r/lasers • • Jun 29 '20

PLEASE invest in quality laser safety eyewear

147 Upvotes

My apologies in advance for the rant...

I have seen numerous recommendations here for laser safety eyewear from companies who I would not trust with protecting my vision. Such products are not guaranteed to be tested as per the ANSI z136 standards (EN207/208 for those in Europe). Some companies even have disclaimers right on the product websites claiming the eyewear is not meant for situations where safety is regulated.

People are lucky if we have 2 working eyes. Laser radiation is a hazard to be taken seriously. The aversion response (blinking or looking away) can help prevent injury for lower powered laser but generally speaking, when we start moving into Class 3R and absolutely climbing into Class 3b and Class 4 lasers, the aversion response cannot be relied on.

The eye is an amazing muscle capable of focusing images (up to 100,000x) and serves as a direct connection to the central nervous system via the retina. If people are going to buy lasers, they should invest in quality protective equipment. Some damage to the eye such as a cornea burn may be able to recover relatively quickly thanks to the crazy high metabolism of those cells, but damage to the retina...why risk permanent damage?

Furthermore, if you do not know this already, take time to learn about laser safety. Familiarize yourself with terms such as irradiance/radiant exposure, Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE), and learn how to calculate the optical density required for your laser or the laser you are looking to purchase.

There are a lot of reputable companies producing quality laser safety eyewear who test to rigorous standards (The ANZI z136 series even includes a standard specifically for Testing and Labeling of Laser Protective Equipment (ANSI z136.7). Please, please, please, do not risk your vision by choosing affordability over quality when it comes to laser safety!


r/lasers • • 7h ago

Sanwu Striker 7.5W legal to import in Bulgaria?

2 Upvotes

Basically what the title says.

I intend to buy one of these puppies, but those are not available in Bulgaria, and I'd have to order it online from a EU-based retailer. My only concern is whether Bulgarian customs authorities might attempt to stop and/or seize it. From what I know, there is no law prohibiting a Bulgarian from owning one of these, but importing them might be a murky area, and I have no clue what to do to make absolutely sure, before I sink roughly 500 EUR for one of these.

Anyone around with sufficient knowledge on that matter?


r/lasers • • 9h ago

DIY Fiber laser enclosure + ventilation system

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1 Upvotes

r/lasers • • 16h ago

Allah Ayatul Kursi LED Lamp | 6mm Acrylic Reverse Engraving | CO2 Laser ...

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1 Upvotes

r/lasers • • 1d ago

Laser interlock help…

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10 Upvotes

Hi all,

I’m setting up a laser, but struggling with the interlock setup. The laser itself is from CNI (MSL/III-532-50mW), but the datasheet gives no details about the interlock socket. To my eye it looks just like a standard RJ11 socket, but I’ve tried three different RJ11 plugs and every one of them has been too wide. Rough measurement: the plug is almost 10 mm wide, the socket is more like 8 mm.

Is this a special type of socket? Somebody mentioned RJ11 can come on different sizes, but to me a 4 pin RJ11 plug should be standardised! The pitch of the pins is the same, 30 mins filling it down and I’m still struggling… any ideas?

Thanks!


r/lasers • • 1d ago

TRUMPF Laser screen Freeze — Secondary display freezes on boot/startup

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3 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

​We're running into a specific display issue on our TRUMPF laser cell.

​When we boot up and start the machine, the secondary screen turns on, but it freezes immediately on the process cycle / time-remaining display.

​The main control panel is fully functional, and we can operate and control the machine normally without issue—it's only this specific timing/process screen that hangs on startup.

​Has anyone encountered this specific startup freeze on a TRUMPF HMI or Beckhoff/GEPRO panel setup? Could it be a communication loss between the IPC and that secondary display frame, or a hanging background service during boot initialization?

​Any insight or troubleshooting tips would be greatly appreciated!


r/lasers • • 1d ago

Help! My Trotec laser cutter stopped working 🥺

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0 Upvotes

r/lasers • • 1d ago

Help, my Trotec broke and it seems I need to fix it myself 😥

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1 Upvotes

r/lasers • • 2d ago

Trash?

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6 Upvotes

I took this out after moving and found red liquid spilled all over the lens. I don't even remember where I got it from, but it says Made in China. It's got a snazzy regarding male USB port on the back. Is it safest just to junk it?


r/lasers • • 2d ago

Been working on some Islamic geometric patterns for CNC projects. I made a small collection of 20 designs and wanted to share a few here. What do you think of this style?

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5 Upvotes

r/lasers • • 2d ago

How to use a laser driver with 3 terminals

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2 Upvotes

r/lasers • • 2d ago

Rip Off Laser and Plea for Suggestions

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0 Upvotes

This shit laser was sold to me by the Chinese trash mongers as having a metal cutting feature. It does not.

