Visibility of the puddle Tig Al vs Tig SS

[mjk]

I'll be the first to admit I am not a professional welder.
I do a few hours a week of mig w/steel with good results, in my past life I was involved in large vessel fabrication
I've had a Precision tig 225 for 18 years and up until 6 years ago was using it a few hours a week for aluminum and stainless (air cooled torch)
Any work I do is considered non critical or has any safety implications if failed.
Absence to tig was due to a variety of issues, but in the mean time I had picked up a Square wave tig 350 with water cooled system for a good price.
Within the last month have needed to weld some 304 SS similar to what I've welded in the past, decided to try the "new to me" machine with the water cooled torch
Along with my experience level I have 66 year old eyes. I seemed to have more of a problem seeing the puddle.
Not wanting to screw up the part, I decided to practice more.
I had bent up some aluminum trays 1/8" center sections with 1/2" end caps and decided instead of mechanically fastening I'd weld them to build up practice .
I see a huge difference with my seeing the puddle and surrounding area
using pure tungsten (green) with the aluminum
using 2% lanthanated tungsten (blue) with the SS

So should I see a difference in the puddle with the different metals, different tungsten and DC vs AC?

 

[Bondo]

Aluminum tig welding gives off a very bright arc. Stainless and steel have a much dimmer arc looking at it from under the hood perspective. It's basically the same as saying looking at the sun directly is alum welding and having sun glasses on is steel and stainless welding.


You may need to go down 1 shade for the steels compared to alum on your helmet.

Cheeter lenses work great from what everyone else says. I'm 40 so I need to start aging attention to this stuff.

 

[DrHook]

I have a cheater in my hood, and sometimes wear reading glasses as well, if I need to get my face close. The two materials will also look different through the lens, so darken the shade for aluminum, as was already stated.

 

[just Dave]

I’m an old eyed Welder also. I like an adjustable auto darkening and a little stronger glasses when Tig welding.
Good luck

 

[turnworks]

AC aluminum the actual arc is much bigger(spread out) than DC stainless coming from the tungsten along with normally larger arc gap. Thats probably causing the difference you are seeing. When welding aluminum I'm so dang focused on watching the impurities in the puddle I don't even notice the surrounding area.

 

[akjeff]

I just use 2% Lanth for everything. Aluminum puddle seems reasonably visible to my 58 yo eyes( as long as I remember to wear my cheaters!).

 

[john.k]

If Al welding is a white out...you have cataracts .

 

[Trboatworks]

I am using one of the Optrel true-color helmets with a 1.5 cheater.
These are nice helmets and I have no issues with puddle clarity plus they have a useful features set.
Expensive kit - I think this was around $550 from supplier:

Panoramaxx CLT (Silver)

The Panoramaxx CLT combines the large panoramic field of view of the with the worldwide unique Crystal Lens Technology, which allows a brightness level of 2.0 and gives the welder a true-color and detailed view of the weld pool.

optrel.us

 

[seiner]

For aluminum and welding in general I need really good lighting. the bright arc in contrast with poor lighting just cause problems for me. Im often in poor locations on boats so drop lights, make me happy.
my best one is a four foot led "shop light" that i wired to a good cord.

 

[plastikdreams]

Aluminum tig welding gives off a very bright arc. Stainless and steel have a much dimmer arc looking at it from under the hood perspective. It's basically the same as saying looking at the sun directly is alum welding and having sun glasses on is steel and stainless welding.


You may need to go down 1 shade for the steels compared to alum on your helmet.

Cheeter lenses work great from what everyone else says. I'm 40 so I need to start aging attention to this stuff.

Found out haynes 230 gives off a bright arc too

 

[mjk]

2nd the Optrel true color
I have the one with forced air hepa filter, keeps the fogging down, keeps the air clean
also have the grinding shield that uses the same air pack
gift from my wife a few years ago after a discussion about SS weld fumes and her seeing me clear the black creepy crawlers from not using a breathing filter/mask ( she's a good one)
I think some experimenting with other than auto settings will be needed for SS
I've tried my readers but didn't seem to help much, and made me dizzy

re adding additional light, is that mostly to help until the arc starts?
I would think shop light/drop light wouldn't add that much

 

[BT Fabrication]

I'll be the first to admit I am not a professional welder.
I do a few hours a week of mig w/steel with good results, in my past life I was involved in large vessel fabrication
I've had a Precision tig 225 for 18 years and up until 6 years ago was using it a few hours a week for aluminum and stainless (air cooled torch)
Any work I do is considered non critical or has any safety implications if failed.
Absence to tig was due to a variety of issues, but in the mean time I had picked up a Square wave tig 350 with water cooled system for a good price.
Within the last month have needed to weld some 304 SS similar to what I've welded in the past, decided to try the "new to me" machine with the water cooled torch
Along with my experience level I have 66 year old eyes. I seemed to have more of a problem seeing the puddle.
Not wanting to screw up the part, I decided to practice more.
I had bent up some aluminum trays 1/8" center sections with 1/2" end caps and decided instead of mechanically fastening I'd weld them to build up practice .
I see a huge difference with my seeing the puddle and surrounding area
using pure tungsten (green) with the aluminum
using 2% lanthanated tungsten (blue) with the SS

So should I see a difference in the puddle with the different metals, different tungsten and DC vs AC?

It’s all in how good your helmet is….
And how clean you keep it.
More amps= darker lens settings.
Backlight is worse as it causes reflection inside the helmet.
Ambient light in front is better but never really happens.
I have mine usually about shade 11 or 12 for everything.
If you want more light, buy the glass cups, they aren’t cheap and don’t handle super high heat on ac either over 225A.
I get more issues with glare inside my helmet from behind me and occasionally the leds in the shop cause my helmet to do weird things on low amps.

 

[mikeylikesit]

if ya know how to weld ,ya know how to weld. if ya dont ,ya dont.
if your no good with brand x helmet ,you still wont be any good with brand z.
keep the front cover plate clean. use a fabric cover on the rear.
cheaters magnify like binoculars.
in low light you may need a drop light or some helmets have attached work light

 

[72bwhite]

No brained that it will appear brighter when welding aluminum
You are pushing more amps to get your puddle

 

[Scruffy887]

I have cataracts and am glad to hear about Optrel opinions from others. I talked with them a few weeks ago and their US HQ is very close to me, told me to come on in and see what fits and works best. Going to do that.

 

[cyanidekid]

added some illumination to my helmet...

 

[scsmith42]

I’ll also jump on the Optrel bandwagon. My Crystal 2.0 is remarkedly better than all other hoods that I’ve tried.

For the OP, I’d suggest three things. First - a better hood. Definately check out the Optrel offerings.

2 - add a cloth light shield to the back side of your hood. I took some green welding cloth and attach it with Velcro to the top of my hood. It drapes down to my neck and stops all light from entering behind the hood.

3 - put a bright light on the area to be welded.

These three things were a great help to me as my eyes aged.

 

[gustafson]

I always had trouble seeing the aluminum puddle. I just sit there and tap it with the filler rod till it jiggles. Stainless no big deal
and I am blind as a tick. magnifier in the helmet, readers on light over the table

 

[mikeylikesit]

this light is brilliant. made specific for the helmet and powered by the adflo battery. frikin genious

 

[Journeyman Jim]

Try welding with another known plant to fiddle with your helmet settings. I've settled on red for ss and white for ally, your other tungsten's will do both however.

A quick Google of the manual and it seems a solid Lincoln welder, no8 is "cleaning vs penetration" and 15 is the wave shape. For want of layman's terms I would start fiddling there