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The dangers of LASERS and minors — Parallax Forums

The dangers of LASERS and minors

Peter KG6LSEPeter KG6LSE Posts: 1,383
edited 2013-12-24 12:51 in General Discussion
While most of what is done here is low power and safe .

I am at odds with the hacker maker and the DIY community about LASER safety.


Yahoo news ran a story about a tech in Germany being laid off and then building and selling what amounts to class 4 LASERs BAD bad bad bad !



Here are some FAQs I hope people take the time to read .

FIRST rule of lasers ......... If you dont know what you are doing ...... then stop and ask.... eyes are a one time deal .


Imagine you cant drive any more .......... your life is gonna really be hard ( take it from me , All I can drive is a Segway )
If you are blinded you are not gonna have a easy time at work . you are gonna suffer the rest of your life

Also If you blind some one else you have ruined there life . Can you afford a HUGE lawsuit in the 7 figure range . jail time .......
Unlike HV that can only spark so far . and pyros that can only blow up a small trash can .
lasers can be blinding miles away .......
One sweept beam at 3 watts is instant lights out miles away .




Here are the other commandments of LASERS

Interlocks :
If your kid walks in the room where you are playing with your laser It must Kill the beam .

Signage :
Make shure in very plain words there are gonna be beams in the area .

Key Switch :
You dont want your kid to play Pew Pew with your optical tools . put in a Key switch . is 8 bucks .

PPE:

Wear your correct OD glasses ....




The issue is that minors and frankly people whom have no clue how a laser works or the dangers invoved are buying
modules and diodes that are dead easy to make in to rather powerfull systems .

Many years ago you needed to be " really smart" to build a from scratch CO2 or YAG or Ar Ion ect .. you could not just plug and Lase .....

with the advent of Diode lasers you have every kid and there brother playing with things that franky are as harmful as a firearm.



most laws state You can build a laser of any size .... you cant Sell it . you cant give it away . you cant use it in public .

so , build your 3 watt laser shooting robot IN YOUR BASEMENT . and I beg of you that If you post it on the web you make very clear the laws involved . Please Discourage the use of high power LASERS and there use out side a proper lab .



yes its Cool to shoot balloons with a modded blue ray player diode . but its not Safe .




You dont have to be a PHD in physics to be a Expert . just learn more on the laws and rules and less on the build ...

Become a expert ! .......... you dont have to use a silly college to learn more then the kids at the university down the street .

Comments

  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2013-12-23 18:39
    High powered lasers scare the @#& out of me. I've seen videos on YouTube from knowledge people that are interesting and entertaining. I've also seen some videos by people who don't understand the risks they're taking. One in the last category was of a man lighting a cigarette by pointing a 1W laser at his face. Those goggles are meant for brief reflected exposure, not pointing a beam directly at them.
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2013-12-23 19:02
    Peter,

    Thanks for posting that! Your cautions and recomendations are spot-on.

    I might add that, in addition to lasers, high-powered LEDs pose similar risks. The problem is that the light sources themselves are very tiny. When focused on the retina, there is a very real danger of physical damage, not unlike frying ants with a magnifying glass aimed at the sun (not that I've ever done such a thing :) ).

    I'm sure most of you have been annoyed by those "blue" car headlights coming toward you from the other direction. Although they're no brighter than the older-style sealed-beam headlights, the difference is that the light source itself is smaller, so the energy is concentrated on fewer retinal receptors in your eye. That makes all the difference.

    More covert sources of retinal damage are the IR LEDs use in "night vision" video cameras. These have the added danger of causing none of the "startle" reflex that visible-light sources produce. You can stare at them and feel no discomfort, and your irises will remain dilated in low light. That only increases the potential for injury.

    -Phil
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-12-24 01:52
    Peter,

    Well said.

    YouTube is rife with videos of people doing all kinds of stupid things with lasers. It's been worrying me for a couple of years now.

    Strangely the deluge of headlines in the media about people blinding themselves or others with their laser toys that I have been expecting has not occurred yet.
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2013-12-24 07:23
    Heater. wrote: »
    Strangely the deluge of headlines in the media about people blinding themselves or others with their laser toys that I have been expecting has not occurred yet.

    There have been a few incidents reported in the US. Usually not blindness, but some transient retinal damage and loss of visual acuity. Because the brain is really good at covering blind spots on the retina it's possible for damage to occur and someone not be aware of its extent.
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    edited 2013-12-24 10:26
    I have permanent floaters from exposure to 5 mW near infrared laser light more than 25 years ago. Though not severe, I'd rather not have them.

    So none of these lasers are truly safe. In the case of infrared lasers your eye doesn't have the usual aversion reflex, and you can stare into the beam for seconds or even minutes, and not know. I believed I was protected, but the goggles I had turned out to not cut above 800 nm, as I had been informed. (And they certainly cost enough.)

    So while these high powered lasers are certainly dangerous, the same considerations should be applied to all lasers. Some are just downright badly made, shipped in illegally, and significantly dangerous. For example, there are imported green lasers that have been frequency doubled, and the IR content is poorly filtered. You get green light, all right, but a whole lot of very intense IR laser light that your eyes don't register.
  • Peter KG6LSEPeter KG6LSE Posts: 1,383
    edited 2013-12-24 11:18
    Spot on Gordon .. Very good point !!! Shoddy DPSS is like this.
  • skylightskylight Posts: 1,915
    edited 2013-12-24 12:51
    I'm not sure on the power of medical lasers but i have in the past year had surgery on both eyes to cauterise blood vessels at the back of the eye, it's actually painful at times when it hits nerves.
    The first time I had it done was a 20 mins session and when it was done I was blind in the eye, the doctor said it was just temporary and the vision should come back in 5-10 mins, It did but the first sight was a multitude of weird colours with the flourescent lighting looking green and yellow and other things red!
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