Thread: A question regarding failing vision

Old pie warmer, EMF pilot arc

I also own one great old welder plenty of grunt all they ever need is to adjust the three sets of points every now and then.

Just add a gas regulator TIG torch and some argon gas and you will have a top 220 amp AC Tig welding machine.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Stringy

wonder if a run on tab (old piece of scrap metal) would help and give your eyes time to adjust before runing onto the job. This is tacked to the job!

I don’t believe that would be practical in my case. The welding I’m doing at present is butt welds on 20mm x 20mm x 1.6mm Gal RHS (With the stick welder) and joining 2 pieces of 4mm wire at 90deg with my little gasless MIG.
But thank you for your suggestion.

Originally Posted by WelderMick

I grabbed a couple of 2x diopter 'cheater' lenses as well as a new auto helmet. The magnification is more than my prescription (I couldn't remember what it was at the time) and the effect is quite disconcerting if I don't look at 90 degrees through the lens, but I'm amazed at just how much it helps.

I was going to ask what a “diopter” lense was but someone answered in a later post. I found one of those many years ago for my old flip down helmet and it was great. I’d forgotten about them until you posted. Thank you.

Originally Posted by Wood en I

….. Not sure if you know but CIG or whatever they call themselves now sell mag lenses that you can fit in with your glass shade in the standard welding helmet.

I had exactly the same question going through my mind regarding CIG. I could picture the shop in my mind but knew they had changed their name. So I couldn’t look up their phone number. Then a later post mentioned BOC. Ah Hah! That’s it!
Thank you for taking the time to try and help.

Originally Posted by soundman

I've been fighting the "bright light right on the job" attitude for years.... give it up, there is a far better way.

You sound like to have a bit of experience in this lighting thing so I found your post most interesting and I thank you for the insight.
The area I laughingly refer to as my “Shop”…..all 2 mtrs x 4 mtrs of it, has 3 x 4’ flouros in it plus a small flouro on the wall behind my pedestal drill. The only hands-on work I do in it is bench stuff and drilling on the PD. It’s not bad, but I’ll heed your suggestion about different tubes and see if I can improve on it. My wife does fine embroidery work and I recall she did a lot of trial and error with different types of tubes before she found one that worked for her. What she ended up using may not suit me, but your post reminded me that different tubes made a huge difference in her case.
I do my welding either outside or in a semi-enclosed carport attached to the shop. Depending on weather.
The carport has a reasonable amount of natural light, but maybe not enough. I’ll cost up some flouro fixtures and see what it would cost to put a few banks of them in there. If and when I finally get a decent shop, I can take them with me, so it wouldn’t mean lost money.

Originally Posted by danielhobby

magnification lenses available from boc and other welding supply outlets have a marked change on old mens welding abillity. called diopter lenses and are available in 1.5, 2.00, 2.25, and 2.5 range. in the $15 range i think. part nos are 454012 454010 454014 and 454011. i use them in my hiderok shields and a dedicated speedglass unit in my9000.

Wow, thank you Danny. Very detailed information. Now I can walk into BOC and sound like I know what I’m talking about.
I’ll have to take my self darkening helmet with me I think. It’s a cheapie I picked up at Mitre10 some years ago. I wasn’t doing much welding at the time but I’d often seen these auto helmets and really wanted one. Walking down the aisle, there was a pile of them on sale for $60. You can’t just walk past something like that, now can you?
What’s the bet it has some oddball size lense in it that I can’t get a replacement glass for.
Ah well, we’ll see.
Thank you for posting.

Originally Posted by China

Sounds to me like it may be time to have a "propper" set of specs made, I had the same problems until I bit the bullet and admitted that is what I needed, not a set of pretend specs from the Chemist or $2 shop

