On Sat, 07 Dec 2013 21:02:59 -0000, John Williamson wrote:

On 07/12/2013 16:47, Gefreiter Krueger wrote:
On Sat, 07 Dec 2013 16:33:56 -0000, Muddymike
wrote:

"Gefreiter Krueger" wrote in message news For a small arc welder for a small job, is a mask really necessary? The
spark doesn't look any brighter than starting at a bright lightbulb.

It is very necessary. You don't need anything fancy though. A simple hand
held shield will do.

The trouble is you can't see the workpiece through it very easily. I'm
talking about a single one off small job here, not welding all day.

So rent one of the automatically dimming ones for a few quid. You can
see through them clearly until the instant the arc starts, at which
point they become close to opaque,leaving you enough vision to see the
arc clearly without eye damage.

Just done some welding using a normal one. It's easy enough actually. Hold the rod a cm above the piece, put the visor down, then move it closer. The arc lights up enough to see.

When I say visor, I'm having to just hold the visor glass in front of my eyes, as I have a large nose which stops the visor coming right down! The stupid design means there is a screw to hold the glass in place which contacts my nose, making the glass too high to see through it.

Another question - how to make the weld stronger? It worked great joining two pieces, but another two it keeps breaking. The weld material just snaps.

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