Welder's Goggles

[dimples]

Hi Everyone!

I'm considering getting some welder's goggles (filter shade #5) for use when melting soft glass. Will this be enough protection? Any thoughts?

TIA!

[suzanne]

From what I understand welders gogles shade 5 are meant to be used while working with boro, they are clipons wich are atached to didymiumglasses. If you just want to work with soft glass I recommand the didymium ones, they are made for working with soft glass.

[PaulaD]

I've been using a pair of #4's on top of my didyniums. They are pretty dark. Paula

[Curly Irish Girl]

I have the #5 clip ons from Mike at Aura Lens....they are really dark and that's OK as long as I keep my eyes safe with boro. I use the over my AU92 lenses when working boro.

For soft glass, I just use the AU92 lenses...or you can use didyiums also.

[kbinkster]

Dimples, for soft glass work, the current unerstanding is that the only protection you really need is a good pair of safety glasses to protect your eyes from flying bits of glass.

Didymium lenses and A.C.E. lenses filter out the bright yellow/orange soda flare given off by glass when you heat it. Didymium and A.C.E. lenses allow you to look through the flare and at the glass that you are working. They allow you to see what you are doing.

Welders shades will block out bright light, but will not block out the soda flare.

Welders shades are often used in conjunction with Didymium or A.C.E. lenses for working borosilicate glass. Borosilicate glass requires higher temperatures to melt it. The glass puts out more infrared radiation (IR). This can damage your eyes (cause cataracts). The welders shades help block some of that IR, while the Didymium/A.C.E. lenses block out that soda flare. I believe that the welders shades also help block out some of the brightness when you get a very bright flare up from working certain colors.

Working soft glass does not put out enough IR to necessitate the use of welders shades, or other IR blocking filters. And while Didymiums and A.C.E. lenses are very helpful, they are not necessary in terms of eye protection.

[dimples]

WOW. Thank you all for your input! Have a great night!

[MikeAurelius]

Yep, what Kim said.

[Emily]

And while Didymiums and A.C.E. lenses are very helpful, they are not necessary in terms of eye protection.

Technically true, but I'd think you'd end up with a heck of a headache from staring at the soda flare for any length of time, and trying to do any detail work would be really difficult.

Go for the didymiums/AUR-92s/equivalent (Mike will tell you there is no equivalent for AUR-92s, since he's their proud papa).

Whatever you do, make sure you have some kind of eye protection. I had a nasty rod pop back toward my face yesterday, and would have been a very unhappy camper if I hadn't been wearing my glasses.

[kbinkster]

Please don't misunderstand, I am an advocate of wearing didymiums or A.C.E. lenses while working soft glass. I think that it is very important to see what you are doing while you are working with hot glass!

[e. mort]

I just got my prescription AUR-92 glasses from Aura Lens. They are really great to work with. I also got the welders flip-ups for working boro, and they help a lot when working boro. The only issue I had with the prescription glasses was that they put my lenses in the wrong order - left was right and right was left. However, my local glasses shop was able to swap the lenses and adjust the frame to fit so everything is now good to go. AUR 92s are way better than Didymiums.

Eric

[MikeAurelius]

???????Eric!!@!!!

This is the first I've heard of this happening to you. Were they inserted incorrectly or edged (lenses cut) wrong? I need to know so I can follow up with Quality Control...