Me old China…..I assume that is the source of your username….your observation is very valid. I’d always used shop bought magnification glasses because I was very hard on them and went through them at a great rate. I was working on a farm at the time and would have lost or destroyed a pair a month minimum.
A while ago, I was spending a lot of time on my laptop for work and figured I’d get a “proper” pair just for that use, and the cheapies for everything else. Surely I couldn’t destroy or lose them doing that. Plus they had these ads on about getting your macular checked and SWMBO was nagging me to go.
Well, lo and behold, the optometrist told me the ones I was using from the chemist were pretty close to what I needed. I could have a prescription pair made but he advised I may well not see much difference. Plus, I obviously needed different strengths for different applications so the chemist bought ones were probably more practical.
The problem with the over the counter ones apparently, are two fold.
The REAL cheap ones from the $2 shop are badly made. They can cause hassles down the track.
The “better” ones from the chemist are a reasonable quality lens. The frames are crap.
The other thing is that many people need different strengths in each eye, so the cheapies are a compromise and overall not good vision. This can actually make your eyes worse.
But in my case, I was good to continue. He did advice I get checked out regularly to ensure this scenario doesn’t change. Now that they check your macular with a little puff of air I’m happy to do that.
Thank you for input.

Originally Posted by Oddjob1

here is a pic of my old pie warmer

That looks very much like the old one at the farm. The dial for the adjuster for the amperage was long gone, so it was a suck-it-and-see job to adjust but Geez, it had some grunt. But that’s ok. Subtlety was not a requirement on that job. I don’t recall it getting hot though. Mind you, I also can’t remember ever feeling the case after using it.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts on this matter. The depth of knowledge on this forum is quite amazing.

Now here are a few things about glasses....I have had to learn them for myself.

1 and above all, resist the temptation to run more magnification than absolutly necessary.
What you are trying to do is correct for the eyes inabilty to focus at a particular distance, not magnify.
If you run too much magnification your maximum focusing distance and range will reduce.
And the more correction of any type the more you have to look thru the centre of the lenses.
The more correction of any type you are using, the closer you need to have the lense to your eye to avoid aberations, and the closer the lense is to the eye the less you will need to look straight ahead.

2. you must have your lenses spaced and mounted on your face to match your eye centres......you need to be looking thru the optical centre of the lense.
This is one of the important things that optometrists do when fitting you for glasses..they do it by eyeing you up with a ruler across the bridge of your nose.
If you are using off the shelf readers, you can check the fitting by looking square on in a mirror...you should see your pupils in the centre of the lense.

prescription glasses may not have the optical centre in the middle of the lense.

I have my workshop glasses set up with minimum magnification and that allows me to focus between about a foot and about 3 foot which is fine for most work.

If I need to do fine work like shapening, printed circuit board work or soldering high density plugs, I go back to my long distance glasses and wear a head magnifier.

If you are forever loosing or breaking glasses.....start wearing shirts with pockets and use one of those geaky, glasses cases that clips in your pocket like Julius Sumner-Miller and that old trade instructor from your youth used to use.
The cultivate the habit that the glasses are either on your face or in your pocket.

Just like the chuck key..its either in your hand or its in the stand.

AND come to terms with the fact that you cant and never will see as well as you did when you were young.

cheers

Originally Posted by soundman

1. and above all, resist the temptation to run more magnification than absolutly necessary.
What you are trying to do is correct for the eyes inabilty to focus at a particular distance, not magnify.
If you run too much magnification your maximum focusing distance and range will reduce.
And the more correction of any type the more you have to look thru the centre of the lenses.
The more correction of any type you are using, the closer you need to have the lense to your eye to avoid aberations, and the closer the lense is to the eye the less you will need to look straight ahead.

I didn't know that. Thank you

2. you must have your lenses spaced and mounted on your face to match your eye centres......you need to be looking thru the optical centre of the lense.
This is one of the important things that optometrists do when fitting you for glasses..they do it by eyeing you up with a ruler across the bridge of your nose.
If you are using off the shelf readers, you can check the fitting by looking square on in a mirror...you should see your pupils in the centre of the lense.

THAT would explain why the optometrist told me to keep buying the same frame. It made no sense to me at the time. Now it does.

AND come to terms with the fact that you cant and never will see as well as you did when you were young.

Yup, slowly coming to terms with it. I can handle most facets of knowing I just can't do some things I used to do. Doesn't really bother me. I just find ways around it. Like I'm doing now with the welding. With what I've learnt here, I'll come up with a solution.
Not being able to lift heavy things is a fairly recent development.
And having a couple of very BIG sons helps in that area.

All in all, I'd rather be my age, than 18 again. (Unless I was allowed to know then what I know now. )

Originally Posted by soundman

resist the temptation to run more magnification than absolutly necessary.

