Nearsighted Woodturners

[Ken Whitney]

I am very (very!) nearsighted. I normally wear contacts and have reached an age where not only do I need to wear contacts I also need to wear reading glasses.

So when I'm turning I am usually wearing (from outside to inside) a face shield, reading glasses, and contacts on my head.

I was turning some of Richard Jones's Christmas light bulb ornaments the other morning and had not put in the contacts but I was wearing glasses (progressive lenses, and of course the face shield). These ornaments are fairly tiny and I needed to get a better look at some detail so I took off my glasses for a better look. You nearsighted folk will know what I'm talking about. My goodness, but I could really see the detail. I put the face shield back on and started turning with the face shield only inches away from the rapidly spinning wood. I could watch the tiny curls pouring of the spindle gouge at a practically molecular level.

After the initial euphoria wore off I realized that my head was pretty close to the business end of the lathe. So my question is:

Do you nearsighted turners ever dispense with the glasses and use your built-in microscopic vision when turning detailed things, despite how close you get to the lathe?

Any other optical things you have found that compensate for old and nearsighted eyes?

And here is a copy of my prototype light bulb.

P1020098.jpg

[John Keeton]

Ken, my vision is terrible. It has changed much over the years, beginning with nearsightedness, corrected many years ago with RK surgery. But, then it progressed again to near sightedness, but only to a point - I still needed reading glasses, then progressive lenses, and now I turn with 3.0 diopter safety glasses assisted with a 5X lighted magnifier when I do details. It makes for challenging turning! The big issue is lighting - I need lots of it!

Nice work on the lightbulb, and an even better job on turning the cup of coffee!! Looks almost real.

[Richard Jones]

Ken,

When I go into my shop, my regular glasses come off (progressives) and a pair of 1.0+ diopter readers go on (NOT bifocals). I'm also nearsighted, with some astigmatism. I can turn without the readers, but everything is just a bit crisper with them on. I've tried stronger readers, but with higher magnification comes decreased focal length, and the 1.0's let me stay a comfortable distance away without sacrificing too much. I have one of the Opti-visors, but the focal length is too short to do any turning, at least for me.

As John said, I will resort to a lighted magnifier when doing something that requires it, but that's rare for me. Like John, more light really helps me now. I use two Moffats with CFL's, as big as I could get with the Daylight option. I don't mind incandescent, but they were getting too hot. Also have two 75w 96" fluorescents right above me.

I also have a dental light, but found it way too intense for what I was doing. Note to self: Sell that bad boy.

I believe Richard Raffan mentioned somewhere that wearing bifocals/trifocals/progressives was impossible at the lathe, at least for him. I found it to be true for me as well.

Good luck, glad you're having fun with the light bulbs.

And that IS a very realistic looking cup of coffee. Great porcelain effect, even has some drips on the outside. I do think the curve needs to go all the way down under the foot, sort of tucked a bit more to give it some lift. How did you make the bubbles?

Rich

[Roger Chandler]

I use no line progressive bi-focal lenses in my glasses [which are polycarbonate-same as safety glasses] One thing I did was have the eye doctor write my prescription for my bi-focals to focus at a point for reading that is farther away than normal. Since I do a good bit of public speaking, I do not want to have my notes close to my face, but rather to lay on the lecturn and just glance down from time to time...............this serves my turning as well, because I can focus standing at a normal distance from the piece being turned.

I am also nearsighted in one eye, and farsighted in the other........go figure! Note to self: time to see the eye doctor for a new pair!

[Sparky Paessler]

I was very nearsighted also so I know what you mean about using your built in microscope. I developed Cataracts in both eyes several years ago and they removed them. When they put in the new lenses they also corrected my vision to 20/20. I do miss being able to look over the top of my glasses to get that really close up view. It makes reading a rule a lot harder. I have even had to get a set of the magnifiers to wear at times. Worse part I had a retina detachment in my right (dominate) eye and now have 20/50 vision that is distorted in it. Could have been worse though, I could have lost all my vision in that eye. Did lose a lot of my depth perception which makes turning really interesting at times!

[Tim Rinehart]

My nearsightedness also was corrected many years ago with RK, and I now wear glasses for reading and close work. Though my primary glasses for work are bifocal, I had my last pair of glasses setup with single ideal focal length (no bifocal) for most work at lathe and with safety lenses. Unfortunately, I can't wear cheaters too effecitively given difference in correction between each eye.

[Ken Whitney]

Thanks all. Sounds like this might be a common problem. And thanks Richard for the tutorial on the Christmas bulbs. I had not done any Christmas turnings at all this year, and the bulb project is just the ticket for some maple I had laying around. Fortunately my wife insists on decorating the tree on Christmas eve (a perennial sore spot with our sons), so I have time to turn a few.

John, do the 3.0 diopter glasses have a long working distance, or are they standard lenses and you have to get up close?

