Welding Tips and Tricks

my biggest challenge in tig or mig is poor visibility. I have tried to run a straight bead and cant see what i'm doing. The welding videos views are what I'd like to see but it isn't happening.

CAN'T SEE = CAN'T WELD

ARgggghhhh!!!

Cheater lense!

Poland308 wrote:Cheater lense!

YUP!

Also try moving your head to whatever angle you need to maintain your line of sight. After a while you will be able to maintain even welds even when you can't see.....at least for short distances. With the way Jody places his camera he's always welding out of position, even when it's a flat weld, and can likely only see about half of the weld for half of the time and none of the weld for the other half of the time.
He's just got a buttload of experience.
When you stop running practice beads and actually begin to put things together you're gonna find out that most welds are out of position to some degree or another and some part or another of the weld is gonna have to be done blind.

what shade is your lens?
how many amps.
craig

Why is it anytime that I see about I can't see the weld puddle some chimes in with cheaters? When it could be just the fact that one the person needs a better lens to look through, a lighter shade of lens than they have.

Here is the response that should be asked what type of helmet are you using and what are you welding with? Finding out what they are using would be a better approach to and answer than just posting up cheaters.

I found out that my problem with seeing was not that I could not see the puddle that the lens that I was using did not allow e to see it. Clarity of the lens was the issue in the lens.

PhatAzzTrikes wrote:my biggest challenge in tig or mig is poor visibility. I have tried to run a straight bead and cant see what i'm doing. The welding videos views are what I'd like to see but it isn't happening.

CAN'T SEE = CAN'T WELD

ARgggghhhh!!!

Are you getting a red flare around the arc ? Does your lens give a green shade ?

Try and find a lens that gives you a blue shading. I can't lay a MIG bead where it's required to save my life, and with some lens and amps, it can be a real PITA with TIG as well. I was advised to change out the plastic cover lens for a glass one as they have a different effect on wave lengths / spectrum

http://www.google.com/search?q=light+sp ... AekQvwUIEQ

All I know if I'm using a lens that has a blue shade, I have no visibility problem.

You could contact to see if there are any agents near you Uwe.Barthel@saint-gobain.com or

http://www.opticoolweldinglens.com/aule ... -blue.html

kiwi2wheels wrote:

PhatAzzTrikes wrote:my biggest challenge in tig or mig is poor visibility. I have tried to run a straight bead and cant see what i'm doing. The welding videos views are what I'd like to see but it isn't happening.

CAN'T SEE = CAN'T WELD

ARgggghhhh!!!

Are you getting a red flare around the arc ? Does your lens give a green shade ?

Try and find a lens that gives you a blue shading. I can't lay a MIG bead where it's required to save my life, and with some lens and amps, it can be a real PITA with TIG as well. I was advised to change out the plastic cover lens for a glass one as they have a different effect on wave lengths / spectrum

http://www.google.com/search?q=light+sp ... AekQvwUIEQ

All I know if I'm using a lens that has a blue shade, I have no visibility problem.

You could contact to see if there are any agents near you Uwe.Barthel@saint-gobain.com or

http://www.opticoolweldinglens.com/aule ... -blue.html

That's what I use, I couldn't weld for any time until I switched to blue.

You can see the puddle much better with blue lens.

tinker001 wrote:Why is it anytime that I see about I can't see the weld puddle some chimes in with cheaters? When it could be just the fact that one the person needs a better lens to look through, a lighter shade of lens than they have.

Here is the response that should be asked what type of helmet are you using and what are you welding with? Finding out what they are using would be a better approach to and answer than just posting up cheaters.

I found out that my problem with seeing was not that I could not see the puddle that the lens that I was using did not allow e to see it. Clarity of the lens was the issue in the lens.

