Safety glasses

[d.bick]

Last week I had a hot piece of swarf fly of a steel bar I was turning in the lathe and hit me in the corner of the eyelid. No great damage a few small burn marks. Due to failing eyesight I had been wearing my reading glasses to see up close. And by wearing them on the end of my nose, so as to see over them for distance viewing. I realise that they did not offer the protection that safety glasses would and count myself lucky on this occasion.
I have bought off ebay a pair of by-focal safety glasses at a cost of £9.25 + .99 P&P. You can get them halve the price in the U.S.A. Although I find the split line of the 1.5 magnification a bit strange. When using them on the lathe they are O.K. because you are looking down onto the job in the chuck. But on the mill I tend to look at some jobs level with the bed and find the bi-focal bit to far down the lens if I like them I will maybe get a proscription pair from the opticians.
What have others done in this situation?
Dave Bick

 

[b.lindsey]

Prescription glasses with proper sideshields are probably the best and most comfortable option, though not the cheapest. You might also consider getting a pair of non-corrective (plain) safety glasses of the type that are made to fit over regular prescription glasses. Certainly not as comfortable, but it does allow you to use the glasses you are used to while providing the necessary protection.

Bill

 

[steamer]

I've been using a 10X diopter ring/magnifier light. This works well on the lathe as you get a rather large field of view...here's an example....but do wear the safety glasses.....they work!

http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u27/mcandrew1894/?action=view&current=P1050009.jpg

The obvious problem with this rig is keeping the lense clean and keeping it out of harms way....but so far, it works well


Additionally, I would suggest the Optivisor which I swear by

http://www.grstools.com/optical_tools/low-power-optics/optivisor.html


I list the above as a reference, there are other places to get it.

The #5 lense has a working distance of about 8.5", and it goes over your regular eyeglasses, ect

I have even seen swing down lenses mounted on these.

Dave

The cool thing about the optivisor is that you can rotate it into and out of the field of view with ease, unlike glasses...or look under it for unobstructed viewing

 

[minerva]

Hi Dave,
I've recently gone down this road as a requirement for my college course and it was a real eye-opener.
Safety glasses are a mandatory requirement for entry into the workshop area (even for the administration staff) I tried the over-glasses they provide but at no time did I feel comfortable as they had a tendency to slip over my everyday glasses prompting the odd grab at them at the most inopportune moment. As a consequence I made a point of trawling round the local opticians in order to find out what was available, the findings were a real eye-opener (forgive the pun ;D). Prices for my prescription vari-focals fitted into the correct BS specification frames with side screens ranged from £90 to £295, quite a difference I think you will agree. The company who came out on top was Rayners, they have branches all over the country and the highest quote came from specsavers. I was even advised by one company that it wasn't possible to put varifocals in safety glasses!
I've had them about a month now and they are brilliant, wish I had gone down this road much earlier!
Regards
TerryT

 

[stevehuckss396]

For work I am required to wear safety glasses. I have a pair with ANSI 87.1 lens and permenent side shields. They are my RX with bifocal. I also have a pair of clip on 4X magnifiers when doing the fine work.

 

[steamer]

I have a prescription pair of safety glasses , the prescription being for slight astygmatisim in my left eye. I can get what ever I need though....graded bifocals, trifocals whatever.
The Optometrist even has a line of optic attachments if I so chose that go on the frames ( swing down lenses and such, including these swing down binoculars....REALLY cool.....REALLY $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ !

The best thing is they fit under the optivisor though...which at $40 new makes it attractive...

 

[Tin Falcon]

I wear prescription safety glasses all the time. Auto darkening and progressive bifocal . fortunately the eye doctor gave me a good discount so I could afford them.
Tin

 

[steamer]

YUP...If I was a optician or dentist...I'd splurg for the binocular optics....but NO WAY could I justify them otherwise....My Optivisor was gotten at a yard sale for $2...someone even glued a LED light on it...works great and I don't need to take my glasses off to use it....It swings up when I don't need it and swings down into position in a hearbeat...and the optics don't strain the eye...which is the most important feature...optics that strain your eyes are worthless....regardless of how much money you paid for them.


