Ha, I had to watch when I saw the title. Your eyes are terrific; you just wait. I used cheaters until they wouldn't work. If you get past a 2x, they just mess you up so I went to reading glasses. I'm fine with my regular glasses for stick, because it is at arms length but to see my tig tungsten, I have to wear 3.5x readers. The minute I flip the hood up to walk or grind or pick up a rod, I have to take them off (and often put on my progressives.) Put on, take off, put on, take off, put on, take off. Trying to weld tig when you can't see absolutely perfect is like trying to balance a ball on your head. Impossible. When laying under machines, I often have to go to reader glasses as well, because I can only see close out of the bottom of my progressive glasses and that won't work under a car. I keep some 2.5x around for that if I'm mig welding. It's a freak'n mess - old eyes.
Man, do I ever feel you. For Tig, I wear 2.50 readers PLUS a 2.50 cheater. If I’m migging something that’s at arms length, I have to pop off my readers and just look through my cheater in the helmet. It’s easier to take my glasses off than it is to remove of lower the cheater. My vision for far away stuff is perfect. I passed the vision part to renew my driver license. I just struggle to see stuff up close. It sucks, because all I have are reading glasses, and I’m constantly flipping them up on top of my head or down to my nose to see up close. 200 times a day.
Mr. Greg forgot one thing... workplace lighting. Two powerfull led lamps , left and right ,500lux min. each , helps and remove shadows. Exspecialy on 141 process.
My welding light, to me, is more important than the settings on my welding helmet, gloves, or the type of welding wire I'm using. I have 20/20 vision, but without the light, i go from decent to absolute dog shit
Lots of ambient lighting, headlamp on the hood all help a lot, but I finally tried one of the new "blue lens" hoods and it is night and day: so much clearer, no green tint, and although it's called "blue", the color as you see it through the lens is very neutral and natural. I used to weld at less than shade 9 because the traditional green lenses were just too dark, but shade 9 is perfect with the blue lens and I can see the weld pool clearly as well as the surrounding workpiece. Expensive, but it has made welding so much easier. Magnifying cheater lens inside the helmet is also very helpful for my aging eyes..
Good topic, Greg, thanks for covering it. When I was first beginning (self taught), I had trouble seeing where I was going (lighting was an issue in my shop), so I kept turning the shade down so I could see where I was going (the joint), but then I couldn't see the puddle (too bright). So I Velcro'ed a bright LED light (Amazon) on top of my hood. That helps me to be able to turn the shade up enough to see puddle, and see where I was going (the joint). Just thought I'd throw that out there in case other newbies like me are having similar issues.
Hey Greg, great video 👍.Vision is just part of it there's a lot of variables to consider in welding like how close or far of an ark your holding, knowing what to look for your puddle, how good your fit up is etc. It basically boils down to practice and learning as much as you can.
Yes, great topic, Greg! Thanks for the video! By the way, Im loving that Everlast Power Arc 300 ST. It runs 6010 beautifully, I think . Cant wait to use it more.
Good topic, I think though for beginning welders the problem is they don't know what they are not seeing. After all who's actually seen a weld puddle unless they've watched someone and even if they did use a hood to watch, the settings on it matter. Goes back to what you said practice and that desire to learn.
Nice timing I just had a discussion with me eye doctor about this topic. I am 57 been welding for 30 yrs or so and wear glasses with progressive lenses. Sometimes depending on distance it is awkward to see well. Tig welding I need a 2.0 cheater lens Kinda got to find the sweet spot . Great hood that’s what I use.You cover topics that more teachers need to address love your channel great job!
Yep, the hard part is finding a lens that works for the distance you work in. I am lucky enough that a 1.5 cheater gives me perfectly clear vision hood down from 3in to about 5 foot. Beyond 5 foot it gets blurry. Flipping the hood up I am good to go for vision. As my near vision gets worse overtime a more powerful cheater will be needed, and the trade offs with those make it real tough to see distance. Bifocals become a more reasonable option no doubt. It sucks to have to deal with vision issues but it’s much more pleasant to be able to see what’s going on 😅
Ya know that thing you said about your vision failing as you age? Ah, yeah. I'm 75 and this last summer I had double cataract surgery. I was given the choice to see up close or at a distance. I chose the distance option. I now can't read anything closer that 24 inches to my face. I wear reading glasses but they are basically arms length so do not work so well at 7 to 18 inches. I will be getting the cheater lenses you recommended on Amazon so I can determine what correction I need for welding distance. Thanks so much for doing this video. The timing could not have been better. Having said all that, off topic, your view/opinion on laser welding machines? Have you thought about doing a video on this technology? It seems to be everywhere out there all of a sudden.
