• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Helpful Hint:

Share this page

DrEntropy

DrEntropy

Great Pumpkin
Platinum
Country flag
Offline
DON'T stare into that li'l laser thingie onna underside of th' mouse too long.

it's eee-vile.

U R welcome.

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbsup.gif
 
What?
Were you doing a gender check? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif
 
I needed some laser surgery on my eyes. (Had bleeding capillaries in my retina). As I’m sitting waiting for the doctor, I look at the laser and there was a label on it that said, “Do not point into eyes.” When the Doc came in, I asked him if he had read the directions on the machine. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/crazy.gif
 
How long is too long, Doc.??? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif Izzat like starin' atta sun?? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/crazy.gif
 
Doc,

Don't ya know you're suppose to use a mirror an shades when lookin at that laser beam thingy? How are those big purple dots ya seein all day doin anyway? I also heard long term exposure could turn ya to stone if ya look at it long enough.


/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/crazyeyes.gif
 
Another tip - don't hold onto a spark plug
while cranking an engine over.

- Doug
 
dont sweat the petty stuff, and dont pet the sweaty stuff
 
I used to get to play with 980nm pump lasers for fiber-optic amplifiers. the light is not visible with the naked eye, but you could take aim with the end of the fiber from one and cut through a piece of paper, or burn a spot of the rubber off the anti-static trays they had the amplifier builds setting on.
those were cool. The whole laser case was the size of a sugar cube while the laser chip inside was about the size of a grain of salt.
 
doc, a couple of years ago i walked into my insurance agents office to find him shooting a laser light into his 5 year old sons eyes the light was being projected from a "putter" ya know a golf stick hed just unwrapped from its delivery box (ups), it had two yellow warning stickers yellow in color with red lettering affixed to the shaft and a large card hanging from a string with the kind message in internationally recognized symbols for the totally illiterate warning not to do such a thing, truly a very "bright" person. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rolleyes.gif
 
Yeah, I got to learn a lot about lasers while I was in the Corps. Every since then I get a bit irate when someone points a laser my direction, and go off the handle if it gets anywhere close to my eyes. Granted, civilian laser pointers probably won't blind me from a flash, but my eyes are already bad enough as is and don't need any help getting worse.

The lasers (laser range finders and target designators) I got to work on in the Corps were powerful enough to blind a man for a few days. I've heard first hand accounts that the sensation is akin to having sand thrown into your eyes. I've also heard accounts from guys that served during the first Gulf War that Iraqi tank commanders looking at them through binoculars would get blinded when they (US Marines) use a laser to spot check the range.
 
My first engineering job, was working with some 500watt pulsed laser welders. They had an infrared beam which of course in not visible. Kind of irresponsible but some of the welders would take off one of the focus mirrors and aim the beam out the window. They could aim them at a park about 300 yards away and ignite tree tops with a tap of the trigger.
Those lasers were actually antiques at the time. The first industrial laser were used in the late '60s at Boeing, I had serial #48. Serial #1 is in the Smithsonian. The power supply looked like a cross between something for the Frankenstein set and a WW2 radar system. The even glowed and hummed when they were running. I kind of miss them.
 
My mouse doesn't have any laser thingie on the bottom! Just one of those balls. Am I still in the rotary phone era?? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/hammer.gif
 
"Operator?" *CLICK-CLICK* "OPERATOR?!?!" *CLICK-CLICK*

...*CLICKETY-CLICK-CLICK*...

"HEY!!! IZZIS thing WORKING?!?!"


/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif
 
I believe that the classic "welder's flash" is actually a sunburn on the retina from all the UV rays.
Most welders in the business have had them and also describe it as sand in the eyes, not nice.
 
I was photographing a laser welder one time for the College of Engineering at Colorado State University. The photo needed to be of the unit in operation. I used a telephoto lens to keep me/my equipment from the intense heat, set up the shot, then the unit was powered up and I started clicking away. I was bracketing through a range of exposures. I was not looking through the lens, nor was I looking at the welder. I was looking at the camera and making adjustments for the bracketing between shots. I still got a 'sunburn' on the side of my face that was closest to the unit. Not a serious burn, but noticeable for a few hours. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

Here is one of the shots from that session as seen on my webpage ...
 
With the low-power lasers, to show the path I used to do a time exposure while blowin' smoke into the path, then do a second exposure with a flash for the rig and human elements. But that was "back-when". Wet plates had just gone out of use... /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif
 
Back
Top