300 mW is an extremely dangerous level of power for a laser. At that point it can reflect off of any remotely shiny object (or even the air) and cause eye problems if you don’t have eye protection. I can’t wait until somebody tries this “hack” and goes blind from it.

Posted at 7:58 am on Oct 18th, 2009 by kirov

I know, I can’t wait either! Blindness is totally sweet.

Posted at 8:09 am on Oct 18th, 2009 by Kenny G

@kirov: I’m surprised it hasn’t already happened. I cringe a bit everytime I see a vid like this. One can only hope that those that are inspired by these projects also read up on safety and understands just how dangerous these things are.

Posted at 8:43 am on Oct 18th, 2009 by sneakypoo

Video please

Posted at 8:48 am on Oct 18th, 2009 by Rancid_Snake

Wear blue or reflective mylar armor.

just sayin’

Posted at 8:49 am on Oct 18th, 2009 by strider_mt2k

really this is a hack? did the laser burn through the wall? no set a match alight? no there s a flashlight that can fry an egg. you should be improving shit so it is really dangerous.

Posted at 8:59 am on Oct 18th, 2009 by silvershovler

so the blue from the blu-ray and the red from the dvd part, cool.

when i read the artical i assumed both were blue, this is slightly mroe interesting

Posted at 9:01 am on Oct 18th, 2009 by Ryan Leach

Are these the new phasers from the 2009 Star Trek?

Posted at 9:17 am on Oct 18th, 2009 by Hackius

It *would* be a hack if this guy figured out how to get a 2 micron (eye-safe) laser, but that’s another story. ;)

Posted at 9:28 am on Oct 18th, 2009 by medix

medix: you mean milliwatt?

Posted at 9:35 am on Oct 18th, 2009 by Eraser

What impressed me most was his ability to refrain from yelling “Pew pew pew!” during the video. Sir, you are a stronger willed man than I.

Posted at 9:43 am on Oct 18th, 2009 by hqrsie

^ What he said.

Posted at 10:26 am on Oct 18th, 2009 by Nicofiend

Set phasers to “blind”.

Posted at 10:40 am on Oct 18th, 2009 by Laser Pup

@Eraser: No, I mean “2 micron laser” (as in output wavelength) – 2 micron lasers are also known as ‘eye-safe’ lasers since they do not cause damage to the retina. They are, however not commercially available ( to my knowledge ).

They’re not just for burning and looking cool. There’s quite a bit of science there as well..

Posted at 10:59 am on Oct 18th, 2009 by medix

Since we’ve been on a ‘whining about safety’ kick the past few days: This guy ought to be concerned with skin exposure as well. There is a considerable amount of high-power UV light being emitted from one of these. Not necessarily good for you..

Posted at 11:01 am on Oct 18th, 2009 by medix

This needs to be combined with a stun gun, tazer and personal panic alarm.

Posted at 11:51 am on Oct 18th, 2009 by babble

In the vid he points it close to a picture with a glass cover and metal frame. To no avail I waited to hear screaming. The juke box could have blinded his ass to. =) Stunning, tazery, panicky blinding machine babble? Sounds awesome.

Posted at 12:31 pm on Oct 18th, 2009 by Mic

Did anyone besides me notie that the first time he pulled the trigger, it would have self distructed [or blinded him] because he had turned on the red laser diode, which was pointed back at himself?

Posted at 1:03 pm on Oct 18th, 2009 by Karl

addendum [dumb?] If I keep on seeing submissions like this, I might start think this site is associated with the Darwin Awards website.

Posted at 1:07 pm on Oct 18th, 2009 by Karl

Lol @ all the “you’ll shoot yer eye out kid” posts.

(The laser hair removal ads are a little funny too.)

If it ain’t a little dangerous…. well it’s just not as fun.

Nice work.

Posted at 2:00 pm on Oct 18th, 2009 by Spadefinger

Hey, I am glad some of you like this hack! I am not some hack with a hack. I have been building & learning about lasers for many many years now. While using high powered lasers I always wear multi-wavelength protective eye-wear to prevent accidental eye injuries. It is nice though that so many of you have made the *Blind* assumption that I am so reckless. I would hate to see any of you try and cross the street in a major metropolitan area or dare to drive a car…Might be too dangerous for you to get through the experience.

