mask settings

[the famous seamus]

i have a kempii mask and mainly use it for TIG-i know my eyes are not getting any better, from years of all sorts of abuse-but wanted to know what settings you guys use on your shades-mine is a 9-13 and i run it at 9 , but it seems too dark now,do i need a lighter shade or do i struggle on?

at this rate i,ll need to make braille beads!

 

[Seano]

i have a kempii mask and mainly use it for TIG-i know my eyes are not getting any better, from years of all sorts of abuse-but wanted to know what settings you guys use on your shades-mine is a 9-13 and i run it at 9 , but it seems too dark now,do i need a lighter shade or do i struggle on?

at this rate i,ll need to make braille beads!

Jeez seamus, I have to use 9 for everything mig,tig, mind I am an old fart now, been at it since I was 15 in one for or another so its hardly surprising...

Sean.

 

[gerry3]

I also have been welding since I was 14, some 60 years.
In the earlier days there was no such thing as self darkening screens, we had flip-up type or hand screens. Even to-day I still use a flip-up.
I would like to suggest that an auto darkening screen can, over the years,damage your eyes.
There is a fraction of a second for the arc to activate the darkening process, and it is in this fraction of a second that the full light is transmitted to the eye. Because the brain cannot register the light at such a speed we don't notice it.
The inner eye how ever is subject to the full light which, has said, can over time cause some vision defect.

Perhaps this may seem just like an old mans ranting but perhaps in years ahead it may be prove right, just like smoking has.
Incidental, I still do not need to have reading glasses.

 

[shenion]

Auto masks may take up to a millisecond to respond. However, even if they never respond, they always block the damaging IR and UV rays.

UV never makes it through the LCD, there are coatings for IR.

The flash is just an annoyance, nothing more.

 

[the famous seamus]

grand job lads,since i was 11 here-a mere 37 years-just started to wear glasses to read small print-i have the auto darken but always seem to flip it - like always-going to loan a screen off a mate thats lower setting and see how she rolls-
slan-

 

[hotrodder]

I would like to suggest that an auto darkening screen can, over the years,damage your eyes.

I'd suggest that simply being alive can, over the years, damage your eyes and that luck/genes can be as big a factor as anything. There could well be factors that aren't known about yet with regards to auto lenses but the current thinking is that visible blue light can cause similar kinds of damage as UV. If that's the case then fixed shade lenses could be just as bad in that regard as could sunglasses etc.

As said, the UV/IR protection in ADFs is passive, pdf article from Practicle Welding Today here Dunno what the typical wavelength cut off is for other brands or fixed shade lenses. Oakley make a big deal about their lenses blocking all UV and blue light below 400 nanometers, other more scientific sources seem to think that light upto 480 nm is damaging but they could be the sorts who linked baked beans or the like to cancer after force feeding mice the stuff for a year

FWIW my eyesight is better than 20/20 and is probably due to start slowly deteriorating in the next 10 years or so (i'm 37). As long as the ambient lighting is good i don't have any problems seeing what i'm doing through a shade 9 when welding 0.3mm stainless at around 14A.

 

[Paul G]

Hi.

I use a Speedglas 100 which has settings of 8 to 12.

I find the "8" setting great for TIG, below 50 amps.
I also have a pair of reading glasses that focus a little closer than normal that I use for intricate work.
I described to the optician (Boots) what I did and he tailored the lenses to my needs. £70, but that's the price of getting older.

In the past I've had an Optrel and an ESAB mask but both of these eventually died due to being left in the dark.
The Speedglas is battery powered so no issues there.
The only down side is you have to remember to switch it on, as it auto switches off after not being used for a while.
It's nearly 3 years old now and still on it's original battery.

HTH
Paul G