theres lots of old wives tales about flash...I wouldnt try it
- Thread starter Pipe Dreamer
- Start date
backpurge
Member
- Messages
- 2,397
And lots of old wives with sore eyes
anto44
Member
- Messages
- 1,839
- Location
- ireland
Only had arc eye 3 times in my life, the first time was when I was 7 watching a neighbour fixing his tractor. The last time I got it was about a year ago and I got it from the plasma cutter, I was cutting some expanded steel mesh. So take precautions with the plasma too.
Munkul
Jack of some trades, Master of none
- Messages
- 7,536
- Location
- Cumbria
To be honest, we have had arc eye from cheap helmets a good few years ago, we put it down to a slow reaction time on the auto darkening unit. At no time can i remember looking at the arc, and it was myself and my cousin using the same cheap helmet, and both getting fairly gritty arc-eye through the night... not the worst I've ever had, but not nice, either.
Now as Richard says, any proper conforming helmet is designed to not allow UV light through even in the "light" state, so the worst you should ever suffer is a few spots in your vision for a few minutes... plus acrylics are pretty decent at blocking UV light anyways...
BUT, based on my experience, some cheap helmets, possibly using sub standard materials, can allow UV light though... what can i say, it's just what happened
spray and pulse MIG have such an intense arc, because the arc is longer than short-circuit MIG, and also more amps = more light. Less smoke (especially with pulse MIG) means more exposure to more light. 20 seconds welding around 300 amps spray is enough to give instant, very intense sunburn to bare arms... again, personal experience!
Now as Richard says, any proper conforming helmet is designed to not allow UV light through even in the "light" state, so the worst you should ever suffer is a few spots in your vision for a few minutes... plus acrylics are pretty decent at blocking UV light anyways...
BUT, based on my experience, some cheap helmets, possibly using sub standard materials, can allow UV light though... what can i say, it's just what happened
spray and pulse MIG have such an intense arc, because the arc is longer than short-circuit MIG, and also more amps = more light. Less smoke (especially with pulse MIG) means more exposure to more light. 20 seconds welding around 300 amps spray is enough to give instant, very intense sunburn to bare arms... again, personal experience!
