5mw lazer dangerous?

[Cookiecrumbles222]

hey, guys so I bought a cat laser (it says output<5mw) and an I have a diamond ring I wanted to sine into the ring to see a cool effect, is this dangerous for my eyes? like if one of the refracted beams hits my eye can that cause damage? Its a red lazer.

 

 

 

 

edit: also if it is dangerous is there a safe way to do this or achieve a similar effect with the ring?

[Bananasplit_00]

get laser safety glasses, if its one of those chinese ones the output can be anything and if its a green one its probably blasting IR too which you cant see

[YaBoiWill]

Get some laser googles first before you start refracting out the laser. It is hard to say as I don't know how it will pass through the diamond and how many new refractions will come from it.

As mentioned above many lasers will have a sticker to make it legal to sell, whether it actually relates to the output is something to be seen. 

Most of them have a little screw on the mainboard to adjust the output, IK from experience 

[Cookiecrumbles222]

1 minute ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

get laser safety glasses, if its one of those chinese ones the output can be anything and if its a green one its probably blasting IR too which you cant see

it's a red laser, also if I get safety glasses can I still see the red?

[Bitter]

1 minute ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

get laser safety glasses, if its one of those chinese ones the output can be anything and if its a green one its probably blasting IR too which you cant see

I saw a video about those cheap green lasers and I threw mine away after a few days of research, I had glasses for green laser but glasses that would block green and IR were more than just getting a safe green laser and I'm not married to having a green laser. I bought it because it was a cheap oddity.

[Bananasplit_00]

Just now, Cookiecrumbles222 said:

it's a red laser, also if I get safety glasses can I still see the red?

you can still see where the laser is pointing, then it depends on what glasses you get. make sure the ones you get are rated for the frequency of laser you are working with, should say right on it. Somewhere around 800nm i think. 802-808 i think are the most common red ones but im not that good at that stuff

[Cookiecrumbles222]

3 minutes ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

you can still see where the laser is pointing, then it depends on what glasses you get. make sure the ones you get are rated for the frequency of laser you are working with, should say right on it. Somewhere around 800nm i think. 802-808 i think are the most common red ones but im not that good at that stuff

it says its 630 - 650nm

[Bananasplit_00]

Just now, Cookiecrumbles222 said:

it says its 630 - 650nm

my bad, i went IR on you anyway if you absolutely need the laser glasses or not depends on weather or not you got it from a good store or something like ebay, because if its from a good store it probably follows that 5mw figure and is pretty much safe but if its off ebay it can be a LOT more so then i would defiantly get some laser glasses. In the end its your eyes and a very short hit on the eye likely wont cause irepairable damage if its out of spec but lasers can be real bad

[TetraSky]

So much overreacting here... It's a 5mw laser, it's essentially what you get in laser pointer for presentation purpose.
Playing around with a 5mw laser isn't dangerous by itself, as long as you don't deliberately laser up your eyes for multiple seconds. It's not a fraction of a second through reflection that will kill your eyesight.
The worst that will happen, is maybe getting a floater after shining it in your eye for 30 seconds. (I'd know, a bully did this to me when I was in school while his cronies held me, I ain't blind, my eyesight didn't deteriorate and all I got from that is a tiny floater that's only visible on a bright white surface that appeared after a couple years, so it might not even be related... and there are "surgeries" available these days to get rid of floaters)

 

Quote

 

If a laser with less than five milliwatts of output power is directed at someone's eye, that person can blink or turn away without suffering an eye injury. However, the natural protective mechanisms of the eye – such as the blink reflex – are ineffective against lasers with an output power greater than five milliwatts, and severe retinal damage may occur, even after momentary exposure.

https://www.aao.org/eye-health/news/laser-pointer-eye-injury

[TetraSky]

1 hour ago, James Evens said:

With 5mW continuously

OP mention sub 5mW, so it's likely to be between 1 and 4.9mW, not 5mW or higher continuously.

This is Class 3A/3R (depending on who you ask).

It's low risk.
 

Want to know if it's 5mW or higher quickly? Look away and blast the laser on your hand at close range. Feel any sort of heat? No? It's under 5mW. It's a quick and dirty way of doing it and there won't be any damage to your eyes.
You shouldn't look at it regardless, but lets not make a mountain out of a mole hill, you don't need laser glasses for a sub 5mW laser like the others are recommending, just don't stare at the dot or blast it in your eyes for extended period of time.