Hard to see the welding puddle,

[John Renk]

Arc, Having a hard time seeing the puddle. I think it might be my lenses is not dark enough.
Some of the videos the puddle is plan as day. Am I getting to old or do I need a darker lenses, or more light on the subject.
The TIG or MIG both I have the same problem. Using a auto dark helmet. I have the shade turned all the way up.
Thank you.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Get yourself a newer auto dark hood that has grind mode built in as well as automatic shade darkening. Not expensive today and most now have a much larger viewing screen as well. Just bought a Hobart at Tractor Supply on sale with everything for under 100 bucks.

They are on Amascon as well.

Still have and use my older Hobart auto dark hood with manual shade adjustment but the new stuff is light years better and the switching speed (from passive to dark) is faster as well.

All made across the pond today so take your pick.

 

[Chuck1225]

For TIG welding, I use a standard #8 lens and switch to an auto-darkening for MIG and stick welding. The #8 setting seems to work well on that as well. You might want to look into putting a 1.5x magnifier in your helmet if you are not wearing reading glasses while welding if you wear bifocals. On a helmet, you are forced to look straight ahead and that misses the lower part of your glasses.

 

[California]

One thing that will make a big improvement is to block any light from coming in the back of your helmet.

This photo shows an experiment, an old T-shirt draped over my head. This worked so well that I cut the shirt down for a better fit and attached it permanently.