Hi, can someone tell me if there is a risk of flash burn from watching the laser on the glow forge pro?
Thank you!
It really depends on the material; some materials, for example slate, have a very bright interaction where the beam hits the material. Acrylic has essentially none. Most woods, very little.
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Thank you. I was just watching it cut the basswood plywood and I’m nervous now. I didn’t think of it until after the fact. It was my first cut so I got excited and thought about it midway through!
What is “flash burn”?
There is no harm in watching the machine in operation. It’s actually recommended that it not be left unattended.
I think OP was worried about whether it’s dangerous like an arc welder is dangerous. While that’s not the case, as jbmanning5 said, some materials produce an extremely bright visible light (and who knows about UV). I’d avoid staring for long periods at anything that intense. Whether it causes eye damage or not, it’s unpleasant.
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I wear polarized sunglasses if I have a project that I suspect will be problematic so that I can watch it closely. Otherwise I just make sure that I am not looking directly at the laser burn point.
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I watch at an angle that the head just covers the point. If a problem is going to occur, it is easy to see in the effluent , especially when the smoke catches fire. Also beyond the cut sometimes a coal will start and expand, but the problem is outside the immediate cut area that attention needs to be payed.
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