Am I finished as a welder?

[Alchymist]

Talking about stick welding - been stick & oxy/acet welding for a long time off and on. Was pretty good with both, made my living with it for a while. Anyway, last major amount of stick welding was probably 2 years or so ago, and no problems. In fact I was doing some pretty nice welds with some pretty nasty equipment.

Long story short, recently acquired an AC/DC stick welder, and went at it. Jackson #10 auto helmet. Couldn't see the dang weld pool nor the material well enough to follow where the weld should be. I have had new prescription glasses in the last year, see well enough otherwise. The arc seems a yellowish orange, and the weld pool almost invisible, as is the material being welded. Even with bright shiny steel in bright sunshine I can't follow the weld path.

Is this something that happens to "old" people's vision? Considered changing to a variable density auto helmet, but not sure it would help, and it's more $$ than I want to lay out right now. Anyone have any ideas/comments?

 

[JJThrasher]

Grab a cheap HF and see if you can see while dialing it down. I use a cheap one typically on setting 8 for low amp TIG.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I am pretty near sighted, so I usually remove my glasses and get right up on it to weld. I read that as we age, it takes 7 times the light to see the details we used to see at 20. Wavelength of light may be a factor.

 

[tdcisco1]

Have you got a buddy you could borrow a different type of hood from ? There are certain hoods that work better for me. maybe a cheater/magnifier lens will help.

 

[Olafur]

I use bifocal glasses and I thought I was done as welder few months ago when I was trying to tig weld stainless fuel tank. Finally took off my glasses and found a workable distance where I could see the puddle and generally what was going on.

 

[ken w.]

I have the same problem with seeing the weld. The folks at the local welding supply suggested using a gold lens as the gold reflects more light back at the work surface. This seems to help , but only to a degree. I found that the auto darkening helmet that I borrowed from a friend was much better.

 

[djdaredevil]

Another simple thing could be if you had any different coatings put on your new lenses in your eyeglasses. I have some for computer use that can change light perception.

 

[Alchymist]

Grab a cheap HF and see if you can see while dialing it down. I use a cheap one typically on setting 8 for low amp TIG.

Cheapest HF is $49, and only goes down to #9, my Jackson is a #10.

I use bifocal glasses and I thought I was done as welder few months ago when I was trying to tig weld stainless fuel tank. Finally took off my glasses and found a workable distance where I could see the puddle and generally what was going on.

No trouble seeing without an arc struck, it's just too dark to see what I'm doing.

I have the same problem with seeing the weld. The folks at the local welding supply suggested using a gold lens as the gold reflects more light back at the work surface. This seems to help , but only to a degree. I found that the auto darkening helmet that I borrowed from a friend was much better.

The helmet I'm using is an auto darkening, been using it for a long time.

Another simple thing could be if you had any different coatings put on your new lenses in your eyeglasses. I have some for computer use that can change light perception.

Good thought, but the new lenses are not coated.

I may buy the cheapest non auto darkening helmet I can find and a number of different shades of lenses to see if a lighter shade would help. I do have a bunch of filters in the toolbox, and even a gold one or two. Not sure what a lighter shade will do in the long run, but it can't be good.

 

[Olafur]

No trouble seeing without an arc struck, it's just too dark to see what I'm doing.

Indeed.
I use uncoated glasses and that's why I didn't think of taking them off. Turned out it made a world of difference - but I had to move my head closer to the work area since I am nearsighted. Worked for me, YMMW.

 

[Alchymist]

Indeed.
I use uncoated glasses and that's why I didn't think of taking them off. Turned out it made a world of difference - but I had to move my head closer to the work area since I am nearsighted. Worked for me, YMMW.

Will give that a try, won't cost anything!

 

[creativecars]

My 50+ year old eyes seemed to be doing the same thing. My fix was a 2.0 cheater lens, it has made a huge difference in what I can see when the arc is struck. I have a cheap HF auto darkening helmet that I have had for over 5 years and still doing great. Give this lens a shot... Made me a welder again.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004RH1CE0/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Olafur]

Will give that a try, won't cost anything!

Perhaps a long shot, but like you said, won't cost anything.
Hope you find a solution, I was not very happy that weekend when I thought my welding days were over.

 

[PCO6]

I picked up a pair of $5 (3.0x's) reading glasses at a hardware store and all of a sudden I could weld again!

 

[A_Pmech]

What brand of electrode? Some of the cheap electrodes from offshore have very heavy fluxes which tend to completely obscure the arc.

 

[Showkey]

Cheater glasses or lens and a huge spot light on the work surface..........works for me ......first noticed the problem at 55 now.....+ 60

Even gas welding or brazing the magnification and extra light helps and is needed.

