American Optics Weld Cool welding lens

[farmersamm]

.........................

http://books.google.com/books?id=8Cq...damage&f=false

http://www.tinmantech.com/html/tm2000.php

I've heard the same, and probably have to say I believe it. Wouldn't be any other reason these were not produced anymore.

[martinr]

Originally Posted by hobohilton

What is my eyesight worth?...


As I've said before..... Life is full of choices.

Hobo

Quite right; I couldn't agree more. The filters I mentioned are made to the European standards EN166 and EN169 governing eye protection, and product info on them can be seen at:

http://www.flachglas-uhsmannsdorf.de..._id=14&clang=1

Martin

[Spar-X]

They sent me those odd specs for the lenses 90mm x 110mm, I asked if I could get them the 4.5 x 5.25, answer was yes but price went up because it wasn't their standard size. I may take the leap and give em a try......

[martinr]

I now have the shade 12 Aulektro filter.

Here is a photo through it for comparison with that above taken through the
AO shade 12.





Martin

[Spar-X]

are those tiny dots of bright light (Star* looking) where the gold has came off?

[martinr]

Originally Posted by Spar-X

are those tiny dots of bright light (Star* looking) where the gold has came off?

Good spot! I almost wish they were: but they're dead pixels on my 12-year old 2.1MP Olympus 2100. If you have a look at the earlier photo of the sky I sent you can just see at least 2 of them in the same positions spread across the lower half.

I hope to try and get a better shot of the TIG arc with this shade 12.

Martin

[astaindsoul5446]

I like these lens, and would love to try some out. Anyone
In the us have any extras? Maybe willing to sell a couple?

[martinr]

Finally, I've managed to take a half decent photo of the TIG arc on stainless (2.5mm electrode) using a Shade 12 Aulektro gold filter. The electrode was ground tapered with a truncated end, so you will notice a tight conical inner arc coming off the truncated end, surrounded by the main section of the arc and an outer part of the arc. (Of course, you're also seeing the reflections in the molten pool and you'll notice the edge of the pool, too.)



Martin

[JoeMayo]

I would like to try a shade 9/10 also

[Spar-X]

martinr, would you say you like the shade 12 better that the 10?

[martinr]

Originally Posted by Spar-X

martinr, would you say you like the shade 12 better that the 10?

I can't say, because I haven't used the 12 in my helmet yet. My filter size is not standard: 5¼"x3", so I have to cut the glass filter to size, and then I bond it to a cut-down CR39 cover lens (and black out the extreme edges), and I haven't done so yet.

I've just received a set of gold filters from Michael Sczcepek in Germany from shade 9 to 13, and I used the 12 in front of the camera to try and get a better comparison with the photo of the AO filter early on in this thread. But I do like the more intense blue of the darker shade.

I can tell you that I have made the mistake of welding with lighter shades thinking that I would be able to see more, only to later realise that you see much less. After I discovered that, by going darker, I could see much better and see the various parts of the arc, I read that to get the correct set-up, you start dark and adjust/change filters going lighter till you find the most comfortable shade; I'd been starting at the lightest end and not going dark enough. I also discovered that with a darker shade and a calmer-looking arc, I stopped thinking I had a miniature sun at the end of the electrode, and so produced better welds. No-one tells you these very basic, and with hindsight, blindingly obvious facts, so each welder has to rediscover these basic lessons for themselves.

I'm sorry I haven't been able to give you a direct answer - and a lot of waffle - but I hope I have helped in some way.

Martin

[martinr]

Originally Posted by Spar-X

martinr, would you say you like the shade 12 better that the 10?

I've started to put together the shade 12 filter to suit my helmet; it'll take a little while, then I should be able to give you a definitive answer.

By the way, the other thing no-one tells you when you're learning to weld is how much more you see with a magnifying lens. No-one expects a watch-maker or a surgeon to work without aids to vision, no matter how good their eyes are, and calling them cheater lenses suggests real welders don't use them. Jody, in a recent video on Weldingtipsandtricks, mentioned the use of such lenses and how no-one thinks to tell you when you're learning that if you can't see what you're doing,you'll never get a decent weld.

Martin

[farmall]

"Cheaters" are great!

We stocked a bunch of them at the welding school where I worked for students to try. It paid off in reducing material waste!

You can't weld if you can't see.

Normal glasses are rarely set up for the PRECISE ranges needed by weldors! (You can ask for such a prescription, and I do, then I order online for forty bucks a pair.)

Cheater holders for large window helmets are available.

Cheaters are cheap, get a RANGE and experiment.

[martinr]

Originally Posted by farmall

"Cheaters" are great!

We stocked a bunch of them at the welding school where I worked for students to try. It paid off in reducing material waste!

You can't weld if you can't see.

Normal glasses are rarely set up for the PRECISE ranges needed by weldors! (You can ask for such a prescription, and I do, then I order online for forty bucks a pair.)

Cheater holders for large window helmets are available.

Cheaters are cheap, get a RANGE and experiment.

And I was expecting a bit of flak for my comments! Two of my tutors had never heard of a magnifying lens/cheater till I showed them mine. We, in the UK, are back in the Dark Ages when it comes to welding. At colleges here, they point to a pile of spatter-infested smoked-glass helmets that Noah threw out after he finished the Ark and tell you to pick one that fits. You've now got me wondering how much metal they'd save if they adopted your enlightened thinking.

