How to Wear a Helmet During Arc Welding
A welding helmet protects the face and eyes when welding. Not only are the eyes protected from extremely bright welding flashes, but also from sparks and metal slag. It's important to know the best type of welding helmet, and the parts that protect you.
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Instructions
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Choose the right shade of filter plate for your own eyes. Filter plates are made of dark tempered glass to shade your eyes from the welding flashes. Shades vary from number 9 to number 14, so it's important to choose the best shade for your own eyes. The tempered glass is covered by a clear lens cover to prevent the tempered glass from spatter and sparks.
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Wear a welding helmet that offers full-face protection. The face shield should extend past your neck to the top of your chest. The shield should also extend to both sides of the face to protect it from sparks and slag that can fly when welding. Because sparks can migrate under the shield, most experts recommend wearing safety glasses under the helmet.
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Use a welding helmet that has a flip up visor. Older welding helmets didn't have the flip up visor, or clear lens, to see through and the helmet had to be removed to work on the weld. This resulted in many eye injuries from hot slag. With the newer welding helmets, the visor flips up. A small piece of clear Lexan plastic plate allows you to see the work, while still protecting your eyes from slag.
The visor is in the down position with the tempered glass in place while you are welding. When the welding is done, flip the visor up while you chip the weld. The clear, heavy plastic protects your eyes from hot slag while allowing you to see.
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