Posted at 2:16 pm on Oct 18th, 2009 by Luke

I still want to see this done with a 50W IR diode with a backpack power source and optically isolated eye gear.

http://www.bookham.com/datasheets/hpld/BAC50C-806.cfm

Screw popping balloons, I want to see some metal being cut.

Posted at 2:28 pm on Oct 18th, 2009 by Jorb

hahah i got a “laser hair removal” banner ad with this

wait what was diffusing the beam in that vid ?

Posted at 2:52 pm on Oct 18th, 2009 by tr0nk

*YAWN* I’ll be impressed when you make a laser gun that can cut someone in half.

(Just kidding…this is pretty bad ass.)

Posted at 5:47 pm on Oct 18th, 2009 by Patrick

Gives a new meaning to “You’ll put your eye out!” If it is so lethal, why doesn’t the military use this technology to blind the enemy?

The safety police on Hackaday are out in full force today! Don’t forget to wear a helmet when you go outside, a bird might fly into your eye.

Posted at 6:02 pm on Oct 18th, 2009 by gomer pyle

Dangerous for the eyes… wth? Wait, when did hackaday become a babysitter warning manual? Where’s all the fun if it’s not dangerous. Careful here, there IS a difference between danger and bare stupidity. (that’s why Darwin awards were invented)

Pretty cool hack thought… useless; but cool nonetheless

Posted at 6:29 pm on Oct 18th, 2009 by Icarus

Do you understand the significance of this?

This “Luke” person is attempting to reverse-engineer twenty-fourth century technology by using current twenty-first century materials. This is dangerous.

I’m reporting this to the Starfleet Temporal Investigations Unit.

Posted at 6:45 pm on Oct 18th, 2009 by captain

lol@captain

Posted at 7:00 pm on Oct 18th, 2009 by gomer pyle

ive been considering making a quad blu ray laser that condensed the beams to a center point and then had a 150-250(dvd burner i think) laser in the center but never had the money to do it or do it safely…

Posted at 7:13 pm on Oct 18th, 2009 by monkeyslayer56

@captain: I think you mean Starfleet Temporal Forensics Unit, also known as STFU.

j/k

Posted at 7:39 pm on Oct 18th, 2009 by ITIL Prince

Bazinga

Posted at 8:19 pm on Oct 18th, 2009 by strider_mt2k

gomer pyle
The mills dont use these because there are international laws regarding the use of such devices in combat(ie: the same laws regarding chemical/bio wepons)
Lazers are like aspestose for your lungs
fuck with it and you will suffer, its just a matter of time
(at those powers a 1/100 of a second will blind you permnatly)

And finnally
Dont look at lazer with remaining eye.

Posted at 9:09 pm on Oct 18th, 2009 by Joatmon

optical isolation! I am so glad I’m not the only one that does this in their everyday life!

Posted at 6:07 pm on Oct 19th, 2009 by Gzader

WARNING: Do not look directly into laser with remaining eye.

(not my own words, but I liked it)

Posted at 8:54 pm on Oct 19th, 2009 by gyro_john

@ITIL Prince: You are correct, sir. The STFU is no doubt investigating this “Luke” character.

@Luke: Please stop what you are doing at once! Humanity is not ready for this technology yet. Starfleet will send you to the New Zealand penal colony if you do not comply.

Posted at 7:28 am on Oct 20th, 2009 by captain

I love reading replies where everyone points out the dangers of using something new. This guy took the time to do something unique and did it successfully. And not being anything near Trekkie and finding this very interesting, I would say he did a great job. Do a search for lawn darts and see if you find a warning label before 1988. We certainly are breeding a bunch of pansies. Evolution weeds out the weak, let nature take its course.

Posted at 9:08 am on Oct 23rd, 2009 by virus

I need one of these…

…maybe I could mount it on the automated turret I’m building…

Peace,

…but not literally…

-Dr. Horrible

Posted at 1:43 pm on Oct 23rd, 2009 by Dr. Horrible