Followup on Welder from Iggy

I use #8 almost always.

Indeed, do cover up your skin when TIG welding.

i

Of course 12 is too dark. Somewhere between 7-9 is more the range for average tig welding.

Gunner

One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that "violence begets violence." I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure

- and in some cases I have - that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy.

- Jeff Cooper

Gunner fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

No, not "of course". I've never done any TIG welding. I was going on advice that apparently wasn't accurate.

The only book I have on GTAW recommends a dark shade for aluminum work, at least a #10. Ok... so it was too dark...

In an unfamiliar process, start safe, work back.

LLoyd

There were some pretty good guides available for download on the Miller site last time I looked, and of course you can spend the $5 or so and order the complete set of welding calculators (cardboard slide rule type) they have which are great for finding starting settings for a particular task.

My HF (actually Western Safety) still works, but if you look at a fluorescent bulb with it, the shading across the lens is not uniform. There are darker and lighter areas, sort of like a nebula nebula would look in b/w.

I don't know if they are all like this, or maybe I just got a bummer element.

I have no doubts as to the safety provided by the unit, but it has likely added an additional level of difficulty to my welding.

Jon

Lloyd, one thing to remember is that in a welding helmet, your eyes are always safe and protected from UV light. The shade only controls how comfortable you are and how easy it is to see what you need to see.

The more amps, the brighter the light from the arc, and the greater is a shade number.

I am almost always happy with shade number 8.

But then, I do not weld aluminum.

i

On 8/19/2012 9:08 AM, Jon Danniken wrote: ...

...

I can't bring myself to trust HF QC to that point...maybe they are ensuring the glass _always_ meets ANSI Z-spec's but I just am not that sure they care whether their vendors really do what they say they do or not in pursuit of bottom-dollar pricing...but maybe I'm just paranoid :)

--

Do you see the nebula during welding? No, I didn't think so. In that case, it doesn't, sorry.

Ignoramus3194 fired this volley in news:4fqdnWSHb9YObq3NnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

I have to disagree with that, just a LEETLE bit...

I've been stick welding for a long time. I bought an auto-darkening helmet about ten years back, and it was a boon for the quality of my work.

However, I have done day-long stints with both fixed lenses and with the auto-dark version, and I have to say that after about five hours of actual arc time, you get the "sand in the eyes" problem with the auto- dark lens that you don't get with the fixed lens.

I've been told by my Forney guy that it's because the automatic lens doesn't switch fast enough to stop all the UV, and because (despite claims to the otherwise) they permit quite a bit to penetrate until they darken.

Some pros I know won't use them at all for that reason; because they weld all day, every day.

I still use it -- no, I love it. But I know its limitations.

LLoyd

Take a look at

down in the middle to end of this webpage it shows the UV transmission of Lexan.

I think that the UV is filtered out whether the lense is open or closed. But the visible light probably causes the eye irritation. You could always add an additional lexan sheet as used to prevent the filter from being scratched and see if that makes a difference.

Five hours of just reading makes my eyes sore.

Dan

" snipped-for-privacy@krl.org" fired this volley in news:ec580156- snipped-for-privacy@j2g2000yqf.googlegroups.com:

I guess that's if the auto-dark lens is made of polycarbonate, huh?

I _know_ the face cover and back cover slips are made of acrylic (plexiglas), because that's how they're labeled as sold.

I do not know that the Liquid Crystal component is made from lexan, polycarbonate, butadiene/styrene copolymer, or pig poop. It's not documented with my helmet.

I do know that with a fixed glass lens I do not get sore eyes, and with the auto-darkening helmet I do. I also know that both provide identical side and bottom shielding (being of the same make, the only difference being the lenses).

Although I'm in my 60s, I do not get sore eyes after even ten hours of continuous reading. (not yet, anyway).

LLoyd

Gunner Asch fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Both mine have bibs, and I wear a black cotton long sleeved shirt while welding (and leather apron when necessary, but I do mostly flat work).

I've had my share of welder's tan, and don't like it.

This isn't coming in under or at the sides. I wrote a different post about comparing my two _identical_ helmets, one with auto-dark, and the other with a fixed tint lens.

LLoyd

I think all the clear plastic lens protectors are made of polycarbonate. If not they should be. Polycarbonate ( lexan ) is more scratch resistant than most plastics.

see

My brain gets sore after five hours of reading. But then I am older than you.

=20 Dan

Well "their" w/ HF is all relative. I see today they're saying "Chicago Welding" brand. W(ho)TH is Chicago Welding? Some noname Chinese importing outfit in all likelihood. One can't find a thing out about them other than HF sells stuff w/ the brand.

Who knows what spec's they actually meet and where do you go to find out?

Maybe they're as good as anybody else's but I don't have much confidence that the next one will be the same as somebody else's was.

--

It's HF's store brand, like Kirkland at Costco.

It could come from a different factory in a different province. Your confidence (such as it is) has to come from HF itself.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Nod, plastic blocks UV. Even glass does to some extent. There are flame detectors (Edison Omniguard ) that work on UV. In the explosion-proof models, the windows are quartz not glass.

I was a spectator, so don't give me crapola on this.

A few decades back a friend was trying to cut the rotted wheelwells out of a bus to patch same. I showed up around 2200 and could see the work from a quarter-mile away....

He was using a stick welder with some old theater projector carbon rods. He had on a long sleeve shirt, gloves & a regular mask with sunglasses underneath. The next day, he had sunburned lower arms and owl-eyes from facial sunburn.

David Lesher fired this volley in news:k0rtac$48b$1 @reader1.panix.com:

Gouging puts out more UV than any other operation.

In addition, even fabric has "holes" between the threads of the weave. You pump enough UV long enough, and still enough of it gets through.

LLoyd

We were going to carbon-arc cut a big turbine, so this was very relevant, thanks.

i