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Safety glasses!!!

  • Thread starter Luke.kerbey
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Luke.kerbey

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Hi,

I’m looking for recommendations on safety glasses!

I currently go through a set of polycarbonate glasses about every 4 weeks, as grinding dust and wheel dust scratches them so easily, I don’t want to be so wasteful so I’m looking for some glasses that will last years.
I hate wearing glasses anyway and I get spots around my ears and brow where they collect dirt and sweat and rub it in round the areas the glasses sit.

So ideally I’m looking for glasses with glass lens or better, or any lens that is scratch proof, not just scratch resistant, no magnification, no colour, not tint. And are as light/comfortable as possible that I can wear them without noticing them.

Cost is not an issue as it’s H&S law on the uk for the employer to buy them.

If there is such a lesser-spotted pair of spectacles, please do share!
 
I think 4 weeks is phenomenal.

If there are hot grinding sparks I believe glass actually gets damaged by them worse than plastic.

There is about as much plastic in glasses as a couple water bottles or fast food forks so I would eliminate them first. also they can't put glass shards in your eye. I believe no lightweight glass lenses will pass any of the impact criteria to classify them as safety glasses such that your company can buy / use them legally.
 
Wouldn’t glass lenses be hardened and tempered like windscreens? So they can’t shatter?

I also get the issue with polymer remover melting the surface of the lens from splatters
 
If you think plastic lens safeties are hard on your nose and ears wait till you get the glass.

I pay for my own (prescription) and switched to plastic even though they don't last as long.

Wear goggles over them when in a really sparky environment.

Ed.
 
...
I hate wearing glasses anyway ....

Well that's a bad deal. One should get used to it or go get a job in the office.
Lightweight throwaways, maybe a week on a pair or less, toss em.
Most shops here provide a never ending supply.

As said If you do not like wearing plastic glasses you really won't like true glass ones. Much more weight.
If this bad aren't you also getting lots of sparks in the face, in the nose, down the shirt and on the arms?
No way to place a little mag held shield?
If I was burning up safety glasses this fast I'd be worried about more than my glasses and eyeballs.

Such eye protection should be comfortable and non-intrusive. If they only last a day on the job so be it and the shop should provide new.
That said it takes a while to get used to glasses of any sort. I have to drill this into people to make it a habit.
You know it when you walk in the door at home and the wife asks "Why are you wearing your safety glasses", Then you know that you have become adjusted to them and they are comfortable.
Bob
 
Yer, me in an office 😂😂, if it doesn't have handles, I’m not touching it!

So what’s the next step up from polycarbonate?
 
I fully appreciate that I’m asking for something that may not exist, but it’s always worth asking!
 
Best Plastic for Safety Lenses

What I use are plastic lenses made of CR-39 resin, which is typically only used for prescription lenses. CR-39 is far harder than polycarbonate and the high-index plastic one often sees, and so does not scratch as easily. Nor does it melt, so sparks do not stick. Nor will it dissolve in solvents like acetone. It is far lighter than glass. You can order CR-39 when getting glasses made, but will have to bat aside attempts to talk you into something more modern (and expensive).

CR-39 - Wikipedia


When I was a kid in the mid 1950s, my father always ordered "industrial hard" glass lenses for me, because I was always in our shop. He also got me a butcher's rubber apron, in the vain hope of keeping my clothes more or less clean.

What does "industrial hard" mean? There is a test: A 16-ounce steel ball was dropped a foot onto the lens, which was resting face-up on a wooden butcher block. The lens was not allowed to break. I verified this test using an old lens that had been replaced with a newer prescription. In place of the 16-oz ball, I used a 16-oz Estwing hammer. Lens passed. Lens broke somewhere above 12" drop; don't recall the actual number. The lens broke into roundish crumbs, not sharp slivers, also as required.

Glass will melt, so grinding sparks can weld to the front, but it wasn't much of a problem in practice.

Added Note: One can have lenses made with zero correction. And one can probably buy the whole thing from China.

Glasses – Glasses Online – Prescription Glasses | Zenni Optical
 
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Hey, that’s more like it, I found this article from uvex that says PC is an upgrade from CR34. Is this just their marketing?
Also I’d need the glasses for manual milling and turning too, so flying swarf from roughing is unavoidable, will the impact issue with CR-34 pose an issue?

I like it’s resistance to solvents though that sounds useful.



Polycarbonate vs CR39 plastic lenses | uvex safety
 
You should be happy if you dont need prescription safety glasses.

And yes, do what others suggested and keep using the plastic ones. 4 weeks out of one pair is not too bad. Maybe try few different models to see if one is more to your liking, maybe even give a try for goggles. IIRC some 3M models were remarkably fog-proof and not too easy to scratch either.
 
