Technical How I hate a welding helmet..

I don't wear glasses or have / or had cataracts.
I had my eyes checked a week after a wire feed flash,
and the specialist doctor,
after checking me , said "get outta here, see ya in a year "

 

I got flashed too many times in my welding youth. My night vision has been bad since I was 21. After that I was much more careful about having a shield in place even if I was helping someone.

A buddy made up a face shield from a busted helmet, just cut out the front of it and mounted it to a piece of a broken hockey stick. He would hold it up to his face to tack something, I tried it a few times and it worked. I'm in the market for a new auto-dark helmet and will not get a cheap one.

 

Years ago I worked as a mechanic at a local dairy. The head mechanic's dad, Tony also worked there as a welder/equipment repairman. Tony could weld anything but he to have a had a magnifying lens in his welding helmet so he could see what he was welding. His son would occasionally pick up Tony's helmet by mistake and then cuss that "damn lens" and find his own helmet. Fast forward 30 years or so and he had to install a magnifier lens in his own helmet. I never let him live it down that he was getting to be just like his dad. Both of them are gone now.

 

Don’t get me started
That’s about the best way to shock yourself.

 

If you decide to spend some money, don't go crazy. Like most things you can spend a fortune for some ultimate feature item, but usually there are good "bang for the buck" helmets that work very well. I would reccommend that you look for one with the "clear view" option as it makes things easier to view than the kinda greenish view. My son loves his new Lincoln Viking 3350. I tried it once over at his house and I can tell you first hand it was a nice view.
Second I would be sure to get one that has at least a 9 level for welding and the lower levels for grinding. Last, be sure it has a replacable battery. Just for comparison, Indiana Oxygen Company is selling the Lincoln helmet for $249.
If you look on U tube you can find lots of videos comparing helmets. I always liked Lincoln but preferred Miller. Miller makes a new helmet that has digital controls. Personally, even though I'm a Miller guy, I think that Miller Helmet is ugly..........but it works good. Anyway if you are going to spend some money, look at the clearview helmets.

 

Better helmets have multiple sensors to prevent that being a problem.

 

Well, I guess I've just been lucky.

So thinking a bit further on this.

Ground clamp to frame and I hold a tab to be welded to the frame and pull the trigger/strike the arc.

Ground clamp to the tab to the frame and pull the trigger/strike the arc.

 

My son is drill rig welder and he will only use a non auto, Huntsman style hood for his 10-12 hours shifts. Too many problems with "fancy" hoods in that environment. Something to be said for simple, bulletproof equipment when you are 30 miles from a paved road.
On the other hand, I'm a hobbyist and I really like my fancy Lincoln Viking hood! Best money I ever spent on anything welding related.
Big lens is really nice. You can adjust the distance between your face and the inside of the hood , which is great if you wear glasses. I threw my HF hood hood away the first time I used my Viking.

 

Give it a shot.
Make a video too.

In electric welding 101, on the very first day you’ll be taught how to not get yourself involved or between or inside the weld circuit. Any book will cover this as well in the first chapter. Yet you suggest holding the ground in one hand and the hot end in your other hand while welding.

 

I'l

I'll take it a step further (not sure what 101 book you have) and actually hold a piece of iron and weld directly to it.

Your not between or inside a circuit.

Can I hang off a 70KV power line...like say I fell out of a plane and had hands and a grip of steel and grabbed the line to break my fall and was hanging there, both hands on the 70Kv running through the lines will I get shocked?

 

You only get one set of eyes, don't ever buy a cheap auto darkening helmet. Most have light sensors, some even have 4 separate sensors. The best ones on the market now actually have a mode that doesn't use light sensors, they pick up the magnetic field of the weld (its called X-Mode, its on Millers high end helmets). You can use these outside in bright sunlight, in a shop with very bright LED lights, or in shops with multiple welding arcs and not have any flashing issues as the arc needs to be within few feet of you for the eddy currents to be picked up in the sensors. This way you NEVER get flashed, as there are no light sensors to get blocked. I can tell you that it doesn't take getting flashed many times to develop serious eye issues (cataracts, permanent dry eyes, etc). Two things that don't really ever heal... your eyes and your ears... protect them as well as you possibly can.

 

IDK shit about 70Kv lines.
Nor falling out of airplanes.

 

This cat has an old helmet

 

Fine, but tell me why I can get shocked holding something with a welding clamp, yet not get shocked if the clamp is on what you want to weld to?

I'm thinking it should be in that book you cited?

 

Hey Bob, you can get a auto lens for your leather hood or use a modified burning headset. I sometimes use a painters hood and and one of these lens for tacking and getting into hard to see positions to tack. I use a normal hood with a gold lens of a speedglass for the actual welding.

