A plea for safety, pl edition.

(Also,flying "Tiny" Radio Control Aircraft on public airfields requires that you are a member and licensed under an Authority such as the one I belonged to,SAMAA,South African Model Aircraft Association....Why? they offer up to 15 Million insurance incase of a serious a

eND Quote.

Around here, under a certain size and weight, or engine class for rockets, for the most part you just go out and fly. There are a few localities with restrictions, but usually 20 minutes of driving and your away from the rules. Even then, its not difficult to get permission for big launches, no satellite photos needed, just the farm land, some cities ban aircraft, but many encourage, and even work with clubs.

Steve

Just wanted to mention as it's potentially a safety concern. The laserwave broadband goggles don't go down as far as 445. I placed the goggles into the path of a scanned beam at about 20ft, and there didn't appear to be much attenuation. The beam visually appeared as bright exiting the goggles.

I agree totally with what Steve is saying regarding the dangers of 1 watt class blue diodes. Even "lasersam" sam Goldwasser was scared when forst testing one of these; he said the diode was scary even at a few hundred milliwatts. Even though we all have two eyes to start with it is good to keep it that way. Balance your projector and keep the out put as low as is plesing for the art while paying serious attention to keeping things safe. I have seen and been with flash blinded people after brief doubled Nd:YAG exposure (off someone's arm) and this is really bad. The person in this case had only very minor permanent injury but it took near 1/2 hour for vision to return. A hit in the eye with 1 watt is a blining event, period. If you can't afford the proper eyeware don't even buy the diode. Even the 405 nm pointers are very, very dangerous. I bought a few for $15 that output a nice beam at 50 mW! And they all say less than 5 mW output. That is NOT right.

Thanks Steve...now how about that Blue Ray 405 nm diode SLM grating scheme...post about that on the holo forum please. Even 50 mW of SLM blue would be great for holography. Best to all, Phil 142laser

I believe that buying goggles is an alibi good for almost nothing. I bet almost no one of the pointer people will wear them, namely if you wear them, you can't see what you admire. And partially blocking goggles that reduce the light to a harmless level, say to one or a few mW, are not cool either, then why spending $200 to have the same visual effect as a conforming laser pointer. And just popping ballons and cutting tape or matches with an invisible or weakly visible beam gets boring after 5 minutes. We as kids did this with a magnifyer glass and sunlight.

No, the very reason why one is buying the 1W pointer is precisely to fully see the beam and fool around with it. And so it is just a matter of time until soemone gets a reflected beam, say 50mW off a window, right into the eye.

Gentlemen and Gentlewoman. I'm the first to admit that goggles are but a crutch, that proper safety means designing the experiment,equipment,laser show, pointer play session, in such a way that you do not need the goggles in the first place. I'm the first to admit that goggles drive some hazards of their own. I also fear what the pointer community calls "uncertified" goggles as unsafe. I further fear the so called "homemade goggles" from useless theatrical gels.

I hate the fact that many only buy the goggle that they think will reduce the incident power to the so called "safe" 5 milliwatts, without measuring what is actually there.

It would also be a better world if the low cost goggles were actually "full wraparound"!


However if more then a few people start using them, that might result in a good thing, with high powered lasers in untrained hands. So while I decry depending on a 30$ piece of plastic that has, ironically, driven the used, quality, commercial goggles off the market, I still must welcome the fact that some people are wearing them. It will prevent some damage in a few situations.

In the case of industrial lasers, we know that proper goggles are mandatory. Key word: proper.

The saddest part is that there is no mechanism for removing counterfit, worthless, clone goggles off the market.

Case in point, the Asian low cost vendor who told a researcher that counterfit, untested, QD3 at 25$ was fine for class IV qswitched yag.

Case in point. This young idiot who should be stun gunned, drawn and quartered, hung, burned at the stake and then taken out and hurt! He's welcome to blind himself, that is his business. But when he preaches a false sermon on safety gear he is not worth a piece of silver.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v_kLnGR6CA


I love this line from him: "The homemade ones are for friends who happen to visit. These help with (like u said) reflections and split second exposure. "

Steve

no offense but this is not a issue as long as carrying a gun is still allowed in the states, even it needs a license...

Of course its an issue, in the same way that the ban on handguns in the UK impacted on the legitimate users of handguns - and was largely ineffectual, because, if you own a handgun with the intention of shooting someone, the legality of owning one is unlikely to be of concern to you.....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sean

no offense but this is not a issue as long as carrying a gun is still allowed in the states, even it needs a license...

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Um, NO.

Laser and laser safety has nothing to do with guns and gun safety unless you have a hot pointer on your weapon and are aiming without the intent to kill.