aura 203s good enough?

[Fire on the mountain]

so i need some new glasses and im reluctant to get shade 5 again since theyre so dark. it seems like shade 3 1/2 would be perfect but i dont want to screw my eyes up. on mikes graph it looks like the difference in protection between the 3.5 and shade 5s are really trivial. what do you think?

[Mike_Aurelius]

Actually, it's not "trivial". The difference is 50% (12% VLT vs. 6% VLT). You have to look at what you are doing -- how large the pieces you make are, how much fuming, etc.

Generally speaking, we recommend the AGW-203 as an "entry" level boro filter, it is designed for beads, small sculptures, etc.

Shade 3.5 is not dark enough for large work, fuming, intense color work.

Overall darkness of a filter should not be a reason to not use a filter -- simply increase your task lighting so you can see what you are doing. The key point to remember is that the darker filters also filter out more harmful IR radiation (heat energy) as well as cut out the problems from intense visible light as I've noted elsewhere.

[Greymatter Glass]

I agree with Mike, get more lights on yiour bench is you can't see through a shade 5.

Also,check out the 250's, they're full coverage and better all-round than the 203s.

If you get them in silver biker frames you can be in our gang too.

[TorchedGlass]

I have shade 5 splits and sometimes I wish they were darker. I have several lights on my bench including a florescent and a halogen spotlight.

[Fire on the mountain]

i probably should just get more lights and keep my shade 5s but on the chart for 203s there is only a fraction of a percent transmission at the point thats marked as hazardous IR...maybe im just not reading it right

[Fire on the mountain]

mike?? doug??

[Mike_Aurelius]

It's not the IR you need to worry about -- all the AGW series provide enough IR protection, it is the visible light.

[UmaJulz]

I like my 203s for both boro and soft. Entry level or not, they are a huge improvement over the cheap boroscopes that someone loaned me, and not too dark for soft work either. Maybe a little hard to see the colors of the rods, but I peek over the top, then slide them back up...

[Big Jay]

My eyes always hurt with diddy's so I'd say I am somewhat sensitive to the light and with the 3.5's I get along pretty good. Fuming can suck since I switched to the quartz rod but I don't look at it. Some colors I wish the lense was darker though.
Wish there were active darkening lenses. I just can't see out of the shade 5's.

[Loïc]

active darkness... just like in the Welder Hood.... they got some active darkness that goes from 6~7 shhade to like13... how many time did i ask supplier of welding shop to got one from 2~6 ... (3~5shades).

Oh Ya.... that would be sweet, rigged on an aura lens,..... and automatic switch from shade 2.x~. 3.x~.. to 5.x~.6.x~.. depending on clear or intense colors...

maybe just another of my crazy dopped artist dreams....

well..