 

Electricity will find the shortest distance to ground. That's why you have to be careful tig welding aluminum with high frequency. If you're using the table as a ground and you stick the rod and pick up the item your welding, the arc will go through the item and through the the tig rod and use you for the ground. AC voltage can be deadly. Always try and get the ground clamp as close to the arc as possible.
If you're holding a piece of metal to be welded to something else, keep the ground on the other piece of metal and strike your arc on the metal that has the ground.

 

I'll add my 2 cents...
Optrel Panoramaxx. Best 400.00 I've spent, next to the 700.00 I spent 22 years ago on my Optrel Solarmatic. The Solarmatic still works perfectly, but since it's been adopted by my young helper, I figured I deserved a new one. Gotta say those Swiss made a damn fine helmet back then, and they sure as hell ain't stopped yet, in my opinion.

 

There is always the possibility that the welder will also become the easist path to ground, especially if sweating a lot. A ground clamp fastened to the part to be welded will most always provide the easist path to ground ........ If the ground connector is being held in a "leather gloved" hand there most likely won't be a problem. That being said, anyone who has welded has taken a gloved hand and held the actual part in place while getting a tack weld in place. At that point they are also doing basically the same thing ..........providing a potential path to ground. Its all about which path to ground provides the least resistance to flow. If you are standing on a rubber mat and/or have rubber soles on your shoes, there probably isn't any path for completion of a circuit.
Several years back I was working on a flourescent light and the circuit was on so I could see if I solved the problem as I probed around in the light. I was looking for a bad connection in a twisted wire end. I was standing on a wooden workbench so I knew there was no path to ground.
I was also sweating, and absentmindedly allowed my arm to brush against the metal track for the overhead door. Ouch!
Sh** Happens, but for the most part its seldom lethal. Simply holding a part in someones hand even when grounds are properly (matter of opionion on whats proper) done places the welder into position for becoming a possible ground circuit. I say that because we all assume that the ground cable is working properly when we connect it, and never really give it a second thought. Then we grab the part and hold it in place and begin welding. We all do that.
Nice video below showing what can be done if you don't become a ground circuit.

 

It was a cloudy afternoon and I was laying on the ground, welding on a fence . Thunderstorm hit and I figured I would finish up the job. Ground clamp was on fence post, post went into the ground and I was soaking wet, laying on the wet ground. Probably should have thought my work plan through a little better.....lucky I only hurt my pride!

 

I was under a stock car welding late at night, outside on concrete and dew was on the grass. I felt a tickle since the concrete picked up moisture. Got a piece of big cardboard to lay on and was good to go.

 

Hahahahaha...that's good, Anthony.
I looked at the ads for the cheapie Harbor Freight/Northern tool self darkening helmets when my Jackson wore out but my eyes are so precious to me I bought another $270 Jackson with all the options- adjustment for the darkening speed, brightness adjustment, tilt, cruise, flush toilet etc etc....I still love it and have never experienced sand/gravel in my eyes...

 

how do you "wear out a welding helmet?"

 

Reminds me of when I went to the paint store and on the wall, they had a bunch of spray guns in the two-three hundred dollar range and in the center was a entry level gun for $99.00. I looked at it and it was the exact gun that you can get at Harbor Freight for $10.00 with a coupon except the handle was a different color.

 

Ok, so I set out to prove this wrong, and failed miserably.
I set an extremely bright Milwaukee brand LED lamp over a part I was welding. I was genuinely amazed at the difference it made.
Still don’t understand the science behind it, but I damn sure can’t deny the significant difference that it made.
Thanks for the suggestion, and not jumping on me for my doubting ways!!!

 

Phil

 

While using a welding helmet, safety and comfort are main concern, then other things come like style, color etc. Wearing a welding helmet means protecting not only eyes, but also, face, hand and body.
I see YesWelder has some good welding helmets on the market, however their prices are a little higher than others.

I would like to go for a solar power auto darkening helmet. Which is now available with either YesWelder or Antra.

 

When auto darkening helmets first came out I bought one, so long ago I can't remember the brand. It seemed like it was just a split second slow going from light to dark, after a day of welding my eyes would be sore. Switched back to my old helmet. I haven't been doing much welding for quite a while, but now that I've semi-retired I'll be doing a lot more fabrication and will be buying a good auto darkening helmet. I just wish that it was possible to try out the different brands before putting down the money

 

I am new to welding I have one of these:


I searched and this was on a few top ten lists for welding helmets. I found it on sale at the local welding supply. I wear a handkerchief under it like Hulk Hogan’s. For the most part the handkerchief soaks up the sweat. I have nothing but good things to say about the helmet. I can see my work piece clearly and it is pretty adjustable both fit and sensitivity. It comes with extra face guards and the batteries are recharged with solar power.

 

Five pages of welding helmets and I did not see anyone mention how to keep the helmet on your head without squeezing the shit out of it and then stripping the gears out of the head piece! Or am I the only one having that problem? As blind as I am , I can see to weld, with the right tint lense. I have about four helmets with several types of head gear..... and none of them work that great for me.






Bones