Stanwax Laser Safety Goggles?

[TechJunkie]

I understood you completely. As I said simple cheap sunglasses will do the same thing, but I dont recommend them either.

[White-Light]

$1 sunglasses with work just the same.

There's a considerable difference between these and sunglasses.

I dont recommend either though. Get some good goggles before you fry your eyes. You cant watch laser shows if you're blind. I know you guys stand behind the people you buy from, but in this case dont defend non-certified goggles. You can get someone hurt. And thats not cool at all.

I believe they are OD rated, 4 or 5 from memory.

Obviously anything exceeding that brightness will be visible and indeed for alignment it's no use having goggles that render the beams invisible.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there aren't better goggles out there. Clearly there are, but these are OK for the money and serve a purpose for alignment or to reduce the risk when in front of the laser and you still need to see the beams, and as a result are at risk of accidental exposure.

[TechJunkie]

I've owned a simular set, and so have other people I know. They are phony, and the ratings are fabrications. When I read you can see beams with these then they are obviously phony too.

To do beam alignment Buffo recommend using sunglasses as low density filters before the aperture to bring down the brightness. The_Doctor recommends to simply turn down the power, set the near, and far field, then turn the power back up.

Using these glasses will give you a false sense of security. If you get a reflection, or are not paying attention because you think you're safe, then pop goes your cornea.

I dont understand the debate here, I gave you my personal experience, and info to back it up. These are a bad idea no matter how you look at it. I bet I even know where he got them *cough* Bridge. Laserwave used to sell these for $10. These goggles are garbage at any price.

[absolom7691]

Using these glasses will give you a false sense of security. If you get a reflection, or are not paying attention because you think you're safe, then pop goes your cornea.

Not disagreeing with you here because whatever goggles people buy, this is something everyone needs to remember:

IF you are dependent on a pair of Goggles for your eye safety you just FLUNKED laser safety 101. Goggles are designed to be a last resort. True laser safety involves controlling access to the laser light and its scattering.

That being said, no one should ever feel secure, no matter what goggles they are wearing. Always be cautious and be aware of what you're doing.

[daction]

I think with safety you should first remove the hazard. If thats not possible you should then isolate the hazard. As a last option you should minimise the hazard.
As for the safety glasses they serve to minimise the hazard. They don't make working with lasers safe . They will only form part of your safe working practice.
I believe that my safety glasses offer superior protection when compared to $1 sunglasses . This however is only my option thou.

[buffo]

all i get now is 'you can buy these things for protection, but they dont really protect you'.

Part of the problem is that this thread has lots of personal opinions mixed in with facts. You are correct - physics dominates the issue, and if you know the optical density (OD) rating of the goggles and the power of the laser, you can calculate exactly how safe you will be when wearing them.

The other issue is that no one set of goggles will be appropriate for every situation. If you have a 200 mw projector, you don't want to be weaing OD-16 goggles - you won't be able to see anything. Likewise, if you are wearing OD-.5 goggles while working on a laserscope, you may as well not be wearing anything at all.

That being said, the goggles that Stanwax sells are appropriate for accidental exposure up to a few watts. They will protect you if a stray reflection happens to strike you for a moment. They are not designed to allow you to stare into the beam for several seconds so you can look at the shape of the beam coming off the emitter. (This is why you see that disclaimer on his website that says "They are designed to protect against accidental exposure to laser radiation only. Never stare into a laser beam with or without goggles as serious and often permanent damage will result." It's there to remind stupid people to not do stupid things.)

Adam

[buffo]

how do i calculate what OD class i need?

Optical density is a measure of the attenuation ability of a given filter. It's a log(10) scale. So an OD of 1 gives you a 10X reduction in power. OD 4 is 1000x reduction, and so forth.

To calculate the correct optical density, you need to know how much power the projector can produce. And then you make an assumption as to how low you want the final power to be. While technically the MPE is 2.5 mw/square cm (for a .25 second exposure or less), that is still a very bright flash. Also, that limit is expressed in terms of irradiance (power per unit area), not absolute power. Thus most people chose goggles that will reduce the beam to below class II limits (that is, below 1 mw).

