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Can't see enough when welding

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#21 ·
Dee_veloper said:
Maybe highlight the weld line with a paint marker....
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I wouldn't recommend a paint marker. It might end up in the weld. They make welder pencils that are specifically for this. I don't know if they are just called silver streak pencils or if that is the brand name, but it's a silver pencil. It doesn't burn away or rub off easy like soap stone, and it's luminescent so it lights up from the arc or torch flame. So you can draw your reference line and just follow that while welding.
 
#22 ·
As we age the ability of muscles to squeeze the eyeball fails. The eye doctor can maintain perfect focus, but like a camera, it is limited to a specific distance. In my case, problems with focus other than one spot in the center of the glasses lens was cured with contact lenses. It was a miracle for me. Focus is good even peripheral now. As I age the reader glasses become more important. Safety glasses are a problem. All I can find is the bifocals with a tiny spot of magnifier in the very bottom of the lens. They don't work. I have to lift them to see through it. Whole lens magnifiers must be removed to climb down a ladder.

I use both cheater magnifiers pretty weak, and because less light needs more magnification, a cheater lens in the helmet. I'm not as close as Terry, but get close. Light over each shoulder is a big help. Keep it outboard of the back of the helmet.
 
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#23 ·
"shovelon," regarding your "welder" and "weldor," I once put the latter on an employment application and got chewed out for not correcting my spelling. I rather enjoyed correcting the HR person (but of course didn't get the job). Later I decided that while "weldor" might be correct, insisting on it is pedantic, and I never use it anymore.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Trouble with cheaters is that they add an extra lens element that can fog up . . . usually UNDER the cheater, so you have to get it out to wipe it off, after which it might fog up again. Repeatedly. Glasses fog too, but they're quicker to wipe off.

If I drive somewhere to weld, when I've parked I will sometimes raise the hood of the vehicle and place my helmet and gas-goggles in a warm place above the engine. If you have everything warm, it won't fog. Of course, it's better not to overcook the fancy electronics . . .

"shovelon," regarding your "welder" and "weldor," I once put the latter on an employment application and got chewed out for not correcting my spelling. I rather enjoyed correcting the HR person (but of course didn't get the job). Later I decided that while "weldor" might be correct, insisting on it is pedantic, and I never use it anymore.

But I can still be pedantic, LOL: 1) Willie, the problem with old eyes isn't so much the muscles as the lens they act upon, which starts life very soft and flexible but in old age has become like a rubber pea you could bounce on the table. 2) JD1, photographers will tell you Japan makes some of the world's best optics. Don't confuse the Japanese, who are perfectionists and want to be proud of their company and their products, with the Chinese, who prefer to make a lot of money with minimal overhead and trouble. Of course, if the Chinese discover they can make more money with better quality, they will accept that and go with it. What else do y'all wanta know?
 
#26 ·
The thing that's been causing me the most difficulty seeing what I'm doing clearly the last couple of years is oxy-fuel cutting. I definetly need to see if I can't make some improvements to my cutting goggles. I've always just used a green glass shade 5 for cutting but that's not working so good for me any more. Any one have any suggestions?
 
#27 ·
HT2-4956 said:
The thing that's been causing me the most difficulty seeing what I'm doing clearly the last couple of years is oxy-fuel cutting. I definetly need to see if I can't make some improvements to my cutting goggles. I've always just used a green glass shade 5 for cutting but that's not working so good for me any more. Any one have any suggestions?
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ht2; i use a shade #5 also but use a full face shield. i gave up the goggles about the time i started needing glasses.
 
#30 · (Edited)
Interesting link, "akphill;" have you tried one? Sometimes those alternative shades do help, especially for particular tasks. When I was learning to gas-weld aluminum the old instructor loaned me a set of goggles with the cobalt blue lenses, and it made that work a good deal easier.
 
