Topic: Suggestions for purchase of decent RGB safety glasses?

[Gadget]

Can I please have some options for laser safety glasses covering  Laser wavelength:Red(650nm),Green(532nm),Blue(405nm) - RGB. Do I need to buy glasses covering specific a wavelengh or can I get one pair that protects from all RGB wavelenths? - please provide shop weblinks :-)

[James]

Your best bet would be to get the Ray Charles model; that is opaqe, black glass or plastic.

there is no way to effectivly block out three wavelengths that are one end, the middle and the other end of the visible light spectrum. That is everything we can see!

James. 

[Gadget]

Yea, thats what I guessed from the safety glasses on the net. Just wondering do "Pros" use safety glasses at events or they just point above the crowd and away from themselves. We all have to experiment at some stage. I have sunglasses, not quick ray charles more bono 

[James]

You can get glasses that are just about opaque to a portion of the visible spectrum. If you get glasses that are fully saturated green, for example, they will not pass either red or BluRay. But there is no practical way to block out all visible light, other than just very dark sunglasses. Also, you should think about adding better diode drivers to that projector you have for two reason: 1. You'd be able to mix colors and 2. You could dim it way down for alignment.

What do the pros do?

You've got to be kidding me! 

Pros do it for money, and would rather you didn't do it at all. That's the only notable difference.

James. 

[Gadget]

hmm, ok i get ya. Just I had a large increase of eye floaters about 2 weeks ago which is freaking me out so trying to go safe with my hobby laser. I'm 90% sure its nothing to do with my laser time but u know better to be safe than sorry. Already got my eyes checked out by a optometrist, nothing i can do about them but wait for my brain to ignore them, or YAG laser treatment in the US ( http://www.youtube.com/user/VitreousFloaterSolns#p/u/1/a817383ZaJA

[James]

Floaters are not caused by lasers or bright lights. They are clumps of protein that have come from the inside surface of your eyeball and float out into the aqueous or vitreous fluid. Currently there is nothing they can do about it. Everyone gets some at some point. You will never get used to them. They move! When I close my eyes and my eye lids are well lit I can see quite a few very familiar squiggles. I am blind in one eye, so I can not fill in the blanks between two eyes. I have learned to dart my eyes around a bit, if I can't see clearly. That has a tendency to move them out of the way. I've never heard of the YAG treatment. I think I'll stick with one eye that kinda' works.

That being said... You can see what the tiniest pulse of YAG can do to something opaque inside your eyeball! That pulse of YAG was the same 532nm as any other solid state greenie and it didn't even show up on the video. If you take a direct hit to the pupil with any one of the three lasers in that Chinese rig you got, you will suffer permanent damage to some portion of your retina. The coser the damage is to the center of your macula, the worse it will be for your perception of vision. The 405nm is the worst hazard. It is the hardest to see and has the most energy per photon, due to the shortest wavelength. It will wreck your skin, your cornea, lens AND retina!

It sure is pretty though! 

Thanks for sharing that video. I had no idea the vitreous fluid was that 'fluid'. I thought it was more of a gell.

James. 

[Gadget]

Your welcome, Dr. Karickhoff has a good video here explaining the procedure.
http://www.eyefloaters.com/
Appears this treatment is not preferred by optometrists(default answer "live with it") or even known about. I'm sure its not cheap but i guess if you have large floaters there's very little risk with lots to gain!

I might have to visit the states :-)

[James]

WOW! I'm sorry to hear that you are having that much trouble. 

James. 

[Gadget]

oh well, maybe one day ill get a pair of bionic eyes 

[hastypete]

How much power are you running at each wavelength?
Typically for white light lasers you need what is called neutral density filters.  Otherwise known as dark glasses.
I have found that any safety glasses that completely block a beam from your vision can be dangerous since it means you can no longer see the beam at all!   But especially with WL glasses you would see nothing!


Now if you are talking about low powers in the 100mW range.  This is bad for your eyes.
But the danger is in the use, not the beam.  Just like you don't let someone untrained in driving take your car on the road.   Driving is dangerous (very), but if you are well trained it is a safe (mostly) activity.
Using powerful lasers is also safe with good sense.


I work on 5 Watt lasers daily and do not use safety glasses at all.  But my eyes NEVER go near the laser plane!  Just like I don't drive my car into a phone pole.


Now with laser shows you have a beam that is flying around.  But this is actually a safety benefit since the eye exposure is reduced vastly with a moving beam.  (I'm talking about 5 Watt CW laser shows, not 20W or Q-switched pulsed.  The latter should NEVER be used when directed at people for any reason) 


Beam safety in laser shows is about power density.  If you get it low enough it is quite eye safe.  Audience scanning has been done for many years at quite high powers and you just don't hear about problems.


The closest I came to damaging an eye was out on a show gig.  I was in FRONT of the projector with my face right where the beam was too be, then I opened the damn shutter.  I got a nice burn on my forehead for the trouble.  Do your adjustments from a safe place.  Never put your face in a beam path whether the beam is there or not.


- hastypete