Tips on how to use my new laser safely?

[nocturn9x]

Hi all! This is my first time posting here, I've been following this community for a while (got to know this thanks to styropyro) and yesterday I finally got my first laser "pointer" delivered. It's a green (532nm) class 3 laser and the sticker says the output power is "under 5000mW" (duh). I don't have (nor can I afford now) a LPM to test this claim, but my skin barely heats up when I point it on it so I'm assuming it's not that far off (might as well be that skin doesn't absorb green light very well I guess). I bought two pair of laser goggles from Amazon for like 20$ that claim to shield the wavelength of the laser I'm using (I'd post the links but I need 20 posts first so oh well screw me), I'm not sure they're really protective, but my eyeballs didn't blow up yet so they get the job done (I get a little flashed if the laser shines too close to me, but nothing permanent). I'm currently using an 18650 battery from my ecig to power this bad boy since the pointer didn't come with one included (recommendations on what kind of batteries to use would also be appreciated since I'm pretty sure I'm doing it wrong). Do you have any tips/recommendations on cool stuff to do safely with this laser? Thanks in advance!

 

[gazer101]

If you have kids or younger siblings you might want to invest in some sort of locking container. Personally I use ammo cases with regular padlocks

 

[nocturn9x]

If you have kids or younger siblings you might want to invest in some sort of locking container. Personally I use ammo cases with regular padlocks

Thanks for the advice! All of my siblings are over the age of 14 so I'm hoping that if I tell them not to play with my eye-blowing death laser if they don't wanna become permanently blind they'll follow my advice. Regardless I think I'll buy an ammo case regardless, just in case...

 

[BrilliantLasers]

Hi all! This is my first time posting here, I've been following this community for a while (got to know this thanks to styropyro) and yesterday I finally got my first laser "pointer" delivered. It's a green (532nm) class 3 laser and the sticker says the output power is "under 5000mW" (duh). I don't have (nor can I afford now) a LPM to test this claim, but my skin barely heats up when I point it on it so I'm assuming it's not that far off (might as well be that skin doesn't absorb green light very well I guess). I bought two pair of laser goggles from Amazon for like 20$ that claim to shield the wavelength of the laser I'm using (I'd post the links but I need 20 posts first so oh well screw me), I'm not sure they're really protective, but my eyeballs didn't blow up yet so they get the job done (I get a little flashed if the laser shines too close to me, but nothing permanent). I'm currently using an 18650 battery from my ecig to power this bad boy since the pointer didn't come with one included (recommendations on what kind of batteries to use would also be appreciated since I'm pretty sure I'm doing it wrong). Do you have any tips/recommendations on cool stuff to do safely with this laser? Thanks in advance!

If the laser dot appears bright through the goggles, they probably aren't working very well, the dot should be very mellow to look at. What color are the goggles? Red usually naturally works well with green lasers, though that's not exactly a guarantee.

 

[Unown (WILD)]

Thanks for the advice! All of my siblings are over the age of 14 so I'm hoping that if I tell them not to play with my eye-blowing death laser if they don't wanna become permanently blind they'll follow my advice. Regardless I think I'll buy an ammo case regardless, just in case...

how old are you?

 

[nocturn9x]

how old are you?

I'm 18

 

[nocturn9x]

If the laser dot appears bright through the goggles, they probably aren't working very well, the dot should be very mellow to look at. What color are the goggles? Red usually naturally works well with green lasers, though that's not exactly a guarantee.

The goggles are green. I trusted the product description saying they block 532nm lasers. The dot does not exactly look bright, in fact it's much less brighter trough the goggles. When I point the laser right in front of them (I have 2 pairs, I wouldn't risk my eyeballs lol!) the light on the other side is much more faint and scattered than if it was hitting the wall directly so I'm assuming they work "fine"?

 

[Unown (WILD)]

If the goggles are green they pass green rather than block it

 

[nocturn9x]

Isn't the green color supposed to absorb most of the green light and reflect it back?

 

[Mosc007]

Light Filters work the other way. They Pass the color that the filter is and block others. A Green filter only passes Green light.

 

[nocturn9x]

I see. Can you guys recommend some goggles that block red lasers? Possibly on Amazon or with international shipping

 

[julianthedragon]

Invest in some OD6 safety glasses from Sanwu laser or Survival laser (should be around $50) and make sure they cover 532nm, should be red or orange colored. What power was the laser advertised as? Does it burn? Pop balloons?

Also if you feel like the laser is too bright to look at and get any light streaks after looking at it, that means it's too bright. Eye damage from lasers isn't always instant, you might not even realize it at first. Especially if you got a 532nm laser without an IR filter, that means there's invisible infrared radiation coming out that can damage your eyes that you don't even see.

I'm not saying that to scare you but you have to be aware. Google it if you want. One thing about this forum is as much as we all love lasers there's a professional atmosphere and there's respect for people who know what they are doing, i.e. not taking a possibly 5W laser to the eyes through green goggles lol. Be safe and have fun dude/dudette, styropyro helped get me interested in lasers too and I'm close to your age so I get where you're coming from. At least you asked for safety tips. Of course you should also not point it at any vehicles, animals, or people even if they're far away

 

[nocturn9x]

Invest in some OD6 safety glasses from Sanwu laser or Survival laser (should be around $50) and make sure they cover 532nm, should be red or orange colored. What power was the laser advertised as? Does it burn? Pop balloons?

Also if you feel like the laser is too bright to look at and get any light streaks after looking at it, that means it's too bright. Eye damage from lasers isn't always instant, you might not even realize it at first. Especially if you got a 532nm laser without an IR filter, that means there's invisible infrared radiation coming out that can damage your eyes that you don't even see.

I'm not saying that to scare you but you have to be aware. Google it if you want. One thing about this forum is as much as we all love lasers there's a professional atmosphere and there's respect for people who know what they are doing, i.e. not taking a possibly 5W laser to the eyes through green goggles lol. Be safe and have fun dude/dudette, styropyro helped get me interested in lasers too and I'm close to your age so I get where you're coming from. At least you asked for safety tips. Of course you should also not point it at any vehicles, animals, or people even if they're far away

The laser was obviously advertised as <5mW, the seller said it should've been around 1.5W (unrealistic for a green laser given the inefficiently of using IR lasers to make green light) and the sticker on it says it's under 5000mW so I basically have no idea until I shove out the 300+ dollars for a decent LPM and test it out myself. If I had to guess, it would be around 100mW since it does burn dark stuff and pop balloons. I recently bought another similar one, blue this time (hoping to get a 1W one this time, the listing says it's 2W but I'm not too confident). I opened another thread to see if there's a pair of glasses (maybe from survival lasers?) that can cover from 445 to 532nm which would be the spectrum for both of my lasers. Also, don't worry to scare me, I know the risks of laser tech and I really appreciate your advice!