1 Look directly down the laser
Some people out of curiosity, trying to fix a fault or just out of sheer stupidity will look down a laser into the lens where the laser beam comes out. I don't care whether your finger is off the on button, you've taken the batteries out or if the guts of laser are spread all over your work bench, you NEVER look down a laser. You would never look down the barrel of a rifle and in the same way you should never look down the laser.
Most eye injuries with portable lasers have occurred when some one was looking down their laser thinking it was safe. A classic case was when a laser enthusiast looked down their laser when cleaning the lens only to realize too late that they forgot to take the batteries out. That person now has a permanent blind spot in their eye.
2 Point the laser at aircraft
This looks like a very obvious not to do with a laser but judging from the amount of people out there pointing lasers at aircraft, it is not obvious enough.
Apart from the safety and hazard issues involved, pointing lasers at aircraft is a federal offence in just about every country. So if you want to end up in federal penitentiary breaking rocks for the next 10 to 20 years, please go ahead and be my guest.
If there is one thing that sensible laser enthusiasts hate, it is people who point lasers at aircraft. Not only is it dangerous and incredibly stupid, it is also responsible for over regulating portable lasers to a point where the hobby may not have a legal future.
3 Point the laser at people
Another obvious "not to do with a laser" that too many people out there don't seem to understand. High power lasers are dangerous to your eyes so if you point a laser at some one, there is a chance you will injure their eyes. It is that simple.
Sure you might just be pointing the 500mW laser pointer that can light cigars at their hand, the back of their head or on the bridge of their nose where every one knows is safe. What happens though if they move, your hand slips, some one bumps you or any one the many things that can go wrong do go wrong? What happens is in that one split second you are responsible for that person losing partial to complete vision in that eye.
4 Use the wrong equipment or method to clean the lens
The most common cause for damage to laser pointers and even laser modules (apart from being dropped) is people clean the lens incorrectly. The lens in lasers is a precise and delicate optics that is easily damaged so great care needs to be taken when cleaning them. There are a lot of methods for cleaning lens ranging from tissues and t-shirts to microfiber and lens pens.
The only completely safe methods of cleaning laser lens is to gently blow compressed air on the lens and to use professional optics cleaning tools such as lens pens. If you do use some material such as cotton buds, make sure you also use a fluid such as lens cleaning fluid. Cleaning the lens when they are dry will just cause dust on the lens to scratch them.
5 Modify lasers
Modifying a laser is when you use one of several methods to increase the power to the laser diode so the laser beam has more power. All lasers, whether they are laser pointers or laser modules can be modified and it sounds like a very cheap way to get a high power laser.
The problem with modifying lasers is that lasers are not designed to handle the increased power levels and modifying them will normally damage or destroy the lasers in a matter of minutes. If you don't mind ruining your laser or you are interesting in modifying your laser as an experiment, go ahead. If on the other hand you've spent several hundred hard earned dollars to buy your laser, leave it as it is.
Click here for Laser Safety Glasses
Frank is from Dragonlasers - No 1 for Laser Modules , Portable Lasers & Laser Safety Glasses
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