Wear a damn helmet stupid.

[Borat]

lesson learned at an early age. but for short weld stents, spot welding specifically, i sometimes still dont wear a mask, BUT I will NEVER have my eyes open w/o the mask.
I think the UV provides a but of color once in a while ;)

Same here, I don't always wear a helmet if I'm doing a lot of tacking, it takes a lot of tacking to get a burn. I still close my eyes though,
OP - were you actually stupid enough to look at the flash or just doing the close your eyes and tack it thing?

[Hick]

ive still got a pinhead size peice of slag in my hand where it burned through the glove several years ago.

[NOMAD]

all the dang "car/bike builder" cookie cutter shows don't help with the whole "I'll wear sunglasses and blink hard when I weld" macho BS.

[Borat]

Nothing to do with being macho at all, just lots easier than constantly lifting the flap up and down.
(and I was working in a biker shop, and TV tells me I'm allowed to do that)

[AndrewBird]

I used to do the whole "close my eyes and turn my head" to tack weld, but now I have an auto-tinting helmet. SO much easier. :)

[TwoJ's]

Yes, after using one of those helmets, everything else just feels like the dark ages. I just found it hard to trust that little battery operated glass with my vision at first.

[uofom3]

My roomate in college was an apprentice to become a master welder (while he was going to school) and came home twice in two years with welding flash eye problems. He apparently you want to drink a lot of milk or something after it happens? I dunno... i swear i remember that's what he was told or did. It's a serious bitch though; he said that after the second time it happened (once was not even from his welder but a guy working carelessly next to him) he picked up an auto tinting helmet and loved it. BUT, he said it took a little while to trust the helmet to tint on time.

[Huff]

You just took some life out of your eyes by the way.. Welding is serious business.

You also need to cover your skin!! I learned this lesson the hard way.

If your welding for any length of time, cover exposed skin. You will get radiation burns. When I first learned to weld, I didn't put any thought into this lesson (no one really told me). Basically, after welding for around 9 hours straight building a sk8 park, I gave myself 2nd and 3rd degree burns all over my arms. My skin literally fell off the next day.

I thought I was a tough guy and the sparks didn't bother me.. It's not the flame or debis that gets you, it's the light.. If it's bright enough to blind you, it's bright enough to burn you.

[DSP74]

Yeah I got a nasty sunburn or whatever on my face too....

I'll look into an auto tint helmet.........

[Hairos E30]

Man that sucks hope you get well.. The things said in this thread are gonna be helpful when i learn to weld..

At a meeting at our schools race team a while back, this new kid thought a horn in a shops car was a Turbo. so to get him for saying a stupid remark we told him to look into the light while they were welding for 10sec.. We weren't allowed to do anything for the next 2 meets. I felt real bad after i thought about what we did.. he's cool now he forgave us..

[SamE30e]

My roomate in college was an apprentice to become a master welder (while he was going to school) and came home twice in two years with welding flash eye problems. He apparently you want to drink a lot of milk or something after it happens? I dunno... i swear i remember that's what he was told or did. It's a serious bitch though; he said that after the second time it happened (once was not even from his welder but a guy working carelessly next to him) he picked up an auto tinting helmet and loved it. BUT, he said it took a little while to trust the helmet to tint on time.

Fuck the helmet at the shop that I did my exhaust at had an auto tinting helmet, stupid piece of shit didn't work half the time, I got some dirty fucking arc eye from that.

[TwoJ's]

^^ That's why you don't buy cheap ass shit, and you maintain your not cheap shit.

[Borat]

I've had problems with auto helmets switching on too early, ie from shop lights but generally they're pretty good. A lot of old school guys still prefer manual ones though.

AFAIK welding burn is exactly the same as sunburn. I never got skin burnt down that bad as our sun is really intense down here so I was a bit more used to it, shitty OZ levels or something

[AndrewBird]

If you get a good auto-tint helmet, you won't have a problem. With mine, when it is in the "light" mode, the visibility is about the same as when I am welding and it tints. The only difference is you see the weld. There is no noticeable change in the view. I love it. I just wish I could adjust the amount of tint. It's a #10 and is a little too dark for some things.

[golde30]

hmmm, i only had to weld once in Japan while helping my buddy build and exhaust for his dually truck. but everytime i go to an exhaust shop to get work done, i see the guys welding with no mask on at all...they are old guys too, maybe they are already blind so it dont matter. PS: what is a safe distance to be from the arc to not get eye injuries? like if you are watching some1 weld.