Welding woes...frustrating!!

Dont know about that.. you will get the hang of it. You dont have to be dead nuts when you light it off, just close enough to get onto the joint quickly. It takes sometime to get used to it.. so dont beat yourself up. When I was younger doing lots of body panels I'd basically have my hood up and as I lit it off id just drop my head to shield my eyes. Thats where the auto dark
hoods are nice.