weld grinding tips needed

   / weld grinding tips needed #131  
You guys remember just because you have a DC only Tig welder, doesn't mean you can not Tig weld aluminum. But you will need a bottle of at least 75% helium.
Here is a aluminum Tig weld I made using DCEN with 100% helium.
 

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   / weld grinding tips needed #132  
do I need to spend more than this? Is a hundred dollar helmet significantly better than this?
thanks

Wel-Bilt Auto-Darkening Welding Helmet | Welding Helmets| Northern Tool + Equipment


Yes, the Wel-Bilt Auto-Darkening Welding Helmet does meet ANSI Z87.1-2003 standards.

We do not have a "cheater lens available for the Wel-Bilt Welding Helmet. ???????

Northern Industrial Welders Large View Auto-Darkening Welding Helmet | Welding Helmets| Northern Tool + Equipment
something tells me wide screen is better...do most welders get a large screen helmet sooner or later?
thanks

Ive used the helmet in your first link a couple times before albeit the Princess Auto version. My buddy had one. I got flashed every time. Not the traditional flash either because I didnt notice it, but ended up with that old Sand in the eyes feeling!!! There is something about them that gets me. Not sure what. Darkening time too slow (regardless of what the published specs say they do)? Not sure. But enough to make me not trust those chinese helmets anymore

Currently I have a Miller Big Window Elite. Love it. Although realistically I only use it as an AD 20% of the time. The rest of the time I use it like an old school fixed lens and just nod to flip the lens down. If you arent out of position, like laying on your back, a old school helmet with GOOD headgear might be a better purchase.

On the Tombstone or Thunderbolt ACDC units... they are absolutely (yeah, there is probably a single one out there that isnt ;)) bulletproof. Ive been in many barns where there are old thunderbolts probably 30 years old, in unconditioned, dirt floor barns that just keep going and going.

And, lets say for a minute that one did die, they are really simple inside. They are very common, lots of parts availability. And any local welding supply can service them if you have to go that route. No shipping. No unservicable chinese PC boards.

Why do they come up for sale? Just like anything, people get tired of looking at it if they arent using it. Estate sales and the like.

Easy to test, just bring a couple rods incase they're arent any there and have at it. If the seller wont let you try it, Id pass.

EDIT: I see you got the everlast. Good luck with your purchase !
 
   / weld grinding tips needed
  • Thread Starter
#133  
EDIT: I see you got the everlast. Good luck with your purchase !

Thanks Scooby. Not in yet, like a kid waiting for delivery at the moment. Have the helmet and gloves,
and likely to get a five or ten pound fire extinguisher. I'm assuming ABC ? Ever any reason to want a pressurized water,
like in lighting up farm combustibles? Once a fireman, always a worrier...

And I got some inexpensive clamps, though I already have a lot of steel C clamps.
And lastly, a cute little thwacker that chips off what needs to get chipped off, with a nice
wood stove style metal handle on it. I have the grinders and flap wheels, etc, but I do wonder about
spark shields/barriers, blankets, etc etc etc. I guess you never need the safety stuff unless you really really
need it...

I appreciate the feedback on protecting one's eyes. If I feel any discomfort at all with this 110 dollar helmet, I won't hesitate to spend more
to save my aging eyeballs. I think this helmet was rated to react in one twenty five thousands of a second. Seems fast, but I'm sure what is more relevant is the quality of the reaction. The intellectual challenge for me now, since I don't have my welder yet..., is being able to see what I'm doing. It's so bright the lens has to be dark, really dark, so the videos I've seen remind me of groping around in a dark burning house, which unfortunately in SCBA I had more experience than I wanted.

Is there a perfect "darkness", or is that open to opinion or simply each to his own eyeball?
 
   / weld grinding tips needed #134  
You guys remember just because you have a DC only Tig welder, doesn't mean you can not Tig weld aluminum. But you will need a bottle of at least 75% helium.
Here is a aluminum Tig weld I made using DCEN with 100% helium.

You need everything Shield Arc lists AND his experience to make DC TIG Al welds! There are YouTube videos of people making DC aluminum welds but there is a good reason that all the welding companies specify AC TIG for aluminum.
 
   / weld grinding tips needed #135  
I didn't really think it was all that hard. Two things that I learned, there is a very, very small window where the arc will start, even with high frequency start. And if you weld 1/8-inch aluminum at say 130-amps on AC, with DC and 100% helium, you can just about cut your amps in half! DC and 100% helium welds hot!
 
   / weld grinding tips needed #136  
I appreciate the feedback on protecting one's eyes. If I feel any discomfort at all with this 110 dollar helmet, I won't hesitate to spend more to save my aging eyeballs.


I would speculate that the issue with the other helmet was not reaction time, but reflection up under the hood. You can get enough reflections--off your shirt, off white walls, and so forth--that you get arc eye even though you have never actually flashed yourself. Bear in mind that arc eye is caused by UV radiation, and all (most?) welding hoods have a permanent, clear, UV/IR-blocking coating on the lens. That's why the reaction time of the lens should be moot when it comes to getting arc eye. The low-quality auto-dark lenses may let you get flashed (seeing spots) from time to time, or they may have a worse view of the puddle when they're dark, but my impression is that all lenses should be more or less equal when it comes to UV/IR protection.

Is there a perfect "darkness", or is that open to opinion or simply each to his own eyeball?

The optimum shade depends on the process and amperage you're using. TIG, with its smaller arc, is going to use lower settings than SMAW, for example, and higher-amperage will require more darkness than lower amperage. All that being said, there is some variation for individuals' eyes and the charts are just a starting point. In general, you want the lens as light as possible so you can see the work piece and see the puddle as clearly as possible. But you don't want to be seeing spots!
 
   / weld grinding tips needed #137  
I didn't really think it was all that hard.

I know you try to be a humble person, SA, but I think we all have to acknowledge that "not that hard" for you is probably not the same as "not that hard" for most of us.
 
   / weld grinding tips needed #138  
You guys give me waaaaaay too much credit:eek:. I'm not all that good, honestly.
But thank you, all the same!;)
 
 
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