Welding Tips and Tricks

The arc shots in this video are exactly what I see. https://youtu.be/4EjRYhJgpiw?t=2m56s

Is that normal? If so, any tips? If not, what can I change?

I'm using a Viking 2450.

Edit: I should add that I'm near sighted and wear glasses. I see better close up without them so I've tried that. I've also tried a cheater.

Is it that way every time or is it better when the cover lense in your hood is new?

Could your lens be too dark? If you have an autodarkening helmet, see what it's set to.

Poland308 wrote:Is it that way every time or is it better when the cover lense in your hood is new?

Changing out the inner and outer plastic doesn't seem to help. I haven't cleaned the cartridge in a long time. I'll try that.

MarkL wrote:Could your lens be too dark? If you have an autodarkening helmet, see what it's set to.

I started at 10 and was going higher to see if it helped. I'll try a little lower.

Douglas wrote: I started at 10 and was going higher to see if it helped. I'll try a little lower.

I wouldn't go lower than 10, something else is wrong. If it's an autodarkening helmet, it's possible it's not working properly and is too dark. Maybe try changing the battery. Otherwise try to borrow a helmet from someone and see if it looks the same through theirs.

It's hard to say because we can't see what you see, but can you just barely distinguish the tip of the tungsten from the arc light? If you can't you need to go darker until you can, IMO.

Also, are you letting a lot of light in from behind your helmet? If so, this causes pupils to decrease in size, opposite of what you want.

Thanks everyone.

Cleaning the cartridge helped. Darker helped.

I also turned down my argon. That helped a lot.

I don't like the regulator that came with the machine. It's a dial gauge for flow and it doesn't feel right to me. I'm going to buy one with a float and try that.