Eyes are fragile things. They tend to fail under extreme heat, pressure, and are easily damaged by flying objects. Enterprising humans have developed a wide range of eye protection solutions, but most only work when the user remembers to put them on. [gocivici] had just such a problem, forgetting to put his safety glasses back on when working. Naturally, the solution was found through hacking.
The build starts with a regular baseball cap. [gocivici] fitted an Arduino nano, which is connected to a small microphone. The Arduino uses the microphone to determine the sound level in the room. Above a certain trigger level, the Arduino triggers a servo to move protective glasses into place in front of the wearer’s eyes, protecting them from flying shrapnel from whatever they may be working on.
It’s a fun build, that obviously still has the pitfall that you’re going to get hurt if you forget to wear your magic hat for the day. Another approach could be putting your multimeter display in your goggles so you never want to take them off in the first place. Video after the break.
Eye protection I got covered, hearing protection is the elephant in the room for me. It’s amazing just how many tools are loud enough to do permanent damage to your hearing, not all of it instantly but just prolonged exposure of some everyday stuff can do ya in.
I used to work at a small airport but still had bigger jets, and my bad habit was never wearing around running aircraft. Then perviously before and during that was a drummer in a touring bands for years and never wore ear protection. I’m 34 and my hearing is shot
I solved this problem by buying a pair of safety glasses that fit perfectly/comfortably and then got in to the habit of always putting them on before doing any work in the garage/shop. I wear a style called Flight from Gateway Safety, http://gatewaysafety.com/products/eye/flight/ , and I love them. I have 3 pairs, 2 clear and 1 blue mirror, all less than $10 each on Amazon. I wear the blue mirror lenses when working outside in sunshine so it’s like wearing safety sunglasses. I tried about a dozen other styles of safety glasses before I found these.
i usually just squint.
I like to turn my head away slightly so that I only risk losing one eye.
i could use the tax deduction.
Won’t help when working with glues…and you’d be surprised how far super glue can spray when gently piercing a tube. I was.
I too have known the sting of super glue to the eye. Scary
Before I learned the actual curing mechanism behind CA glue, I once tried to speed things up with a heat gun. I ended vaporizing a large amount of glue and didn’t realize what was going on until I felt my contacts tack up and saw them get get cloudy…very scary indeed.
I also got a single drop of ATF in my eye once and watched my contact dissolve as I screamed in pain. I ended up recovering a tiny ring of contact material from under my eyelid after I flushed it with water. That was truly horrifying, I fully expected to go blind.
Blowing on the ca glue with a hot air gun with the heater switched off seems to really speed it up for me. I guess it provides more moist air?
Just breathe on it.
I wore safety glasses all the time until a 1/4 thick piece of lumber flew off from a table saw and pierced my nose. Had to pull it out from my nostril. It wasn’t that painful however now I wear a full face shield.
With safety glasses too I hope. Most face shields are meant to be worn with them in order to do the job.
I did not know that….will wear both thanks.
Interesting but I wouldn’t rely on eye active protection technology to always work, 100% of the time.
I had a top-quality swedish-made welding helmet that auto-darkened, but unbelievably this stopped working after leaving it out in the sun. Maybe it never gets hot in in Sweden but it sure does here in Oz, …who would think some sun would affter a welding helmet.
Some years ago I had a piece of angle grinder git go underneath the bottom edge of my safety glases and get embedded in my eyeball. Having it dug out in hospital was one of the most unpleasant experiences I’ve had in my life. My glasses had been pushed slightly up by my earmuff headband, leaving the gap. These days I prefer to wear a full face safety shield when grinding, but I also have better earmuffs that don’t have a top headband but instead have a spring wire frame that goes around the back of the neck.
I don’t use grinders and it’s ilk very often and I don’t have a face shield. So I put on my old full face motorcycle helmet. It’s okay, I can’t hear anyone mock me with that thing on.
Douglas Adams would be proud. Someone has invented peril sensitive glasses!
He just needs to paint them black, then.
If you keep forgetting your safety glasses, you may need to re-evaluate your attitude towards safety.
This is one area that people that were glasses come a head and loose.
1st We are use to wearing glasses.
2nd Even if we don’t get safety glasses, we are ahead a bit with about 60% coverage and protection.
3rd It cost us Glasses wearing people $150 – $350 depending what is required. ( we loose on this one )
For me I have to have 4 lenses. 1st main lens. Then a top bifocal, and two bottom lenses.
And I have to play that out of my pocket every 2 years. and every one else gets free glasses at work.
Then When my safety glasses work and get broken or damaged I have to fight with my teeth showing to get them fixed.
But a normal person has to just ask and they are given a new par.
I know I changed the subject here. The main thing is you have to have safety glasses and ear protection and Hard hat and gloves if needed.
You should have these Items And they could save your life one day…..
And they usually protect you when you don’t know it.
That‘s why contacts are great! Fortunately, I don‘t need multifocals yet, but there are great contact lens solutions for that, too!