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FrozenGate by Avery

You think lasers are a for fun?

Coming from a welder, your eyes are delicate, I am 25 and starting to have the same type of problems from working on projects in a field type environment and welding with no mask on, and there's damage that happens your eyelids can't even protect against, so its no doubt as a "new guy" with these high power lasers, that if i can't afford glasses i should not be buying the laser... This goes with alot of hobbies that people get into, the start up cost of saftey can cost the as much or even more than these projects them selves...
 





fixitiwill said:
The thing with everyone saying that a single glance from a laser of several hundred milliwatts can blind you instantly is that when someone does catch a beam directly, and they aren't blinded, they are probably left wondering just how over-hyped goggles are. As a comparison, it used to be taught that using marijuana would cause people to become violent aka "refer madness". It doesn't take long to realize that much of what the anti-drug campaigns have taught is complete BS. People then couldn't help but doubt everything taught about drugs, even the stuff that's true. You can probably see where I'm going with this.
I am not trying to make any kind of stance on drugs one way or the other, just using the analogy.
My position on laser safety is the same in that you really should use goggles, but not because of instant blindness, but for the more subtle and not as instantly apparent reasons that I have already stated in this thread.
Click to expand...

THIS

As someone new to >5mW lasers, I don't buy the scare stories. But I do believe what you are saying. When you read the warning stories that are often linked to the scare posts, they will usually admit that they haven't really seen an influx of laser related injuries.

I think this is because the chance of instant catastrophic injury is negligible.

HOWEVER, I think that cumulative injury that leaves you with serious vision problems is more likely.

I'm ordering my goggles for the whole family ASAP.


Don't be this guy!

thick_glasses.jpg
 
even with a decent pair of yellow goggles as such from survival laser, would one still feel that eye-pressuring feeling when using a high powered 445 laser?
 
Nah, with the eagle pair yellows on it is VERY comfortable to point around my 1300mW 450nm even against white walls 10ft away. I wouldn't dare do this without them on.
 
tsteele93 said:
I think this is because the chance of instant catastrophic injury is negligible.

HOWEVER, I think that cumulative injury that leaves you with serious vision problems is more likely.
Click to expand...

As Xoul pointed out and experience first hand, sustaining injury from a single, short, hit in the eye is entirely realistic.

The chances on it happening may not be that large, but neither are the chances on getting run over by a bus, while most people would not doubt to agree is rather dangerous.

The evidence on cumulative injury is much thinner in reality. I would not recommend staring into a 1 mW laser for 5 minutes a day, but on the other hand i think this would probably do less damage that getting hit in the eye with a 1 watt laser of 0.1 second, one single time.
 
good informative post.
but do realise that 5mW> is illegal* for a reason.
Thank you fixitiwill for your post, it has been proven usefull as a reminder of the dangers of lasers.
:thanks:



(*atleast it is where i live).
 
Out of curiosity, where do you live, Phaser?

Here in the US, no lasers are illegal to own, no matter the output power or wavelength. Anything over 5mW is illegal to SELL if it does not have certain features the CRDH deems necessary.
 
Just an added not for the purchase of safety glasses, for "distant" focusing, laser glasses let you see the dot a lot easier.
Our eyes can't focus on 405nm very well but with my glasses on I can see the dot just fine and easily adjust it to pop a balloon at 40+ feet.
445nm isn't as critical but if you are trying to focus on a white wall (hopefully it isn't too close ;) the filtered light makes it a lot more accurate to get your dot as small as possible.
 
Eudaimonium said:
You have made an oustanding point, and I agree with you fully (on 'fess-up' part, price, Kipkay uhh, followers, and "nuff said" posts).

Speaking of incredibly cheap goggles, check out this video of mine:
445nm 650mW Handheld laser - YouTube

The goggles there are some of the BEST I have ever seen, reduction in brightness of the environment is practically non-existent, but the laser dot, like it's photo-shopped out of the world. And they cost like $4! I got them from Bill (member's name here is billg519), great guy, he said he even got a better deal lately on the since he's buying a lot of them at the local store. I immediately bought 3 more from him.

We should have a thread for that, incredibly cheap but outstanding goggles.
Click to expand...

Do you know if he still sells those goggles? I need a pair...
 
Le Quack said:
Do you know if he still sells those goggles? I need a pair...
Click to expand...

If you look at ~1:26 of that video, when the laser hits that match stick its very bright. Those goggles are letting a good amount of light through, and that laser is only 650mW.

29gytw.jpg


My OEM ARGs dont let anywhere near this much light past from my >1W laser.
 
I'm not seeing any blue light being let through the goggles, do you? All the light in that screenshot is caused by flourescence, at least as far as I know, since I do not see even a hint of blue through 'em, only a small yellow-ish dot. I bet your OEM goggles protect from a wider range of wavelenghts, hence a lesser amount of visible light is being transmitted through them.

You can take my word for it, these are the best goggles for bluray and blue lasers I've ever laid my hand on. I don't expect you to, though.

Nikolaso, yeah I glad you picked them up from Bill, he's a great guy.
 
I was wondering, fixitiwill, did your eyesight degrade merely by repeated exposure to ambient laser light or by looking at the dot projected on a wall, or did it degrade because the laser actually hit your eye?

I would just like to be extra cautious, I'm sure others here would like to know as well. The human sight arguably serves the most utility in our daily functions.

Please let us know thanks,
Ryan
 
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