Hi, please excuse me if I make a few mistakes here, I am totally new to this forum, I have a Clarke 105EN gas/gasless mig welder & for the past 5 years have been trying to weld properly. The problem I have is, once I have struck the arc, that's all I ever see, all the talk about seeing the 'weld pool' is totally lost on me, all I see is this intense ball of fire! I have tried different grades of lenses, but all that does is to vary the brightness of the flame. I have to 'memorise' where I think I'm going to have to weld, which sometimes results in a beautiful weld about 1/4 of an inch from where it should be. Surprisingly, I get better results with gasless wire which seems less fierce & easier to control. I have friends who are all good at mig welding, but they despair of me because they have no answer to my problem. I do wear reading glasses & have tried with & without, no difference. Is this a problem with my eyes? I remember years ago I was unable to 'stick weld' for the same reason. I never had any problem with oxy-acetylene on the thinnest of steel, which I learned to deal with in a matter of hours. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks, Rich.
- Thread starter Richw
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gordon stephenson
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Hi,
You could try putting some extra light onto the welding area n the form of a small halogen work light etc, Give it a try,it works for a friend of mine that had a similar problem.
Cheers Gordon.
You could try putting some extra light onto the welding area n the form of a small halogen work light etc, Give it a try,it works for a friend of mine that had a similar problem.
Cheers Gordon.
Ragnarok
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hey, what shade lens are you useing it sounds like you're using a much too light to me, not using your pxt acetylene googles are you? for mig you should be using 8-12 ish I'd use a 9 on a 100amp welder and you shoud have no problem with seeing the weld pool, if it's too bright with a 9 try 10 11 or 12 but on a low amp mig you will probably hardly see anything cause it'll be very dark.
Good idea.
When I started welding, I initially had problems seeing anything but the arc.
My shop has a large south facing window. One day I did some welding at a time of day when the sun was shining directly on my work. It made all the difference in the world. I could see everything clearly. Since then I've been using a halogen lamp to light things up when I don't have direct sunlight.
Rubber Duck
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Get yourself an electronic Autoshield, and you will see (scuse the pun!) a 100% improvement
weldequip
Best thing I've ever bought (apart form the straight through pipe from my Rangie) makes life soo much easier!!!!
Sparkey
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Maybe some fume extraction too? A small fan will do the trick nicely but be carefull you don't blow away the shielding gas if your welding with gas!
Gasless does create alot of fumes it makes it very difficult to see what you're doing!
(and so does stick welding)
And peter's idea is worth the try too! mark the weld area with a (chalk) line, so you will see where to go!
Gasless does create alot of fumes it makes it very difficult to see what you're doing!
(and so does stick welding)And peter's idea is worth the try too! mark the weld area with a (chalk) line, so you will see where to go!
I wear rather thick glasses.
I tried numerous shades in my helmet and ended up buying an autohelmet.
With the auto helmet and a halogen floodlamp I could see where I was going, but the weldpool was still hard to see.
Using Ar/Co2 gas made everything easy to see,and made good beads effortless.
Robert
I tried numerous shades in my helmet and ended up buying an autohelmet.
With the auto helmet and a halogen floodlamp I could see where I was going, but the weldpool was still hard to see.
Using Ar/Co2 gas made everything easy to see,and made good beads effortless.
Robert
..DAZ..
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I suffered very similair problems as you, I have very light sensitive eyes which my optician has said there is nothing that can be done. Your problem could be the same. Since getting myself an auto helmet and playing with the settings on it I can see perfectly now. It's deffinately worth a try, and it's also deffinately worth the extra bucks for a better helmet, buy the absolute best you can afford and remember that you only have one set of eyes and there aint no point in ******in' them up for the sake of a few quid extra.
daz
daz
Thanks for that, you have touched upon my major concern, however bad my welding might turn out, my eyes the main factor in all this, I normally use a 9 grade lens for welding thin steel & have suffered no discomfort, but it seems the majority opinion is for a good auto hemet.
Cheers, Rich.
Cheers, Rich.
chunkolini
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Top tip, pop a head torch on the front of the helmet, use a bright LED one, great for welding in nooks and crannies. You look a bit odd, but you look a bit odd wearing a bucket on your head anyway.
Chunko'.
Chunko'.
Thanks again, so far I have tried the light idea, there was some improvement, although I was in an awkward position trying to weld overhead, not the best to look at, but good penetration & no blow holes. The head torch idea sounds good, thanks chunkolini, & don't worry, I look a bit odd anyway! no-one's going to notice the bucket & lamp.
Cheers, Rich.
Cheers, Rich.
Many thanks to you all for your advice, I have now tried all the things suggested, lights, chalk marks, auto shield, & guess what? All I see is a massive ball of fire & nothing else! Of all the suggestions, Gordon's halogen lamp idea probably had the most, albeit minimal effect. As I deal mainly with classic Minis, I think I must buy a spot welder. At least I have now met someone with exactly the same problem as mine, he runs a car body repair shop & went to College to learn welding, they advised him to leave the course after 3 weeks, because no way could he weld properly because like me, he couldn't see a thing.
Thanks again, Rich.
Thanks again, Rich.
hey mate
what shade filter are you using in your mask?
below 150amps i prefer shade 9 or 10, even with an oldschool mask you can swap this in. in a reasonably lit warehouse/workshop this should present no problems, and the light from the weld pool will let you see your fillets/butt joins about 3-4mm ahead of the pool.
edit-- also not havin a laugh, but are you colourblind? because I have a good mate who has the same problem and it's too difficult for him, however with lots of practise he can grind for example a V shaped channel in the 2 peices he is butting together and then use correct welder settings and a steady hand/pace to get a good bead
fillets of course requiring no prep, just feel. but you can only get so far by "cheating" -- he seems to do quite well though
cheers
-simmo
what shade filter are you using in your mask?
below 150amps i prefer shade 9 or 10, even with an oldschool mask you can swap this in. in a reasonably lit warehouse/workshop this should present no problems, and the light from the weld pool will let you see your fillets/butt joins about 3-4mm ahead of the pool.
edit-- also not havin a laugh, but are you colourblind? because I have a good mate who has the same problem and it's too difficult for him, however with lots of practise he can grind for example a V shaped channel in the 2 peices he is butting together and then use correct welder settings and a steady hand/pace to get a good bead
fillets of course requiring no prep, just feel. but you can only get so far by "cheating" -- he seems to do quite well though
cheers
-simmo
