eye protection when forge welding, help

B . Buxton

B . Buxton

Joined
Jul 8, 2001
Messages
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I could really use you alls help in finding what works best for you in eye protection when forge welding. I wear glasses so I would like to find something in the lines of a half face shield, you know just enough shield to come down below my glasses, that is worn on a head piece like a regular face shield that I could flip up when not needed. I was told that propane forges don't put out enough if any IR rays to worry about ,so I guess it would just need to be a good uv protector, and if IR protection was included that would be alright too, but I am wanting something with more coverage then eye glass flip ups.
I've tried several types of goggles,(big enough to go over glasses) and there great when you peak into the forge but as soon as you take the piece out to forge on, there so dark you can't see without taking them off, and then if you try to do anything else while the piece is coming up to heat again, you can see to do it. They have to make something like I'm looking for but for the life of me I can't find it. Any help and suggestions would be appreciated.
Also what color and # of shade lens do you think are the best for forge welding.

Thanks
Bill
 
Hey Bill try a full face shield sold at welding supply shop's . they have clear and dark . i dought one once but am too stubborn to use it . i would get a "Flip up" type so if you want you can flip it out of the way . just my 2 cent's
 
Bill,

I also wear glasses and have ran into the same problem that you are experiencing. What I did was to get one of the full face sheilds that you would use for grinding and had the welding supply guys order me in a #3 shade shield for it. I use it whole and just flip up the shield when I don't want to look through the shade. The material that it is made of is just lexan and if you want you could cut it in half. I kind of get used to looking through it and find that I don't flip up the shield very much. let me know if you have trouble finding what you need.
 
Bill, there was a big thread on this subject at CKD. I thought I had a link to the type of glass they were talking about, but can't find it. A search over there would probably turn it up. Tom Ferry was involved in it also, so he would know, if you run into him.:)
 
Probably dydidium, or however it's spelled. Usually used for glass blowing, and it's what Hrisoulas reccomends in his books and what I use. My glasses were $40 from Centaur Forge and have served me well for around 5 years now. I had to remove the side screens to get them to fit over my prescription glasses, though.
 
Thanks Guys, yeah Bill thats what I was looking for, and was hoping someone would know where I could order 1 online. This back water welding shop around here doesn't handle much of anything, but I'll go back tomorrow and see if they can order me one. I feel it will be a lot more confortable then goggles hats for sure.

Thanks again

Bill
 
Hey Bill, if you find anything good please let us know. The last time I checked dydidium (or whatever) they were $90.00, just for the covers that go over safety glasses.
 
Have got a pair of perscription didymiums(sp), but prefer to use out fielders cap/ with flip ups. The perscription didymiums are expensive, thank you VA.
Ken
 
J. I heading off to the welding shop in just a few minutes, I really think the face shield would be ideal sense I already wear glasses. A person needs something big enough to look though that is easily removed when not needed, with out fighting something on and off over eye glasses. These goggles are such a pain I don't use them all the time and thats not good. I'll let you know what I find out.

Hey Shemp, Where have you been, I've been missing your sorry butt on pal talk. :D

Thanks Guys,

Bill
 
I had a pair of dydidium from Centaur Forge, they lasted about two weeks until the arm broke off of it. The ones I got had plastic hinges instead of real ones.

But anyway, I didnt like the way they changed the color of what I was looking at. I just use a pair of clear safety glasses right now, I don't even think they protect against UV. But at least they keep the slag and flux out.
 
OK Guys, this is what I found out at the welding supply shop. They didn't have a #3 shade face shield but they called and ordered me one. The guy in the shop said he's done a lot of cutting with a torch and he used #3 lens in his goggles, said he hadn't noticed any eye damage or discomfort in yrs. of cutting so he figured #3 face shield should work good for forge welding. It also said in the catalog we were ordering from that 3-7 shades were good for gas welding and cutting, so I hope this will give ample protection. Also said protects against IR and UV rays. This is all I know about the subject, so if you decide to try one of these shields too, be sure and use your own judgement, its like a feller said over on another thread, there your eyes and your responsiblity.
I sure hope this works, wearing eyeglasses and goggles are a pain.
The cost of the face shield and head gear to mount it to was $26.
Another thing, brand name on the shield was Jackson, so if a person does a search, he might get more info about them.

Bill
 
if you're willing to spend that much, you can use one of those electronic full face masks, you turn it on and just let it do the work, in normal light, you can see everything but when more light starts passing through it, it adjusts and the lens gets darker. it happens instantly so your eyes wont need to adjust. the one i'm using at school (welding shop) costs about $200(paid for by the school). im sure there are cheaper or more expensive ones out there. its never gone bad on me and i would recommend it to anyone who needs to see varying levels of light instantly.
 