Been using 3M brand Dual Reader safety glasses for several years. Reader lens in the top and bottom of the safety glasses. No need for the cheater in the hood. Clear distance vision straight out, magnified cheater looking up or down. Raise hood and still have the reader lens in the safety glasses for seeing/inspecting/reading.
I definitely want one of these Viking hoods. My HF one is the knock off of this and works great for stick and fluxcore and MIG but I get flashed so often with it running TIG.
I got a 3350 a few months ago, based on greg's review of those 3 hoods. I like it so far, much better than an old HF one I had lying around. The Miller digital infinity one was just too expensive at my local welding supply store.
@@Justforfun-ek7et Not tried TiG with it, but it's so sensitive I can't grind with it without it going dark on me from even a tiny spark, but it's easy to hold the grind button on the side for a second to turn on grind mode. The color clarity on it is amazing too. The sensitivity and shade are easily adjustable with little dials, very intuitive to use, and very good battery life too.
important subject video. There are actually eye exercise that helps near sight. not a miracle but just as going to the gym , it does help. Will there be a follow up part2? What to focus on , follow a line and not just stare into the arc light.
For sure a clean hood and true color lens on it is helping that procedure, adding a zoom glass it goes even easier thinks on. thank you for your thoughts. Tasos. PS: I have an off topic question, my welding machine is a "183E GYS" and I use the "Zelcord 6010 2.5 mm" so to weld 1.8mm square galvanized profile 80X40mm. Maybe you can see the properties of these facts and offer a choice for setting up: DCNE or DCPE, _ _A, _%Hot start, _ _Hz. Now I run DCPE on 87A 10%Hot start 16Hz. Sorry for the off topic. Thank you in advance. Th
I wear bifocal glasses but it's hard to use them welding because I have to raise my head way up to see through them and the welding lens. Last time I bought glasses I had the place that made my glasses use the prescription for the reading part of the bifocal lens to make me some safety glasses that had the whole lens in the "close-up" strength. This is very good for welding, since it is usually within the range of reading. It does mean that you have to switch back to the regular glasses for other work, but it isn't too bad if you don't have to do it too often. Cheater lenses may not work for everyone, since if you have astigmatism (irregular curvature of the cornea) like me, then prescription lenses may be the only option.
As a new welder myself I can say it takes a bit of time for your brain to understand what you're looking at. At first everything looks indistinguishable. Then as you practice you start to see things that weren't there before. But I guess there are lots of factors at play. Your eyeballs obviously being important. Also starting with too high of a darkening setting for the amps you're using. That is something you have to learn too. Being flashed by my cheap helmet taught me what "too bright" is. The other thing I did is significantly increase my shop lighting over where I'm practicing. Really adds a lot of detail. Speaking of the 3350 which is a great helmet, I have found the Weldcote Ultraview is not only significantly cheaper but it's _slightly_ clearer than the 3350. It weighs the same, they're both heavy. It's sensitive like the 3350. The 3350 headgear is better IMHO. Long term who knows, we'll see. I'm just an amateur trying different things.
Hey on the weldcote ultraview there giving them out at work and they are kinda 50 /50 dipshits that tear anything up are definitely a lot nicer view than the 10 year old 3m speed glass I've been using there, and I'm so use to the pos I have bought 2 more at auctions in the past there light tough and last forever. They also burn your eyes ,ears and neck face etc. When I was 18 the plant managers little brother brought one in and thought he was something we were all using fixed shades and golds , it wasn't tell shortly after that people around here had auto darkening mostly Ole Jackson with insert I still got mine collecting dust. But my helmet from 2014 is almost the same thatvi seen in 1999 . Obviously different models and lenses are more advanced. He had shade 10 only in it. I'm thinking about getting a weldcote ultraview it's what my work offers now but I know other than the quirks the stupid speed glass comes out of truck in any weather and none has failed me I've seen a few fail. I don't know what I'd do welding in the true blue or whatever they call it.
100%. There is so much going on in welding that trying to balance everything takes time when learning. The goal is to get to the point you don’t have to really think about what’s going on, you just do what’s needed. This takes a lot of time and is frustrating as hell lol. No doubt you need a balance between to light and too dark. If you can’t see what’s around the weld pool at all you are in trouble. Shop lights can definitely help with this. Good to hear you found a solid alternative to the fairly expensive Viking. The one I have has survived many years without issues. No doubt it’s heavy, you don’t really realize it until you try other options out there (like a pipeliner) which is far lighter.
