Laser Safety

[Flying Squirrel]

With a few of you now using lasers I'm wondering how you work with them safely, ie glasses or shields, ventilation etc

 

I've just taken delivery of mine and it indicates as it has a red shield at the base of the head then eye protection isn't required, knowing the damage these things can do that doesn't seem right, maybe I'm being overly cautious though as there doesn't appear to be that much info out there.

[Ron Gray]

For a diode laser, not in a box, then I recommend that eye protection is always worn when operating the laser. The eye protection needs to be the correct colour to match the frequency of the laser (should be shown in the specification of the laser) and although laser machines usually come with safety glasses I would replace them with better quality ones, similar to these

 

 

[FlyinFlynn]

Ummm......The current crop of 20 odd Watt diode lasers are class 4 lasers capable of blinding you without question - your blink reflex wont protect you in time.  It isn't just direct contact with the beam either, you are not supposed to look at the dot for any length of time without eye protection

 

  What value do you place on your fovea?

 

https://www.lasersafetyfacts.com/laserclasses.html

Edited March 27, 2023 by FlyinFlynn

[Flying Squirrel]

As I thought, pretty poor show of the manufacturer to suggest that the built in shield is enough, there is no safety advice included despite the instructions being clear and the packaging professional looking. . Being somebody that's suffered with Central Serous Retinopathy for over a year know I can tell you I value my sight dearly!!

[Jason Channing]

I use an Omtec 100 watt, On CO2 machines you must remember the light runs most of its path horizontal before transferring to vertical so think before you put your hand or arm etc anywhere inside the case , one pulse on this hurts hell of a lot more than 20 watts and will do permanent nerve damage.

[leccyflyer]

Following Ron's advice on handling smoke generated during the laser cutting, I ordered a simple enclosure with an exhaust fan, after ordering my laser. That had the added advantage of being "glazed" with transparent orange panels, which the manufacturer claims provide eye protection, additional to that which is provided by the small orange transparent safety housing around the laser unit itself. I'll still be sure to wear the appropriate safety glasses over my prescription varifocals.

 

The smoke exhaust box isn't as fancy as some of the beautiful enclosures that I've seen on higher spec lasers than what is my first go, just a small brushed motor driving a fan and fed via a USB power supply plug. The box is intended to fulfill multiple functions - keep the dust and other airborne debris off the laser cutter, gather up the smoke and push it into a evacuation tube and the additional level of safety filtering of any errant laser light.  It arrived in just a couple of weeks from China- EU warehouses wouldn't ship to the UK - the box was much smaller than I expected, due to the long sections being made up of short lengths of aluminium extrusions which are bolted together with plates, to make up a lightweight but rigid frame.

 

 

Then the whole thing is skinned with the thin flexible plastic panels, using the stickiest double sided tape I have ever seen. I chose to make three of the panels removable - fixed with Velcro - rather than the two removable panels in the instructions, to aid in placing the workpiece and larger material sizes, since I went with the extended Y axis extension kit. Long pieces of ply or depron dan then be fed in from the left hand end, where the brains of the laser cutter sit, so I made access to that end better than on the picture supplied.

 

 

It was hard not putting the laser together until I had the protective enclosure, but now that is done, I just need to make up a level base on the steeply dipping table in the area allocated to laser cutting.  Can't really get round that, so I'll make up a couple of ply wedges to make a horizontal platform on the table before installing the laser cutter itself.

[Peter Jenkins]

That is some workshop!

[leccyflyer]

Thanks. It's been a long time waiting to make it, more than twenty years, but I'm delighted with how it turned out eventually.

 

Unfortunately the safety glasses I chose, from Amazon, came today but simply wouldn't fit properly over my varifocals, despite what it said in the reviews. So those are going back and I've reordered in the goggles style, which I'm assured will fit.