Let's talk about ... didys with a hothead

[Lush!]

Now, I was sure I'd read somewhere that you don't actually need to wear didys (or I probably should say ACE 202 safety glasses) when using a hothead - and I always thought that was ridiculous, I would say "just wear them, they keep you safe".

But yesterday I was demoing all day, off and on, using a hothead and I could not see the flame, could not tell where to put the glass, simply could not make a bead with my lampwork glasses on. At all.  Neither when I tried out the hothead in my studio, nor on my stall at the fair.  Yes, I was working outside but it couldn't be called a bright day, we had miserable grey skies and heavy rain all morning and it never really got bright.

See, I do a lot of teaching, and I like to make sure I'm telling my students the right thing, but I want to be sure what I say really is true, "evidence-based practice" and all that.  So now I'm feeling like saying "you don't need to spend £60 on a pair of lampwork glasses to use with your hothead, clear safety goggles will do ..." but I'd really like to know about the science bit.  So can anybody help please?  SALLY???


Oh, George did a bit of googling for me and she came up with this thread on LE  http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51873&highlight=hothead+didys  Its an old thread but very interesting.

Discuss!! 

[Emerald]

i have read that they are not needed also but for the sake of safety and Freya i wear them, my garage has no windows so i work with two daylight bulbs and can see the flame just not he orange glow which i think in time would give me a headache anyway if i dident wear them

[ScarletLeonard]

I remember reading that too. Though I think the one I read was that you needed UV protection but the sodium flare wasn't as important on the HH.
Until I joined here I knew nothing about diddys I thought the glasses were just pretty tinted glasses to protect your eyes from flying glass (and being a glasses wearer thought they will do.)

I can say that when i got into long torching sessions with just my prescription glasses on I felt the strain.
After reading about UV protection I switched to my prescription sunglasses much better.
Now I have diddys because it turned out my problems with seeing what I was doing was because I was short sighted and couldn't see because I had my long range vision 'on' no eye strain unless I am at the torch until silly hours (but that's me getting tired)

I can see the very centre blue cone with my diddys on, I now know where from that point I want to be for different types of work but that's down to getting to know my torch. But TBH that's all I see on a duel fuel too.

Forgot to add - After my experience I would say better to have them and learn with them it was a back peddle to figure out my flame after putting on mine for the first time. But I would certainly say UV protection over no protection at all.

[Lush!]

Hmm, you see I can't work on a dual fuel without didys, not even a little bit.  The flare is just too bright, but on a hothead the flare is useful to me!

[Lakelady]

Well being new to all of this, I have been wearing Didys with a HH.  I have found that I can't really see what I am doing with the glass from the glare of the orange flame if I take them off and I have sort of learned where the best heat for what glass is, in a very short space of time.  I can see the end of the blue spike of flame, which is enough for me to know where in the flame I should be.  I thought that was what everyone did!  I was quite surprised the first time I took the specs off when at the end of a bead, to see this massive orange flame!!  I wouldn't feel comfortable with the glare if I didn't wear them, as I tend to sit there for hours!  

[ScarletLeonard]

The only time I have seen a duel fuel without diddys is when watching demos, though that's very different from sitting behind it.
Beads just glow when I am watching them being made, I know red hot through my diddy's I can see more of the bead rather than it blending into the orange of the flame.
I have a tendency now to not look into the flame for demos and wait until it comes out so I can see what's going on.

[Veebee]

I always wear diddy's, but if I'm doing something that needs finer heat control then I just keep peeking over the top of them to make sure I'm still in the right place in the flame, especially useful as I suffer from a wandering hand when I torch  

[tomcat]

Cindy Jenkins - Making Glass Beads - page 24 - 'neither didymium nor AUR-92 is necessary with a single fuel system'
however as all say - its more about comfort and seeing what you are doing in the flame

[Sarah A]

I'll be watching this thread with interest as I use a hothead and prefer to use it at night as I can't see the flame during the day and often look over the top of my diddys to see if I am in the flame!

[poledra1958]

Having always worn didys when working on my HH I find the flame looks all wrong when I do forget them.  But then there is no windows in my shed and the light is behind me so I have no problems with light.

But I did find at flame off last year that I had problems seeing where the flame was on the HH's

[jobead]

I've always worn didys with my hothead but I know what you mean, I must confess to looking over the top of them for some detail work.

[mizgeorge]

I use a shield rather than didys, and I just used to end up pushing it out of the way when I used a HH. I do wear specs, so always had some eye protection, and when I tried outdoors, I used ordinary sunglasses, which worked fine.

[Redhotsal]

Can't see any problem with looking over the top every now and then but there's no way I would work for a prolonged period  on a hothead without didys. I started with a hothead and wore the didys.

You get protection from flying hot glass for one thing and you get protection from the sodium flare which can lead to detached retina problems or more insidiously increased possibility of cataracts. There's a lot of Infra Red radiation in that sodium flare. You can't see it but it will do damage. It's not the same as UV radiation at all. There's very little UV radiation from a hothead by the way.

I think the difference between the hothead and a dual gas torch is primarily luminosity. Yes, I agree it's very difficult to see the flame - especially if you are outside. When I worked with a hothead I had a spot light on the glass itself but the ambient light was very dark - I was in a dimly lit garage when I started and I think I found the "natural lighting conditions for a hothead" by accident. With a dual gas torch you can see the flame better and are afforded the luxury of having more ambient light.

I think honestly that you need a good few days to switch from one torch to another and it really takes a few days to get used to one or the other. I've used both for years but I still need to "acclimatise" when I change over.

Obviously - compared to furnace work or borosilicate working the sort of radiation we beadmakers experience is much less than those guys but it's a cumulative thing and I certainly wouldn't be taking any chances not using the didys. Turn your lights down! 

[Shirl]

When I got my hothead I read so many conflicting opinions and I wasnt sure what to do, so I contacted the makers of the torch and I was sent an email saying diddys were not needed, just UV safety glasses, so I had some prescription glasses made up to this spec.

I just wear these when working.

[awrylemming]

I regularly attend an eye hospital as I suffer a bad eye condition - when I was working on the hothead my specialist did a huge amount of work on my behalf as to the relevancy of diddies and the best eye protection.  Conclusion - always use your diddies.  And I also am guilty of peeking over the top    Actually, he's not best pleased with my using a dual fuel torch ....