Same issues, I have a single cheater lens for my Jackson Insight, I have a 4 tube 8 foot fluorescent over my workbench and had backlight issues. I duct taped a shop rag to the back of the helmet which helps. I'm not sure i got the most ideal idopter @ 1.5 magnification. Regarding my vision i have had two implants due to severe cataracts years ago so my mid range vision seems ideal. BUT i had a stroke two years ago in my left occipital lobe which caused me to have a sort of blind spot in the noon to 3 o'clock quadrant in my field of vision. When practice welding i have this habit when running a bead left to right to go offcourse pulling the bead towards me to the right. I had considered buying a new hood so this video comes just in time for me to hold off on that and instead correct the shop lighting and get a range of cheaters. Also get new lens covers even though i keep my hood in a cloth bag and in the box i bought it in. Its about six years old.
No doubt based on your situation an assortment of cheater lenses, some simple methods to reduce backlight into the welding hood and some decently placed shop lights will help a lot. As you get things looking better vision wise just focusing on being smooth and consistent will help you weld better. The great part comes when you don’t even think of what to do, you just do it. That’s when welding becomes relaxing and it’s easy to make decent welds.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Im trying to get a steady stick welding arc length and travel speed w/7014 and 6011 and 6013 despite if i'm running downhill off course a bit. When I go back to mig like I did last night i get all kinds of problems with the nozzle hiding the arc in the bad lighting and glare. But i did accomplish a railing out of box tubing and #4 rebar for our pastors home as he had a winding staircase fall risk for his five kids. So I actually built something beside a pile of welding coupons.
I tried this experiment with a $5 bill, can't read it closer than 12", but the farther away I can reach it gets clearer. With my presciption reading glasses it's much clearer, but closer than 7-8 inches they don't work. It seems they made the glasses optimized for normal reading distance. They're slightly off for a computer screen, but I don't really need them with a desktop computer at about 24". The prescription reading glasses I have are different for each eye, and also astigmatism correction. I should probably get a couple cheater lenses for my 3350 and see if those help, but I generally don't keep my hood closer than 12-16" away from the workpiece so it's marginal. Your vision at 7 inches sounds about where mine is at about 11" without glasses. When I was young, I tested 20/10 or 20/15 20 years ago even for distance at the eye doctor. Today, distance vision is just barely 20/20 I can read the 20/20 letters but just barely. Reading fine print on documents now is nearly impossible for me without glasses.
I have the same hood. everything is up to snuff. believe me. I am fanatical about maintaining my welding helmets from cleanliness, shades, battery etc. but I get flashes all the time with certain metals while tig welding (mild, stainless not as much), aluminum is fine. qualifier. I have the hood backing as well ala Migmastermike. and Mig is not an issue but tig is. why so? but what really threw me off was at 6:01, when you pulled out a Lincoln. with that Canadian accent it caught me off guard. trying to avoid the Trump tariffs already?
Great question. So with stick and mig it’s best to keep a decent distance because of the fume. With tig it’s generally needed to be fairly close due to how small everything is. The tendency is for most people to have their face way too close to what they are doing. Besides breathing in more fumes doing this the main bad thing is it can restrict your movement. Having your face super close makes it really hard to move your body/hands while welding, which can make it tough to weld consistent welds on things that aren’t sitting on a bench infront of you.
Hi Greg, you didn't cover shade, sensitivity, etc. I have the Miller infinity $500 and can't see that the part is glowing red hot or where the joint is to weld.
So shade and sensitivity comes down to what hood and how a persons eyes are. Every hood is slightly different in actual shade (cheap ones tend to be lighter or darker than setpoint by a lot) vs setpoint. Ideally for most mig/tig/stick welding a shade 10-12 is ideal. In many cases a shade that you can clearly see a joint that you’re welding is far too bright to weld with. This is where having muscle memory of how fast to move and angles of movement help keep things on track despite only occasionally seeing the line you’re welding too. It’s very common for me to lose sight of a joint at times, but due to having so much experience I am able to keep things mostly on track. Actual things that will help this is using a sharpie, scribe, or file and make a line on the joint that will stand out. Use shop lights to lighten what you are welding. Prevent backlight from entering your hood. To me backlight in the hood mixed with poor lighting of the weld area is a recipe to make it real tough to see. Welding by feel will only get you so far lol. In many cases the weld pool will just be a bit brighter than the area around it. The goal is to look at the size and the shape of that pool. You want to keep it consistently the same size, if you travel too fast it shrinks in width or disappears. If you travel too slow it widens and raises in height. Just moving consistent enough that it stays the same size is the goal. Even if you can’t fully see all the details the brighter molten puddle staying consistent will result in decent results.
