I’m a new buyer and need advice

[VLC18]

I want to buy a powerful laser I am new to this. I was wondering if you wear protective goggles an you sill see the beam? If not is there a way to see in in real life not by camera without damaging my eyes?

 

[bostjan]

You cannot see the beam with the proper glasses on. If you take the glasses off, you risk damaging your eyes, yes.

What are you planning to accomplish?

 

[VLC18]

I just want to do it as a hobby but doesn’t not seeing it kinda take out some of the fun?

 

[VLC18]

I just want to do it as a hobby but doesn’t not seeing it kinda take out some of the fun? Also I’m looking at either a 2 watt 465 bm or a 1 watt green laser I don’t know the wavelength yet. the blue says to get od 3+ if I get od3 will it block all the light?

 

[julianthedragon]

If you buy a proper low powered laser e.g. 5mw of 532nm from Laserglow, you will be able to see the beam and dot at night without damaging your eyes (the closer to 555nm, the easier it will be to see the beam). You can also use fog to make the beam of your laser more visible.

If you still want a powerful laser and want to see the beam you can always point it to the sky or at something very far away, but you are doing so at your own risk and have to be extremely careful not to point it at any people, vehicles, animals, or anything reflective. The beam itself is not dangerous to look at from a distance since it's just light travelling past particles scattered in the air but one wrong move like waving your hand in the beam with no goggles and you risk eye damage. There are other enjoyable hobbyist things about owning a 1W laser other than seeing the beam though, like lighting matches from across the room and cutting black tape, classic youtube compilation stuff. If all you care about is seeing the beam then I would go with something between 5 and 100mw at the most. ESPECIALLY if you're just getting into lasers. Everyone likes how flashy a 1W seems but you need experience first

For me personally I would go for the OD6 or OD7 eagle pair glasses over the OD3

 

[VLC18]

If you buy a proper low powered laser e.g. 5mw of 532nm from Laserglow, you will be able to see the beam and dot at night without damaging your eyes (the closer to 555nm, the easier it will be to see the beam). You can also use fog to make the beam of your laser more visible.

If you still want a powerful laser and want to see the beam you can always point it to the sky or at something very far away, but you are doing so at your own risk and have to be extremely careful not to point it at any people, vehicles, animals, or anything reflective. The beam itself is not dangerous to look at from a distance since it's just light travelling past particles scattered in the air but one wrong move like waving your hand in the beam with no goggles and you risk eye damage. There are other enjoyable hobbyist things about owning a 1W laser other than seeing the beam though, like lighting matches from across the room and cutting black tape, classic youtube compilation stuff. If all you care about is seeing the beam then I would go with something between 5 and 100mw at the most. ESPECIALLY if you're just getting into lasers. Everyone likes how flashy a 1W seems but you need experience first

For me personally I would go for the OD6 or OD7 eagle pair glasses over the OD3

I have found a cyan laser at 130 mw and at 488 nm from zeus. I thought that you were supposed to wear glasses for really anything over 5 mw will I be able to light stuff also with the 130 mw?

 

[julianthedragon]

I have found a cyan laser at 130 mw and at 488 nm from zeus. I thought that you were supposed to wear glasses for really anything over 5 mw will I be able to light stuff also with the 130 mw?

That's a much better choice than the 1W and it's a nice exotic wavelength too. Yes it's still very powerful and you need to wear the glasses for any indoor/close range use. You will be able to light matches, pop balloons, maybe cut black tape or do a little engraving on black surfaces--the specifics are gonna come down to if it's overspec/underspec and how tight the beam is able to focus.

 

[VLC18]

That's a much better choice than the 1W and it's a nice exotic wavelength too. Yes it's still very powerful and you need to wear the glasses for any indoor/close range use. You will be able to light matches, pop balloons, maybe cut black tape or do a little engraving on black surfaces--the specifics are gonna come down to if it's overspec/underspec and how tight the beam is able to focus.

