auto darkening helmet failure.

If there were you would most likely know it already since it was yesterday that it happened. You would have had difficulty sleeping because your eyes would feel like they were full of sand.

According to everything I've been able to find on the subject, if your helmet conforms to ANSI Z87.1-1989 standards (I haven't found one yet that isn't) it is the equivalent to a #14 filter for UV and IR even when not darkened.

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

I once did this in the late 80s when I was doing a lot of wrought iron. I put two lenses in a hood, one a #10, and the other a #6. The six was on bottom. By raising and lowering my head, I could weld repeatedly without having to raise the hood.

Probably wasn't the safest thing, but, I figured the light was never (well, once in a while) coming through the six directly into my eyes.

Comments? Thinking of doing it again as my NexGen was stolen.

Steve

The conclusion that I come to after reading your post is that the filter for UV is most likely #14 equivalent and unlikely to allow eye damage from UV. Correct?

No eye pain and no sand. I am sure glad that the helmet default #4 level and the UV filter protected me. I was very close up to the arc.

Is discomfort due to brightness the only thing that happens when the ADH fails?

Steve,

I wear trifocals and your 6/10 helmet sounds like a bifocal.

Seems like a reasonable and practical idea to me.

Correct.

I believe the same thing is true for safety glasses which meet the same ANSI standards. I work with my son a lot and he has a bad habit of welding without warning me so I get flashed occasionally. I always wear safety glasses and have yet to burn my eyes... but I'm not going to stare at the arc just to prove a point. :-)

That's the way I understand it. The filter adjustment is more of a comfort level adjustment than for safety.

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

- "BoyntonStu" - spluttered in news: snipped-for-privacy@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Glass (not plastic) will protect your eyes from flash. I can't tell you where, but it's in a manual somewhere. ;)

Please explain how you mounted the lenses. Did they overlap or were they adjacent?

I believe that you really have a good idea here.

#6 will certainly be safer than a #0 with a flip down mask.

There once was an aircraft carrier landing system that had the pilot fly down the line between 2 colored light beams.

Here's more information about auto-darkening hoods:

Jim