how many of you weld with your eyes closed?

got a buddy who does his sheetmetal welding with his eyes closed. of course, you can't really see out of the only welding helmet at the shop, so maybe that's why. I even offered the use of my auto darkening helmet and he didn't want to even try it.

I'm not talking about one quick tack now and then. I'm talking about a whole patch panel. so... for those of you tack welding with your eyes closed.. what are you thinking???

 

hmmm.. maybe you should close your eyes and see what they look like.

 

I tried that once and ended up in the hosptial and then a dark room for two days on pills and eye drops. Never again.... that was a VERY painful lesson to learn.

 

I have a buddy who scrambled for a week or so to get his car ready for Paso one year.

He didn't want to take the time to get up and get his helmet, so he kept welding the car together by closing his eyes...

He got the car together in time, but made himself blind in the process(only temporarily), and couldn't drive to the show...

smart.

 

If you do manage to avoid eyeflash, you would still have one hell of a sun burn on your eyelids, sounds like your buddy likes pain

 

not to mention IT CAN BURN YOUR EYES THROUGH YOUR EYLELIDS! sorry for shouting but some people dont seem to care that you only get one set of eyes.

 

sounds like your buddy is a real genius. but hey, the folks at orange county cake decorators and floyd cotterpin's garage do it all the time, so it must be ok.

 

A hood, is what, $25.00? And you can actually see to weld?

I don't get it, there ain't much of an advantage, in the time it takes to put it on head, and flip down the lid, is well worth it.

 

I prefer my hood and being able to see what I'm welding. Just a personal preference, you know.

 

It's just lazyness. He'll learn the hard way.

 

blind for 3 days because of doing this. if its for an occasional tack here an there, no biggy. if your doing a whole patch, get a fucking helmet. my eyes are fried and im only 21 becasue of one time of welding w/o a helmet.

 

When I was in autobody school, one of the other student came in one day and his eyes were swollen and his face was red as shit. He had spent the day before welding in patch panels using this method. The best part was when the skin around his eyes and eyelids started peeling!

 

been there done that and had a couple of the worst days of my life!not only did i get severe flash burns on my eyeballs but my ugly mug got so burnt i could hardley stand it. I would rather drop the soap in the prison shower room than try that again.lesson learned

 

I forgot to bring my hood to my shop a week or so ago and ended up using sunglasses and closing my eyes to weld on an entire patch panel and nosing my friends 55, my eyes didnt hurt so bad but my face was sunburnt to shit, such a bad idea.

 

I have a hard time with glasses under a hood , I cant take them off at all becasue i cant see anything what-so-ever without them. Most of the time I dont wear a hood at all I used the turn your head and tack method, but i weld maybe 10 times a year.

 

Had new lenses put into MY EYES when I was in my 30s cause of welding...lotsa accidental flashes from a bad gun/trigger,usually close up while positioning something to weld...cataracts are for old people....and welders too stupid to guard against this shit....so when I look into your eyes and whisper sweet little things....I'm looking at you through plastic fucking lenses....all the pretty nurses at the hospital told me I was the youngest guy who'd had this surgery here....ever....

 

I do it once in a while just for a quick tack and still get a sunburn. But I always wear a helmet for more than just a tack.

 

all the guys who do it this way are obviously hiding. one thing I have noticed on the HAMB is few people come in to disagree once the common opinion has been established.

of course in this instance you can't really come here and defend your position if you choose to weld with no helmet, other than to say "I saw Jesse James do it and he's a millionaire"

 

I do it sometimes when tacking sheetmetal,but iI have had flash burns really bad 2x times. Don't want that again.

 

I usually do it when I´m tacking stuff together, one or two tacks. For real welding I always use my helmet. I didn`t have an eyeflash yet, but I ´ve burnt my face pretty badly and sparks ain´t fun either.Pain makes you learn...

 

I'm with the group. Tacks only, and helmet for laying a bead.

 

Am I the only old guy who can't see with the helmet anymore? I might as well close my eyes with the helmet on.

 

i tried tacking yesterday withut the helmet cos I couldnt fit my head in where I needed to be with it on! Damn it though I cant do it, I kept missing and leaving birdshit everywhere. Doing without looking must take more skill

 

If you cant see, get more lighting...that's cheap....hospital and bill for the eye care....that's not so cheap. Here's another thread about similar stuff:
www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=190018

Take care of your eyes, one set, no replacements....damn.

 

Guys who have trouble seeing thru the helmet...you can buy a magnifying lens to fit into your helmet.
Just protect it with an additional flat plastic lens so it doesn't get fried too quick from stray splatter and sparks.
Works good..just takes a little getting used to...although you don't need to use it all the time if you don't need it.

 

Welding without a welding helmet with a good, clean lens of the proper shade is just about a smart as welding with no clothes on.

 

Stupid. There's many solutions. I'm guessing we're dealing with the small repeated tacks on a sheet steel panel. One way is a small hand-held shield that makes life easy for tack welding. I like 2 hands on the gun most times so sometimes I tape it to the nozzle. Now I'm hands-free and helmet-free. Of course an autodark is the way to go. I've been "sun burnt" before from just one small hard to get area with no helmet and the blink method. Not cool. It's so easy to shield the arc from personal danger why wouldn't someone do it.

 

Anyone who has ever had the indescribable pain of arc flash doesn't look forward to it a second time. Jesse James probably hasn't held a welder in 15 years, and Floyd Cotterpin wouldn't know a welder if it bit him in the ass. I would no sooner weld w/o a hood than I would sleep w/a babe w/aids. " Elementary, my dear Watson".....Ole Pork

 

The auto-dark is the way to go, no flipping, eyes wide, no burn, no brainer.