What would you think the range is to where you don’t have to wear goggles.Also do you have to wear them for a 60 mw 488 nm???

 

[VLC18]

What would you think the range is to where you don’t have to wear goggles.Also do you have to wear them for a 60 mw 488 nm???

Also I can get one that is 495 bm in 50 watt do I still need glasses

 

[Lifetime17]

Hi,
Get the gasses for safety reasons there worth it . You need not to shine the beam on reflective surfaces for it doesn't come back at you.
Your new at this so being safe and some common sense is a plus and you can have a great time . Here is a 465nm custom for sale and here is a link for the glasses.
Rich

7A78F101-00DD-4621-9EBF-22A49E43E807.jpeg

• Lifetime17
• Jan 28, 2021

p1667092_7862033.aspx

 

[VLC18]

Thanks I really want to impress my stupid friends.(they are wowed easily). The other guy mentioned a range at if it were pointed it would be eye safe. The only reason I bring this up is so I don’t have to buy like 4 other pairs of glasses.also is there some material which would stop lasers. Not necessarily for this one but if it goes well I might get more. I don’t want to burn my house down.

 

[VLC18]

Thanks I really want to impress my stupid friends.(they are wowed easily). The other guy mentioned a range at if it were pointed it would be eye safe. The only reason I bring this up is so I don’t have to buy like 4 other pairs of glasses.also is there some material which would stop lasers. Not necessarily for this one but if it goes well I might get more. I don’t want to burn my house down.

Also I was looking at a low powered San wu pocket laser would that be good?

 

[KayEm]

I'm pretty sure that you can safely use a ~100 mw laser indoor without a pair of glasses as long as you follow two basic rules: 1. No reflective surfaces 2. Make sure that there is a gap of at least a few meters between you and the laser dot. At least that's how I've been doing it for a couple years now and haven't had any accidents.

 

[paul1598419]

I have taken beam shots of lasers outdoors many times with lasers over 5 watts using the trees across the street from me as a beam stop. You can watch your lasers the same way.

 

[bostjan]

So, there's what we're "supposed" to do, and then there's what people are actually doing. Given the amount of accidents discussed on the board, I'm not comfortable, personally, advising to do anything that you are not "supposed" to do.

You are supposed to wear PPE when dealing with any class III+ lasers. That means that if it's more than 5 mW, you "should" take all of the necessary protective actions, and those do not change whether it's 6 mW or 450 mW.

Have I, personally, looked at a beam without my safety glasses on? Maybe. If I had done so, it wouldn't have hurt me, if I was careful enough about it.

As for any general rules for when it's okay to not wear safety glasses, the official answer is anything over 5 mW at any wavelength. The perfect answer if anyone were omniscient would be "anytime they protect you from being hurt." I would say that any guess at a practical answer involving shiny surfaces or ensuring certain distances from the dot to the eyeball is very easy to carelessly creep into dangerous territory. What if the laser falls on the floor or a drop of water falls from the sky right in front of the beam, or a rearview mirror falls off of a helicopter? You can add don't let the laser fall, don't go around rain or mist, and don't try this when helicopters with loose bolts are flying over, but there will always be a slightly more dangerous scenario that you can't predict, because it sounds implausible.

I think the most common sense thing to do is to wear the correct PPE. If you need to remove your PPE for whatever reason, do it safely and responsibly. Even then, maybe the laser attracts maneating blancmanges from the planet Skyron in the galaxy of Andromeda who turn you into a Scotsman with their evil technology, but there'd be no way to expect that.

 

[VLC18]

I'm pretty sure that you can safely use a ~100 mw laser indoor without a pair of glasses as long as you follow two basic rules: 1. No reflective surfaces 2. Make sure that there is a gap of at least a few meters between you and the laser dot. At least that's how I've been doing it for a couple years now and haven't had any accidents.

When you say a few meters how many is that?in my basement I have problly 30 feet is that good?