Thread: For the other half-blind geezers

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A colleague of mine and myself were wondering, just how much light does an auto-dark allow in? so we worked with the average dark speed of the helmets in the catalog and although we were able to determine that several MILES of light waves burn into your retina before the dark kicks in.

LOL sorry about all those problems. I also have a wife like yours but mostly she yells at me. ( iam always doing something to get into trouble). I dont have any answers for ya except one of those head set things lol " You can hear a pin drop accross the room" ones. Truly sorry though about the hearing...

Originally Posted by IC2

Since we have about gone to visual impairment with reading this thread, how 'bout us that are half (or more) deaf. This is my biggest problem now. Thanks to my good Uncle Sam in the '60s and some of his more explosive militant moments I have to turn my radio up to the point the neighbors look at me funny. The TV - my wife will leave the room unless I have the closed captioning turned on - then to make it even worse, it seems that every female under the age of 35 talks so fast and jumbles whatever she is saying, that I keep saying What? Huh? Then the phone!! Especially cell phones, seem to jumble and miss entire sentences. Then there's my wife. She has a very soft voice most of the time (it's only when it isn't I worry). I think she is aware that sometimes my hearing can be a bit selective, but not always. And if I'm driving, she's on my deafer side

So, since I've hijacked Dave S' thread(again!!) - any comments on this sad state of affairs

Geez, I just figured being deaf and blind was just normal aging.... Ya mean not everyone is the same way????

As to the blind part, I had a chat with a Tech from Lincoln Welders when he was calling on the local store... He's doing some research on it back at his office, and promised to get back to me with some suggestions to help the vision while welding issue.... Hopefully he can find me something that will help. I was actually kind of surprised that he even took an interest in the issue!!!!!

Quote:
"Geez, I just figured being deaf and blind was just normal aging.... Ya mean not everyone is the same way????"

I can't speak for "everyone", but I definitely fit that pattern. And there doesen't seem to be a satisfactory resolution to the hearing deficit. Most of the time, folks talking to me, unless they are in a cone about 45 degrees directly in front of me, sound sort of like the teacher in the Charlie Brown Peanuts cartoons - wa-wa, wa-wa, wa-wa. My Bride has a bad habit of talking to my back, and I can't make out what she says, most of the time. Maybe it is a bit selective, though; up until I retired, I had pretty acute hearing faculties, or so it seemed. I still hear things others don't, but not a lot of what others do hear. As to remedies: my Dad had hearing aids, and was always fighting them; a good friend has the same situation - in fact, the last time I saw him, he was without them and said they were more trouble than they were worth. Not only were they hard to regulate, they held too much moisture inside his ears and caused a condition similar to athletes foot.

As to the vision subject: I have a new auto-dark helmet, and it seems to be ok, but I am concerned about the darkening time; even miliseconds are not as fast as light rays, and there must be some "leaking" in the time it takes to get dark. I am thinking of buying a new flip lens one; my old Jackson has served well, but parts are getting hard to get - the suspension is broken, again, and I have had it for over thirty years. With the auto dark, I still reach up to flip the lens or even the helmet; old habits die hard.

Well, alll I'll say is being half deaf (selectively) isn't all bad!!!!! Allows me to miss out on a lot of things I don't want to hear. But your right, any conversation behind me or to the side is lost!!!!

I like my auto-dark for tacking and small parts, but anytime it's a long, high-heat structural type weld I get out the old Jackson!!!!

On my hearing---I wore a ear piece for the radio for years while flying and I listened to everything around me with my right ear and radios with my left ear---today I make my wife sit, walk on my right side so I hear her but use my left ear for phones, etc

There is a huge difference in the reaction time for a top of the line auto dark helmut such as an Jackson and say a harbor freight type---check out the times in the spec sheets

My glasses for regular use are progressive (definition: blind as a bat) but I had a set made that are for close-up only. I use a Jackson auto helmet & a bigazz halogen work light so I can find the end of the wire.

I know this is a bit old and also probably answered already but a tip is DO NOT go with a lighter lens to compensate for not being able to see the piece being welded. Not only will you hurt your eyes but you may notice that everytime you weld you will go to a lighter and lighter lens and then one day you will probably wake up and not see anything! Glasses help, also marking a line with a soap stone helps to see it a bit better. I have trouble seeing as well (I am young but bad eyes) and I have to somehow scribe or mark my line to weld with my auto darkening helment. I suggest investing in a good one as well, not a cheap $100 one either.
I have a funny story that a friend told me and experienced in the Army while in Iraq during the invasion... He said one day the gate around the base got hit and needed repairs from a vehicle hitting it. Instead of taking our own guys off a project and paying them to fix a lousy fence they hired a local from the town to come fix it. He said he would do it for some rediculously low price like $30 or something (I can't remember the exact price but it was really low like that). The next day the guy comes to the base with about 20 people or more and had a welder. He said everyone was laughing so hard because they thought this one guy was comming by himself to weld up the fence, get paid and leave. Well they found out quick why they brought so many people. They took a stick with tape, they taped a sun glasses lense to the stick and they would line up. One guy would weld with one eye shut and using the sun glass lense on a stick while the others were lined up behind him. When one guy could not see anymore he would pass the lense and welder to the next guy in line. Pretty funny story but kind of sad what some people will do to make a living.