......................................................................................................................................................
"What's in the box?"
"Pain." He felt increased tingling in his hand, pressed his lips tightly together. How could this be a test? he wondered. The tingling became an itch... The itch became the faintest burning... It mounted slowly: heat upon heat upon heat... . The burning! The burning! He thought he could feel skin curling black on that agonized hand, the flesh crisping and dropping away until only charred bones remained.
This excerpt from Dune exactly describes the feeling of getting a tattoo burned into skin using a laser cutter; however, this is just the feeling. When sight, smell, and sound are added, the process turns out to be quite an experience.
The sound by itself (meaning no body parts in the cutter), is probably the easiest thing to deal with. It is just the normal whine of gears, belts and cooling fans. When that sound is mixed in with the sensation of burning flesh, it turns the laser cutter from a simple machine shop tool to a futuristic torture device.
The sight is not too bad, just a light tracing its way back and fourth across the body. As long as you don't think about the fact that the small wisp of smoke trailing the light, is actually vaporized skin, everything will be fine.
The smell is bad. It does not travel far, but when you catch a whiff of the burnt flesh stench, it is quite nauseating. The thought that you have just inhaled some of those vaporized skin flakes, and they have settled on the bottom of your lungs, is the worst.
I am leaving a disclaimer out of this, because any person with access to a laser cutter who is dumb enough to try this, deserves what they get.
"What's in the box?"
"Pain." He felt increased tingling in his hand, pressed his lips tightly together. How could this be a test? he wondered. The tingling became an itch... The itch became the faintest burning... It mounted slowly: heat upon heat upon heat... . The burning! The burning! He thought he could feel skin curling black on that agonized hand, the flesh crisping and dropping away until only charred bones remained.
This excerpt from Dune exactly describes the feeling of getting a tattoo burned into skin using a laser cutter; however, this is just the feeling. When sight, smell, and sound are added, the process turns out to be quite an experience.
The sound by itself (meaning no body parts in the cutter), is probably the easiest thing to deal with. It is just the normal whine of gears, belts and cooling fans. When that sound is mixed in with the sensation of burning flesh, it turns the laser cutter from a simple machine shop tool to a futuristic torture device.
The sight is not too bad, just a light tracing its way back and fourth across the body. As long as you don't think about the fact that the small wisp of smoke trailing the light, is actually vaporized skin, everything will be fine.
The smell is bad. It does not travel far, but when you catch a whiff of the burnt flesh stench, it is quite nauseating. The thought that you have just inhaled some of those vaporized skin flakes, and they have settled on the bottom of your lungs, is the worst.
I am leaving a disclaimer out of this, because any person with access to a laser cutter who is dumb enough to try this, deserves what they get.
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Sorry.
Being ignorant does not mean others are too, these guys may very well know exactly what they are doing - though I kind of doubt it, so in a sense I agree with you about the being idiots part, although i'd probably use the words "a bit stupid".
In any case it's not your place to tell people what they should or should not do, although I share your concern about doing potentially dangerous things without knowing what you are getting into. Taking risks though, is part of living a fulfilling life. Mostly it works out, sometimes things go wrong. This can be said about alot of things - even something as simple as crossing the street or driving a car is associated with a calculated risk you decide to take.
I am interested in trying this even though I'm not a huge fan of tattoos but I chose to consult with a dermatologist first and found that the CO2 lasers used in these machines are often 10.600nm infrared light - exactly the same frequency used in surgical laser knives. They have no known side effects and as such, this method of branding is very safe aside from whats blatantly obvious - pain, risk of infection, etc. Actually, it may very well be one of the safest methods of marking your body "available" to date.
I do however feel it is not very constructive to call people idiots and I'd say that's a danger - if you have something important to say, this is not the way to get it through except to people who already feel as you do.
Also we obviously have differing opinions about what a child is. I see a young man taking risks, which according to me is an integral part of growing up. I've never enjoyed overly protective environments as they tend to hinder personal development, again - imho.
:[
Yes, skin is conductive enough.
> Pshh try tattooing with an arc welder then come talk to me
I'd advise against it, unless you'd like to look like this:
http://itdnhr.com/static/itdnhr-2007.jpg.
Plasma cutter accident. Lost a good chunk of my left hand.
HaD skull and crossbones?
picture of the laser cutter?
some random xkcd characters?
What is happening to the world?