Welding Lenses Key Terms

Familiarize yourself with welding lens terminology

By Howard Robertson

A cardinal rule for welders is to avoid looking at an arc or flame without adequate protection for their eyes. Welding lenses provide requisite protection to welding operators against infrared and ultraviolet light emissions that are generated during any welding process.

If you want to buy or use welding lenses, you must be conversant with various technical terms. This guide will familiarize you with technical terms, such as welding helmets, lens shade, flash burn and OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration).

Lens shade

Welding lenses are available in different shades. A welding operator must select welding lenses according to the intensity of light generated during the welding operation. If the arc temperature is high, you will need shades of a higher number.
Try: You can refer to the lens shade guide at Metal Web News, an online newsletter for the professionals in the metalworking industry.

Polarized lens

Polarized lenses are a type of welding lense that reduces glare from reflective surfaces. Usually polarized lenses are part of sunglasses, but you can integrate special lenses with welding helmets.
Try: wiseGEEK, an online resource, offers basic information about polarized lenses.

Welding helmets

Welding lenses are often part of welding helmets. Helmets can contain filter lenses of different shades and visors for protection of eyes from sparks and flames. Impact free, anti-fog lenses in helmets are best for welding purposes.
Try: For basic information on welding helmets, read through an informative article at WorkSafely, a website providing safety guidelines for workers.

Auto-darkening welding helmets

An auto-darkening welding helmet uses polarized lenses that let only a certain amount of light pass through them. When the welder strikes the arc, these helmets darken automatically and clear up on shutting the arc. These helmets can get power through batteries or solar energy.
Try: If you want to learn more about auto-darkening helmets and lenses, you can read through the information at Streetdirectory.com, a useful online portal.

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)

OSHA is a federal agency that works to ensure the safety of employees at workplaces. It issues guidelines regarding the safety gear and tools that an employee must make use of while working on complex tasks. Under its standard 29-CFR, OSHA has published specific precautions for eye protection, including use of lenses while performing welding operations.
Try: You can browse through different 29-CFR standards at Occupational Safety & Health Administration.

ANSI Z87.1, American National Standards Institute

All welding lenses and helmets have to conform to the standard Z87.1 by American National Standards Institute (ANSI). This standard includes the requirements for design, construction and testing of eye-protection devices.
Try: You can read through the description for ANSI Z87.1 standards at VisionRx LLC, a vision testing software company.

Flash burns

Welding without any eye protection may result in inflammation of the cornea, an important tissue in the eyes. This injury is also known as flash burns, welder's flash, and arc eye. Flash burns occur when eyes are exposed to bright ultraviolet rays that come from welding torches. To avoid this, the welding operator must wear welding lenses of the requisite shade.
Try: The Better Health Channel, a website that provides consumer health information, provides description for flash burns, their causes and treatments.