welding flashes !!

[richfrazier]

Hello everyone...long time lurker first time posting. I must admit that I don't have a garage yet but I do have a walk out basement that is all mine and a very good workspace. Its currently home for my motorcycles and my poor attempts at woodworking.

My problem is welding..i can hold my own with my mig and stick but as of lately I keep getting welding flashes. I don't notice anything at the time but come 10pm ive got sand in my eyes. I have been using a auto-darkening lincoln helmet and wear smith and wesson safety glasses (usually tinted) under my helmet. The helmet is brand new as I thought the old one was the problem but it wasn't.

any tips or thoughts?
any stories to share? misery loves company.

 

[INSP380]

Time to go to a darker shield setting and or a quicker time setting...... Try another hood with the old school (manual/ fixed) shield...Narrow it down to your settings on you auto shield first.

Tinted S&W are worthless to a Arc flash...No need to wear them. IMHO, Get a clear pair...

Getting flashed *****, should only happen once....Good Luck.

Steve

 

[JimDon]

Next time it happens -- and it shouldn't, take a fresh potato, cut it in half. One half on one eye, the other half on the other eye. Relief will come pretty quickly. The cut end has direct contact with the closed eyelid.

On to the flashes -- are you wearing a white t-shirt when welding? It will reflect UP under your hood, no matter what kind or newness of hood. Try wearing a black T-shirt under your welding clothes. Are you in a garage with white painted walls? or very light colored walls? They'll bounce the light around and can flash you too underneath and in front of the bottom of hood.

Others will chime in other thoughts on what's going on. That's all I've got for right now.
Good luck,
Jim

 

[richfrazier]

that's it man !! everything in my shop is glossy white(ocd).
I also usually am wearing a white tshirt.
thanx So much!!

 

[sanddan]

Nice job Jimdon

 

[BD1]

Pull a hooded sweatshirt over the back of your hood.
Welding in a room with shinny sheetmetal ducts is gonna do the same thing. The light bounces off of it and comes through the back of your hood

 

[xtremek]

The auto darking helmets always give me a mild case of flash burn. I tried them several times. Finally, I gave up on them and just wear an old fashion lid. No problems since switching back.

 

[spike99250]

I was taught that if you accidentally get flashed directly to immediately look at a light source. Shop light, work light even bright window or go outside and look at sky(not the sun though). I have done this on a occasions and it seemed to work.

edit It only helps with the white spots and for myself the headache that soon follows.

 

[TauntDevil]

Auto never works for me. I use a Shade 13 always tinted helmet.

 

[dogdog]

They do sells those hood skirts some where to stop the lights for underneath the helmet, but I think from what I have read. if you use auto darken helmets.... and weld all day, they will give you a mild case of flashes by the end of the day. Especially bad if you have a cheaper build helmets ..... even the Jackson one I have does the same thing to me.... just less compare to the HF ones. think I saw this in the miller forum or welding forum some time back.

 

[garfunkle24]

Lots of pro welders only use a fixed shade as when welding all day it's easy to get flashed due to the hood not switching fast enough.

 

[trackwelder]

They do sells those hood skirts some where to stop the lights for underneath the helmet, but I think from what I have read. if you use auto darken helmets.... and weld all day, they will give you a mild case of flashes by the end of the day. Especially bad if you have a cheaper build helmets ..... even the Jackson one I have does the same thing to me.... just less compare to the HF ones. think I saw this in the miller forum or welding forum some time back.

You might want to try a different shade . Never had a flash that I didn't cause myself. I can weld all day with a auto hood and never feel flashed. Never ever would I go back to a standard hood. So nice to be able to change the shade from one process to the other. I actually use a skirt on the back of my hood to keep the sun off my neck. Couple spots of Velcro and its on or of instantly. I hated those damn half barrel fiber mesh hoods we where forced to use with # 14 green lenses. Use to sneak in a #10 gold lense when I could.