Uhh,,,maybe because alot of people need them and maybe some of the new guys don't know about cheaters. I have welded with crappy hoods before and other than being a PITA and not being able to see well, adding a cheater makes even the crappiest hood better. MOST tig welders that I know, use cheaters even if they don't require them to see the puddle better. I don't use a cheater to Mig weld but I sure use one to tig. Thanks for showing us the "proper" response though.

I had visibility problems when I first started and I where glasses 24/7 with progressive lens. No amount of cheater was going to help and probably have seen worse without the other needed correction. In my first welding class I might as well have been closing my eyes and pulling the trigger. I could not see a damn thing.

Once I started practicing at home I found there were multiple factors. amperage. position. ambient light intensity and direction.

What I found that helped me was dialing back on my auto-darkening effective shade. I now vary between 9 and 11. If I can't see well I stop, dial my shade number and try again. I also find that where I look when I first start the weld helps, that is, I don't look directly at the spot but slightly off until I strike the arc (TIG or MIG).

Your mileage may vary

New guy, first post here. This subject is why I registered on the board. Hobby welding straight flux core, for a couple of years now. I have trouble keeping the weld where I want it to go. For boat trailers and mowers not to big of a problem. So now I decided to restore an older racing go kart from the '70s and I need to be more precise. I've been practicing on a scrap piece of frame but still have problems. The blue lens has me wondering. I'm using an auto darkening hood. It looks green when off. Can a blue filter be used with these?

Get a gold number 10, if you think you need a cheater go to dollar store and spend 5 bucks on different strength reading glasses, if one of them help get a cheater in that strength or just wear the glasses. And the simplest and funniest error I have seen all my life can be cured with a little Windex and a paper towel. Being an old pipeliner it pains me to say this but the fancy Auto Darkening hoods are really very nice.

Hi folks

Pardon my ignorance.
What is a cheater ?

DavidC wrote:Hi folks

Pardon my ignorance.
What is a cheater ?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/2819962263 ... noapp=true

rutro wrote:New guy, first post here. This subject is why I registered on the board. Hobby welding straight flux core, for a couple of years now. I have trouble keeping the weld where I want it to go. For boat trailers and mowers not to big of a problem. So now I decided to restore an older racing go kart from the '70s and I need to be more precise. I've been practicing on a scrap piece of frame but still have problems. The blue lens has me wondering. I'm using an auto darkening hood. It looks green when off. Can a blue filter be used with these?

Yes as long as it a blue filter and not a 9 shade.

Youll see some that are like 25 bucks or so. That's what you want. It goes behind your auto lens. So clear,auto,blue, clear. Is the order of lenses in my hood.

Cheater is basically a magnifying lense for your hood. They come in varying powers. If you find you need to get your face/hood real close to see what's going on or to see clearly then a cheater is a real cheap way to get some distance. It can allow some people to see clearly without going to a lower less protective shade of lense.

PhatAzzTrikes wrote:my biggest challenge in tig or mig is poor visibility. I have tried to run a straight bead and cant see what i'm doing. The welding videos views are what I'd like to see but it isn't happening.

CAN'T SEE = CAN'T WELD

ARgggghhhh!!!

doing FCAW right now in school, loving it, if you're pulling when doing mig, try pushing, its personally my prefered way and you can see the front of the puddle way better, also, when i do mig, if i pull i always keep my head at an angle so that i can see the wire feeding while at the same time seeing the puddle. same for tig i like to tilt my head abit so i can comfortably see the tungsten/puddle while also seeing the filler rod. hope this helped.

regards

noah

I wear contacts for astigmatism and +1.25-1.50 to read at a normal distance (12-14 inches). Fcaw with #10 fixed shade was almost impossible to see. Went to #9 gold and HOLY COW! I was blind but now I see! Just sayin'.....