Hey, that’s more like it, I found this article from uvex that says PC is an upgrade from CR34. Is this just their marketing?

Well, for some things one can say that polycarbonate is an upgrade, but I'd hazard that Marketing was not thinking of machine shops. More likely, never heard of such a thing. And I'm not nearly as handsome as that model.

Also I’d need the glasses for manual milling and turning too, so flying swarf from roughing is unavoidable, will the impact issue with CR-34 pose an issue?

CR-39 lenses are pretty strong, so flying swarf won't break such lenses. Nor will the cutting fluid hurt them.

I like it’s resistance to solvents though that sounds useful.

Yeah. For me, it was essential. I use solvents all the time, and I soon would have engraved a fingerprint into a polycarbonate lens.

When I was buying my last pair of glasses, the owner of the optician shop where I bought them asked the saleswoman why CR-39 was chosen kind of sharply, and I stepped into the conversation, saying "Because I specified CR-39". My reading is that she was expected to upsell me. The owner was surprised, and questioned me. He had never heard of the issue of solvent resistance.

The Uvex webpage was carefully worded, but they did say that CR-39 lenses meet the same standard as my industrial hard glass lenses of yore.

 
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I'm with Carbide Bob - if there's that much dust flying around you're breathing it in, as well as the other issues. I know it's costly, but a proper dust collection system is a health aid as well as prolonging the life of glasses and such.
 
In the OP's situation, I would be wearing my regular light, inexpensive safety glasses with diopter "cheaters", and then a full-face shield over that to provide the first line of defense against grinding grit. Specifically, the kind that takes inexpensive replacement shields, available in various kinds of plastic. In fact, I modified the "hat brim" of my shield to take my favorite Jackson welding headgear, because the cheap shields usually have crummy, short-lived straps and ratchets.
 
Hey, that’s more like it, I found this article from uvex that says PC is an upgrade from CR34. Is this just their marketing?
Also I’d need the glasses for manual milling and turning too, so flying swarf from roughing is unavoidable, will the impact issue with CR-34 pose an issue?

I like it’s resistance to solvents though that sounds useful.



Polycarbonate vs CR39 plastic lenses | uvex safety

Polycarbonate is upgrade if you are interested in impact resistance. CR39 fullfills only the EN166S standard, polycarbonate (and trivex) comply to EN166F that calls for 6mm steel ball shot at glasses at 45m/s.
 
Polycarbonate is upgrade if you are interested in impact resistance. CR39 fullfills only the EN166S standard, polycarbonate (and trivex) comply to EN166F that calls for 6mm steel ball shot at glasses at 45m/s.

Yeah. The old dropped 16-oz ball standard was it for many years, and worked quite well.

https://www.greenham.com/medias/sys...118909982/Eye-and-Protection-Safety-Guide.pdf

The example for the 45 m/s seems to imply ricochet from firearms, because even an airgun is faster than 45 m/s:

.<https://www.wileyx.eu/en-166-standard/>

Hmm. I don't know how one achieves 45 meters per second unless one has defeated the interlocks on a modern machining center. For a lathe with a 12.5" diameter workpiece, it would have to be spinning it at 2,700 rpm to achieve that peripheral speed. What problem are they proposing to solve, and how common is it? I don't know the history or rationale, but probably someone on this reflector does.
 
The example for the 45 m/s seems to imply ricochet from firearms, because even an airgun is faster than 45 m/s:

.<https://www.wileyx.eu/en-166-standard/>

Hmm. I don't know how one achieves 45 meters per second unless one has defeated the interlocks on a modern machining center. For a lathe with a 12.5" diameter workpiece, it would have to be spinning it at 2,700 rpm to achieve that peripheral speed. What problem are they proposing to solve, and how common is it? I don't know the history or rationale, but probably someone on this reflector does.

Grinding wheels/disks for example run 40 to 80m/s.
S grade lenses are probably good enough for most machining operations and probably save the day in 99% of typical cases where you get metal chips or other dirt in your eyes at relatively low speed.

Seen plenty of safety nazis but so far nobody has questioned the lens grade on safety glasses.
 
I had a good pair that were made in France, " Bolle " I think. They cost a bit more but they don't steam up if you're also wearing a dust mask. I had a bad run of getting grit in my eyes. Workmates could be hand grinding 50 yards away and I'd get a bit in my eye ! I got paranoid about it to the point I was considering wearing a goldfish bowl or a deep seas divers helmet !

Regards Tyrone.
 
Yer, bolle is all I’ve used for 3 years, at cost of around £10 a pair every month, I just reckon I should more then 4 weeks from a pair that expensive.
 








 
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