 

[sberry]

I am a career welder , had it once or twice when welding in confined area with white background. Check for light leaks around lenses but usually wearing glasses really cuts way down on problems.
I love auto, wish they had it 20 yrs earlier.

 

[Schurkey]

I had a not-inexpensive auto-darkening hood; it had no replaceable battery ("solar-powered, rechargable") and no adjustments for time-lag. Hobart, I think...but I'm not sure anymore.

Total piece of junk.

Typical problem: Welding, wire jams momentarily. Lose the arc for a split-second--just long enough for the lens to lighten, then the arc re-starts. FLASH! Three or four of those in five minutes will get a person's attention.

Main "fix" was to sh!t-can that helmet in favor of one with a real battery and real adjustments. Now the lens stays dark a little longer when the arc stops.

Secondary fix was to clean the wire feed rollers so the wire feed was more stable.

 

[R.Anderson]

I was taught that if you accidentally get flashed directly to immediately look at a light source. Shop light, work light even bright window or go outside and look at sky(not the sun though). I have done this on a occasions and it seemed to work.

Once its done it is done and you will not know several hours after when the pain/irritation starts and it takes a day or two for the eye to heal and pain/irritation to go away. A lot of people think arc flash is when the hood does not darken right away or at all, thus causing you to see white spots and that is it, no pain hours after. That is not arc flash like the OP has. Arc flash/flash burns is pretty much your eyes getting sunburn but in a "flash" of strong UV rays.

I am a career welder , had it once or twice when welding in confined area with white background. Check for light leaks around lenses but usually wearing glasses really cuts way down on problems.
I love auto, wish they had it 20 yrs earlier.

I second Sberry on this, glasses with UV protection will help. I wear scrip glasses and have had plenty of artificial sunburn on my face but never arc flashed my eyes from welding.

 

[racingtadpole]

Clear safety glasses rated to UV400 will help but thats a secondary thing, get your lid dialled in first.

 

[03protege]

Sounds like your welding helmet could use some adjustments (response time and how dark)

Also what color shirt are you wearing? I use to often weld in a white-tee until I noticed that I had a good deal of light/glare reflecting off my shirt into my eyes. A couple longer than usual welding sessions left my eyes hurting pretty bad

 

[NUTTSGT]

I've given up on wearing T-shirts when welding, I throw on my welding jacket 99% of the time. I've never thought about the white T-shirt but it's a rare occassion that I wear one.

However, my walls/ceiling are white and that may cause some of the issue where I feel that I can't see evn after turning the shade down to 9 on my helmet. The last few times I was welding I shut off some of the overhead lights.

 

[dogdog]

You might want to try a different shade . Never had a flash that I didn't cause myself. I can weld all day with a auto hood and never feel flashed. Never ever would I go back to a standard hood. So nice to be able to change the shade from one process to the other. I actually use a skirt on the back of my hood to keep the sun off my neck. Couple spots of Velcro and its on or of instantly. I hated those damn half barrel fiber mesh hoods we where forced to use with # 14 green lenses. Use to sneak in a #10 gold lense when I could.

already set at 13 and the fastest respond time on that jackson helmet..... at the end of the day.... my eyes was watery fell like ****, and sun burn on both of my arms literally skin peeling off burns after a few days....cause I was wearing a t-shirt and tig all day...... now I learned to at least wear something long sleeve or that sleeve apron to protect the arms.... still haven't get my skirts yet though .

 

[jmarkwolf]

I've noticed when in the welding booth at school (taking an intro to welding class) that I can see the reflection of people walking behind me past the booth door, in the glass of my helmet. It's a new auto-darkening Miller.

This means that if you have a white background, the arc flash can get in at the back of your helmet, and reflect off the glass of your helmet into your eyes.

The instructor likes to tell the story of how she once burned her neck and under her chin from the reflection off a white t-shirt, when she neglected to button up the top buttons of her welding jacket.

 

[padronanniversary]

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And

http://m.cyberweld.com/spwehecrexco.html

I got those on my speedglass since I was getting light under and from behind


Love them solves my issues