Welding mask - necessary?

[Rick Hughes]

I was welding heavy current under large assembly, flipped up hood to look at weld, and as I moved position caught a big flash as rod stuck arc up close to where I was looking. Initially just unable to see properly out of one eye, residual image of teh flash ... carried on work .. then feeling of sand in the eye, and that got worse & worse ... intensely painful.

Whether it's the intent flash, up close, high current ......... but I would NEVER arc weld without a shield .... EVER.

Illogical and senseless to do so, the intense UV alone is bad enough.

[Gefreiter Krueger]

I'm not arguing about anything, I was asking advice on welding.

[Gefreiter Krueger]

Seems ok with a little welder to peek at it briefly. The timing of my left hand on the visor is never quite in sync with my right hand on the welder.

[Huge]

Don't tell him that. I'd quite like to hear that he had gone blind.

[Huge]

It is when "Gefreiter Krueger" has it.

[Gefreiter Krueger]

[Gefreiter Krueger]

Oh do grow up.

[John Rumm]

Its your eyesight, so you do as you wish if you value it so little.

[Gefreiter Krueger]

I can't magically make myself perfectly coordinated. I did some yesterday and have noticed no ill effects.

[John Rumm]

Its worth keeping in mind that the wavelength of the UV in question also has an effect. For example UV A (400 - 350 nm) penetrates the skin deeply, but does not cause tanning or redness. It does however cause chemical breakdown products that are highly reactive and which can in turn cause skin or DNA damage. UV B will cause tanning / sunburn, in the short term, but can have longer term effects like causing cataracts which may not manifest for years.

[Gefreiter Krueger]

I gave up noting down which letter did which, as they changed their mind a few times. When going out in the sun, I prefer to go out less if I'm getting red rather than use creams.

[Apellation Controlee]

Have you never heard of snow-blindness?

[Gefreiter Krueger]

I've heard of people getting sunburn on their face without any eye effects, so it's clear the skin gets it first.

[Rick Hughes]

Then maybe an auto visor would be better for you

Could be you are in the habit of watching arc strike then using shield .... bad practise, and not good for your eyes.

[Rick Hughes]

maybe a simple consideration for you ....... nobody has yet been able to see out of a glass eye ........ you want to take the risk go ahead, nobody with any common sense will advise you to do so.

[Gefreiter Krueger]

No, I mean to position it then lower the shield to strike. But I don't = time it right every time, rather like a learner driver crunching the gea= rs by using the clutch and gearlever out of sync. I guess it just needs= practise.

-- =

An ostrich=E2=80=99s eye is bigger than its brain.

[Martin Brown]

For anyone sensible the answer is yes you always need a welding mask for protection from the arcs hard UV component and any flux splatter.

But why don't you try it without and then experience the pain of welders flash - if you are very lucky you might not do any permanent damage to your eyes. Welders use a mask and wear gloves for good reason.

[Gefreiter Krueger]

The gloves seem a bit over the top.

[John Rumm]

An auto darkening helmet is the solution...

Not yet at least.

[Gefreiter Krueger]

If I was doing more than one job.

Everything I read said 5 minutes.