Hello roadwhore, I have not personally seen or used a silver lens as you are describing. However, I have seen and used various gold lens. Typically, I have found that for a given shade of gold lens when compared to the green lens, that you can see more peripheral images and thus possibly not wander from the weld groove as readily. I can certainly follow where you are coming from, it is very frustrating to come off of the weld joint when you are trying to follow it. I make this analogy when comparing the two different lenses, I feel that I can see the same peripheral and weld pool image with a #11 gold lens that I can with a #10 green lens, thus I generally would use the gold lens #11 in this instance feeling that my overall protection is better with the #11 gold. At times I like the color of a gold lens over that of a green, these are generally personal preferences and will vary greatly for any given individual. I know that you will likely receive a number of responses on this subject, keep in mind that as long as the advertised lens shade is according to ANSI specs. that you will likely not suffer any damage to your eyes, also keeping in mind the correct shade relative to the amperages that are being used in the specific welding process. Good luck and regards, aevald
aevald wrote:
"thus I generally would use the gold lens #11 in this instance feeling that my overall protection is better with the #11 gold. "
This is the second part to my question: is darker necessarily better? An old-timer told me recently that using too dark a lens would cause you to strain your eyes. He's got a lot of good experience and has been around, but sometimes he just sound like he's full of it. Seems to me that the harmful rays are blocked no matter what the shade, and that darker tints would only allow less visible light to pass through. Choosing a shade would be based, to some extent, on a level of comfort.
I was told (by Modern Welding, in Schenectady) that the gold tends to seem lighter as compared to the green glass, so move up one shade. The guy at the welding supply store told me on Monday that lens have to meet the standards so 10 is 10 and 11 is 11, regardless of the tint. Who is right?
I opted for the gold #9. I only ran a little TIG tonight and it seemed fine. Probably wouldn't use it for 5/32 or 3/16 lo-hy.
Hello again roadwhore, as the fellow at the welding supply told you, the shades have to meet specific protection levels. As long as you are matching the amperage level ranges for a specific shade, your eye protection should be fine. As far as the color goes that is a personal preference and I believe that darren somewhat described to you how he views the colors and what he sees through the use of the various ones. My preference for darker shades generally comes from my personal perception that a lighter shade produces excessive glare and doesn't really allow me to see the puddle as clearly. The ball rests squarely in your court, you'll have to take it and run with it. Best of luck and regards, aevald
By darren 
Date 02-06-2007 04:50
Edited 02-06-2007 04:52
as the puddle emits different light frequencies (colours) from different parts of the puddle, brightest blues/visible violet at the front or right at the arc back down through the rainbow(within the spectrochronographic signature of the consumable/parent metal). different lenses reflect certain frequencies and let pass through certain others. basically put different lense colours enable you to see different parts of the puddle. gold is in the red zone so you predominantly see the back of the puddle the freezing zone, greens enable somewhere between the arc and the back of the puddle. the blue lenses are brighter at the arc and the very old style purple lets you see the arc itself. because of liability there is less and less different colour of lenses and i believe ansi has some standards that must be met for a lense to be declared safe for use. i won't go on at length as to what each lense is good for, try different colour lenses from reputable manufacturers and stick with the colour that you like, kinda like beer or wine pick the one you like and thats the one thats good for you.
darren
p.s. ask ed weldreality site or ask stephan he'll probably be able to shed some light on the topic (yes pun intended)
