Auto Darkening Helmets. Is there a difference?

[Industrial Toys]

I have a twenty or year old Speed Shade non adjustable Helmet that I got as a Christmas Present from my Mom. Used now, only for MIG.

I have removed a filter to make it lighter and installed a cheater lense which helped, but still have issues seeing the puddle or seam to be welded. One issue might be that I have different prescriptions in my hard contact lenses to allow for close and far vision.

But I am curious. Are there differences in helmets? I guess, for one thing, newer ones have a larger window, but that might not make the image any better. Are adjustable ones better?

 

[RNeumann]

The adjustable ones aren’t any better. Play with different shades. You may find your is a 10 shade and you would see better with a 9 or 11. They also make higher end shades that have different colors. A good welding shop will have different shades and colors. Visit them on a sunny days. Look at the sun through the shade and see what your eye needs- lighter, darker, green, blue etc.

Thousands of miles of pipe is welded with fixed shade lenses. The adjustable ones can be a nice feature but aren’t needed. To get a nice helmet that isn’t giving you arc flash and has the adjustment features you want will probably set you back a few hundred bucks. Or you can get a auto lens for your helmet for $100 or so...... but you will need to know what shade you want. As a lot of the small, 2x4 shades are a fixed shade.

 

[AllDodge]

Not a very good welder but have used 2 different auto-dark. First was cheap and fixed and only adjustment was sensitivity, and it doesn't work anymore. My newest is a higher end model with different selections, and do find that adjusting the level is nice. It all depends on how much heat being used to weld. I still like to use a darker setting then maybe necessary because don't want to chance hurting my eyes

 

[Industrial Toys]

Thanks. I'm guessing if you aren't a good customer of a welding supply outfit, once you buy the helmet, it's pretty much yours. When you say fixed, we are still talking about auto darkening, right?

Somewhere I think I might have a bunch of tinted lenses. I should play with them, but am a little worried about eye damage.


Can one go too light or do they all filter UV? That would be good to know. Maybe the light level isn't the issue at all. For harming the eyes.

 

[MF RED in MT]

I purchase a inexpensive HF auto darkening / adjustable welding helmet about 9 years ago and I like it, and usually weld with the shade setting on 9 so I can see, similar to this, Blue Design Auto Darkening Welding Helmet

I used a 10 shade small 2" x 4" lens all of my life and about 25 years ago had to start adding cheater lens to the hood.

First a 1.5 magnifier, then a few years later switched to a 2.0 magnifier, and then finally to a 2.5 magnifier.

I also wear prescription glasses and have long ago decided it's better to not to wear my glasses when using the welding lens magnifier.

And I remember you need your welding work close to you because at extended arms length welding really distorts everything.

After that I just stated "I can't see anymore" and my last time welding and passing a certification coupon (2004), I passed by feel (used a angle iron straight edge) and motion as I could not see the soapstoned gap to weld.

When I first started to weld in the 60's, everyone was using a 10 shade lens and the welders that were close to retiring were using a 8 shade lens so they could see.

I now know what they were doing in order to see to weld.

I do not know how much better the more expensive welding helmets like Lincoln or Miller are, but can only guess that they are very much a better welding hood (as I still use a Miller Mig Welder at home now, it's an auto select for the settings, things have really changed from marking your welding dials up with a sharpie).

Hopefully others will chime in about the better welding hoods...

KC

 

[MF RED in MT]

Thanks. I'm guessing if you aren't a good customer of a welding supply outfit, once you buy the helmet, it's pretty much yours. When you say fixed, we are still talking about auto darkening, right?

Somewhere I think I might have a bunch of tinted lenses. I should play with them, but am a little worried about eye damage.

Can one go too light or do they all filter UV? That would be good to know. Maybe the light level isn't the issue at all. For harming the eyes.

To start, if it were me, I would purchase a HF auto hood and try it out and if you do not like it, just return it.

At least that would be a way to start.

And I know if I weld for any length of time with the shade setting on 8, my eyes hurt and burn.

KC

 

[Captain Dirty]

I have a twenty or year old Speed Shade non adjustable Helmet that I got as a Christmas Present from my Mom. Used now, only for MIG.

I have removed a filter to make it lighter and installed a cheater lense which helped, but still have issues seeing the puddle or seam to be welded. One issue might be that I have different prescriptions in my hard contact lenses to allow for close and far vision.

But I am curious. Are there differences in helmets? I guess, for one thing, newer ones have a larger window, but that might not make the image any better. Are adjustable ones better?