So for a 1 watt laser, you need OD3 goggles (at minimum) to get down to 1 mw. However, an OD4 set would also work, and would provide a comfortable safety margin. If you put on OD-6 goggles, you would not be able to see the beam, but you should still be able to see the spot it forms on the wall. (For example, I have a pair of OD-16 goggles, and I can still just barely see the spot on the wall from a 30 mw laser while wearing those goggles, although it is extremely dim.)

What "OD" are they?

I don't know what the Stanwax goggles are rated for. I think they are either OD3 or OD4, but I'm not sure. You would need to ask him about it.

how long 'accidental exposure' means.

Accidental exposure is normally quoted as .25 seconds or less. The theory is that after .25 seconds you would blink or avert your gaze due to the pain response. Note, however, that this only applies to visible wavelengths. (IR and UV light do not trigger our aversion response, because the retina does not react to them.)

Adam

[TechJunkie]

iTJ, you linked to a site where they sell even cheaper googles than on the Stanwax site. If you thing stanwax is too cheap to be real, i dont think those are too.

Price is not the issue, its certification, and Eagle are certified. Plus they have been tested numerous times on that forum I linked to earlier. If you do a quick search there you'll find all the answers you need. I'd say with confidence that LPF is the leader in goggle testing. Not so much here.

There are better goggles out there. Eagle is the cheapest brand you can trust. But once again they are being counterfeited. I trust the web site I linked to because he is a member of LPF. I use OEM goggles which cost more, and are better, but the company sold the business, and the new owners dont sell goggles anymore. At least the links are dead.

If you want better goggles go here....http://www.lasersafety.com/laser-saf...ses/r10/T5B02/ The OD is low so you should be able to see what you are doing, and you'll know for a fact it will stop a beam long enough to react.

That being said, the goggles that Stanwax sells are appropriate for accidental exposure up to a few watts.

Is this your opinion? I cant find any certifications, a name brand, or even testing that was done that says these will absorb a multiwatt hit for a even a second. There is not even a graph. I've never even see RGB goggles under $170.

We could also go into the Glass VS Plastic debate. In either case I would never trust my eyes to Stanwax glasses.

Where is FrothyChimp when you you need him, LOL? He's the only authority I would put my trust into. If you can get him to say he would trust these I would resend everything I wrote. But I think you'd already know what he would say.

[White-Light]

Is this your opinion? I cant find any certifications, a name brand, or even testing that was done that says these will absorb a multiwatt hit for a even a second. There is not even a graph. I've never even see RGB goggles under $170.

I would 2nd Adams opinion.

I haven't done any testing because I don't have a LPM. However, there is a significant reduction in visible light through these goggles, far more than you'd ever get from sunglasses. If you put them on it's actually quite difficult to see detail in a bright room due to the ambient light reduction.

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that the 2.8W of my laser is reduced to somewhere less than 100mw, although that's from memory, not had the laser on in nearly a year.. Still not eye safe, but then again I personally didn't want goggles that cut out everything as I bought these to wear when observing from a position which I couldn't guarantee would be safe in the event of an erroneous scan and for alignment. A total cut off is useless for both of these purposes.

Again, I'm not saying these are the best or even good. Without testing I wouldn't know. What I am saying is there is a significant reduction in visible light and thus these make it safer. I have no doubt there are better ones out there but then again for £37, if they make it significantly safer, I personally am happy with them, even if others might not be.

[TechJunkie]

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that the 2.8W of my laser is reduced to somewhere less than 100mw

I highly respect you guys, but opinions and eye safety dont mix. Certification is the only thing you can trust. There is no one on the planet that can judge laser power by eye. Why anyone would risk an eye injury on a $40 pair of untested goggles is far beyond me. But I respect your right to choose. They are your eyes, not mine.

Its kind of ironic how you guys can spent literally thousands on projectors, but cheap out on eye safety.