The other thing that made the problem worse........bright shop light above my head while welding. The inside of the helmet is too bright. Blocking or eliminating the back light and adding work surface light really helps.

 

[welder4956]

Glasses can sometimes be a pain for welding. Get a magnifying lens with a focal length that allows you to read clearly at the distance you normally weld at. Also, go to your LWS and get them to show you a demo of the Lincoln Viking 4C hood. It's like welding in HD and gives a lot better clarity than any auto darkening hood I have ever used.

 

[Alchymist]

I picked up a pair of $5 (3.0x's) reading glasses at a hardware store and all of a sudden I could weld again!

My glasses are heavy prescription - can't see without them more or less.

What brand of electrode? Some of the cheap electrodes from offshore have very heavy fluxes which tend to completely obscure the arc.

Various brands. Even picked up a new pack of Lincoln 6013 today, no difference. (If you can't make a weld with 6013, give it up)!

Cheater glasses or lens and a huge spot light on the work surface..........works for me ......first noticed the problem at 55 now.....+ 60


Even gas welding or brazing the magnification and extra light helps and is needed.

74 here, and I need the prescription glasses! Welding/brazing no problem.

Glasses can sometimes be a pain for welding. Get a magnifying lens with a focal length that allows you to read clearly at the distance you normally weld at. Also, go to your LWS and get them to show you a demo of the Lincoln Viking 4C hood. It's like welding in HD and gives a lot better clarity than any auto darkening hood I have ever used.

Ha, @$150-200 that helmet should do the welding for me! Seriously tho, aside from the money, there is no LWS close by.

 

[royesses]

I'm 67 years old with cataracts. I've gone through the same problems as you. I found that the Lincoln 3350 hood with the 4C color lens helped tremendously. It cost about $250. Also the right reading glasses helped more than my prescription glasses, about a 1.70 or 2.0 diopter for me. I also use a strong light to illuminate the weld area. The truth is that the welds I made when I was young are not what I can do now and I can't expect them to be. I've been told that cataract surgery will bring back the vision and weld quality. So don't feel that you are the only one to go through old timers disease.
Roy

 

[justanengineer]

Switch to a #9 and thank me later. #10 ***** for most folks unless theyre seriously cranking the amps, I only use it outside on bright days at 200+ amps. Running stick indoors for hobby projects I'm usually at #9 and down at #8 for tig.

 

[tcianci]

I'm only 63 and have been fighting this for a while now. I had gone down to a fixed #8 in an old helmet for TIG and I was using a cheater lens in it too. My buddy bought me an auto darkening helmet and it's even better than the fixed lens. I was never the greatest weldor but once I couldn't even follow the seam anymore I thought I was finished too!

 

[Whiskeymike]

+1 on cheater lens and bright spotlight/work light. You would think the arc would lighten it up, but I find the arc bright and the rest dark unless a light is coming from the side. Somehow balances it out instead of extreme contrast.

 

[RAYJAY]

Cheater glasses or lens and a huge spot light on the work surface..........works for me ......first noticed the problem at 55 now.....+ 60

Even gas welding or brazing the magnification and extra light helps and is needed.

The other thing that made the problem worse........bright shop light above my head while welding. The inside of the helmet is too bright. Blocking or eliminating the back light and adding work surface light really helps.

X2 ON THIS . i put a led flood light on my work surface it helps a ton

 

[Jazz1]

I take my glasses off to weld and use 2x cheater lens in my Speedglas auto. Big improvement.

 

[lilredex]

I take my glasses off too and use a hand held (#10 instructor's) shield. It is much easier to see where you are going with this arrangement.

 

[sberry]

I agree about changing to a 9

 

[pennsylvaniaboy]

cheater lens should help

 

[Roberts210]

I'm an old geezer too... past social security age... I weld a lot right now, I'm doing a job where I'm cutting and fitting and welding all day. I have an AC/DC Lincoln tombstone. Generally about once a day I'll strike the arc close to where it actually should go, and actually weld a bead in the wrong place, but the biggest problem I'm having is when I first strike an arc I get "hypnotized" by the flashing light and I have to shake it off and concentrate. That generally takes me about 1 second, but in that one second things can go wrong. So far so good tho.

Keep trying tho. I'd hate to know you quit. I use an old-school welding helmet that you have to bring down over your face manually and I really prefer it to the automatic ones. Why don't you give the old style helmets a go and see if that helps.

 

[ptschram]

I'm glad to see I'm in good company

At about 45 my eyesight went to hell (never been good, glasses since about six years old) and my eluding showed it. As I'm a real perfectionist about my welding this caused concern.

Just to give it a try, I bought an H-F auto-darkening helmet. My welding improved and I now have two nice A/D helmets from Snap-On and I can be proud of some of my welds again.