#31 ·
I struggle with the same thing. In addition to what was already said, I found that the quality of the lens makes a huge difference. I use the larger lens with the gold mirror front to reflect some of the light from the arc. I had a problem with a Weldmark lens because it scattered the light. The arc looked more like bright blur instead of a point light source. A similar lens made by Harris had no scattering so it was easier to see the arc. Check out this post for more information.

htt://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?582481-Seeing-the-MIG-Joint-When-it-is-Under-the-Nozzle&highlight=

Don
 
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#33 ·
old jupiter said:
Interesting link, "akphill;" have you tried one? Sometimes those alternative shades do help, especially for particular tasks. When I was learning to gas-weld aluminum the old instructor loaned me a set of goggles with the cobalt blue lenses, and it made that work a good deal easier.
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Jupiter,

I've been wanting to try that cobalt blue filter for some time. I just haven't been able to talk my inner Scotsman into letting me spend that much coin on a small piece of plastic.

Another one I'd like to try is the magenta filter. But it's even more spendy at $80.

http://www.phillips-safety.com/weld...op-in-lenses/super-magenta-drop-in-welding-lens-small-2-x-4-25-wld-smd-wfs.html
 
#34 ·
don't know how much I can contribute to this. I'm 58y/o and just started welding as a hobby a few months ago. was also having a hard time seeing what I was welding. tried some of the advice given on this forum, wearing eye glasses, putting a light on the work piece etc.. improved a little. found a deal on a passive welding helmet recently, purchased it, and along with the other aids, I can finally see what I'm welding. the original helmet I was using was a harbor freight auto darkening helmet which had a green tinted lens.
 
#35 ·
different welding rod types give different light. 6011 and 6013 is easier to see if holding a one rod dia arc length (1/8 long arc for 1/8 rod). 7018 seems brighter but shorter arc length often nearby area does not have much arc light to see. if you drag rod or minimum arc length often there is less arc light to see
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i often switch from 10 to 11 to 12 depending on rod type and amperages. obviously burning 5/32 7018 at 190 amps gives more brighter light than 3/32 6011 at 60 amps
 
#36 · (Edited)
"Bikercat," being able to SEE enough of what's going on is a bigger part of "learning to weld" than is fully appreciated. Seeing is not just a matter of helmets and lenses and lights; it's also a learned skill with multiple dimensions. We're taught early-on how to watch both the arc and the trailing puddle, but actually SEEing these points can be a real problem just depending on which direction you are welding. You could have to watch from in front of or behind the advancing bead as it proceeds left or right, toward you or away, up or down, . . . or down in a hole where you can hardly reach, or over your head in any direction!! Even when you can weld in any direction with either hand (an essential skill), lots of times you can't get your head/helmet in the place that gives you the best view, and have to settle for a bad view and doing the weld by "feel" and a sense of timing, meaning by previous experience with good welds that you COULD see properly. All of the ideas presented here so far are for giving uexpers the best chance of being able to see the arc/puddle, of controlling what we can control and getting the odds as much in our favor as possible. But even having done that, very often we all will still have to rely on experience, feel, timing, and even luck in order to make a weld.
 
#37 ·
" old jupiter," I know that I don't have the experience that you or many of the others on this forum have. I was just passing on some of the info that was given to me and my own recent experience. I'm sure that the op has more experience than I do, but failing eyes due to age is something that affects all of us at some point.
 
#38 ·
I've used a ton of Harbor freight hoods that the students bring to class and the optics on them suck. I'm using their hood so that they can see what quality optics are like using mine. Bikercat you are right, my fixed shade Jackson hood is every bit as clear and has optics at least, if not better than my $300 Miller AD. I have no problem loaning out my Miller 1st night of class if need be to someone who doesn't have a hood yet and using my Jackson. I do warn the students not to expect that kind of optical clarity if they buy a cheap hood though.

I think poor optics from HF hoods limits what many of the students can learn on average simply because they can't see well.
 
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Brad Hodges
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