Welding helmets

About the UV glasses...

You can get quality safety glasses from the welding shops (much, much cheaper than Lowes or HD) and they are top notch. Most of these safety glasses (Z81 min.) protect against UV light, even the clear ones. You don't need dark glasses to protect against UV light.

However, welding shops also sell flash glasses with a shade around #3 or so. I typically use those under my #9 shade lense and I can weld without hurting my eyes. That setup works especially well when welding outside on a sunny day.

Rob
 
:flipoff2: yea yea, but seriously, im tryin to figure out why the helment that everyone is saying is so good is giving me problems. I welded with my old helment for ever with no problems, I welded with the hobart and afterward was the first time I had issues seeing cause I had a stupid bright ball blocking my vision for a good 15 min or so.

So you had the same problem too and once you got the flash glasses you were good? My helment is supposed to be shade 10 but i mean it seems fine while im welding but somehow its still getting my eyes, so I assumed it was just the mask being too slow
 
I've used both.

One thing that happens to me when I'm trying to get little brackets or mounts in place is that I don't have the room to flip the hood down with a head nod. Sometimes I just don't have room for the swing of the helmet other times I'll actually bump my head doing the nod.

The only problem I have with my auto darkening helmet is that if I'm under the rig looking up in the sun it turns dark and light on me as the sun makes it way through the cracks. Still, that's normally something I can work around.

If you do decide to get a normal (non-auto darkening) helmet don't go super cheap. They don't hold their adjustment and the nod thing works one minute and not the next.
 
I use both and I must admit, sometimes no helment at all for that nice sunburned face look. I would add I really like the shade adjustment feature on the auto helment but I'm alway's more careful with that helment due to the cost (and I forget to cut it "on" sometimes when starting out which gives me nice "spots" for awhile). When welding over my head or something I use the normal helment, plus you can throw it off without worrying about breaking something. Get the biggest field of view you can with either one.
 
jrraw23 said:
:flipoff2: yea yea, but seriously, im tryin to figure out why the helment that everyone is saying is so good is giving me problems. I welded with my old helment for ever with no problems, I welded with the hobart and afterward was the first time I had issues seeing cause I had a stupid bright ball blocking my vision for a good 15 min or so.
So you had the same problem too and once you got the flash glasses you were good? My helment is supposed to be shade 10 but i mean it seems fine while im welding but somehow its still getting my eyes, so I assumed it was just the mask being too slow
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You really need #11 to #13 for MIG welding. 10 is not dark enough.
 
29CFR 1926.102(b)(1) states that:

SMAW (stick) welding requires #10 shade
MIG welding requires #11 shade

These are the minimum required. Darker won't hurt

of course non-ferrous metals and thicker electrodes requires darker lenses
 
some people are more sensitive to bright light than others.

Most of the time I keep my #9 lense in my shield and TIG weld all day without my flash glasses and have zero problems with my eyes. However, I'm halfway blind to start with, so that may have something to do with it...

If your eyes hurt after a day of welding, your lense is not quite dark enough. If your eyes hurt after only an hours worth of welding, then the lense is not nearly dark enough.

Find a lense you can use that doesn't hurt your eyes after substantial use and your eyes will thank you for it.

Keep in mind, the #10 setting on one welding shield is not necesairly the same as on another shield, even within the same brands.

Rob
 
i work in an idustrial plant, when i started they gave me a cheap sheild. cheap being $50. I had my own old school, but i tried their's. i liked it, and used it hard for over a year before i had any problems. it has adjustments for darkness & timing. if i was spending my own money, i would get another one.
 
Cheap HF $69 auto helmet, a cheap "old school" helmet (w/ #10), and flat #10 shield (from some crap welder kit) here.

I learned to O-A weld back in the early '70s using goggles, stick/TIG in the mid '80s using a std. helmet w/ NO headgear... had a handle like a masquarade prop... took me YEARS (still struggle today) to get over the "missing handle"! (BTW, try to TIG using the above sometime! ;) )

Since then I've used a wide variety of auto helmets... HF/NH stuff, Jacksons, Millers, etc. Granted if your using it 8 hours/day, 5-6 days/week... you'd better get something comfortable! OTOH, the little I use HF doesn't seem to effect my eyes or neck. IMO, they're great for the hobbiest/occasional welder that doesn't have $300+ to put into a helmet to hang for 364 days out of the year.

I suspect Ricky's issues are due to his helmet not having an adjustable shade (among other things) and not the fact that it's a cheap auto...

BTW, there's a great article in this months Fabricators & Manufacturers Assoc. rag regarding helmets & auto shades. If'n you'd like to check it out, LMK and I'll get it to you...
 
my gf got me a hobart auto darkening for christmas and whow was a difference. i had a cheap auto darkening from northern tool and it was terrible. i spent a year thinking that i couldnt weld. its much easier to weld when u can see what u are welding
 
im taking mig over at my community college an i picked up a lincon elec from lowes, auto dark for like 130 bucks. it works good for me and i love it.
 
I have both types, and I have to agree with the comments made on the darkness. I have the northern el cheapo auto darkening, and i have been using it on 11 or 12, and I just went back to the old helmet (shade 10) and its really bright.
 
rockcity said:
:beer:
Learning to weld with the traditional helmet is easy and you will learn faster. If you learn with an auto darken helmet, then the first time you don't have that and only a traditional helmet, you might as well learn all over again.
Click to expand...

I agree, even tacking with a auto helmet will seem easier because you learned the hard way.

Also

The welding helmet itself wont protect you from light that gets reflected into the helmet. You should wear some UV rated glasses if you enjoy seeing.
 
I've got a Hobart auto darkening and the only problem I've ever had with it was when I first used it TIG welding and forgot to turn the damn thing on. Believe me about 3 oclock that morning I felt the effects. Since then no problems. It has a darkening sensitivity and shade setting.
 
I don't care how good ( $$$ ) the auto helmet is, you still get flashed to some extent. They are just not fast enuff for "instant on" protection. I've welded on everything from racecars to structural (old job) with the nod method w/ no trouble. If you make a lot of small welds ( weld/move/weld or weld/look/weld ) It will all add up..... to Mr. Sandman!

Old skool for me!


Matt
 
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