Auto-darkening helmet “issue”

[Chris Crew]

On Chris Crew Said:

I was watching one of those ‘idiots at work’ videos on YouTube earlier today and there was one scene of a man who had taped a smart phone, camera face down, on to a paddle shaped board with a hole in it for the camera lens. He was using this as a shield over the arc and observing the weld on the smart phone’s screen. This struck me as being a very good idea if it actually works and, having just got a new smart phone, I may just try out this idea with my old phone. …

A potential advantage is that the camera can be set to magnify the work area.   No idea if magnification is useful when welding though often is on other jobs.   1.5 or 2x.

Otherwise, the chap might be on to something.   Provided the camera isn’t damaged, it opens the door to recording the weld session for diagnostic purposes.   Either showing what a good job the welder did, or helping him to learn from what went wrong!  And with the camera built into a proper helmet, it completely removes any possibility of energy getting directly from arc to eye.  Could be the future!

Sticking a smart-phone on to a home-made paddle feels good enough for a proof of concept, but not for real work.

Dave

 

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

On my phone there is a noticeable time lag between movement in camera’s view area to movement on the screen. Could make welding just a bit tricky.

[Hopper]

On Hopper Said:

On my phone there is a noticeable time lag between movement in camera’s view area to movement on the screen. Could make welding just a bit tricky.

Ooer, didn’t think of that!

 

[Hopper]

On Hopper Said:

On my phone there is a noticeable time lag between movement in camera’s view area to movement on the screen. Could make welding just a bit tricky.

Same problem afflicts those cheap electronic microscopes. They are ideal for examining small items, but trying to use one for machining or assembly work is hard (and frustrating)  because of the lag. hence why you see lots of optical binocular microscopes in use in electronics assembly shops.

I assume the sort pf electronic cameras the medics use for keyhole surgery and robotic  assisted  operations have some specialised technology to compensate, or is it simply training?

[Andrew Tinsley]

On Andrew Tinsley Said:

Spectacle lens have a transmission cut off in the very near UV. So no chance of eye damage if you wear specs. This applies to both plastic and glass lens.

Andrew.

That is not strictly true. While acrylic or polycarbonate will block UV the most common plastic for prescription lenses, CR39 (allyl diglycol carbonate) does not block UV. Most glass will block UV but not all.

Robert.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

My spectacle supplier says all their lenses today come with a UV coating as standard, so maybe more down to the coating than the parent material.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

As a slight digression, I once bought a pair of reactolite specs. Went up a mountain on a freezing cold day with thick mist. Glasses went very dark. Fortunately I can see well enough without specs, certainly where you couldn’t see more than 50 yards anyway because of the mist. Optician claimed that the cold increased the sensitivity, and that the wavelength they reacted to passed through mist no problem. He did replace the lenses free as they were clearly not a lot of use to me.

[Author]

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