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rutro wrote:New guy, first post here. This subject is why I registered on the board. Hobby welding straight flux core, for a couple of years now. I have trouble keeping the weld where I want it to go. For boat trailers and mowers not to big of a problem. So now I decided to restore an older racing go kart from the '70s and I need to be more precise. I've been practicing on a scrap piece of frame but still have problems. The blue lens has me wondering. I'm using an auto darkening hood. It looks green when off. Can a blue filter be used with these?

your auto darkening helmet name/brand would help us to help you, usually you can swap it out, but keep in mind the auto darkening part (not sure what to call it, but the electrical part of the helmet) is the most expensive, so if you dont like the color, depending on the brand/model, it might be the same price as getting a new helmet. but it depends on the brand/ helmet model

noah

j_0 wrote:I wear contacts for astigmatism and +1.25-1.50 to read at a normal distance (12-14 inches). Fcaw with #10 fixed shade was almost impossible to see. Went to #9 gold and HOLY COW! I was blind but now I see! Just sayin'.....



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everyones eyes are different, but i use shade 12-13 for everything i do.

noah

All my stuff is hobbiest screwing around In not great light. Probably should have qualified my reply better


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Hey thanks Bsmith that's what I needed to know.
I should have mentioned that my old hood is from Northern Tool, not the cheapest they had at the time but not the most expensive by far. Several years ago when I bought this stuff it was to learn with and repair a mower deck. Now some time later I'm really considering a nice Lincoln or something similar. I worry about my eyes as my Dad had Macular Degeneration and I watched him slowly loose his vision to the point he could no longer drive. A year later he was gone. But anyway, I have no serious schooling, I'm a retired electrician by trade and pimped for more than one Welder/Electrician on the power houses in my time. Never could get the hang of stick welding, but this wire welding is making me look like I know what I'm doing. Didn't mean to hijack this thread.

rutro wrote:Hey thanks Bsmith that's what I needed to know.
I should have mentioned that my old hood is from Northern Tool, not the cheapest they had at the time but not the most expensive by far. Several years ago when I bought this stuff it was to learn with and repair a mower deck. Now some time later I'm really considering a nice Lincoln or something similar. I worry about my eyes as my Dad had Macular Degeneration and I watched him slowly loose his vision to the point he could no longer drive. A year later he was gone. But anyway, I have no serious schooling, I'm a retired electrician by trade and pimped for more than one Welder/Electrician on the power houses in my time. Never could get the hang of stick welding, but this wire welding is making me look like I know what I'm doing. Didn't mean to hijack this thread.

If you want to see what the cream of the crop is like then head on down to your LWS and try out a Lincoln Viking with 4C lens technology. Be sure that it says 4C lens technology on the box. If they aren't willing to let you try it out then go somewhere else. Someone will let you try one because these things sell themselves. My local shop let me try one even though I was up front with them and said I wasn't looking to spend $300 on any hood. They gave me a 1/8" 7018 in the back room and I was sold as soon as I struck an arc. I only ran about two inches of bead and didn't need to see anymore because I never in a million years thought that I would be able to see with that level of clarity and detail through any welding hood. Anyone who hasn't tried one of these things is really doing themselves a disservice. Yes, it is really THAT good!

rutro wrote:Hey thanks Bsmith that's what I needed to know.
I should have mentioned that my old hood is from Northern Tool, not the cheapest they had at the time but not the most expensive by far. Several years ago when I bought this stuff it was to learn with and repair a mower deck. Now some time later I'm really considering a nice Lincoln or something similar. I worry about my eyes as my Dad had Macular Degeneration and I watched him slowly loose his vision to the point he could no longer drive. A year later he was gone. But anyway, I have no serious schooling, I'm a retired electrician by trade and pimped for more than one Welder/Electrician on the power houses in my time. Never could get the hang of stick welding, but this wire welding is making me look like I know what I'm doing. Didn't mean to hijack this thread.

No problem, glad I could help. Just make sure you get the right size for your hood. They have both sizes. Blue lense makes night and day difference seeing the puddle.

I watch people weld at work and help them by telling them what their doing or not doing when learning to weld. The blue lense makes it easy to see what's going on.

Also sorry to hear about your dad.