Best Eye Protection for Brazing

[Ahmdo Molah]

If cost considerations are set aside, what do you think is the 'Best Eye Protection for Brazing'?

Matters of Interest
1. Sufficiently safe IR/UV protection
2. Orange glare (flux induced) filtering
3. Clarity of the puddle with the flame on the work
4. Flip Up/Down type attachment for clear shop eyewear
5. Glass preferred over plastic

Also, are the common auto-darkening welding helmets fine(safe/effective) for use (if their bulk/weight are ignored)?

Thanks

[Eric Estlund]

https://sps.honeywell.com/us/en/prod...r/uvex-horizon

These can have RX lenses made for the clear, too.

[Ahmdo Molah]

According to ANSI/ISEA Z87.1-2020 (p.16) 'Table 7. Transmittance Requirements for Welding Filters',

'Maximum Infrared Average Transmittance %' for the common 'Shades' are;
Shade 3 = 9%
Shade 5 = 2.5%

Shade 5 would seem to be the safer choice. But I wonder if any of you have both and choose one depending on the intensity of the flame for different tasks, say Shade 3 for small braze-ons and Shade 5 for fork crowns?

[Doug Fattic]

According to ANSI/ISEA Z87.1-2020 (p.16) 'Table 7. Transmittance Requirements for Welding Filters',

'Maximum Infrared Average Transmittance %' for the common 'Shades' are;
Shade 3 = 9%
Shade 5 = 2.5%

Shade 5 would seem to be the safer choice. But I wonder if any of you have both and choose one depending on the intensity of the flame for different tasks, say Shade 3 for small braze-ons and Shade 5 for fork crowns?

There is maximum safe and then there is practical safe. A #5 shade is too dark for me to be able to see anything. It is perfect for those that braze all day long and already know what they are doing and barely need to see what is going on in the joint. A #3 is tolerable for me to be able to see through but I like to use a #2 which is dark enough to protect my eyes when not brazing a long time but still light enough to actually see what I'm doing. In fact most sunglasses will do the trick. They are particularly useful if one needs prescription glasses. An auto welding helmet starts at a #9 shade and is perfect when you want to look directly at an eclipse of the sun and when TIG welding but way, way too dark for brazing.

Some people really like didymium glasses for brazing that are primarily designed for glass blowing. These are a light rose-colored lens that don’t darken so much as get rid of the glare. It is the flux when bronze brazing that when heated creates an aura that is hard to see through. If I remember right they don't reduce UV rays but they do get rid of most of the brightness of flux when it is heated. They should be paired with dark lenses when brass brazing. It is a little goofy when two pairs of glasses are on one face so didyumium lenses work better with the kind of flip up glasses that can combine them with a #2 or 3 dark shade. I know some people that really like them when silver brazing too.

[Eric Estlund]

The Horizon can be had in 3 or 5, or SCT-Colbalt Blue per your needs.

[Ahmdo Molah]

Eric & Doug, thanks for your tips.

Doug, my welding helmet (unlike most) has a base shade 2.5 when electronically inactive, and the auto-darkening starts at shade 4+ when set to 'auto-pilot'(auto variable). I see what you mean by your preference for a shade 2 as I can see quite clearly through my welding helmet in its inactive shade 2.5.

TM Technologies claims its TM2000 (glass) Lens filters the glare as well as the IR/UV in one shabang, but as it's only offered in shade 5, and does cost an arm and a leg, I'm glad there's no need to be tempted.

I did read elsewhere about glass blowers that use didymium glasses (to filter the glare) with clip-on flip-up tinted shades(for IR/UV protection). This seems like the best of both worlds solution.

Eric, if the Horizon could be offered with tinted flip-up shades and SCT-Colbalt Blue stationary lens, it would function like the didymium + tinted shades method mentioned above. But am I correct in assuming the the Horizon's shades 3/5/SCT-Colbalt Blue options are for the flip-up portion only?

[Eric Estlund]

You'd have to contact them, but as far as I know it's just clear with one option. But they are very reasonably priced- buy a couple.

Welding helmets are fine if the shades work, but are unnecissarily heavy for brazing, and with the lens distance and back glare are not my favorite. You can always do tinted goggles (I like these) and maybe run different lens combos, but I beleive that is really over thinking it.

[Ahmdo Molah]

Has anyone tried the Phillips 202 lens (glass) or its sister product 'Polycarbonate Sodium Flare' lens with flip-up shades?

