No safety gear is more important than the welding helmet. Either you weld by hobby or by profession. You must use a welding helmet or welding goggles. It is imperative from a safety perspective. Let it also admit that the welding workshop and any other place where welding operations are carried out is not a clean place. So, the environment, as well as the welding operation, makes your welding lens dirty.
Therefore, many questions arise in this perspective like how to keep welding lenses clean and what is the best way to clean welding helmet lenses. Because no one wants to leave his expensive or cheap welding lens before the expected life span. Therefore, you should be careful while choosing the welding helmet. There are many ways to answer the question of how to clean a welding lens. Here we will discuss the best ways of cleaning welding helmet lenses.
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Material Required to Clean Welding Helmet Lens
It depends upon the type of welding helmets. But usually, the following materials are used for the cleaning of the welding helmet lens.
Soft cloth or tissues:
It’s not every type of cloth but a special type of soft cloth or tissue.
Room temperature water:
It is required for the cleaning of a clear lens. Don’t use it for the auto-darkening lens. Otherwise, it will damage the lens.
Smooth bristled brush:
Use the smooth bristled brush to remove debris and dirt before applying any kind of non-stick cleaning material like cream. The special cleaning solution that’s safe for lenses
You have to require some other accessories along with the recommended material. These accessories are screws, screwdrivers, and manuals. Manual describes special requirements for cleaning the lens.
Which is the Best Way to Clean Welding Helmet Lens
The lens is very sensitive. To keep it away from scratches use a special type of very soft-bristled brush. This brush helps to remove the abrasive material from the lens surface without producing any kind of scratches on your lens. When you once remove the abrasive dirt from the welding helmet lens. Then go through the condition of the lens. If it is clear then it is fine. Otherwise, it requires some kind of special cleaning process.
After review, if you find that there is more dirt and it is required to clean the welding helmet lens. There is a special type of non-adhering cream, suitable for the welding helmet lens. Apply this cream on your welding helmet lens. Take a UV protectant fiber cloth. Gently clean the surface of the welding helmet lens. If it is an ordinary lens then use mild hot water to clean the surface. Otherwise, just dry the lens. Try to dry it properly. If there remains any kind of wet place on the lens. It will obstruct the vision of the welder.
Things to Avoid While Cleaning Your Lens
There are some common mistakes that prove very dangerous for your welding helmet lens. Otherwise, there will end your welding helmet lens life. Then there is no option other than to change the welding helmet lens.
Using a Scrub Brush
Scrub brush creates scratches on the lens. Instead of using a scrub brush, use a soft-bristled brush to remove the initial layer of dust. This brush wipes away the initial layer of dust without any kind of scratches. After this removal, you are able to see how much the lens is cleaned.
Using Brushes to Scrub
You must use the soft-bristled brush for the removal of the initial layer of grime. If you use it further on the lens then it will ruin your welding helmet lens. For the further removal of grime, the layer must use a special type of cloth.
Using Big Strokes
While cleaning avoids form jerky and large moments. Instead of large and jerky movements, use small strokes to clean the lens. Large and jerky movements can scratch the lens. This leads to shortening the life span of your welding helmet lens. Due to scratches, there will be more dust accumulation next time and while using the helmet you will get a blurry view.
How to Clean Scratches from Lenses?
With the passage of time even with too much care, scratches are there on the welding helmet lens. Then buffing is a great option to clean scratches on the welding helmet.
Buffing
Removal of scratches will be a wonder and this wonder easily happens with a buffing wheel and dab of buffing compound. Apply light buffing compound of the buffing wheel. Then turn it on until it gains its steady motion in sense spinning. Move your lens gently across the spinning wheel. Apply pressure that is enough for welding helmet lenses. This procedure takes a few minutes of precious time. After buffing there will be a polished and scratch-free lens. Buffing can be done up to a certain point. After that point, the only option remains to change your lens.
Rubbing Compound
To get a scratch-free lens, the second option is to use a rubbing compound. There are many rubbing compounds like 3M Rubbing Compound 05973 for the removal of scratches. They remove the scratches along with stains, surface marks, and oxidation. These compounds vary the type of lens material. Like the above-discussed compound is suitable for Polycarbonate surfaces.
These compounds are mostly a bit pricey. But no need to worry about this because it requires only a few drops for cleaning your lens. So, they will last for a long time. Apply a few drops of rubbing compound on the lens and rub it with a microfiber cloth or with a terry cloth. There is quick removal of surface junk within a short time. Apply a little more compound and then rub the cloth again against the lens. Small scratches also will come out.
To avoid smudged and bleary views, completely dry the lens after using such a compound. Take a piece of a soft cloth and move it in a small and circular motion. This will increase the life of the lens more than the estimated lifespan of welding helmet lenses.
How to Keep Lenses Clean
The answer of how to keep welding lenses clean is also a trick for the best way to clean welding helmet lenses. Use some polish like furniture polish along with wax and car polish with wax. Polish helps to remove the layer of dirt and leave a film behind which prevents it from scratches as well. This also helps to keep from blurry and smudged views. Polish also fill the fine scratch places. But be very careful while applying it. Don’t leave any spot behind it can cause the reflection of the light and blur the view while welding operation.
How a Welding Lens Gets Dirty
A welding helmet is directly exposed in front of this intense environment. It is hit by slag, fire, and metal pieces. Along with this, the environment of any workshop or workplace is not so clean. All of these things make its lens dirty. This may be in the form of dust or in kind of scratches. Other than this heated environment improper cleaning like sometimes workers cleaning its lens with their dirty shirts leads to scratches on the lens.
How Can You Increase the Life of a Welding Helmet Lens?
You can increase the lifespan of your welding helmet lens by following little hacks.
Clean Daily
You may be surprised by reading clean daily! Yes, after every time you use your welding helmet you must clean it properly.
It takes less time to clean your welding helmet as compared to cleaning it off and on. Other than this will increase the lifespan of your welding helmet lens.
Store Properly
After using the welding helmet, store it in the proper space. While storing, use its bag to store it.
Improper storage and without bag storage can cause the chance of falling and dirty its lens very soon. Falling leads to losing your money.
Can we use any kind of cloth or tissue for cleaning of welding helmet lens?
You can’t use any kind of cloth or tissue for cleaning the welding helmet lens. There is a special type of UV protectant lens cleaning microfiber towel.
What happens when the welding helmet is not cleaned properly?
If you don’t adopt the best way to clean welding helmet lenses, then the life of welding helmets will decrease. Along with life, it will be economically burdened on the welding helmet owner. It also affects the efficiency of the welding operations. If you read this article till the end then you will come to know the best way to clean welding helmet lenses.
When should you get a new welding lens?
It depends on the situation. If you have tried all three discussed methods but there is still a blurry and smudged view then it is time to change the welding helmet lens. We have also covered the best welding helmets. So, read our list of top welding helmets.
James is a welding expert, accomplished author, and trusted guide with over 8 years of experience in the industry. With his in-depth knowledge and engaging writing style, James has become a true authority in the field, offering readers and clients invaluable expertise and insights to take their welding skills to new heights.