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« on: February 14, 2018, 05:27:35 AM »
Because the wavelength of the laser beam is different between CO2 and Diode lasers the effect of a minor, accidental, exposure to the eyes is also different. A CO2 laser will cause damage to the cornea (similar to welders arc-eye) and this may be repairable whereas a Diode laser beam will travel through the Cornea and be focussed by the lens onto the Retina which may not be repairable. I am extremely happy to use a CO2 laser with just standard eye protection but when I use a diode laser I always wear the full goggles with an OD 4+ rating to match the wavelength of the diode.
Having said that and much to my suprise, there have been extremely few, genuine, reported cases of eye damage caused by lasers.
When I started this thread Diode lasers with enough power to do anything useful where rare and extremely expensive. Nowadays, since the advent of blue-ray players and recorders, the diode price has fallen and they now offer a much cheaper and easier entry into laser work as compared to CO2. However, you must consider the type of work you wish to do as the wavelength of the laser will determine its action / reaction upon different materials.
I have and use 3 different types of laser – Diode, RF excited CO2 and DC excited CO2 and they each have their own strong and weak points. The only thing I can suggest is that you read-up as much as you can before making the decision.
Tweakie.
(the post edit function was being abused so the function has been time limited)
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