The high def welding helmets are amazing

 

[Robbie UK]

Painting my dark coloured helmet gloss white made a massive difference for me, reflecting more of the available light back at the workpiece.

I guess Stormtroopers knew what they were doing.

 

[MoonRise]

Cheater glasses or lens and a huge spot light on the work surface..........works for me ......first noticed the problem at 55 now.....+ 60

The other thing that made the problem worse........bright shop light above my head while welding. The inside of the helmet is too bright. Blocking or eliminating the back light and adding work surface light really helps.

Put the 'correct' cheater lens in the helmet.

Add a bright spot light shining right on the weld seam area.

Put a 'flap' over the back of the helmet to block out the back light.

Glasses can sometimes be a pain for welding. Get a magnifying lens with a focal length that allows you to read clearly at the distance you normally weld at. Also, go to your LWS and get them to show you a demo of the Lincoln Viking 4C hood. It's like welding in HD and gives a lot better clarity than any auto darkening hood I have ever used.

The Lincoln 4C 1/1/1/1 helmet is very nice.

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/assets/global/Products/K3175-3/e14501.pdf

Got one recently and went to make a quick small but kind of fussy MIG weld on some sheet metal.

Couldn't see anything! WTF? !##@

Turns out I had somehow left the darkness setting on max-max (this Lincoln has a two step darkness adjustment range setting switches).

No wonder I couldn't see the maybe 100 amp arc or puddle with the lens set to Shade #13! Set it to #10 and then actually made the weld.

+1 on cheater lens and bright spotlight/work light. You would think the arc would lighten it up, but I find the arc bright and the rest dark unless a light is coming from the side. Somehow balances it out instead of extreme contrast.

+99 again on the appropriate 'cheater' lens in the helmet and a bright spot light shining onto the weld seam area (not the back of your head! )

 

[Job]

The way I see it, deteriorating eyesight is just Nature's way of giving the youngins a fighting chance against all that veteran know-how. Here's hoping you find the right helmet to make 'em work harder for it.

 

[skookum1]

I havent used one, but these helmets are supposed to be amazing for optical clarity at an equivalent shade level. Adjustable from shade 5-13. I dont do enough welding to justify the price..

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-u...product.aspx?product=K3034-3(LincolnElectric))

 

[maxpower_hd]

I raved about this Astro light a while back from Astro Pneumatics. I find that I use it all the time now for welding. A lot of what I do is inside or underneath trailers so it is inherently dark to begin with. This sticks really well, adjusts where I need it and is pretty bright. I almost never weld without it now unless I am on a bench top with tons of light already.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018R0XQPA/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I have a Forney auto adjust mask and it's usually set around 9-10.

 

[creativecars]

BTW... Raise the hood after welding with the auto darkening and cheater lens. Other wise you will see some funny $hit.

 

[rpcraft]

I noticed the other weekend when I was welding some nuts on broken exhaust bolts that my work light was so bright it was dimming my auto dark hood. You might want to check and see if you just need a slightly different range. I didn't over think it then but I prefer the brightness of the light in spite of the heat and mine is variable so I can probably adjust it. I'll definitely have to figure out something in the realm of less sensitivity but it sounds like you might need to go the other direction. Lowes has a relatively cheap one for around 40 bucks that is a variable density you can use to test with and then return later. It's garbage to wear butat around 50 bucks its a cheap investment for testing the settings and seeing if you want to pull the trigger on something better fitting, which is the major issue with that unit (my nose would bump the viewer even adjusted all the way out).

 

[Dean64]

my eyes now take a while longer to adjust to the changes from dark to light. it has made welding much more difficult. stick welding seems to be affected much more than mig. i use a smaller lens (2x4) to help me concentrate more. If i use a larger lens, i tend to look away from the weld.

 

[tatra]

As mentioned gold lens might help . I too have found auto helmets help for the most part but the gold lens was a plus for me .

 

[APEowner]

I use an adjustable auto darkening lens, lots of light on the work and prescription safety glasses with a focal length optimized for working with my hands.

 

[Professur]

Gotta ask the OP ... have you spoken with your optician about this, and explained that you are a welder? Might be worth the time. After all, seeing is their ballpark.

 

[ovrrdrive]

Put the 'correct' cheater lens in the helmet.

Add a bright spot light shining right on the weld seam area.

Put a 'flap' over the back of the helmet to block out the back light.

What he said. I had the same problem today welding outside. Light coming in from the back of the helmet makes it impossible to see. I use a 1.5 cheater and like the others, spotlights on my work from the front. Any light coming in around my head blinds me.

The cheaters are no joke man... If you're over 45 you need one.