From an optics standpoint a lighter shade admits more light, with more light the pupil contracts (increases the f-stop and increases the depth of field) so you might get a marginal improvement. I've heard older guys use lighter shades but think that applied before they aged enough to need cheaters.

I had the problem that the small window in my helmet prevented me from using the bifocal part of my spectacles. My work around was to use reading glasses that have my near vision prescription all over. (The reading glasses are also helpful with any "look up" close work like overhead wiring. (There are special tradesman glasses that have bifocals on the top and bottom.)) You could get spectacles with differing prescriptions to compensate for your contacts, which I don't think you want to change. Having both your eyes focused at the eye to arc distance may improve matters.

 

[Locoweed]

I think it depends on your eyes. For me, I found that my 75 year old eyes need all the help I can get. A few years ago I bought a Lincoln Viking. It had the ability to adjust the shade level & I like the color better. Like others have mentioned I now have reading glasses in the garage for welding. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Not important, but I do notice that my small viewing area requires the helmet to be worn just so. A larger area, I'm sure would be just a bit nicer.

It makes me wonder if one could have a camera looking at the weld, and watch it effectively on a monitor with no risk of UV or being too bright for comfort.

 

[WranglerX]

Check out this thread..

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/welding/420011-welding-helmet-light.html

I have seen some discussion (dont remember where though) that some of the new AD helmets have blue shaded lenses instead of traditional green... Some have said it's better to see with...

I have has no experience with blue AD helmets... So I can't say... My main gripe with my cheap AD helmed is it's headgear...

Daler

 

[TractorGuy]

The darkness adjustment on my HF helmet works fine. I wish it had a lighter setting that worked well with my plasma cutter but alas, it's a welding helmet.

I recently found some full lens +250 reading, tinted, safety glasses. I am wearing those to drive, run the tractor, or use my plasma cutter. +250 just happens to be my prescribed distant vision correction. I can get by with them for reading and performing tasks at arms length. I only bump to 275 for most reading.

 

[radios1]

I use high intensity lighting, which allows me to see the welding process perfectly using the HF adjustable helmet on a 10 setting. the problem with the helmet is just that the batteries are non replaceable, except by an engineer that can fix that problem.. BTDT.. there are overly expensive helmets that have replaceable batteries, with a battery holder and is easily accessible..

 

[duramaxsky]

My HF has replaceable batteries. Not home right now so I don't know what model it is. But I have replaced them once. It works fine if I wear my glasses under it. I do MIG and stick welding. I need to set it different for each and darker yet for aluminum.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I don't quite understand the battery thing. Like I said, My Speed Shade is at least wenty years old, has a non replaceable battery and a solar cell. I hardly weld at all and the helmet is put away in a closet, but it has never failed to work. Now it's got me to wondering. Is the Solar Cell for detection of the arc?

 

[yomax4]

Actual optics on the newer hoods are many times better than 5-6 years ago. Just like a rifle scope. Not all are created equal.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Are there optics? I thought basically it was just an LCD display. I could be totally wrong about that.

 

[yomax4]

Are there optics? I thought basically it was just an LCD display. I could be totally wrong about that.

Yep Optics. Even Window glass varies. Also the color of the dark shade is now much more clear and not at all Green.

 

[CS2210]

If you do any amount of welding you will find that the higher end auto darkening helmets are head and shoulders above the cheaper ones. I have a 15 year old speedglass that is still far beyond the cheap Lincoln that my work supplies. Of course they stopped supplying the lenses for mine so I use the crappy helmets that they do supply consumables for and have since retired the ol speedglass to garage work.

I also work with a couple guys who like having all the newest tech in welding helmets and have tried their expensive new helmets with much enjoyment. The new speedglass helmets and esab sentinel with their blue filters are very nice and when they light up after the arc is out they are very clear.

This is just my opinion of course, and that is you get what you pay for when it comes to auto darkening welding helmets.

 

[hosspuller]

I was having problems with the helmet not switching when the arc was struck using Tig. Some helmets had more optical sensors. The higher end Miller helmet has an electronic sensor that detects the arc's electric field.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I noticed that sometimes my helmet would switch just from the tiny spark of a tool hitting another. Impressive.

Had to weld some fairly small (delicate) expanded mesh onto a steel frame, tonight. Ended up not using any helmet at all. Couldn't see a thing. It was more a tack job and I never use a helmet for that. And the helmet would take so long to switch back, to see what I had done. Tried a pretty high intensity light for an experiment and it did absolutley no good at all. Not with helmet darkened or before.