Welding Tips and Tricks

Here, I'm copying a reply I made to a good question.

I'd like to hear others' thoughts on lens color vs. process/metals



Welding lenses come in many different colors; Silver, gold, amber,red, green, and blue.

For MIG, I prefer red.

You're trying to filter out the extraneous colors (the "flare" you see around the arc), and only see the colors important to what you're doing.

Aluminum, for example, flares orange but the puddle has a blue-ish glow. Therefore, a "CoolBlue" lens is a good choice for aluminum.

On MIG mild steel, the puddle is red-yellow, but the gas flare around the weld is blue-green. Red is the best filter for this, especially on dual-shield flux-core.

Steve S

I don't like amber at all for aluminum and like either the traditional green or blue. There is an amber shade in my hood now and I find it a little too sharp with regard to the glare.

Hey,

Whats the colour used to show up those Nissen welders pencils? I was given a pencil but dont have any lenses besides the old green one.

Mick