First aluminum welds

[Matt@RFR]

This is one area that I can't help in. There's too many options (blue, green, gold, black, plastic, glass, and shades from 8-14), and your eyes are garunteed to be different than mine.

Most guys can't use the shades I use. I use a black 9 for everything from .083" tube to 3/8" plate. I switch to a black 8 for anything thinner, and go to a black 10 for anything thicker. The most I've ever used was a black 12 when welding 1" plate at something like 375 amps with 1/32" dual shield.



If you want to try the black filters, I think I still have the part numbers for each shade in glass....it took me like 3 months to find them, but they're the only thing that really works for me. And I tried literally every other style.

Basically, keep trying different colors until you can see clearly, and the colors you see make the most sense to your eye, and then use the lightest shade you can without any after affects (blue dots). Then go one shade darker.