Hacker News Reader

Comment by heeton | Hacker News Reader

I have one on my desk as part of a laser cutter that cost less than $200 in total.

If your claimed laser actually could zap a small beetle in under a second, then it's not legal to sell as part of a consumer product in Canada or the US without expensive interlocks and so on.

There are nonetheless lots of shady ways to buy these types of lasers without the necessary safety controls, but there also lots of shady ways to buy even more dangerous things such as landmines, dynamite, etc.

> There are nonetheless lots of shady ways to buy these types of lasers without the necessary safety controls, but there also lots of shady ways to buy even more dangerous things such as landmines, dynamite, etc.

I've never seen landmines or dynamite on AliExpress.

Somewhere deep in China: "Challenge accepted!"

Interlocks aren't necessarily expensive. It could be as simple as a switch on the door.

If the interlock fails and someone is permanently blinded, who will be bearing the costs of the inevitable multi million dollar lawsuit?

I can't see anyone other than the manufacturer doing so. So a $10 interlock in terms of hardware cost becomes a $10 000 interlock in terms of total costs.

Not really. That's what liability insurance is for. In order to be in business, the manufacturer has to have business insurance which covers these sorts of things.

Equating the cost of the interlock to the quality of its performance doesn't hold up. I suspect that your experience is from automation where things like laser light curtains and lidar sensors are common (and expensive). On things like a Haas milling machine the door switch interlock is $400-$1200 (https://parts.haascnc.com/haasparts/en/USD/search?q=*:*:allC...)

So in the case of a $400 laser etcher from China being sold on Amazon, they need to spend less money on their switch than Haas does. The nice thing is that the switches for Haas need to be waterproof, etc. as they get coolant and oil sprayed on them all day. In the laser cutter it's different, so they can use a less expensive more appropriate part.

The right part for the job it seems, more expensive isn't always better (or safer).

The Haas milling machine is a good example, this is an interlock for nearly ideally controlled conditions and the costs are still sizeable. Imagine for a completely uncontrolled outdoor environment, such as the entrance of a beehive, how much more expensive it would have to be.

Something this: https://www.amazon.com/Slamtec-RPLIDAR-Scanning-Avoidance-Na...

You linked to a small LIDAR? What relation does it have to interlocks for laser?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com