What if an auto darkening helmet malfunctions

No, you just get a bright flash, instinctively close your eyes, and stop the arc. No big deal. You might recall that these helmets are at a nominal grade 3 (?) even when off...

"Emmo" wrote in news:QoB_e.30093$ snipped-for-privacy@tornado.texas.rr.com:

You would not get any UV if thats your concern. The helmet would malfunction if the sensors gets blocked by something, so I assume it happens now and then. Henning

The automatic shutter is to control the brightness, not the UV. Much of the UV screening is from the glass itself and that's permanent.

If you break it, it will usually fail dark. The "light" filter is also some protection itself. A quick glimpse of the arc is still less trouble than a bare sight of the arc and we all get those often enough without too much hazard.

If you drop it, the auto filters are mechanically a bit stronger than the plain glass ones. I've broken old plain ones before, but still haven't smashed the front of an auto.

No worse that the few times you forget to drop the lid and think "Gee that was painfully stupid of me" Prepare for 48 hrs of scratchy, itchy burning eyes and Visene does not really help... Been there, done it, got the pin.

Rob

Fraser Competition Engines Chicago, IL. Long Beach, CA.

I am by no means an expert but the way I understand it any autodarkening lens which meets the ANSI Z87.1-1989 standard (and most if not all of them do) is the equivalent to a #14 filter for UV and Infrared even when it is off so you get dazzled but nothing more.

BTW, my son has managed to burn his eyes a couple of times and the doctor assured us that there would be no permanent damage. It feels like you have sand in your eyes because they are basically sunburned. They put in drops that killed the pain instantly but only for a short time and they wouldn't let him continue to use them. Instead they told him to take Motrin and it helped enough for him to sleep that night. :-/

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

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

Very interesting. I want to thank everyone for great answers.

If for some reason it took you a bit to realise that it didn't darken you could burn your eyes. A typical eye burn would feel a lot like sand in the eye's. As mentioned not nice.

OT Way back in trade school, one of the trainee mechanics got a flash, and complained about sand-eyes. Instructer told him to put a couple of tea bags on his eyelids when he went home. Came in the next day, and claimed it didn't help a bit. Seems it was necessary to tell him to use WET teabags.

I've forgotten to turn mine on a few times when watching and talking to another weldor, and the effect was less than glancing at the sun or having a retinal scan done.

jw

True story:

When I was in auto mechanic trade school, the welding class was right across the hall. This was mid 70s. Two guys are oxy welding steel in booths beside each other. One of them popped and a spark set his considerable afro on fire. He didn't know it and kept welding. His buddy noticed and started hitting him over the head with his cap to put it out. The guy whose head was on fire thought he wanted to fight and was preparing to give him a good one. The friend said "Man, your head is on fire!". He ran and stuck his head in the water fountain. He came back and said "Thanks, man. That could have burnt my brains out."

-- Jack

Rod: No Sir. This was discussed a year or two ago where Mike Graham, this NG's (teddy bear), informed us that they sell clear safety glasses that will block 100% of UV.

The different shades for arc welding are for comfort. If you see spots, move up a shade, etc. If you can't see very well, move down a shade, etc.

Rod Ryker... The intricacies of nature is man's cannon fodder.