Yeah, I can vouch for that. Like I said, the 2x magnifier lenses that I got were greater magnification than my prescription (1.5) and I do need to get slightly closer to the work than I naturally would. Next time I'm in a shop, I'll be picking up 1 or 2 of the lower mag ones so it's a bit more natural. Cheers - Mick

Hi Grandad - 5,

Plenty of advice here on lenses, lighting and things.


You may just want to check this as well. I am nearly 56 and have at least average deterioration of my eyes and wear my glasses under the helmet and for tig I use the 1.5 cheater lenses in my helmet.

The thing is that my boss where I work bought me a new auto helmet and fairly cheap one from Trade Tools. I struggled to do a decent weld with this thing because I just couldn't see properly through it for a few seconds aftter starting to weld. I just used a flip up/down model at home and had no problems seeing.
I stopped using the auto helmet at work for a while and meanwhile I had shouted my myself a new midrange quality auto helmet, It was great I could see straight up.

I went into work one day and tried the auto helmet there again and yeah those first few seconds just almost blacked out and hard to see. Anyway after a bit of testing and messing around I noticed that when I struck an arc there was an ever so momentary flash through the filter before it switched on. I had never noticed it before.
So that very fast and hardly noticable flash was giving me a temporary blinding.
To test this theory I set up ready to weld in position and just before I struck an arc I closed my eyes for the instant of the first flash and problem solved, I could see straight up.
I have two auto helmets now at home and they are both good and must switch a lot faster and I can see quite well straight up. The other one I just use the close eyes method and it is a lot better.

May not be your problem but worth trying, seeiing if any better. Get set ready to weld,close your eyes, hit the trigger, open your eyes.

You certainly only get what you paid for with the cheap auto darkening helmets....this has been discussed here before.

When you buy an auto helmet, look for one that is TIG rated as a minimum, this indicates a faster reaction time among other things..and none of the real cheap ones will be TIG rated.

I have a couple of mates that realy swear by the gold film lenses in an old style fixed helmet.....particulatly for doing high current work like tigging op cylinder heads..better visability and contrast for a given shade.



cheers

Thank you soundman and johncar for your further input.

Here's the state of the nation as of now.
I've got too much on this week to get out and checkout flouro tubes and new lenses for the helmet.
But after reading your advice here I tried a couple of experiments.

Regarding magnification levels.
I took my time and checked the distance and vision by looking at what I was about to weld with just my glasses and existing light levels.
It was all good. I realised I don't need any greater magnification that what I already use.

I tried johncar's suggestion and closed my eyes at the start of the strike. All good, which tends to suggest my auto-darkening helmet is behaving as johncar suspected.

So I got out my old flip helmet and attempted a weld. Apart from the fact that the action of flipping then striking was not as I was used to and therefore awkward, and the lense on it is FUBAR and therefore everything was fuzzy, the actual light available was good and there was no blind moment at the start.

So, this would tend to suggest that my next step ought to be a new helmet.
Thank you for the tip about being TIG compatible. That's a nice easy yardstick to use. I'll find out how much I have to pay for a better one.
Probably next week, when I get paid for my current job.

Regarding getting what you paid for and the general advice to buy good quality, I would have to agree with you in principle.
As a rule of thumb, it is sound advice and was in fact how I was taught when I was younger.
In fact, some of my tools are the same ones I bought when I was a teenager, about 45 yrs ago and are still in use today.
So buying quality has certainly paid off.

However, particularly in the past one or two decades, that rule doesn't always apply I've found.
One example. I have a very good Black & Decker industrial 1/2" drill here.
I bought it about 30 yrs ago after facing a job that involved drilling about 50 half inch holes through 4" old redgum.
My existing drill stalled at the first hint of the job. I went to my favourite supplier and told him I wanted something with grunt. I didn't want any other features. No need for trigger speed control, hammer action or dual speed. Just give me something I can lean into without fear. It cost me a weeks wages at the time.
It's been a wonderful drill that has thrown me around the room on more than one occasion because it will not stall, no matter what I throw at it.
But...my other drill is a corded, $22 drill that I bought from SuperCheap.
Its my second one. The first took me 5 years to burn out. I use it and abuse it and ask it to do things it was never designed to do. What's the worst that can happen? It burns out and I spend another $22.
I could spend $400 on a nice Metabo, and it would probably see me out.
But so will $100 worth of these cheapies.

