more_vampires
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2014
- Messages
- 3,475
So we were discussing how to protect ourselves from UV curing light while attaching tritium vials to flashlights with Norland 61 adhesive.
This is what happened:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?408696-UV-Glasses-for-Mc-Gizmo-UV-lights
The reason I'm posting this is there may be a flaw in my understanding. Wouldn't be the first time. This is also an important safety issue.
Warning, MASSIVE walls of text and tons of links and SCIENCE in the above thread. Might break out the big screen and a real web browser to read.
So, anyone want to talk about UV and UV protection? The baseline is pretty well covered in the above link.
If you want to just read the summary, here it is.
Never look directly in any UV emitter, never ever hold one directly up to your eye. There's a link in that thread to a medical experiment that caused damage with a miniscule .85 milliwatts with super tight focus at close range. This is the equivalent of holding the light directly to your eye. Never do that, it takes almost no energy to cause damage under that condition. This is an example of direct exposure. Indirect exposure is when you see the light reflected off of an object. Objects with high reflectivity are more dangerous.
There's a link to a medical experiment where 40 days after the exposure, the damage was still there. The threat is real, the damage long term. It's like a cumulative sunburn inside your eyes.
It doesn't matter if it's an led or laser, there's a link to a medical experiment on that as well.
No protective eye wear is good for all wavelengths, except maybe lead but now you can't see. No protective eye wear covers all possible intensities of the wavelengths that they protect against, not even lead.
Forget about sunglasses for protection from UV light. Many makers lie and say it "blocks 100% of all UV," but won't tell you at what intensity. Also, due to the visible light OD (optical density,) it dilates your pupils and makes you more vulnerable to what slips through.
In the above linked thread, we encountered an instance of a customer service rep selling UV glasses who didn't understand what he was saying. That's dangerous.
Above all, don't buy the wrong protective gear! You'll have a false sense of protection and you're going to hurt yourself.
We covered the symptoms of UV exposure and what it can do to your body, from cataracts to the actual destruction of your DNA. Different flavors of ultraviolet light (UV-A, UV-B, UV-C) destroy your eyes in slightly different ways.
Stay safe, friends! All in a day's work for your friendly neighborhood vampire.
Disclaimer: I'm a bit UV sensitive.
Ultraviolet light is dangerous. See, she's wearing eye protection for that flashlight.
This is what happened:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?408696-UV-Glasses-for-Mc-Gizmo-UV-lights
The reason I'm posting this is there may be a flaw in my understanding. Wouldn't be the first time. This is also an important safety issue.
Warning, MASSIVE walls of text and tons of links and SCIENCE in the above thread. Might break out the big screen and a real web browser to read.
So, anyone want to talk about UV and UV protection? The baseline is pretty well covered in the above link.
If you want to just read the summary, here it is.
Never look directly in any UV emitter, never ever hold one directly up to your eye. There's a link in that thread to a medical experiment that caused damage with a miniscule .85 milliwatts with super tight focus at close range. This is the equivalent of holding the light directly to your eye. Never do that, it takes almost no energy to cause damage under that condition. This is an example of direct exposure. Indirect exposure is when you see the light reflected off of an object. Objects with high reflectivity are more dangerous.
There's a link to a medical experiment where 40 days after the exposure, the damage was still there. The threat is real, the damage long term. It's like a cumulative sunburn inside your eyes.
It doesn't matter if it's an led or laser, there's a link to a medical experiment on that as well.
No protective eye wear is good for all wavelengths, except maybe lead but now you can't see. No protective eye wear covers all possible intensities of the wavelengths that they protect against, not even lead.
Forget about sunglasses for protection from UV light. Many makers lie and say it "blocks 100% of all UV," but won't tell you at what intensity. Also, due to the visible light OD (optical density,) it dilates your pupils and makes you more vulnerable to what slips through.
In the above linked thread, we encountered an instance of a customer service rep selling UV glasses who didn't understand what he was saying. That's dangerous.
Above all, don't buy the wrong protective gear! You'll have a false sense of protection and you're going to hurt yourself.
We covered the symptoms of UV exposure and what it can do to your body, from cataracts to the actual destruction of your DNA. Different flavors of ultraviolet light (UV-A, UV-B, UV-C) destroy your eyes in slightly different ways.
Stay safe, friends! All in a day's work for your friendly neighborhood vampire.
Disclaimer: I'm a bit UV sensitive.
Ultraviolet light is dangerous. See, she's wearing eye protection for that flashlight.
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