I've noticed another issue when welding. It seems like my lower priced mask has rather poor "dynamic range." So if I am welding along a butt joint I can see the puddle just fine, but I can't see the butt joint well enough to follow it properly. I've tried adjusting my mask from 11 down to 9 or lower, but I can quickly tell I'm getting more eye strain from the added brightness. As for distance from the weld, I'm usually 12" to 20", and have no problem with clarity because I use reading glasses under my hood. Back lighting may be contributing to this, so I'm going to try a back cover for the hood to see if that helps. But I'm just wondering if higher priced hoods have better dynamic range than cheaper ones.
So cheaper hoods are often either much darker or lighter than their settings suggest. If it’s too dark it’s difficult to see what’s going on. You will have a molten puddle and that’s it. With stick it’s easy to follow a plate line by touching the flux to it without having the best vision, but that comes with experience. Generally speaking shade 10 or 11 is what I use. There is better light to dark perception on higher end welding hoods without a doubt. Some of that is because they often adjust in half shades and that can help. Shade 10 might be too bright but shade 11 is too dark. Splitting the difference might help a lot.
I have been thinking I need a cheater a bit, I do the same welds and I admit I weld by routine and I suppose half a million will get you a routine. I noticed I was extra close dragging a 6011 towards me in a tight spot and then the whole puddle dropped through and I couldn't even see it . 27 years at it and I'm having trouble seeing with the up close, I sometimes wear a 1.25 reading. I was worried about getting dizzy wearing the cheater , do you think a cheater helps hurts or don't affect your vision in long run obviously I know it helps at the time. Great subject I was just thinking about a optimitrist appointment earlier today.
So I talked with my optometrist regarding vision issues a few months ago (I wanted to know if lasik was an option). She said that many people at the age of 40 and older have issues with their eyes functioning properly with near vision and lasik wouldn’t remove my likely need for glasses so it was mostly a waste of time. My near vision hasn’t been the best for a while, but it was never a problem because I just held stuff a bit father away. Well having to weld with my face 7in or less from something I realized how bad my near sight was. Wearing the cheater causes my eyes to relax and they aren’t fatigued as much. If you use too powerful of one no doubt it will make it hard. With the hood down everything will be too big, which will change a ton of how you do precision movements since what appears to be 1/2in is much less. There is a bit of a retraining of your brain. I will say I have worn the 1.5 cheater for 2 weeks without any issues. My eyes are less fatigued and the welds are looking good.
What about a tall glass of milk?? Great video as always, I have been meaning to get myself a hood cover to drape the back of my head. I hate buying online but all the welding stores in my area don’t carry them
I am not sure why the “hoods” aren’t very common, they seem like an online order only. I would avoid leather ones because of weight and heat. The canvas ones do breathe decently, but they are still hot. The vision is worth it though, much easier to see what’s going on.
I went to local leather store “Tandy” and bought a 2 ft square suede piece and cut a portion to be a light block. Just used painters tape for now and eventually will install snaps to my helmet. Works great. 👍🏼
I have terrible eyesight for up close stuff like TIG Welding, but also soldering etc. I've switched to Elvex Series 500 Full Magnification Safety Glasses, 2.5x because I am blind as heck, and I couldnt find a suitable cheater lens locally for my ESAB Sentinel helment. Don't get the bifocals, get the full magnification ones.
No doubt if your vision is bad full magnification or other alternatives must be used. Glad to hear you found something that works. No doubt tig is the hardest since it’s so small and honestly requires your face to be closer than most welding processes. Very frustrating to do with any issues with vision.
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Ha, I had to watch when I saw the title. Your eyes are terrific; you just wait. I used cheaters until they wouldn't work. If you get past a 2x, they just mess you up so I went to reading glasses. I'm fine with my regular glasses for stick, because it is at arms length but to see my tig tungsten, I have to wear 3.5x readers. The minute I flip the hood up to walk or grind or pick up a rod, I have to take them off (and often put on my progressives.) Put on, take off, put on, take off, put on, take off.
Trying to weld tig when you can't see absolutely perfect is like trying to balance a ball on your head. Impossible. When laying under machines, I often have to go to reader glasses as well, because I can only see close out of the bottom of my progressive glasses and that won't work under a car. I keep some 2.5x around for that if I'm mig welding. It's a freak'n mess - old eyes.
