Posted by mikeaurelius on August 25, 2009
I purchased a pair of your glasses 4 or more years ago. Lately, I’ve noticed that my eyes are hurting when I am done at the end of the day. Does the filter material “wear out” over time?
Answer: No. The filter elements are part of the glass matrix and cannot/do not fade. Welding filter glass uses iron as the major filtering element. AUR-92/ACE glass uses didymium/neodymium/praesodymium plus other “rare earth” elements. These elements are mixed in with the silica when the glass is being melted by the manufacturer.
The manufacturer of the glass routinely tests its glass over time, keeping samples of each melt and subjecting them to various tests to determine transmission over time and exposure. Schott Glass Technologies, for example, has samples of didymium that go back over 50 years, and that glass still has the same transmission characteristics that it had when it was first made.
What is more likely is that over time, your skills have improved from the time you first bought your glasses. You may be working longer hours, you may be using different techniques, and you are certainly working with different formulations of borosilicate glass (especially the colors). You may also be doing more fuming now than you did when you first got your glasses.
The bottom line is that you have perhaps “out grown” your current filters and most likely need something with more filtration.
Posted in Eyewear, Safety | Tagged: glassworker eyewear | Leave a Comment »
Posted by mikeaurelius on March 19, 2009
Per eye, approximately $7,200.
My mother, still “young” (in her early 70’s), just had cataract surgery in both eyes over a two month period of time.
$14,400 for both eyes. Plus not having perfect vision for up to 2-3 weeks afterwards, having to avoid bright lights for 6-8 weeks. If my mother had been a torch worker, she would have been out of work for close to 4 months.
Posted in Eyewear, Safety | Tagged: glassworker eyewear | Leave a Comment »
Posted by mikeaurelius on February 25, 2009
NIOSH and OSHA have determined that the IR TLV (threshold limit value) to the unprotected eye is 10 mW/CM2 for time periods greater than 16 minutes. (10 mW is .010 Watts) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Eyewear, Safety | Tagged: linkedin | 1 Comment »
Posted by mikeaurelius on April 22, 2008
From wonderful WetCanvas:
Has anyone used the AGW-300 for furnace work? It seems like a good product from the specifications but I’m not sure how well I’d be able to see in the hot shop with 60% visible light transmission. A packet about eye protection that came with the intoductory materials for a course I took in Corning suggested wearing flip up #5 welding filters but it would be nice to not have to deal with the flipping. The AGW-300s are pretty expensive at $260 though so I’m not sure if it would be worth it even if I could see pretty well. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Eyewear, Safety, Tech Talk | Tagged: eyewear for the hotshop | 8 Comments »
Posted by mikeaurelius on April 2, 2008
From LE…
hey have any of you ever had an extra light glare around stuff or had your eyes get so dry that it kinda blurs your vision? i wear the phillips green ace shade 3s, i really love them, but my left eye is kinda funky now. i had lasik surgery done a while ago and that might be it too but i honestly feel like my vision is deteriorating and my eyes go dry really easily. i work medium size boro like usually 3-6 inch vessels, and pendants. i also fume and use a lot of striking colors i dont know if that makes a difference. i lampwork about 2 t tanks of hours a week and furnace work with just clear safety glasses 8ish hours a week.
anyone got any advice if i dont have health insurance?
Dale’s wonderful (but wrong) suggestion is get artificial tears and blink a lot…Dale: how about if you stop giving advice about things you know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Eyewear, Safety | Tagged: glassworker eyewear, Inappropriate eyewear | Leave a Comment »
