Thread: Auto darkening welding helmets

Newspaper......Luxury.

When I was boy we couldn't even afford to close our eyes, we used to lick slag off weld so we'd have something warm in stomach........couldn't afford welding rods so used two sticks to make sparks to weld.

No you probably did not expect it , way down here at the end of the posts.
It looks like the wall is down in China and all them rabbits got out and came here to talk welding helmets!

Back to something sensible then,

Try this lead for a brand called Tecman

here on Ebay today 6th Nov 06

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-SOLAR-CEL...QQcmdZViewItem.
or
They were on special at our local Mitre 10 for Fathers day at $79.
This helmet standards comply with meet Australian, Kiwi and Yank safety standards.

No batteries, and it does work on stick, mig and Tig, cause I tried it

I have had one for several months with no complaints.

Yeah! Yeah! While I haven't been supportive in the past,Awell meaning rellie bought one for me and honestly,I can't complain.
I have kept a bit quiet on until now ,but crikey after seeing some of the ######## written here I gotta chime in.

For starters men, you cannot,repeat cannot get a flash by using a particular helmet. Its medical proven fact that 3mm of clear safety glass barrier PREVENTS harmful UV radiation from entering the eyes.There is visible radiation- the bright light - and UV which is the nasty one. If a pair ofsafety glasses will stop the UV common sense should tell us that the helmet should too,if there is no direct hole in it.

Steps down off soapbox and leaves
grumpy
Grahame

I also have the Tecman like Grahame and, although I haven't used it a lot yet, I am very pleased with it, makes things a lot easier for the occassional welder like me! cheers, Les.

I used mine for the for an hour or so on Sunday. The first time I had done any welding for more than a few minutes.

Yesterday my eyes were a little tender.

So please ignore my previous recommendation for the cheapie mask.

I think I'll get the Tecmac.

hey grahame , thats the welding helmet i bought my little brother to stop him using my miller one , and i think its pretty good to weld with you got a good deal our local charged us 129 for it .

To follow up and reinforce what Graham has written. In the early days of film making when they were using lights which were carbon arcs, all the actors were suffering from eye discomfort, what we would call a flash. This was caused by the unprotected eye being subjected to UV from the lights. It was found that when a glass cover of a certain thickness (I have forgotten how thick) was put over the lights the problem ceased. All shields have a clear inner lens and apart from use as a grinding protection lens I bet it is thick enough to prevent UV burn in case of arc strike without the dark visor being in position. Anyone who wears glasses is just about immune from arc strike (flash) unless it is peripheral. I have never had a strike and when I was welding semi professionaly I wore glasses at all times. Using a conventional lens is just practise and habit and most don't get enough welding time to develop that. Also bear in mind that as we get older the shade of lens needs to change. I can't use a 13 now like I could 25 years ago. Also most home welding is done at lower amps than industrial welding so if someone recommends a very dark shade you most probably will find it is too dark and is half the reason a lot of people find welding difficult as they cannot see the arc. Professionals use more current because it is quicker and they have the skills to use it and not burn holes in things.

Originally Posted by Grunt

I used mine for the for an hour or so on Sunday. The first time I had done any welding for more than a few minutes.

Yesterday my eyes were a little tender.

So please ignore my previous recommendation for the cheapie mask.

I think I'll get the Tecmac.

My experience exactly...but I'd be unqualified to comment as I only welded for a living...keep trying Grunt..I'm sure these helmets will get there before you go blind...Oh no...what have I said about Grunt going blind ..I mean I'm sure your eyes will not be permanently damaged by these helmets in a handyman situation...not that you couldn't go blind from....other.....stuff ..err...I think I'll go now..

It seems there are two models of the Techman Auto darkening faceshield.The dearer model has an adjustable lense density ( read gets darker)
Doncha hate it when you race in and get the first model ,when you would have paid a bit more for the better one.

A little bit more has dawned on me ,with Grunts comment about the dark shades.
One thought is some of our toilets get cleaned more often than some of the welding lens systems. I am guilty of this at home,too. I check the students lenses quite regularly and am amazed that they can see anythingat all through the accumulated crap.

If using a gas cover mig, replace the cover lense every once and a while as the lenses get a build up on it which it not easy to remove.

A second thought that why eyes sting may be from the heavy metals( its not a rock group) floating around. Gal,zinc,and stainless are nasties for this this. The fumes can make eyes sore if you dont ventilate properly.Also hydrogen controlled electrodes are just chokka with maganese, google it up about carcanigens if you want some choice reading.

Hope this helps
Grahame

Originally Posted by Grahame Collins

If using a gas cover mig, replace the cover lense every once and a while as the lenses get a build up on it which it not easy to remove.

A second thought that why eyes sting may be from the heavy metals( its not a rock group) floating around. Gal,zinc,and stainless are nasties for this this. The fumes can make eyes sore if you dont ventilate properly.Also hydrogen controlled electrodes are just chokka with maganese, google it up about carcanigens if you want some choice reading.

Hope this helps
Grahame

Grahame, one thing that strikes me (pun intended) is that some people's eyes are way more sensitive than others to "arc flash". I remember this distinctly from my apprenticeship days in the welding shop.

Also, many helmets are found without the protective outer cover lens, which is usually plastic these days...as are most lenses for that matter. But anyway, when we got into restricted access, pressure pipe etc we generally used the 4" square gold lenses...especially for tig root runs.

