This is just a rant/thinking out loud session, but couldn’t welding helmets be used as IR protection(For LLP Lasers)?  When welding the thing that damages your eye is extreme UV and IR light, which a welding helmet blocks.  I would say “Ill try it and report the results” like I do everything else, but, I don’t really want to try something and end up blind or vision impaired, so, if anyone else has thoughts on this that would be great.

I’m not sure about how much protection a welders helemt would give you, but even if they did make it safe the problem with welders helmets is that they block out a lot of visible light too. This would make it pretty difficult to work while wearing one.

I just had a vision of Luke wearing the blast helmet.

Use the force

However the welding industry has come up with a variety of safety glasses that may actually meet our requirements as well.

http://www.safetyglassesusa.com/greenlens.html

Maybe AlexP or someone else familiar with IR lasers could tell us if any of those (linked above) would work.

I actually ordered a few pairs of glasses off of that website. We’re going to be doing some experiements with lasers next week.

I don’t know if those glasses would provide adequate protection for a direct laser beam (the ones on the Axiz site were like $125.00 that protect against that), but I figure if we put the lens on before we even mess around with plugging it in, and do our best not to point it directly at our eyes, those glasses should be enough to protect against “light leakage” or the occasional quick accidental shine.

If someone else has any other thoughts on this I’d love to hear it, as I have no experience with this whatsoever.

I tried it, it blocks IR, along with all the rest of the light spectrum:D Its impossible to see anything.  I got some IR glasses, so ill post some laser tests soon.

You guys need to be careful with this stuff.

When welding, you are not supposed to look directly at the light source (flame, arc whatever) because you can still loose your eyesight through the best of the best welding helmets if you do so. Because all they are doing is absorbing the light to reduce its effectiveness.

Your iris can only close so much, but it can never completely shut, so if you are looking directly at it, the light only has to go through the welding helmets filter, and thats it.

People with different eye colors are also at different risks. Brown eyes are most likely the safest, but as noone knows, better not to try to find out yourself.

What you guys might need is either a scattering or a reflecting layer on protective eyewear, rather than just an absorbant layer.

That is, hot mirrors, you need those in front of your eyes =)

Provided you are using IR lazers.

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Even if you do not go blind, partial hits from the lazer can burn off just several of your receptors in an area, while this might not be noticable to you, your brain will certainly shit a brick and you’ll get headaches, migranes, could loose balance (temporarily or permenantly) hours later.

"Even if you do not go blind, partial hits from the lazer can burn off just several of your receptors in an area, while this might not be noticable to you, your brain will certainly shit a brick and you’ll get headaches, migranes, could loose balance (temporarily or permenantly) hours later.”

Haha! nicely put Throgors