt without pressing the iris tab again, so fine tuning the tension will be needed but doable.

My only concern would be drunks at the bar opening the iris and pressing the igniter button then sticking stuff into the hole to burn it, so add a pressure switch to a slip joint control arm on the iris so the user must release the iris tab before the laser can light on the consumer model.

 

[405nanoMatt]

Mousetrap.

 

[skijohn]

When I think about a Laser Cigarette Lighter the first thing that comes to mind is a Rube Goldberg machine!