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- Apr 6, 2014
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I'm worried about the built in lasers on my construction tools after reading on here and wikipedia about the risks of eye damage from exposure to class 3a lasers. I have a drill press with two red line lasers class IIIa. They come together to form an x/y axis on the drilling table which is shiny steel. I have heard steel is highly reflective. The warnings all say to avoid direct eye contact with the lasers. Well I was reading about the class IIIa laser safety hazards which seems to be a grey area for being safe or not to use around reflective surfaces.
Q1: Are there any risks from the laser beams reflecting off the steel table?
Q2: What is the Maximum Permissible Exposure limit for such reflections? I.E. if I'm drilling 4 hours at a time staring at that red laser line, will it hurt my eyes?
Q3: Each laser is class IIIa not more than 5 mw. Since there are two, does that mean their powers combine to be equivalent to an even more dangerous 10 mw laser if they are both 5 mw?
Q4: It is my understanding that laser pointers are dangerous to the retina because a very large amount of energy is concentrated on a tiny area. I'm trying to understand how a 5mw line laser compares to a laser pointer. A line laser beam is spread out and not concentrated like a pointer. It seems a line laser of equal power would have substantially less eye damage potential.
Hypothetically if the beam from a 5 mw laser pointer had a diameter of 1 cm when shined on a surface. Compare that to a hypothetical 5 mw line laser shining a beam 1 cm wide x 30 cm long. Wouldn't the line laser be 30 times less likely to cause eye damage because the beam is spread out over a surface area 30 times larger than the laser pointer?
Q5: I'm afraid of the lasers accidentally shining into my eyes if I lean in too close or bend down to grab something off the floor. With murphy in the shop, I'm paranoid having a laser that can do instant damage to the eye if the blink reflex doesnt happen quick enough. What would happen if the eye took a hit from a class IIIa line laser?
Q1: Are there any risks from the laser beams reflecting off the steel table?
Q2: What is the Maximum Permissible Exposure limit for such reflections? I.E. if I'm drilling 4 hours at a time staring at that red laser line, will it hurt my eyes?
Q3: Each laser is class IIIa not more than 5 mw. Since there are two, does that mean their powers combine to be equivalent to an even more dangerous 10 mw laser if they are both 5 mw?
Q4: It is my understanding that laser pointers are dangerous to the retina because a very large amount of energy is concentrated on a tiny area. I'm trying to understand how a 5mw line laser compares to a laser pointer. A line laser beam is spread out and not concentrated like a pointer. It seems a line laser of equal power would have substantially less eye damage potential.
Hypothetically if the beam from a 5 mw laser pointer had a diameter of 1 cm when shined on a surface. Compare that to a hypothetical 5 mw line laser shining a beam 1 cm wide x 30 cm long. Wouldn't the line laser be 30 times less likely to cause eye damage because the beam is spread out over a surface area 30 times larger than the laser pointer?
Q5: I'm afraid of the lasers accidentally shining into my eyes if I lean in too close or bend down to grab something off the floor. With murphy in the shop, I'm paranoid having a laser that can do instant damage to the eye if the blink reflex doesnt happen quick enough. What would happen if the eye took a hit from a class IIIa line laser?
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