Man, do I ever feel you. For Tig, I wear 2.50 readers PLUS a 2.50 cheater. If I’m migging something that’s at arms length, I have to pop off my readers and just look through my cheater in the helmet. It’s easier to take my glasses off than it is to remove of lower the cheater.
My vision for far away stuff is perfect. I passed the vision part to renew my driver license. I just struggle to see stuff up close. It sucks, because all I have are reading glasses, and I’m constantly flipping them up on top of my head or down to my nose to see up close. 200 times a day.
Mr. Greg forgot one thing... workplace lighting. Two powerfull led lamps , left and right ,500lux min. each , helps and remove shadows. Exspecialy on 141 process.
Great point, the lighting will help no doubt.
My welding light, to me, is more important than the settings on my welding helmet, gloves, or the type of welding wire I'm using. I have 20/20 vision, but without the light, i go from decent to absolute dog shit
Lots of ambient lighting, headlamp on the hood all help a lot, but I finally tried one of the new "blue lens" hoods and it is night and day: so much clearer, no green tint, and although it's called "blue", the color as you see it through the lens is very neutral and natural. I used to weld at less than shade 9 because the traditional green lenses were just too dark, but shade 9 is perfect with the blue lens and I can see the weld pool clearly as well as the surrounding workpiece. Expensive, but it has made welding so much easier. Magnifying cheater lens inside the helmet is also very helpful for my aging eyes..
Good topic, Greg, thanks for covering it. When I was first beginning (self taught), I had trouble seeing where I was going (lighting was an issue in my shop), so I kept turning the shade down so I could see where I was going (the joint), but then I couldn't see the puddle (too bright). So I Velcro'ed a bright LED light (Amazon) on top of my hood. That helps me to be able to turn the shade up enough to see puddle, and see where I was going (the joint). Just thought I'd throw that out there in case other newbies like me are having similar issues.
Hey Greg, great video 👍.Vision is just part of it there's a lot of variables to consider in welding like how close or far of an ark your holding, knowing what to look for your puddle, how good your fit up is etc. It basically boils down to practice and learning as much as you can.
Yes, great topic, Greg! Thanks for the video!
By the way, Im loving that Everlast Power Arc 300 ST. It runs 6010 beautifully, I think . Cant wait to use it more.
Good topic, I think though for beginning welders the problem is they don't know what they are not seeing. After all who's actually seen a weld puddle unless they've watched someone and even if they did use a hood to watch, the settings on it matter. Goes back to what you said practice and that desire to learn.
Nice timing I just had a discussion with me eye doctor about this topic. I am 57 been welding for 30 yrs or so and wear glasses with progressive lenses. Sometimes depending on distance it is awkward to see well. Tig welding I need a 2.0 cheater lens Kinda got to find the sweet spot . Great hood that’s what I use.You cover topics that more teachers need to address love your channel great job!
Yep, the hard part is finding a lens that works for the distance you work in. I am lucky enough that a 1.5 cheater gives me perfectly clear vision hood down from 3in to about 5 foot. Beyond 5 foot it gets blurry. Flipping the hood up I am good to go for vision. As my near vision gets worse overtime a more powerful cheater will be needed, and the trade offs with those make it real tough to see distance. Bifocals become a more reasonable option no doubt. It sucks to have to deal with vision issues but it’s much more pleasant to be able to see what’s going on 😅
I have some! Best decision I made! But, not all welding helmets accepts them! Great topic! Thanks for sharing! Greg!👌👍
Glad to hear that, it’s crazy how nice it is to be able to see 😅
my arms got short over 25 years ago
Very well put together video, appreciate your time. 👍
Great topic! Well done.
Thanks 😀👍
Ya know that thing you said about your vision failing as you age? Ah, yeah. I'm 75 and this last summer I had double cataract surgery. I was given the choice to see up close or at a distance. I chose the distance option. I now can't read anything closer that 24 inches to my face. I wear reading glasses but they are basically arms length so do not work so well at 7 to 18 inches. I will be getting the cheater lenses you recommended on Amazon so I can determine what correction I need for welding distance. Thanks so much for doing this video. The timing could not have been better. Having said all that, off topic, your view/opinion on laser welding machines? Have you thought about doing a video on this technology? It seems to be everywhere out there all of a sudden.
Been using 3M brand Dual Reader safety glasses for several years. Reader lens in the top and bottom of the safety glasses. No need for the cheater in the hood. Clear distance vision straight out, magnified cheater looking up or down. Raise hood and still have the reader lens in the safety glasses for seeing/inspecting/reading.
Definitely the way to go depending on work 👍. If you struggle to weld up close obviously other things could benefit too by readers lol.
