Rocky D

[Dan]

Rocky,

I remember you stating that for TIG welding thin material you used a #8 shade lense. Is this lense the larger 4 1/2"x 5 1/4 or the smaller size. Reason I am asking is because I have to do some repair work on some of the product buckets on our older packaging machines. The material thickness on these buckets is 20 ga stainless steel of course. The hardest part is that most of the repair work amounts to welding out side corner joints. I did three of them tonight, couldn t do anymore the strain on my eyes from trying to focus on the very small weld puddle using my #9 lense got to my eyes. So, now I need to find a #8 lense for my helmet. Actually, though everyone was impressed with the 3 that I completed, especially my new boss that the company just highered. He was shocked that I could weld an outside corner joint better on 20 ga then he could on 1/8". I was cheating though, I was using an aluminum ( don t have copper) angle iron as a heat sink and back up for the joint. This made it so that I didn t have to travel that quickly across the joint. Had the machine set at 30 amps, and was using an .045 308L filler wire. Anyway, tomorrow Im off work and need to go find a #8 lense. My shift this Sunday is a non production day so nobody will be at work. So Ill try and get a picture of one of these welds to post here.

[Al T.]

Dan,
I surprized that they do not make magnified inserts for the better helmuts. Like you said it was tiny work and straining your eyes.

Good Luck

[chip hayden]

if a magnifier won't mount on the inside you might be able to tape it in. or is it that you just don't have enough visible light?

[Dan]

The size of the puddle isn t the problem. It is just that the #9 shade is slightly to dark for the amperage that I am using. The machine is set at 30 amp , but I am probably using around 20 amps to weld the joint. A work light would be a nuisance for this job. The lighter shaded lense should solve my problem

[Guest]

Originally posted by Dan
The size of the puddle isn t the problem. It is just that the #9 shade is slightly to dark for the amperage that I am using. The machine is set at 30 amp , but I am probably using around 20 amps to weld the joint. A work light would be a nuisance for this job. The lighter shaded lense should solve my problem

Dan, the #8 lens I use in my heliarc hood, is a small one. I imagine you could special order a 4 1/2" 5 1/4" one, but I use my old trusty Huntsman for the fine detail work, with a 1.5 diopter in it. A 2.0 is usually too much, and for guys with good vision use a 1.0 diopter (cheater)

I do a lot of fine detail work, with weld beads .100: across the face, and do it for 8 or 10 hours.

[Guest]

I shold add to my previous post and mention that for our purge chambers we use 8" x 10" shade 8 lenses. We got them from a local glass dealer. They work just as good as anything you would buy from welding supply

[Guest]

Dan, did ya have any luck getting a small shade 8 lens?

[Dan]

Originally posted by Rocky D
Dan, did ya have any luck getting a small shade 8 lens?

Nope, my plans for going to the welding store on Friday fell through, when my wife had to work late and didn t make it home until it was to late to make it to Praxair, which is about 20 miles away. You can bet I was quite disappointed, because I was also planning on getting a bottle of 98/2 and try spray transfer with my MM 210 and CK systematics 175, which is actually a 200 amp machine too. Oh well, maybe sometime this week.

Anyway, I came across this site and they have the lens, so I might just order it from them.

www.weldingdepot.com