My helmet is a similar deal.
Cost me $60 some years ago and was a 1000% better than what I had.
Now, several years later, it looks like I need to buy better.
So be it. I still consider it money well spent and don't regret buying it. I'll give it my son probably, so it will continue to serve for more years to come.

Thank you all again for taking time out to post here.

Cheers
Jim

Guys,
If you want to save money on specs, try zenni optical - Zenni Optical - Eyeglasses, Prescription Glasses, Bifocal, Progressive Eyeglasses, Rimless Glasses

Get your eyes tested and get a script from the optician, (that's on medicare) you can get perscription specs for as low as about $30 depending on what frame you want - cheap enough that you don't have to stress if you kill them in the workshop.

I just got two pairs to my script with quite nice frames and the anti glare tint for $110 including freight. About the only hassle is that they take 3 weeks to arrive so this mob is no good if need them in a hurry.

In all the posts no one has said anything about safety glasses.

I wear glasses all the time.

I have a good pair of "dress" glasses to use outside the workshop and a second pair for the shop.

The shop pair are Hoya prescription safety glasses. Not cheap but I only got issued with one pair of eyes.

As soon as I enter the worksop the Hoya's go on and stay on until I leave.

I've spent too many days in emergency rooms having steel shards removed from my eyes to risk them any further.

My Optometrist jokes with me that I shouldn't be able to see out of my eyes due to the surface scarring from being ground to remove rust stains.

I wouldn't endanger my eyes with non prescription magnifying lenses.

As zuffen said

Originally Posted by zuffen

In all the posts no one has said anything about safety glasses.

Not a problem mate.
Pretty well got that covered.
My eldest daughter works in a place that is red hot on OH&S.
She's forever bringing home safety glasses that have been used once or twice.
And they're pretty darned good ones.
For jobs where I need my reading glasses AND safety glasses such as the bench grinder, I've found one of those full face flip down masks to be ace.
Lets me wear my normal glasses and be protected at the same time.

But I thank you and China for your concerns.

I also wear a full face shield with my Hoya's as they incorporate hearing protection.

If my wife came into the shed and I wasn't using my PPE it would be cold shoulder and hot tongue for dinner!""

All that said about a month ago I cought a metal fragment from grinding that got past the face shield and the Hoya's and burnt a small dent inside the Hoya's then bounced into my eye.

The Doc who removed it explained that the hot metal courtorises (sp) the tissue around the wound and seals the metal fragment in. This means you can't wash it out, it has to be removed by tweezers, picking it out (that was the cure for mine) or grinding the lens of your eye. I've had mine ground a couple of times and I can tell you it isn't any fun.

Probably getting way off topic but what the hay!
It may help reinforce the need for PPE to others reading this at some point in the future.

I've had two experiences that cemented the deal for me re eye protection.

The first was while doing some work for a Tool & Die maker in Melbourne.
While I was in his shop, one of his employees suddenly called out.
He'd copped a piece of wire off the wheel in his eye.
The boss didn't hesitate.
No attempt to wash it out, he knew it wouldn't work.
He told another employee to drive him straight to the Eye & Ear Hospital.
After the fellow was on his way to the E&E the boss explained to me what had just happened.
He described the procedure required to get this piece of metal out of the fellows eye.
I don't recall all of it now but I do remember it entailed strapping his head still and propping his eye lids open while they wheeled in some kind of machinery to extract the sliver. It made my flesh crawl as he explained it to me.

Some time later, I was doing a job somewhere in Montrose and had to rip a piece of treated pine with my circular saw. I was bent over the saw so I could watch the line I was ripping down. Suddenly the wind changed direction and a huge cloud of sawdust blew up into my eyes.
I could not see a damned thing.
Eyes watering at a million miles an hour and was effectively blind.
Fortunately I had a subbie with me that day and he drove me to a local clinic.
The quack there wiped my eyes with cotton wipes and it was better, but not good.
The next morning I went to my own doc who did the same thing several more times. I couldn't believe the condition of the wipes after each go. They were covered in saw dust.
I was off work for several days.

Since then, I've been very careful with my eyes.
I must admit, I'm a bit slack on ear protection. Usually think of it too late.