I've got a Jackson Shadow sheild from when I was at the welding shop. Great sheild, nice and light but, I think it was a #10 plate. Maybe I'll get a #3.
Kenster, when I was welding, those auto adjust sheilds had just started coming out. Alot of guys tried them since they hated constantly flipping the sheild up and down. The problem was when you were working hard and sweating, the sweat would drip onto the photo plate and eventually eat into it ruining the plate. Is that still the case, or have they gotten better?
 
to tell the truth, i wouldn't know, none of my welding so far has exceeded 1-2 continuous minutes. im not saying i dont sweat, i do, but not to the point where its dripping. i'll ask my teacher tomorrow, he worked in industry for 15 years before coming to be a teacher, i'll get back to you when i find out.:)
 
Hey all, I used those #3 shape glasses last night. I forged for about two hours, welding up a new billet and drawing it out. It was different to view the forge thru the green lenses, but it didn't take long to get used to it and the #3 shade was plenty light enough to be able to see in the rest of the shop with the glasses still on.

Plus the idea that I am not ruining my eyes, is very comforting.

I wish I would have bought some a year ago.
 
After reading this post yesterday I go out and light my forge up. I've never had this happen before but had some hot flux land dead center on my right lens. Wish now I'd had some cheeper glasses on but still better than hitting my eye. Think I'll see if I can find my heat treating glasses now.....
 
This keeps coming up. I've blown a little Pyrex. Haven't forge-welded, and the brazing I did was so long ago I don't remember much.

Short version, if it was my eyes I would use a product made for welding. If there was enough bright flare produced by the welding flux, I would use a product such as the one below specifically intended for welding and brazing with flux.

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

Some products intended for glassblowers working with borosilicate (Pyrex, Kimax) glass may be suitable. Typically these glassblowers will be professionals producing scientific glassware. This product would likely be a good choice:

Enhanced Didymium Lens laminated with a shade 3 welding lens. Usually for flameworkers working with Borosilica (Pyrex) type glass where the flame is extra bright.
http://www.artglass1.com/didymiumsr.htm

The glasses worn by the glassblower at the fair making little animals from soft-glass marbles and bottles or many others making art-glass probably ain't gonna do it. Sorry.

For those who care to know why, long version follows.

what's didymium?
Definition:

Glass tinted with mixed oxides of neodymium and praseodymium that, unlike most solid materials, have absorption bands that are very narrow and that have very sharp areas.

(my bold)

http://www.photonics.com/dictionary...okup/entrynum.1286/letter.d/pu./QX/lookup.htm

Here is an example, you can see it is sorta like a notch filter:

Rose_Didymium_sm.gif


In contrast, here are shades 1.7, 2.0, 2.5. Note the more uniform reduction in the visible as well as the nearly complete attenuation in IR (right).

aur99-1_sm.gif


Glasses made for glassblowing use a particular didymium glass that blocks the bright yellow "sodium flare" that occurs when glass is heated. This is a sodium atomic emission line at 589 nm. Most red color is not filtered and the glass blower can judge temperature without being blinded by the extremely bright sodium emission. They are a specialized product intended for the particular demands of glass-blowing.

IR and UV protection can be added to didymium glass by a thin (and fragile) gold coating. Here is such a product:
http://www.oberoncompany.com/OBEnglsh/ImageDid.html

Here is an A.C.E. (Amethyst Contrast Enhancement) glass that provides enhanced protection including some reduction throughout the visible range:

aceglasschart2.gif


http://www.x-celoptical.com/Occupational_filter_glass.htm

...this unique lens also offers excellent filtering at the sodium line (589nm) as well as moderate UV protection. Preferred by many in the glass working industry this lens is darker than the rose didymium lens having 38% visible light transmittance and the amethyst color. Being dichroic, under fluorescent lighting, this lens will have a blue appearance.

Plain didymium is adequate only for working soft glass with a small torch. It does not provide adequate protection from the IR in kiln or glory holes (or forges!), or the brighter sodium flare produced by borosilicate glass.

Heated welding flux will produce bright flare similar to glass, and didymium may be a useful adjunct to welding shade protection. It probably depends on how much flux is used--from the damascus-making descriptions sounds like LOTS. But note that didymium alone is unlikely to provide adequate protection.

Hope this helps. All didymium products are not equal.
 
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