# brazing shades?



## rocwandrer (Oct 19, 2008)

I have shade 3 and a shade 5 lens setup like safety glasses that fit over my prescription eye glasses. They are not intended to fit over glasses, but they do (mostly, sort of, not very well). I desperately need a shade 4 for most stuff I do. I've reached that conclusion because shade 3 leaves me with spots in my vision, and shade 5 leaves me with crappy looking fillets.

My local welding shops can't/wont get them for me in anything less than a carton of 50, but suggested looking online for a visor, which would be completely compatible with glasses, which I like. 

Anyone have any suggestion on where to get something or what to use to address this issue?

I'm sure this has been addressed before, I even half remember a discussion on the framebuilders list from several years ago, but I didn't find anything....


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## unterhausen (Sep 28, 2008)

when I worked at trek, we used Didymium glasses that got rid of the flare. They are used for glass blowing. You can also get them with some more tint. these  looked interesting. I have no experience with them.


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## rocwandrer (Oct 19, 2008)

unterhausen said:


> when I worked at trek, we used Didymium glasses that got rid of the flare. They are used for glass blowing. You can also get them with some more tint. these  looked interesting. I have no experience with them.


think a shade 3 is dark enough in combination with the didymium? I don't think i have any trouble with the flare, but if it were gone, i guess I might notice a difference...


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## themanmonkey (Nov 1, 2005)

rocwandrer said:


> think a shade 3 is dark enough in combination with the didymium? I don't think i have any trouble with the flare, but if it were gone, i guess I might notice a difference...


I have these that are a #3 flip-up clip-on filter over the didymium glasses and it's plenty for brass brazing. A lot of times I won't even use the #3 if doing silver with a tiny flame. I got Lasik a few years ago and am a bit light sensitive if that helps.


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## unterhausen (Sep 28, 2008)

we used only Didymium. I was only 20 then, I might not have noticed if brazing was causing me problems. All the brazing was silver or nickel silver. I have used brass with only Didymium.

As an aside, I just found out last night that the google street veiw guys have driven past what trek is now calling the "red barn." It does look like a barn, but there aren't all that many barns that were built with train loading docks like that one was.


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## BeatAFool (Jan 14, 2008)

I use the Boroscopes for brazing and glassblowing. They're kind of cheaply made but they don't really cost that much either. Glassblowing glasses are made to reduce the sodium flare, welding shades don't. The Boroscopes block out the flare and have a tint. Search around for glassblowing eye protection. Here's a start.

http://www.mountainglassarts.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.92/.f
http://www.visionarysupplies.com/store/searchresult.aspx?CategoryID=466


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## ong (Jun 26, 2006)

There are some decent brazing glasses available on eBay for pretty cheap -- I got some 1.7 glasses because I found that even the 3 were too dark for silver (doesn't help that I have lousy lighting in my workshop). The 1.7s are just right, and they fit over my regular glasses (always a sharp look).


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## rocwandrer (Oct 19, 2008)

I got some shade 4 goggles, at mcmaster of all places. I'll try them out this weekend.

edit: or next weekend, given 14 hr days at work....


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## rocwandrer (Oct 19, 2008)

the shade 4 goggles from mcmaster actually work awesome. they don't fog up when it is cold out, they are the perfect shade. they fit over my prescription glasses. success!


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