Dave

 

[d.bick]

Thank you all who have commented on safety glasses. I now have some food for thought.
A good friend Keith Wilson (of Model engineer fame) when he lived just round the corner would always be wearing a Magnifying visor thing on his head. I sometimes wondered if he ever took it off.
Thanks Dave Bick

 

[Ken I]

I tend to walk around with my magnifying visor flipped up - it wierds out my dogs and grandchildren.

The other day something new happened - I stepped out into the hot African sun and stopped for a moment - with the lenses perfectly positioned to focus just below my eyes and was treated to two pinpoint burns - ouch (by the time you wonder what that niggling sensation is its too late you can smell the pork.)

Ah well you can find a new way to injure yourself every day.

Regards,
Ken

 

[shred]

Yeah, more than once I've worn my Optivisors into and around the house before I remembered they were on. Never fried myself however. Owch!

 

[sunworksco]

I'm using this magnifier.

 

[steamer]

My Dentist uses a similar rig Giovanni, but they mount to the top of the regular glasses. When not in use the binoculars flip up and out of the way, but are easily flipped back down. The cool thing is you can look "around them" or look "through them". Additionally they are I think 10X or stronger and the focal distance is adjustable...VERY EXPENSIVE as I remember...like $400..

Dave

 

[sunworksco]

Dave,
Here is another type.
These flip up.
http://www.getbetterlife.com/250r-2...gnification-loupe-for-dentist-420mm_p734.html

 

[peatoluser]

My workshop consists of a a bench, a bench drill, a bench grinder a peatol lathe and a vice.
theres a whole host of goodys i'd like to buy, but one of my first purchases was a pair of prescription SAFETY glasses.
to hell with the cost, compered to losing/damaging the sight in even one eye , they're cheap at any price.
what prompted the purchase was having to visit the local eye hospital with a tiny piece of swarf embeded in my eye-ball.
had been wearing my normal reading glasses, the narrow framed ones that my wife insists i buy because apparently they're fashionable or some such reason.
no lasting damage but it was certainly a wake up call i could've done without.
on a similar vein i asked a friend once where he got his black eye. he works in a cutter grinder department where eye protection is mandatory.
he started one of the machines and the wheel instantly exploded. a fragment hit the lens with such force it pushed his glasses (prescription safety glasses) back into his eye giving him a nice shiner. there was hardly a mark on his glasses.
when a wheel explodes bits can fly of well in excess of 100mph.
i asked him whatsize wheel it was .
a 5" cup wheel was the reply.
my bench grinder now lives in a nice solid wooden storage box, rather than just stored loose under the bench where a wheel might just get damaged.

 

[sunworksco]

Eyes and backs are fragile.

 

[ShopShoe]

I have a tri-focal prescription for my everyday glasses and a second prescription that is single-vision at the tri-focal distance. I use a full-face shield over the glasses in the shop. I also have the headworn magnifier with an assortment of different strength lenses.

Over lots of years and lots of visits to my opthomologist, I have worked to explain exactly what I need to see at what distances (even to the point of setting up mock-up situations in the exam chair). There are always compromises in this but if you don't ask questions and explain carefully you will get "what most people have."

Now my related question: My welding helmet shoves my glasses out of alignment and I need the corrected vision to make a good bead . What do you do in that situation?

--ShopShoe

 

[steamer]

Dave,
Here is another type.
These flip up.
http://www.getbetterlife.com/250r-2...gnification-loupe-for-dentist-420mm_p734.html

Very close Giovanni, but the ones I looked at had individual focus adjustments too.....I can't tell if the ones you show have that...

 

[d.bick]

Shopshoe
You can get what they call a cheat lens for welding masks. I have never used one or seen one. But they are advertised on the Internet. I weld using my reading glasses and the mask adjusted so as not to come into contact with them. I know when you flip a welding mask down if not adjusted properly they can almost knock your teeth out.
Dave Bick