Martin

[martinr]

Originally Posted by Spar-X

martinr, would you say you like the shade 12 better that the 10?

Firstly, I really must thank you for this question: it's forced me to think about something I would not have otherwise done so, and I've learned a valuable lesson in the process.

I constructed my shade 12 Aulektro (gold) filter/cover-lens unit and compared it to the shade 10 Aulektro (gold) I already had,

I started with a 3.2mm (1/8") E6013 stick electrode at about 115 amps DC -ve. At first I kept flipping back and forth between the 10 and the 12 and thinking "What's the difference?". In the end, I decided the difference was perhaps marginal. I noticed that the arc was marginally less bright with the 12 and I could discern better the change in intensity of the hot deposited metal behind the advancing arc. So, on reflection, I preferred the 12, but I really was surprised that the difference was not as great as I was expecting.

Then I switched to TIG; 2.5mm (3/32") 2% lanthanated electrode on mild steel - 85A DC -ve. This time the difference was more obvious. I preferred the 12. I found that with the 12 the best description of the arc is *cool blue"; consequently, and this might sound strange, but I felt much more in control than with the 10 - not that I felt out of control, but everything felt more relaxed - there's no other way to describe it. I laid down a small amount of filler wire, and the bead with the 12 was better than that with the 10 because I felt more comfortable with what I was doing.

Having learned a valuable lesson from this exercise, I'm now going to construct a shade13/cover-lens unit and see if thee's anything to be gained over the 12 under similar conditions.

In conclusion:

1. I prefer the 12 to the 10; in MMA the difference is marginal,but in TIG more definite..
2. The difference between the two shades is, surprisingly, more subtle than dramatic.
3. The more intense cool blue arc of the 12 has, if anything, a calming effect and may help in producing a better weld.

I'm really grateful for the question: it's been a valuable learning exercise for me.

Martin

[astaindsoul5446]

Who do I contact to get me some aulektro lens?

[farmall]

We need a dealer to see this thread.

They'd sell like AstroGlide in the Penn State bookstore, and a retailer could run with that ball nicely.

[astaindsoul5446]

Why have a middle man? Then the cost will just go up

[martinr]

Originally Posted by astaindsoul5446

Who do I contact to get me some aulektro lens?

I have listed the contact details of a supplier in Germany in postings numbers 18 and 20 in this forum topic. I'm not sure you'll find a supplier in the US; it took me many months and many e-mails to find the supplier in Germany after finally contacting Aulektro themselves.

My contact at Aulektro did tell me

: "unfortunately we don't have any direct partner in the USA.
Probably ROCKMAN SAFETY in Cape Coral/Florida.
www.enha.com"

Being in the UK, I had no reason to follow that up: I got my filters from Germany.

If I can be of any further help, let me know.

Martin

[farmall]

You've now got me wondering how much metal they'd save if they adopted your enlightened thinking.

We saved many full shop days of welding per student, which is many lbs of rods/filler and much plate. After the first orientation ALL the students did was weld from 0700-1730 with two 15-minute breaks and a half-hour lunch. Getting them used to this much milder version of a jobsite pace was effective.

It was a workforce training class purely directed at turning out structural and pipe entry-level welders. If you can't weld, academics won't save you. If you can weld, pass a 6G pipe test, and have a solid work ethic you can make serious money right away and learn more as you go.

Our students were often living on unemployment and couldn't afford to stock a variety of lenses and cheaters. We supplied clear cover lenses (and showed them to put one on both sides of the shaded lens), green lenses, and cheaters. We didn't measure the scrap rate per student but since I handed out the consumables and plate I saw the dramatic difference.

I watched them and stopped them if their cover lenses looked bad so we could replace them.

The hardest thing to do was convince some students they need prescription glasses. Welds don't lie, and after most of them broke down and got a good prescription they thanked us heartily!

[JoeMayo]

I would like to also get one of these. A 33yr veteran in my local has a AO I used for a min and I like it. Going to be switching to fixed shade and would like this over a athermal gold.

Farmall what school do you work at? Schedule sounds familiar to what I had.

[farmall]

The program has been closed for a while.

The location is anonymous since I might work there again one day.

[treymetrey]

You have got that right.Just how much value do you put on your eyesight. Ive been using a AO Cool Blue sine they came out in the late 1970's.I(ve got two and a solar automatic lense. I love them all I had three Cool Blues.Made the mistake of having my helper change out my dirty clear lense and he dropped and broke that cool blue.Needless to say he didnt help me long because he just plain didnt care about my tools since they were not his.I got a new helper and kept him 5 years until I helped him get rigged out his self& tested ...If we dont teach the young ones what we have learned.It dies with us and they have to go through all the hard lessons we had to learn.So I help anyone that asks..If they are really serious.
treymetrey-AKA-DOWN Arm Precisionist !:

[hog]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/American-Opt...item3ccc3d4518

[docwelder]

i'm welding more years than i care to recall and i've used lots of different filter plates, gold included. my eyes are worth plenty. i visit the ophthalmologist every 6 months due to late onset diabetes. imho there is no lens worth that much money or even close to half that amount but i do have to thank 0485 for the best laugh of the day!