On 7 Jul 2003 13:31:24 -0700, (Sam) wrote:
thanks for all your response so far (and any which are still to come).

i just bought an extractor fan to deal with the smoke which was
filling my helmet.

That's good whether the smoke was causing eye irritation or not.
You don't want to breathe that stuff.

i will try to remember to blink more to clean my eyes.

Can't hurt.

about the dialating pupils i will need to have my vision checked for
glasses.

Be sure to mention your specific situation when you see the eye
doctor. Let him know your regular working distance when welding,
and also remind him your pupils will be dilated.

i also got a #12 shade for my fixed lens helmet which i might try
later.

I wouldn't be surprised if that made matters worse. I tend to use
a shade a bit lighter than recommended because it makes my
pupils tighten up a bit and increases depth of field. Glare doesn't
bother me much. Others are more sensitive to glare, and want
a darker shade. But that reduces their depth of field.

my helmet takes 90x110mm lenses. there are 2 smaller sizes for other
helmet openings, the smallest being half that area.

The big lens is nice, the magnifiers I mentioned are smaller, which lets
you put one behind the bottom half of your big window, sort of like bifocals.

what size do you use? does UV protection determine how small an
opening you have in your helmet?

I also use a big window helmet, with the magnifier in the bottom half
of the window. *All* welding lenses have to be the equivalent of shade
#14 for UV. Doesn't matter what size they are, and for the LCD type,
it doesn't matter whether they are in the light or dark state for visible
light. Continuous shade 14 equivalent UV protection is an ANSI
requirement for any arc welding lens sold in the US.

Gary