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FREE Weld Shade calculator

When you're out there welding every day, protecting your eyes isn’t optional — it’s essential. The wrong lens shade can leave you with eye strain at best… or a serious injury at worst.

That’s why I put together this Welding Shade Calculator. It’s a FREE, simple tool to help you choose the right filter shade for the job, based on the welding process and its parameters — whether you're stick welding at 90 amps, cutting with oxy-fuel, or running a MIG bead on thick steel.

In this article, I will explain, the hazards associated with welding and allied processes, how the calculator works, what standards it’s based on (like ANSI Z49.1 and European EN standards), and the importance of picking the right shade for each task. This information sumarizes data present in tables, graphs and charts present in several documents.

👉 Try the Welding Lens Filter Shade Calculator now

What Eye Hazards You Need to Know About

🔴 Infrared Radiation (IR)

A little bit of IR? You might just feel warmth on your face or eyelids — annoying, but not dangerous.

But doing it every day, for years — especially with high heat or close-up work — can start damaging the lens inside your eye. That’s how you end up with something like “glassblower’s cataract.”

And if the IR source is super strong — like a laser or high-powered arc — it can burn your cornea or damage the inside of your eye. That’s not just uncomfortable — it can permanently mess with your vision.

🔆 Visible Light (What You Actually See)

Bright arcs from welding (especially stick or MIG at high amps) can mess up your retina if you stare without protection.

Even if it doesn’t cause real damage, it can still give you serious glare and make it hard to see, even after you look away.

Flashy stuff like handheld lasers? Same story. They don’t always blind you, but they can leave you seeing spots and feeling wrecked for hours.

💜 Ultraviolet Radiation (UV)

This is the one that causes "arc-eye" (aka “welder’s flash”).

It’s like a sunburn on your eyeballs. You don’t feel it right away, but a few hours later, you’re tearing up, your eyes feel full of sand, your head hurts, and even blinking sucks.

It usually heals, but if this keeps happening, it stacks up and can lead to permanent damage — cloudy corneas, cataracts, you name it.

And it’s not just you. UV can hit anyone standing nearby who isn’t properly shielded.

🔥 Heat, Gases, and the Whole Package

The arc gives off a ton of heat and radiation — enough to burn your skin and eyes.

How much of it hits you depends on the welding method (MIG, TIG, plasma), amps, shielding gas, and fumes in the air.

The blue light and brightness from arc welding can mess with your macula and retina — the parts of your eye that handle detail and sharp vision.

Luckily, your natural reaction (squinting, turning away) helps avoid the worst of it. But that’s not enough. You still need proper eye protection.

Bottom line:

Welding without the right lens shade isn’t tough — it’s risky. Whether you’re tacking a quick joint or running a long MIG bead, protect your eyes every time. The damage doesn’t always show up right away… but one day, you might wish it had.

What this calculator does

This calculator lets you know the recommended (or required) filter lens shade for your eyesight protection when welding or cutting.

Welding and cutting operations generate diverse radiations, including intense visible light, and invisible UV (ultraviolet) and IR (infrared) radiations, as well as X-rays.

This calculator is developed for welders, managers and OS&H professionals, to answer questions like:

• Which filter should (shall) be used to weld stainless steel with TIG (GTAW) at 180 Amperes?
• … or when cutting a 3/4-inch steel plate with an acetylene torch?
• which is the right lens shade for torch Soldering?
• , etc.

This calculator is intended for welders, OS&H (Occupational Safety and Health) professionals, consultants and managers, hobbyists, PPE resellers, etc.

EN and USA welding protection standards

Based on the user selection for a type of welding or cutting process and the process parameter, the shows the filter shade to be used. The approaches available are:

• EN ISO 19734:2021 recommendations (ISO/Europe)
• OSHA Minimum Protective Shade Number (USA)
• ANSI & AWS Shade Number Recommendations (USA)

Please note, that ANSI & AWS filter recommendations are tighter than (in some few cases are equal to) the OSHA requirements (if you follow ANSI & AWS recommendations you already comply with OSHA requirements).

The resulting filter shade is either according to EN ISO 16321:2021 standards (formerly known as the DIN shade), or according to ANSI Z87.1, depending on your standards selection.

Note: local standards of most countries follow either EN or USA standards protection criteria.

Process selection

For the standard selected, the app shows a dropdown list of processes considered by the standard. Any time you chose a process, the parameter list is updated along with its parameter type and unit (if any).

Process acronyms are used for better dropdown-lists visualization. These acronyms are well-known and of common use in the industry; they are even used in the non-English versions of the standards: e.g., for the ISO/European approach, the EN ISO 19734:2021 criteria are followed.

Parameter selection<

For the standard considered and the process (operation) selected, a parameter dropdown list is displayed. Choose the range you will perform your operation at.

Showing results

The result (the recommended or minimum required welding shade) will appear on the dark rectangle after making all the necessary choices (standard, process and parameter value).

Any time you modify your Standard or process selection, the shade resul will appear as --, until you chose your parameter range value; if you only change the parameter value selection, the shade number will be updated accordingly.

Copy to clipboard and Share

Touch the shade number found within the dark rectangle (that represents a welding filter lens) to copy the information to your device’s clipboard; you can afterwards share your results through an SMS, email or your favorite messaging application, or you can paste it into a text note, a document, etc.

Disclaimer, Acknowledgements, and Copyright

The eye-protection information provided by this calculator is based on publicly available sources, including but not limited to:

• ISO/European Standard EN ISO 19734:2021,
• OSHA regulations,
• AWS recommendations, and the
• ANSI Z87.1 standard (USA).

While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, this tool is intended for general guidance only and should not replace professional advice, training, or workplace safety regulations.

The backend code of this calculator is proprietary software and is protected by copyright.

© 2017 – 2025 LITIO.si. All rights reserved.

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