welding screens for demos

[Glassroots]

I'm doing demos for a festival and want to use a welding screen like below. I'm not sure which color would be best for the flames from melting glass. This will be at night and I will mainly be working 70 mm tubing on a delta so LOTS of bright light. Here also is a transmission chart I found but I'm not sure which one would be better for my "performance" use. Something that keeps peoples eyes from burning out from staring. I have tried glasses but nobody puts them on. thanks for your help, J

[somberbear]

i dont know what color you would go for ... but welding screen is good to provide a barrier between people and the glass worker if nothing else. this also keeps them at a fair distance. for there safety and also out of range of hot glass. after working an open air demo where some one was reaching in my scrap bucket. i like that idea.

also i would say you can pick up sheets of rose didy. fairly cheaply... get it framed and hang it up in an area to be passed around.

[elad65]

Welding screen may be good for UV/IR protection of spectators, but they will be disappointed because it will be difficult for them to see the details of what you are doing. Most welding screen is not designed for optical clarity for viewing what goes on behind screen.

Elad

[Glassroots]

good points guys, I am thinking this will be more of a performance, so the detail is not initially important to the viewer, just preventing them from being blinded. THEN if they want to walk around the screen and pick up a pair of goggles they can do so and see the detail. Evrything would still be blocked of, an area of 10 ft x 10 ft. I also do things like get a hot gather and blow it out with the flame off so the glass is all you see in the dark.

[Braden Hammond]

I use large plastic walls they put a great barrier between me and the spectators. People watching demos like this usually check you out for a bit and then take off. I've never had a problem with people melting their eyes. The plastic walls are light weight (kinda) they block flares from your torch from hitting the kid right infront of you which is always nice and also keep my tools and work area contained so no one can jack me up :)

[NUBBLET]

So is the general 3 foot rule not true? I recall Aura saying that the eye damaging wavelengths were so diluted by the 3 foot mark there is really no worry except for visibility at that point. Maybe im wrong or aura was but thats what Ive been goin with. In theory if you had 3 1/2 foot arms and worked stiff armed then sodium flare(which according to Aura is NOT damaging to the eye) is the only real issue with eyes. I do like my specs tho so I am not the tester.

[Julian]

Intensity of radiation from a point source decreases exponentially with distance. Is three feet enough? Yep, that's what AVC-Ed, oh um.. Holly.. Who was it? Cliffside Glassworks? Oh, Edward Q. Smythe told us that, I think.

The problem isn't really the harmful invisible radiation though, from how I read the above - it's that it's too bright? I never had anyone complain about that when I've done demos, even making paperweights with a 50 mm Herbie (which have extra-weird candles that are bright as hell). As far as the other potentially harmful radiation, I don't think that's as big a liability or safety issue as other ways the audience could be injured. I like how they have the demo space set up at the Corning museum - the flameworker sits in a glass booth, so nobody could grab anything or be hit by flying particles. Blocks all the UV, too.

Anyhow, I think this is a good idea. Sorry I don't have any suggestions for you.

[cc_bob]

A long time ago I used to demo at fairs, and festivals and I made a podium like work table with plexiglass on 3 sides. I also always set it up in the back corner of the booth. I was always more afraid of someone reaching their hand into the flame or picking up something hot.

[Greg Cowles]

The three foot ruling comes from NIOSH, the national institute of occupational safety and health. They're the sister agency to OSHA. I'm not sure, but I think they do the research, and come up with the regulations that OSHA enforces.
We pretty much triple it with our system/setup, but I really like the look of that welding screen. I think it offers a lot of advantages. Its a great idea.
Thanks!