# Important welding helmet lens question!!!



## tobycat (Jul 8, 2013)

Howdy everyone , I am replacing the cheap scratched up plastic lens in my welding helmet with a #10 glass lens and protective covers .

The cheap plastic lens is stamped THIS SIDE TOWARDS FACE.

The new glass lens only has some numbers on one side, does it matter which way it faces???

I do sometimes tend to be paranoid and over cautious, but so far it's worked.


----------



## kc5tpy (Jul 8, 2013)

Hello Tobycat.  Well thinking about what it says on your plastic lens; that could also be confusing.  YOUR face or the HELMET's face?  Any way, I was a welder/fabricator for about 18 years.  I always put the numbers facing away from your face.  No special reason, just a quirk of mine.  Short answer, no difference.  They do make a magnifying lens which might need correct placement but I have never used one and I am sure your's is not as it's a specialty thing you usually have to ask for.  BTW.  When you get that lens in strike and arc on scrap metal and have a good look round the edges of the glass to see if you can see ANY WHITE light.  Ok if it lights up ( dim glow ) around the edge but NO BRIGHT, WHITE LIGHT.  Even a pinhole will burn your eyes.  Some of the cheap helmets aren't as good as they need to be.  A welding supply will sell a gasket for your glass lens should you need/just feel safer with one. Hope this helps.  Keep Smokin!

Danny


----------



## daveomak (Jul 9, 2013)

Some lenses are made with UV inhibitor...  they go on the outside toward the arc.....   Non UV lenses go inside.....   Then there is the glass heat resistant lens... it goes on the outside between the #10 and the UV plastic...   If yours uses a clear glass lens...


----------



## tobycat (Jul 10, 2013)

Thanks for the help! can see much better now.


----------



## kc5tpy (Jul 10, 2013)

Toby.  *PLEASE *look for any leaks.  Burned eyes are a nasty thing.  Good luck.  Keep Smokin!

Danny


----------



## tobycat (Jul 11, 2013)

Checked for light leaks it's all good, thanks for the tip!  TC


----------



## tobycat (Aug 1, 2013)

Wanted to give a quick tip to other newbie welders, I had replaced my lens with a #10 cheap $4 plastic lens and was still having trouble seeing the edge/seam I was trying to weld. I went back and bought a $14

Gold plated glass #10 and it is a dramatic improvement in visibility- spend the extra $10 bucks the first time.

The gold coated side goes towards the outside of the helmet.


----------



## andrew lb (Mar 7, 2014)

Those lenses with the gold coating are definitely the way to go. The gold filter adds essential filtration of infrared wavelengths of light which is not blocked in the cheap lenses. From my understanding, intense infrared lights effect on your eyes is similar to how you get sunburned on a clear day while skiing even though you never feel warmth from the sun and the temperatures are sub-zero. While not doing immediate damage, long term use of welding lenses without these filters will result in damage. And since it's not the immediate "fry your eye" damage like you can get from looking at an arc unprotected or even indirectly through a crack between the lens and the helmet, you wont even notice it until years later.

hmm...  strange first post, but i've been reading for a few weeks while finishing up my first drum smoker. I should go introduce myself in the appropriate thread.


----------



## newsmokeguy (Mar 18, 2014)

gold lens is the way to go! after having one I couldn't go back 2 a old style


----------



## jdixon (Jun 3, 2022)

kc5tpy said:


> Hello Tobycat.  Well thinking about what it says on your plastic lens; that could also be confusing.  YOUR face or the HELMET's face?  Any way, I was a welder/fabricator for about 18 years.  I always put the numbers facing away from your face.  No special reason, just a quirk of mine.  Short answer, no difference.  They do make a magnifying lens which might need correct placement but I have never used one and I am sure your's is not as it's a specialty thing you usually have to ask for.  BTW.  When you get that lens in strike and arc on scrap metal and have a good look round the edges of the glass to see if you can see ANY WHITE light.  Ok if it lights up ( dim glow ) around the edge but NO BRIGHT, WHITE LIGHT.  Even a pinhole will burn your eyes.  Some of the cheap helmets aren't as good as they need to be.  A welding supply will sell a gasket for your glass lens should you need/just feel safer with one. Hope this helps.  Keep Smokin!
> 
> Danny best road bike helmets under 100


I'm a_ very_ amateur DIY welder, (underbody patches on cars etc with a little 100 amp DIY gas mig unit) and I decided to treat myself to an auto darkening helmet after years of struggling with a crap 30 year old hand me down. I don't really want to spend any more than £50 as I don't weld that much but I wanted something that would be sold and reliable bearing in mind it's protecting my sight.

Could anyone point me in the direction of some decent units? I've seen Expert Weld and Rhino helmets get good reviews but they only seem to sell on Amazon and don't seem to have a website of their own which worries me.


----------



## DougE (Jun 3, 2022)

Auto-darkening hoods are the way to go, but get a decent quality one. Don't get the cheapest one you can find. I welded with a standard hood most of my life, and after I got my first auto-darkening one, I was kicking myself in the ass for not getting one sooner.

Also make sure whatever one you get has a "grind" mode so you don't have to remove your hood to do a little cleanup with a grinder between welds. If you have a decent hood, even a grinder will make it darken if there's no grind mode on the settings dial. Heck, even a standard light bulb will dim mine if I look directly at it.


----------