Anyway, one of the problems with the gold film was it scratched easily, a good reason to keep the lens clean and outer protector in place. However, you could get a fine scratch in the gold which meant you where getting unfiltered flash through but you weren't able to see it when you were welding....good dose of "sand in the eyes" was the result. This was also another reason why glass was preferrable to the new generation of lenses...a scratch didn't affect the safety of your eyes. Also the glass lens shattered with much more satisfaction when you through your helmet out the boiler drum after you screwed up a X-ray quality weld

I am not a trade welder, but have been stick welding since I was a kid, and have gone from laying lots of bird poo, to being very competent with a stick. I have never used a mig tig or anything else, except gas.... so that is my experience, and my advice should be treated in that context.

I think you are better off getting a $20.00 CIG helmet. They are fairly robust, you can have two or three of them laying around, so one is always at hand.
You won't get so off when one of the local kids uses it for a Darth Vader hat, or when you drop a channel or UB on it, and after a while, you will get very competent with it.

I think the Darth Vader analogy is very accurate, now that I see it written down. With a normal helmet, you develop a sense of where the end of the stick is, and striking arcs becomes a natural thing.


Just my OPINION, and personal experiance.

May The force Be With You.

I just got my Tecman from ebay. Cost $85 inc shipping and insurance. Works a treat. Much, much darker than the cheapy I bought. Looks sexy too.

Chris

See my main thrust in these departments, is to obtain where ever possible, absolutely accurate information that can be reproduced and meets certain listable standards.

Welding visors are no exception.

As a comparative basis - say between Welding, Religion and how people react, we run into a number of variations, prejudices and reactive elements.

If we say gather a reasonable supply of medical data on all the aspects of eye damage that occours from welding arc we have a good starting point.

This is covering the components of the light frequency range, and intensity, duration and the actual damage, be it immediate and slowly cumulative - we then know what is causing it, and how it occours.

Then we compare it to the standards for welding visors that have been developed to stop eye damage from arc welding.

Then we obtain either the test results of the visors, from the manufacturers or independant laboratories, whether the visors actually meet, or exceed the specifications, to stop short term and long term cumulative visual damage.

So opinions in some respects, can be really good, in other respects they can be utterly worthless.

But fact based evidence, is what needs to be relied upon first and foremost.

Sure some people can say "Brand X" outboard engine is great and other people may say their a piece of junk.

The opinion at face value may be worthy of consideration and or it may not.

For instance, was the outboard motor services and maintained as per the manufacturers specifications at an autorised dealership?

Maybe the person who said the motors were great, always flushed the motors in cold fresh water after a run in the ocean. Maybe they always had it serviced, with a really great mechanic, using all the right tools and settings, seals and lubricants.

Maybe the boat was always stored in a dry, clean shed, and the fuel was always filtered, clean and fresh.

Maybe the person who said the motors were junk, never serviced it, never took it to the authorised dealship, any work on it, while the word "back yarder" is frequently used as a term of derision, some times it's justified to use it as a term of derision on an individual basis, but was any work on the motor properly done, to the right settings with the right tools?

Was the motor never flushed in fresh water, left in the rain, had the same spark plugs and oil in it for the whole of it's short life (untill it ran out of oil) , and the fuel used in it, was dirty and stale.

This is the problem with opinions, it's all the hidden and unproven facts, omissions and history of the supplier of the opinions what they declare as being worth listening too.

I know there are people who may or may not be qualified, that I can take their word on a subject as fact either technically or from experience.

I also know there are people both qualified and unqualified who if their opinion or advice were followed, the people or advice are both untrustworthy and liable to cause injury, death or loss.

Hence I know that having fact based information about the whole process, combined with the qualified opinions of those people, who's opinions based upon their own expereince, is the very best way to go.

See so it's like this:

Do I want to pay $1000 for a really really great, large view expensive European or Emeriken electric welding helmet?

Noooo, but I'd sure like some of the Helmets.

Do I want a really crappy glass lensed cheap welding helmet for $10 from the bargain bin?

Nooooo I'd rather never ever use one ever again if I could help it, but I'd use it if I had no alternative.

Honesty now.. I think I am so great the all the manufacturers should be falling over each other to supply me with FREE samples of all their "top of the range models", so I can test and keep and evaluate them all at my own leisure.

Will they? Nooooooooo (unfortunately)

So what are my options then?

Do my research into the medical side of eye damage caused by arc welding - in hard copy. Read 6 to 12 reports and cross reference all the data.

See exactly what the welding visor standards are, for a number of countries, and then corss reference all the data.

Based upon the PERCEIVED quality, and price range, get the visor specifications, and the compliance with the different safety specifications, from the manufacturers of the helmets that I either like, want or that meet my budget.

If they won't cough this up, then don't even consider buying their product.

Then depending upon my social circles in trade or interests, start to ask for the opinions of the users of the electric welding helmets, or just go via the combined specs...

As a fully informed consumer, I then make my own decision as to what brand to buy and use.

And there is little or no ambiguity or guess work involved.




Here are some really good links to HOW electric LCD Visors work.



http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae532.cfm

http://www.howstuffworks.com/lcd.htm

http://www.miyachiunitek.com/html/Industry_Links-1.asp

http://www.vintagecalculators.com/ht..._displays.html

http://www.cauniversity.org/node/331 (has good pix)

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6557174.html

You can now actually buy arc welding rods for a variety of materials, including timber, concrete etc.

Look up Ferrex, Woodex, and Cementex.

Do tell how you can use an electric arc welder to weld wood.