Below example is a Phillips 202 - Model 17004

Phillips 202 Lens & Flip Shades 17004.jpg

https://www.phillips-safety.com/shop...4-gb-p2-17004/

BTW, there are more affordable not so fancy glasses with similar didymium glass lenses available such as 'Devardi Glass Aero-Pro Optics Didymium Glasses' and companion clip-on shades (Devardi Glass~ Aero-Pro Green 3 Shade Clip-on Flip-up Glasses) in online stores such as Etsy.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/8204465...sr_gallery-1-2
https://www.etsy.com/listing/8204531...sr_gallery-1-1

Any comments based on personal experiences with similar setups would be much appreciated.

[duanedr]

Has anyone tried the Phillips 202 lens (glass) or its sister product 'Polycarbonate Sodium Flare' lens with flip-up shades?

Well, some here may do more brazing in a week than I do in a year but I use both and can't imagine going back to brazing without them. They completely remove all the orange flare and let you really see what's going on with the flux and the filler. I need magnification so I use flip up Ace 202 lenses on my reading glasses with #3 shades added on top of those for longer sessions. Sundance glass blowing had Didymium lenses with magnification but sadly they closed up a few years ago. I have a set of those and they are similarly good but I like more magnification now. I don't notice a difference between the Didymium and Ace 202 lenses. For me, these lenses are game changers but many of the pros do great with just sunglasses so...

[Ahmdo Molah]

... I use both and can't imagine going back to brazing without them. They completely remove all the orange flare and let you really see what's going on with the flux and the filler. I need magnification so I use flip up Ace 202 lenses on my reading glasses with #3 shades added on top of those for longer sessions...

Thanks for chiming in. So do you 'clip on' the #3 shades onto the flip-up ACE 202 lenses which then clip-on to your reading glasses? I'm so curious how each type of lenses are mounted to each other. If you get a chance, it would be great to see a photo of the setup.

Cheers~

[duanedr]

Thanks for chiming in. So do you 'clip on' the shades onto the flip-up ACE 202 lenses which then clip-on to your reading glasses?

Cheers~

Yes, Rube Goldberg-esque is how I would describe them. If I'm doing the front triangle, which I do in one session after tacking and first alignment, I will use the shade clipped to the Ace 202 clip which is clipped to the glasses. If I'm just doing one joint or a couple braze-ons, I will leave the #3 off and only use the Ace 202 clipon on readers.

[TRuth]

I wear glasses to correct my vision so I'm of a mind to find something that will work with those

The Tin Man has some lens that is, I think, shade 5 and blocks sodium flare. I use the rectangle plate they sell in some headgear they used to sell that fits over glasses. This works well and shade 5 is, in my opinion, a bit dark for most bicycle brazing. I think someone still has a few pair of the headgear on eBay and this is a standard size to fit other styles of welding goggles.

I recently got a pair of Phillips shade 3 BoroTruView flip-up clip-ons and this are fantastic. They sell this shade in other types of glasses but you could easily use this model on some safety glasses. They also have it in a shade 5 and they have regular BoroView in shades 3 and 5.

Both BoroView and BoroTruView block the sodium line ~589nm. I believe the BoroTrueView lets more light and more colors through than BoroView; transmittance spectra of both are available for download on Phillips's website.

Given all this I would recommend Phillips shade 3 BoroView or BoroTrueView in whatever form factor works for you. If you wear corrective lenses already the flip-up clip-on is very nice.

Travis Ruth

[Ahmdo Molah]

...
Both BoroView and BoroTruView block the sodium line ~589nm. I believe the BoroTrueView lets more light and more colors through than BoroView; transmittance spectra of both are available for download on Phillips's website.
...
Travis Ruth

I clipped the "transmittance spectra" graphs of both BoroTruView 3.0 and BoroView 3.0 from their datasheets and placed them side by side for comparison below. Note that the x/y axis scales of the graphs are different from each other.

BoroTruView 3.0 vs BoroView 3.0 Transmission.jpg

Both graphs indicate a relatively narrow dip around the "sodium line" of around 590nm. The difference is clearly that the BoroTruView 3.0 has varied transmission from 700nm upwards in the IR spectrum, whereas the BoroView 3.0 blocks all (IR) transmission above about 830nM.

Other regular green tone lenses seem to similarly block UV and IR, but they do NOT seem to have this distinct "sodium line" filtering.

Eye-balling a good offer (for international shipping) of the BoroView 3.0 clip-ons on Amazon.