Eye protectioin for plasma

[Pat]

Bob, Please jump into any of my threads, old new, or indifferent. In this case there was recent activity but to get recent activity in a thread someone has to post to an old one, WHICH I INVITE!

A good friend of mine told me about something in his metal class in school. The instructor described how you look at the puddle not the arc and such. The students went to try their hand at striking and holding an arc to weld some little pieces of steel. One of the students complained that although he did it OK at first he couldn't see to do it now. HE DID NOT USE A WELDING SHIELD, just safety goggles. Apparently thought safety glasses made it safe.

We the unwilling led by the unknowing...

I almost weld by braille since I use as dark a shade as I can and still sort of do OK. Mostly with the plasma all I see are some sparks on the backside. With fences to guide me or templates I can do just about as good with my eyes shut as open.

Pat

[Goldchaser]

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Note, I said didn't CHANGE my tax bracket! Neither up nor down.

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Hahahaha, well, I likely did lose some money. So I guess you could say mine did change. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

I thing I went out maybe a dozen times. I had a 4 inch dredge and a small packpack dredge, a drywasher, one of those spiral powered pans and other odds and ends. Got rid of the bigger dredge after a while. Too much work as far as I was concerned for an old fart like me. Still have the little backpack dredge and the spiral pan and the drywasher and such, though I havent used any of them in a couple of years now. I had planned on going up into the mountains this summer for a week of relaxation and doing a bit of prospecting, but it didnt pan out. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

Since I really dont have time or inclination to go prospecting much anymore I am thinking of just selling what equipment I have off come spring except for maybe the spiral pan and a couple of pans. I dropped my membership a couple of years ago since I really wasnt using it anymore. About all I do now is do some metal detecting locally and thats about it. I have an older Garrett CXIII that I enjoy using. Found some pretty neat stuff with it.

REgarding eye protection, I guess if I just use a #4 or 5 I should be ok then with the plasma? I have been using my auto-darkening and like you, having a hard time seeing anything.
So am going to go get a #5 plate for my other shield. I still want to have the face protection. Even though most of any spatter is blown down by the airflow it does sometimes bounce back.

Dennis

[Pat]

Even though most of any spatter is blown down by the airflow it does sometimes bounce back.

Grow more beard! I have been using the plastic brazing goggles that take a a one piece welding glass. I like it better than the little Gomer glasses with separate lenses. I probably should use a face shield over top but don't. I wonder if you can get a #5 shade in a plastic full face shield. That would be good as it would not clash with my prescription glasses.

I never got into gold in a big way, no dredges, not even a rocker box, just pans. My biggest dredge experience was just making the hot water setup for my technician. I tested it in winter time under my boat in water a bit over 50 degrees and had oodles of reserve capacity so turned him loose with it to use in winter in the icy water of gold country (California) in winter. Essentially it was just surgical tubing led to all the right spots in a wet suit. You have a couple valves for control, one for hot and one for ambient (COLD!) and you just let the warm/hot water dump into your wet suit and escape at the cuffs. Really has to be experienced to be appreciated. If you SCUBA you probably are familiar with the warm glow achieved by certain actions. This is even better and lasts and lasts.

Pat

[bobkrack]

Thanks Pat,
I was also taught over 40 years ago to grow a mustache so that you knew where to stick your tongue when a spark, dingle berry, or piece of hot slag hit you in the face!
Bob

[Goldchaser]

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row more beard! I have been using the plastic brazing goggles

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I had replied to your post above, but it seems to have disappeared, anyway, what I had said was, I used to have a beard. Was doing a vertical weld and now I have a fair sized patch on my chin where hair wont grow. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] I was lucky there was a bucket of water handy. I ended up being called "Smokey" in the shop thereafter. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] So no more beards for me. [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img]

Dennis

[Pat]

Ah, burnt beard syndrome. A common problem among those of us with hair on our faces who DO NOT use a good OSHA approved fire retardant in aerosol or the HD cream version.

Some guys use the anti-splatter aersols but they aren't labeled for the purpose and aren't nearly as good.

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Goldchaser]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Ah, burnt beard syndrome. A common problem among those of us with hair on our faces who DO NOT use a good OSHA approved fire retardant in aerosol or the HD cream version.

Some guys use the anti-splatter aersols but they aren't labeled for the purpose and aren't nearly as good.

Pat

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Umm...well, I was a relative newby at the time...been almost 25 years ago at a small shop up in Montana. I was teased pretty good about it for a while. Then the guy who was the worst about it forgot to tie his bandana on top of his head one morning and set his hair on fire. [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] Till I left that shop, me and that guy were known from then on as Smokey and the Bandit. You know how that goes. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Dennis

[Pat]

Dennis, Yes I know, I knew a sheriff's deputy who was in hot pursuit on a back road and lost it in a curve and went into a pond. He will probably be "Flipper" till he retires, and then some.

I love it when something happens like your worst antagonist having a worse "forest fire" than you.

I have collected a number of nicknames over the years, mostly obvious ones and mostly more temporary even if repeated by an entirely new group of associates but we won't go into these just now.

Pat

[Goldchaser]

Hey Pat, its almost like karma when that happens to someone who is not your best friend, so to speak. [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img] Whats ironic is that it happens more often than not. Like you, I have picked up my share of nicknames over the years. Some deserved... [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] Some not.. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]
But I guess its human nature to enjoy seeing someone get paid back a bit.

And whats funnier is that in the incident I mentioned, we ended up becoming fishing buddies. He is the one also who got me interested in prospecting. He had a gold claim that we ended up working together off and on until I left the state.

Dennis

[Pat]

Dennis, I try to never burn bridges and it has been a lucky thing for me more than once. There was one guy I really was taking a dislike for but the heart of the conflict turned out to be not our personalities, but our roles and temporary goals (related to those roles.) We ended up pretty congenial going flying, sailing, and SCUBA together, activities which put you in close quarters under sometimes demanding conditions or where you may rely on each other in a life-at-stake way.

When joining a new group with an established pecking order, group members often jockey for position trying to establish just what your position in the pecking order is. OF course some will see you as a threat, at least at first, and mellow when they find you are interested in making things work, not prosecuting a personal agenda.

For a while I was a cutting edge disk drive manufacturer's quality engineer answering directly to the VP and not staffed under any of the departments and I had all the troops; the test technicians, the production staff, and the engineering staff united for the first time in a long time in a common effort of self protection FROM ME. It took a while but eventually they came to believe I was not there to fix the blame but to fix the problems so we could all succeed. I never had anyone mention any of my behind the back nicknames where I could actually catch the comment. My guess is they may have been interesting.

Pat