I am soooo glad you did this video. Because I need help. Thanks.
One tip from me, you can polish your lenses if you have machine for polishing , they look like new.
Thank you for this video
Been struggling with seeing what I’m doing
I definitely want one of these Viking hoods. My HF one is the knock off of this and works great for stick and fluxcore and MIG but I get flashed so often with it running TIG.
I got a 3350 a few months ago, based on greg's review of those 3 hoods. I like it so far, much better than an old HF one I had lying around. The Miller digital infinity one was just too expensive at my local welding supply store.
@ I’m glad to hear it’s working well, are you doing TIG with it, getting flashed at all?
@@Justforfun-ek7et Not tried TiG with it, but it's so sensitive I can't grind with it without it going dark on me from even a tiny spark, but it's easy to hold the grind button on the side for a second to turn on grind mode. The color clarity on it is amazing too. The sensitivity and shade are easily adjustable with little dials, very intuitive to use, and very good battery life too.
great thanks!😁
important subject video. There are actually eye exercise that helps near sight. not a miracle but just as going to the gym , it does help. Will there be a follow up part2? What to focus on , follow a line and not just stare into the arc light.
For sure a clean hood and true color lens on it is helping that procedure, adding a zoom glass it goes even easier thinks on.
thank you for your thoughts.
Tasos.
PS: I have an off topic question, my welding machine is a "183E GYS" and I use the "Zelcord 6010 2.5 mm" so to weld 1.8mm square galvanized profile 80X40mm. Maybe you can see the properties of these facts and offer a choice for setting up: DCNE or DCPE, _ _A, _%Hot start, _ _Hz.
Now I run DCPE on 87A 10%Hot start 16Hz.
Sorry for the off topic.
Thank you in advance.
Th
I wear bifocal glasses but it's hard to use them welding because I have to raise my head way up to see through them and the welding lens. Last time I bought glasses I had the place that made my glasses use the prescription for the reading part of the bifocal lens to make me some safety glasses that had the whole lens in the "close-up" strength. This is very good for welding, since it is usually within the range of reading. It does mean that you have to switch back to the regular glasses for other work, but it isn't too bad if you don't have to do it too often. Cheater lenses may not work for everyone, since if you have astigmatism (irregular curvature of the cornea) like me, then prescription lenses may be the only option.
Thank you for the informational video.
No problem 👍. Hopefully your vision is better than mine up close lol.
I'm older than you lol and use cheater lenses at times. Good video
As a new welder myself I can say it takes a bit of time for your brain to understand what you're looking at. At first everything looks indistinguishable. Then as you practice you start to see things that weren't there before. But I guess there are lots of factors at play. Your eyeballs obviously being important. Also starting with too high of a darkening setting for the amps you're using. That is something you have to learn too. Being flashed by my cheap helmet taught me what "too bright" is. The other thing I did is significantly increase my shop lighting over where I'm practicing. Really adds a lot of detail.
Speaking of the 3350 which is a great helmet, I have found the Weldcote Ultraview is not only significantly cheaper but it's _slightly_ clearer than the 3350. It weighs the same, they're both heavy. It's sensitive like the 3350. The 3350 headgear is better IMHO. Long term who knows, we'll see. I'm just an amateur trying different things.
Hey on the weldcote ultraview there giving them out at work and they are kinda 50 /50 dipshits that tear anything up are definitely a lot nicer view than the 10 year old 3m speed glass I've been using there, and I'm so use to the pos I have bought 2 more at auctions in the past there light tough and last forever. They also burn your eyes ,ears and neck face etc. When I was 18 the plant managers little brother brought one in and thought he was something we were all using fixed shades and golds , it wasn't tell shortly after that people around here had auto darkening mostly Ole Jackson with insert I still got mine collecting dust. But my helmet from 2014 is almost the same thatvi seen in 1999 . Obviously different models and lenses are more advanced. He had shade 10 only in it. I'm thinking about getting a weldcote ultraview it's what my work offers now but I know other than the quirks the stupid speed glass comes out of truck in any weather and none has failed me I've seen a few fail. I don't know what I'd do welding in the true blue or whatever they call it.
100%. There is so much going on in welding that trying to balance everything takes time when learning. The goal is to get to the point you don’t have to really think about what’s going on, you just do what’s needed. This takes a lot of time and is frustrating as hell lol. No doubt you need a balance between to light and too dark. If you can’t see what’s around the weld pool at all you are in trouble. Shop lights can definitely help with this.
Good to hear you found a solid alternative to the fairly expensive Viking. The one I have has survived many years without issues. No doubt it’s heavy, you don’t really realize it until you try other options out there (like a pipeliner) which is far lighter.
