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First of all, if this is the wrong StackExchange site for this question, I'm sorry. (If someone could point me to the right one, please do so!)

So in this DIY YouTube video, the person makes some sort of spot welding device. (I'm not sure if it's "truly" a "spot welder," but it's the term he uses, so I'll just go with that.) If I made it using the same materials/components, what kind of eye protection would I need to use it safely? I only know a little about oxyacetylene and arc welding (I've done those before, and I wasn't good at them) and I think an arc welding mask would be overkill and regular lab goggles would probably be unsafe/insufficient.

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  • I'd say you're melting metal so I don't see why a full face mask wouldn't be appropriate, along with an apron, the right shoes and gloves. Molten metal can bubble and bubbles can pop. Not to mention there's no additional material or flux, so any introduction of water would be a great reason for full protection. If the question is only in regards to arc eye - I don't think it's bright enough, but I'll leave that to the experts.
    – Raystafarian
    Nov 5, 2015 at 8:58
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    @Raystafarian There is no melting here, or at least - if it melts you're spot welding it wrong.
    – Agent_L
    Nov 5, 2015 at 14:05
  • blog.phillips-safety.com/…
    – Ecnerwal
    Nov 5, 2015 at 14:37

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You're right about the arc welding full-face mask - they use very dark glass to accommodate the bright arc. There is no arc here, so in such mask you'll see nothing. Also unlike arc welding (where you spend bit of time aligning, then you lower the mask and then spend considerable time doing the actual welding) here you spend almost all the time on aligning the material but the actual welding takes only tiny fraction of total time spent working (real spot welders use capacitors to do the job in sub-second timeframes. This is where the savings come from). So a vision-limiting full face mask won't work here, because you'll have strong incentives to simply not wear it.

I believe you should use gas-welding goggles, the convertible kind where you can lift dark glass and work with clear glass. Just make sure they are rated for operation with the clear glass alone, because cheap models have only superficial clear plastic that won't protect against larger projectile or UV. And of course, stay clear from "steampunk", "mad scientist", etc decorative goggles because they're intended for nothing more than, well, decoration. Especially now, around Halloween, the market is flooded with such toys.

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    I'd just note that a gas welding (shade #5 green) full facesheild is available - and for use with glasses, it's far more convenient than goggles. Other than a green tinge, it's no interference with normal vision. But in a proper spot-welder setup, the electrode is clamped before the power is applied, so there is no arc (or if there is, it is between the workpieces.) You could also get silly and use an auto-darkening arc mask - those provide full protection when in the "clear" state, and given that there should never be an arc, the clear state is where it should stay - but kinda spendy.
    – Ecnerwal
    Nov 5, 2015 at 14:34

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