I've not tried using low-power reading glasses with otherwise uncorrected vision. That might be a good way to get reasonable magnification and a reasonable distance between face shield and moving parts.

I really need to rethink lighting. A full-spectrum CFL sounds much better than the incandescent close-in light I've been using.

And turning the coffee cup was a piece of cake, compared to turning the computer keyboard.

[Jim Underwood]

Yeah, but how'd ya turn that hand?

[Dan Forman]

I wear safety glasses with built in bifocal lenses, work fine for me. Couple of years ago I didn't need the bifocals, but do now.

Dan

[John Keeton]

John, do the 3.0 diopter glasses have a long working distance, or are they standard lenses and you have to get up close?

Ken, the focal length would vary depending on your vision. In my case, "readers" of 3.0 have a working focal length of 20-22" or so, but if your close up acuity if not as bad as mine, your working distance may be less. BTW, Brownells is the only source I could find for fixed power safety glasses.

[Reed Gray]

Well, switching from cheap reader glasses to prescription glasses really helped. Also having the proper light spectrum is essential, and standard shop lights don't cut it. I have tried the 5x or so head gear glasses, and found them to be annoying, and of small help since the focal area is so small, and it felt like they gave my eyes a work out that they didn't like. Maybe I should get my eyes fixed.

robo hippy

[Rick Prosser]

My vision has always been poor. Something around 20/500 - but correctable with glasses or contacts...up until recently. Now I have gotten old and need bifocals. I hate glasses, so I have mono vision contacts. One eye is corrected for far viewing, and one eye is corrected for near viewing (around 18"). Took a little while to adjust (close one eye).I can see pretty well to drive, and read. Problem is, my computer screen, TV, lathe, shooting, electrical repairs, etc are all in-between, or outside my focal ranges. My wife has similar issues but decided to go with glasses. She has - maybe 5 - pairs. One for reading, one for computer, one for driving (photogray), one for distance, one for something else. Problem is, she never has the correct glasses for whatever event is current. Always hunting down the right ones. I don't want to go there.

Currently, I have a pair of store bought reading classes with one lense removed. It corrects my far vision contact to just about computer screen distance. Between my near vision contact and my corrected far vision contact - I can work at the computer fairly comfortably. I don't have a setup that will work at the lathe yet. I purchased some bifocal safety glasses to try out, but I don't like having to move into close range of the spinning work to see what I am doing. My face being 3 inches away from the spindle (I always to my Airtrend shield) when using a skew can be very exhilarating! And, with 4 different focal points to deal with, it can be dizzying. Still looking for a better solution.

[John Spitters]

I was very nearsighted also so I know what you mean about using your built in microscope. I developed Cataracts in both eyes several years ago and they removed them. When they put in the new lenses they also corrected my vision to 20/20. I do miss being able to look over the top of my glasses to get that really close up view. It makes reading a rule a lot harder. I have even had to get a set of the magnifiers to wear at times. Worse part I had a retina detachment in my right (dominate) eye and now have 20/50 vision that is distorted in it. Could have been worse though, I could have lost all my vision in that eye. Did lose a lot of my depth perception which makes turning really interesting at times!

Good to know that I'm not alone in this.

I'm also near sighted, have had the cataract surgery, had PVD (posterior vitreous displacement in the left eye, had corrective surgery (Vitrectomy) to remove the dirty fluid and subsequently underwent a detached retina following the surgery. Had three more subsequent surgeries in that eye to correct the detached retina, it's once again attached however I have distorted vision in that eye and now and am no longer able to see a strait line.
Currently I am also waiting to have surgery ( Vitrectomy ) on the right eye, following a PVD.

I have at the lathe 2 double 4' overhead florescents and an incandescent bulb. I also use an articulated lamp plus a magnifier lamp when turning smaller items and I wear 3.5+ magnifier glasses.

[Ken Whitney]

Yeah, but how'd ya turn that hand?

Like so:

P1020100.jpg

I made some quick measurements. With glasses, my eyes are comfortably focused at about 24" from the lathe centerline. Without glasses 9" down to about 6" is in sharp focus. I tried my standard reading glasses (2.25 I think) and that was in focus even closer than six inches.

Maybe fixed-power safety glasses, in a range of powers, might be one solution, but I'm with Rick in not wanting to have to chase down the right pair.

And then, of course, there is the problem of lathe height. While working at the 6-9" distance the old back started protesting, so what we really need is a complete solution of on-demand, variable-power glasses with an on-demand, variable-height lathe.

What a drag it is getting old...

[Thom Sturgill]

As a computer geek, it was necessary several years ago to get a separate pair of glasses (now bifocals) that had the main part of the lens focused at a little over arms length. My normal glasses are progressives. I find the 'computer' glasses work well at the lathe, though I often forget to change them and wear the progressives. BTW, I paid for the progressives to have the widest field available.