A plus 😊
Same issues, I have a single cheater lens for my Jackson Insight, I have a 4 tube 8 foot fluorescent over my workbench and had backlight issues. I duct taped a shop rag to the back of the helmet which helps. I'm not sure i got the most ideal idopter @ 1.5 magnification. Regarding my vision i have had two implants due to severe cataracts years ago so my mid range vision seems ideal. BUT i had a stroke two years ago in my left occipital lobe which caused me to have a sort of blind spot in the noon to 3 o'clock quadrant in my field of vision. When practice welding i have this habit when running a bead left to right to go offcourse pulling the bead towards me to the right. I had considered buying a new hood so this video comes just in time for me to hold off on that and instead correct the shop lighting and get a range of cheaters. Also get new lens covers even though i keep my hood in a cloth bag and in the box i bought it in. Its about six years old.
No doubt based on your situation an assortment of cheater lenses, some simple methods to reduce backlight into the welding hood and some decently placed shop lights will help a lot. As you get things looking better vision wise just focusing on being smooth and consistent will help you weld better. The great part comes when you don’t even think of what to do, you just do it. That’s when welding becomes relaxing and it’s easy to make decent welds.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Im trying to get a steady stick welding arc length and travel speed w/7014 and 6011 and 6013 despite if i'm running downhill off course a bit. When I go back to mig like I did last night i get all kinds of problems with the nozzle hiding the arc in the bad lighting and glare. But i did accomplish a railing out of box tubing and #4 rebar for our pastors home as he had a winding staircase fall risk for his five kids. So I actually built something beside a pile of welding coupons.
I tried this experiment with a $5 bill, can't read it closer than 12", but the farther away I can reach it gets clearer. With my presciption reading glasses it's much clearer, but closer than 7-8 inches they don't work. It seems they made the glasses optimized for normal reading distance. They're slightly off for a computer screen, but I don't really need them with a desktop computer at about 24". The prescription reading glasses I have are different for each eye, and also astigmatism correction. I should probably get a couple cheater lenses for my 3350 and see if those help, but I generally don't keep my hood closer than 12-16" away from the workpiece so it's marginal.
Your vision at 7 inches sounds about where mine is at about 11" without glasses. When I was young, I tested 20/10 or 20/15 20 years ago even for distance at the eye doctor. Today, distance vision is just barely 20/20 I can read the 20/20 letters but just barely. Reading fine print on documents now is nearly impossible for me without glasses.
Been using a cheater lens for years. Can't really weld without it.
Can you do a video comparing tungsten thicknesses?
I have the same hood. everything is up to snuff. believe me. I am fanatical about maintaining my welding helmets from cleanliness, shades, battery etc. but I get flashes all the time with certain metals while tig welding (mild, stainless not as much), aluminum is fine. qualifier. I have the hood backing as well ala Migmastermike. and Mig is not an issue but tig is. why so?
but what really threw me off was at 6:01, when you pulled out a Lincoln. with that Canadian accent it caught me off guard. trying to avoid the Trump tariffs already?
New welder question: When possible, what distance should you try to keep your hood from your work (mig, tig, stick, oxy/acetylene)?
Great question. So with stick and mig it’s best to keep a decent distance because of the fume. With tig it’s generally needed to be fairly close due to how small everything is. The tendency is for most people to have their face way too close to what they are doing. Besides breathing in more fumes doing this the main bad thing is it can restrict your movement. Having your face super close makes it really hard to move your body/hands while welding, which can make it tough to weld consistent welds on things that aren’t sitting on a bench infront of you.
@makingmistakeswithgreg Would 18-20 inches be about right for stick and mig?
Hi Greg, you didn't cover shade, sensitivity, etc. I have the Miller infinity $500 and can't see that the part is glowing red hot or where the joint is to weld.
So shade and sensitivity comes down to what hood and how a persons eyes are. Every hood is slightly different in actual shade (cheap ones tend to be lighter or darker than setpoint by a lot) vs setpoint. Ideally for most mig/tig/stick welding a shade 10-12 is ideal. In many cases a shade that you can clearly see a joint that you’re welding is far too bright to weld with. This is where having muscle memory of how fast to move and angles of movement help keep things on track despite only occasionally seeing the line you’re welding too. It’s very common for me to lose sight of a joint at times, but due to having so much experience I am able to keep things mostly on track.