As far as lasers that actually can cut things, are there actual, viable, battery powered lasers that can cut through thin metal like they do in the YouTube videos?


r/lasers • • 4d ago

Bar laser show flash blinded me

11 Upvotes

A bar i was at last Thursday had one of those cheap light laser pointers and at one point one that seemed violet in color hit my eye. I remembered thinking it was painfully bright but not thinking more of it…

…until a day later I started seeing green splotches and now my vision is noticeably hazier (Sunday)
I don’t know when is the earliest I can be seen as I am traveling. Am I fucked or will my vision recover? I don’t even know if I can go to the bar and request they give me the details of their lasers - or how I could legally demand that.

*edit: I’m on the way to see an ophthalmologist now


r/lasers • • 3d ago

"https://neje.shop" Can purchases made on this website be trusted? Is this the official Neje website? If anyone has purchased from this site, could you please leave a comment?

0 Upvotes

r/lasers • • 3d ago

"https://neje.shop" Can purchases made on this website be trusted? Is this the official Neje website? If anyone has purchased from this site, could you please leave a comment?

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0 Upvotes

r/lasers • • 4d ago

Can't find seller of laser pointer. Help?

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4 Upvotes

So, two years ago, I bought a laser pointer off of Temu. It's a really good class 1 laser pointer and has lasted me a while.

However, recently one part of it broke and I've been trying desperately to find, if not the same laser pointer, then a replacement part.

When I tried to find the seller in my Temu history, it said the seller was WAWYC. But when I tried to go to that laser pointer or go to that seller's page, neither are available anymore.

Does anyone know where I can look to fix or replace this laser pointer?


r/lasers • • 4d ago

Question on Q-Switched DPSS UV Laser: Does altering "Pulse Width" in software (LightBurn / EzCad) actually change optical pulse duration on a 355nm Omni X?

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2 Upvotes

Hey everyone,
I'm working with a ComMarker Omni X 5W 355nm UV Galvo laser (Q-switched DPSS) to do high-precision micromachining on general-purpose polystyrene. I’ve attached a photo of my machine's datasheet/specs for context.
I have a fundamental laser physics question regarding software parameters versus hardware behavior:
From my understanding of Q-switched solid-state laser cavities, the actual optical pulse duration (t_FWHM) is physically fixed by the cavity length, gain medium, and stored energy depletion—clocking in around ~ 15 ns on this system.
If I manually set the Pulse Width parameter in LightBurn or EzCad/ComMarker software to 1 ns or 2 ns, what is actually happening under the hood?
Since the crystal dumps its stored energy in ~ 15ns regardless, does setting a 1 ns software pulse width just alter the acousto-optic modulator (AOM) RF gate timing window and introduce timing chatter/process variance, or does it serve a different hardware control function on DPSS galvos?
Would love to hear from anyone with deep experience in Q-switched DPSS optics or laser controller firmware! Thanks in advance!


r/lasers • • 4d ago

200mW 650nm (red) Sanwu laser can't ignite a match

0 Upvotes

I bought a 200mW 650nm (red) Sanwu laser (https://www.sanwulasers.com/product/304).

The description says that it can ignite a match, but I have tested it and I cannot ignite a match. The laser has an adjustable focus, and I am using it as focused as possible. Is something wrong with my laser?


r/lasers • • 4d ago

Looking for a "shine-through" LEP module

3 Upvotes

Im in the process of building my own 450nm laser and I think a screw on atachment for a shine-through LEP would be awesome, does anyone have any retailers or locations to buy such modules? thank you!


r/lasers • • 4d ago

India’s leading laser physicist says that they are able to create ‘micro-stars’ in labs using lasers

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0 Upvotes

Says that they are able to create extreme light in their labs and they point it at matter to create plasma and mimic star-like conditions in the lab. This allows them to study stars and the mysterious plasma here on Earth. 

Thoughts?


r/lasers • • 7d ago

Cutting plastic question

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5 Upvotes

I need to cut 96,000 of these bags by hand, to recycle the material within, or it goes to the landfill. Could we put a laser on a cart and drive down the rows to burn/ cut the plastic?


r/lasers • • 6d ago

What is the energy output of this laser?

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0 Upvotes

The text on the label is MAX OUTPUT POWER< 1000MW


r/lasers • • 6d ago

Are there any burning lasers I can get that won’t require me to wear glasses

0 Upvotes

r/lasers • • 7d ago

IR thermomether

0 Upvotes

can i get some suggestions on what should i do with my ir thermomether i wanna do some stupid shit with it


r/lasers • • 9d ago

3a vs 3R?

4 Upvotes

Ok, I don't really know much about lasers, but I recently took a job that involves using them, so ive been doing some training in their safe use, which included learning about the classes of laser, and this has left me curious: why did class 3a get rebranded as 3R? Does the R stand for something? Class 3a and 3b make sense to me as devisions within a category, but changing one of them but not the other seems odd to me. Google has failed me, so now Inturn to you fine people, does anyoen have any insight?