Welding Tips and Tricks

anybody have a problem wearing bifocal glasses while welding thanks

ggcutter,
Welcome to the forum.

I would think everybody who's unfortunate enough to have to wear bifocals has trouble at some point. I have progressive bifocals and had quite a time trying to find something that worked well. I have every power of diopter cheater lens from .5 to 3.0 and actually settled on 3.0 in one of my helmets and 2.5 in the other that I use to Tig weld. My stick welding helmet has a 2.0 in it. It seems that the clarity of the lens in the helmet plays a part in this.

To be certain it sucks to need them because you only get a limited amount that you can tilt your head back before you're out of viewing area in the helmet lens. If you can get away with a passive helmet you'll have larger lens available to choose from.

Len

Pretty much the same experience for me.
I let my (expensive) progressive glasses stay away from the workshop and use cheap reading glasses + a cheater lens.

Welcome to the forum.

Welcome, ggcutter,

I had my "safety" bifocals made to my specification for work, for the exact problem you describe.

I tried progressive lenses, and absolutely HATED them for welding. I have plain ol' lined bifocals for work, and ordered them with the "near vision" set very high, with the line right at the center of the lens as it appears in front of my eyes. This requires a "nose low" position for walking around the shop, but I push them up while welding, so seeing through the top 1/4" of the bifocal is right in line with most of what I do. I also use a large-lens hood, a 4X5, so I have more "down" vision available through the hood. This has worked very well for me, with the exception of some extreme out-of-position welds that require either some serious neck-craning or mirrors.

Steve S

THANKS EVERBOY I WAS WONDERING IF I WAS THE ONLY ONE

Only when doing overhead. But I have to be careful to make sure that I am looking through the bifocal, and that I won't 'slip out' of that field of vision.