Actual things that will help this is using a sharpie, scribe, or file and make a line on the joint that will stand out. Use shop lights to lighten what you are welding. Prevent backlight from entering your hood. To me backlight in the hood mixed with poor lighting of the weld area is a recipe to make it real tough to see. Welding by feel will only get you so far lol. In many cases the weld pool will just be a bit brighter than the area around it. The goal is to look at the size and the shape of that pool. You want to keep it consistently the same size, if you travel too fast it shrinks in width or disappears. If you travel too slow it widens and raises in height. Just moving consistent enough that it stays the same size is the goal. Even if you can’t fully see all the details the brighter molten puddle staying consistent will result in decent results.
I've noticed another issue when welding. It seems like my lower priced mask has rather poor "dynamic range." So if I am welding along a butt joint I can see the puddle just fine, but I can't see the butt joint well enough to follow it properly. I've tried adjusting my mask from 11 down to 9 or lower, but I can quickly tell I'm getting more eye strain from the added brightness. As for distance from the weld, I'm usually 12" to 20", and have no problem with clarity because I use reading glasses under my hood. Back lighting may be contributing to this, so I'm going to try a back cover for the hood to see if that helps. But I'm just wondering if higher priced hoods have better dynamic range than cheaper ones.
So cheaper hoods are often either much darker or lighter than their settings suggest. If it’s too dark it’s difficult to see what’s going on. You will have a molten puddle and that’s it. With stick it’s easy to follow a plate line by touching the flux to it without having the best vision, but that comes with experience. Generally speaking shade 10 or 11 is what I use. There is better light to dark perception on higher end welding hoods without a doubt. Some of that is because they often adjust in half shades and that can help. Shade 10 might be too bright but shade 11 is too dark. Splitting the difference might help a lot.
What colour eyes do you have, mine are blue. most susceptible to bright light and arc's............
I have been thinking I need a cheater a bit, I do the same welds and I admit I weld by routine and I suppose half a million will get you a routine. I noticed I was extra close dragging a 6011 towards me in a tight spot and then the whole puddle dropped through and I couldn't even see it . 27 years at it and I'm having trouble seeing with the up close, I sometimes wear a 1.25 reading. I was worried about getting dizzy wearing the cheater , do you think a cheater helps hurts or don't affect your vision in long run obviously I know it helps at the time. Great subject I was just thinking about a optimitrist appointment earlier today.
So I talked with my optometrist regarding vision issues a few months ago (I wanted to know if lasik was an option). She said that many people at the age of 40 and older have issues with their eyes functioning properly with near vision and lasik wouldn’t remove my likely need for glasses so it was mostly a waste of time. My near vision hasn’t been the best for a while, but it was never a problem because I just held stuff a bit father away. Well having to weld with my face 7in or less from something I realized how bad my near sight was. Wearing the cheater causes my eyes to relax and they aren’t fatigued as much. If you use too powerful of one no doubt it will make it hard. With the hood down everything will be too big, which will change a ton of how you do precision movements since what appears to be 1/2in is much less. There is a bit of a retraining of your brain. I will say I have worn the 1.5 cheater for 2 weeks without any issues. My eyes are less fatigued and the welds are looking good.
What about a tall glass of milk?? Great video as always, I have been meaning to get myself a hood cover to drape the back of my head. I hate buying online but all the welding stores in my area don’t carry them
I am not sure why the “hoods” aren’t very common, they seem like an online order only. I would avoid leather ones because of weight and heat. The canvas ones do breathe decently, but they are still hot. The vision is worth it though, much easier to see what’s going on.
I went to local leather store “Tandy” and bought a 2 ft square suede piece and cut a portion to be a light block. Just used painters tape for now and eventually will install snaps to my helmet. Works great. 👍🏼
Thanks Greg….
I have terrible eyesight for up close stuff like TIG Welding, but also soldering etc. I've switched to Elvex Series 500 Full Magnification Safety Glasses, 2.5x because I am blind as heck, and I couldnt find a suitable cheater lens locally for my ESAB Sentinel helment. Don't get the bifocals, get the full magnification ones.
No doubt if your vision is bad full magnification or other alternatives must be used. Glad to hear you found something that works. No doubt tig is the hardest since it’s so small and honestly requires your face to be closer than most welding processes. Very frustrating to do with any issues with vision.
Bakers gas has the cheaters online for the ESAB. Make sure you get the correct one. The old and new helmet take different lenses.
Definitely hate backlight or even reflection from high viz clothing
Great point on the hivis, it’s possible to even get a sunburn off some hivis, typically on the neck due to reflections.
I thought my video quality dropped to 144 at the start of the video...
Potato vision 😅.
First!
If I had a prize to give I would 😀👍.