Diode laser question

[Skyler76]

Hello,

My wife bought me a 3018pro that I have an AENBUSLM 5.5W on. Am I stuck with doing just wood and leather? New hobby for me and I’m just wanting to see if I need something else.

Skyler

[JimNM]

With prep work and some kinds of spray paint, you can etch ceramic tiles and glass ware. You can etch the back of mirrors without anything special.

WEAR YOUR RED GOGGLES!! Laser can and will fry your eyes before you know, and you won't feel the damage being done.

[Skyler76]

Thanks for the info, I guess it more of a trial and error process. So I need red glasses instead of the green ?

Thanks
Skyler

[Vecchio]

So I need red glasses instead of the green ?

Either red or green should work. I assume you got your glasses with the laser. That's how I got mine (green). If you look at the ones sold online, they usually have the info on the absorption for various parts of the spectrum. Your laser is blue, 450 nm (I have the same module). Typical red or green protective glasses filter out that wavelength. You would normally see something like this (an example info for green glasses).

[JimNM]

I do not trust the green glasses to protect my eyes from blue light laser. Here is a simple test - look at a string of Christmas lights. The red glasses filter out the blue lights. The green glasses that came with my Ortur do not.

GET GLASSES THAT FILTER OUT THE SPECIFIC RANGE OF YOUR LASER - don't buy them from Wish!!!

[Vecchio]

I do not trust the green glasses to protect my eyes from blue light laser. Here is a simple test - look at a string of Christmas lights. The red glasses filter out the blue lights. The green glasses that came with my Ortur do not.

I can't really make it a fully qualified argument, as I am not an expert, but just a few thoughts. Judging the level of protection by the colour of glasses is wrong, plain and simple. It may give you a false sense of protection/security, or, to the contrary, scare you unnecessarily. What matters is not the colour of the glasses per se but what they are intended and certified for. If you "don't trust" green glasses, you should not trust the red ones either just because they are red. The question is how much you trust the technical information provided by a supplier, and any certification labels. If the product info for the green glasses clearly states that they are designed to be used with 450 nm lasers, that's more important than the lens colour. From a common sense POV, I agree that the red glasses seem more logical, simply because the red part of the spectrum is farther apart from blue than green is, so the "safe margin" is wider. However, with all due respect, I don't see a "christmas light test" to be valid, for several reasons. I have both green and red glasses. Both let me see the actual laser dot on the engraved material. And both completely filter out scattered reflections from nearby surfaces, e.g. a white wall.

There is a separate thread on laser safety, with an extensive discussion about glasses and optical materials for enclosures. There are examples in that thread of reliable and respected suppliers of protective equipment that sell green glasses certified for 450 nm (blue) lasers. Just sayin'...

GET GLASSES THAT FILTER OUT THE SPECIFIC RANGE OF YOUR LASER

My point exactly. Regardless of colour.

[WillV]

^^^ This is the correct answer ^^^

Roly's have an enclosure that's orange. Should I not trust that because of the color?

[MacDoktor]

You can't determine the magnitude or range of attenuation by the visible color of the filter material. You can find safety goggles that protect against 440nm~460nm light in a variety of colors, each with its own unique transmission curve. The all-important numbers are engraved directly on the lenses so you can't make a mistake. See the topics mentioned above for more details.

Also, some goggles transmit more visible light outside their (not entirely) "opaque" region than others. Pay attention to that number as well. My limited experience is that some colors are typically darker than others in this respect. You may need more light in the room to see everything.

In the case of the Roly Lasermatic, the enclosure is safe (at least for my 10W) but there are some cracks here and there. The fan opening is only partially blocked.