Welding Masks And Light States

[chip]

Hello
Just talking light states I've been running off and on a cheapish hood the eclipse 2.0 Its tecmen made and the original name is tecmen 740L.
Its sold as having a 2.0 light state and sure enough it is a little clearer than the other masks I have, That was until I picked up an optrel ctl which also has the 2.0 light state .
I put together a short clip running them against each other and thought the results were interesting.
If the optrel is nailed on accurately as 2.0 then clearly the tecmens off. I've never had a hood with a 2.5 state so i'm not too sure where the tecmen would fall.
Anyways i'm not knocking the tecmen but it did give me a little pause for thought.

 

[hotponyshoes]

I've got no idea how helmets work.
I guess they are some sort of lcd display.
Off= no contrast. Dark = lots of contrast.

If that's the case then it's easy enough to compare them to a TV screen and see that some will produce better blacks than others.

In the light state all the pixels will be switched off.
Shine a torch at them and they will let a certain amount of light through = shade 2.

A high end lens like the optrel will be like an UltraHD tv screen with lots of very small pixels that are precisely aligned.
This will give a better optical view.

The cheaper lens may still be the same shade but not have the definition.

I expect someone who actually knows will be along shorty..

Iv also noticed that you can run a much darker shade with the optrels and still see the weld perfectly. So if you are welding thin stainless you can set a shade 10 on the optrel and get the same quality of view that you might get from a cheap helmet on shade 7. If you are doing a lot of welding it's far less trying on the eyes.

 

[chip]

The cheaper lens may still be the same shade but not have the definition.

Thanks pal I did wonder if that were the case and something else was at play, or maybe the optrel was over performing.
I know what you mean about the shades from one mask to another differing, A shade is a shade so in my view shouldn't be ...
Interestingly this clt only goes to shade 12 ,many others 13, Not to sure why 12, Maybe their 12 is equal to 13 on others

 

[BrokenBiker]

Thanks pal I did wonder if that were the case and something else was at play, or maybe the optrel was over performing.
I know what you mean about the shades from one mask to another differing, A shade is a shade so in my view shouldn't be ...
Interestingly this clt only goes to shade 12 ,many others 13, Not to sure why 12, Maybe their 12 is equal to 13 on others

ive had masks that only go to 12, but seem darker than the 12 on other masks...

ive also noticed with the mask you sent me, it goes to 15! havent tried it though as 10 is plenty for what i do, although ive got some stick welding to do soon so may try it out

 

[chip]

ive also noticed with the mask you sent me, it goes to 15

Shade 15 can't say i noticed that. That would be impossible to see through for me.

 

[BrokenBiker]

Shade 15 can't say i noticed that. That would be impossible to see through for me.

i was playing with the settings and i think the mode button runs from weld, cut and grind then the 4th time it changes the shade to 13 and you can select up to 15...no idea what its for as i cant see through a shade 12 very well...will grab some pics next time im in the shed, too hot today

 

[Jack Pattenden]

LCDs have crystals which turn 90 degrees from vertical to horizontal, depending on how much voltage is put through them, polarising the surface. Vertical crystals / minimum volts = minimal polarisation, maximum amount of light passes through, horizontal crystals / maximum volts = highest polarisation, minimum amount of light passes through.

I'd imagine the difference at maximum light transmission would be in the quality of the glass?