Live data from Hacker News

How I got my laser eye injury

funraniumlabs.com

361–370 of 378 posts

Re: How I got my laser eye injury

#361
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sales guy set up the entire rig on his own? And no other engineers in the lab stopped to ask what he was doing? I know some places have poor safety culture, but this is a “laser company”. Basic laser safety should be drilled into them from day 1 and every day after. When I worked in an optics lab, we had interlocks on the doors that switched on with the power supply running the experiment and a sign outside indic…

It's pretty crazy that the sales guy was able to connect the water cooling and power with enough hosing and cables to bring it outside, as well as know how to operate the device enough to activate it - but couldn't correctly point it _at the ground_ and burn the paint off of the street without melting through a car. But forgetting that, what are the core safety issues described? I get the direct exposure to unprotect…

These types of lasers are integrated into end customer systems by techs at a factory. They are very simple to setup from the black box level of understanding. All you do is plug in water (blue hose in and red hose for out) since the electrical system is typical a box that simply plugs into the laser head and the wall outlet. The only factor that could affect the output power that's not on the controls would be the water temperature.

Re: How I got my laser eye injury

#362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A water kettle lets you consistently heat water to the same temperature (not just boiling, high-end kettles have additional temperature options), regardless of: - Amount of water - Initial temperature of water - Position of water container They also prevent superheated water accidents.

Yes and: Kettles are much easier to clean than microwave (interiors).

Boiling water in a microwave does not make the microwave dirtier.

Re: How I got my laser eye injury

#363
post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually only americans who unaccountably make do with these horribly underpowered kettles. The rest of the world wants their tea and they want it now...

Technology Connections did an excellent video on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMMTVVJI4c tl;dw -- kettles in the U.S. only take about 4+ minutes to boil a liter of water. So when you say "now" you really mean it.

When the other options just need to be poured, waiting 4.5 minutes for boiling alone is a significant waste of time.

You can improve that by using less water, but I would still like to double the power.

Re: How I got my laser eye injury

#364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are lasers typically able to reflect off of surfaces that diffuse light (ie drywall)? I’m totally ignorant when it comes to laser safety, apologies if this is a stupid question .

Do you see a bright spot when aiming the laser at drywall? If the answer is yes, then laser light is being reflected into your eye. Hope this helps!

It's not that simple. A diffuse reflection will be orders of magnitude less bright than a specular reflection.

For a very wide range of laser powers (not 2.5kW), the trouble is in guaranteeing a diffuse reflection.

Re: How I got my laser eye injury

#365
post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow what an incredibly unfortunate hypothetical situation. 1 in a million ricochet that one.

Draw a ship. Draw some waves. Note the angle from Crayon Eater those waves. Also note how wide an angle "ship hull" represents both vertically and horizontally. Not so 1 in a million.

Sure, if it bounces that's a very big angle.

But what's the chance of a bullet that hits water bouncing back the other way at high speed? I would have thought it was zero!

Re: How I got my laser eye injury

#366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technology Connections did an excellent video on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMMTVVJI4c tl;dw -- kettles in the U.S. only take about 4+ minutes to boil a liter of water. So when you say "now" you really mean it.

I just nuke a mug of water for a minute or two when I'm making instant coffee. I never understood the big deal about electric kettles.

Microwaving has the undesirable side-effect of also heating the exterior of your beverage's vessel.

Re: How I got my laser eye injury

#368
post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the radar is located on the ground, the chances are it's consuming enough energy to cook a turkey from the inside-out.

Yeah, but one that immediately make you sterile will likely burn out your eyes and cook the brain. In any case I was just pointing out this is urban legend of sorts.

I always thought "make you sterile" was meant to be pronounced "burn your dick off".

Re: How I got my laser eye injury

#370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and: Kettles are much easier to clean than microwave (interiors).

Boiling water in a microwave does not make the microwave dirtier.

True. The mess comes from a son reheating food, often tomato sauce based, without a lid.
Post reply on HN