>>> AUTO-DARKENING WELDING HELMET ??<<<

[patrick_g]

Having made a living for a while as an electronic design engineer (one of my projects was a portable battery operated arc welder/TIG) I could easily adapt my AD hoods to darken prior to arc strike BUT all the RELIABLE info (not idle speculation) available to me so far indicates there is no real need.

I also don't wrap my head in foil before leaving the house.

I would love to be proven wrong so if anyone has a citation for a source of good standing in the industry with data or commentary running contrary to my claims please supply a link.

"Much ado about nothing", W. Shakespeare

Why debate the number of angels dancing on the head of a pin when we could just use a magnifier and count them?

Patrick

 

[notTrue]

Takes 2 wires. How many muscles did you flex typing all that?

Well Not True, you can rig all you want and have wires hanging all over your hood till you look like a Christmas tree, that is your choice. Since your profile is kinda blank, we dont know what your experience level with welding is so you just do what you want, I passed my first certified pipe welding test in 1968 and have been in heavy construction for over 40 years. I have probably burned more rods than you have ever looked at and my eyesight is still good enough to bust out most would be welder since I also have a few certifications for visual weld inspector (even though I am Quality Manager)that allow me to do that and lots of other things too. I have used Super Green lens, American Optical Gold lens (my favorite of the dark lens) and AD since they came out and I have no damage to my retina, cornea or optic nerve according to my last eye exam.
By the way, yes I have a transformer type welding machine at home that will still be welding when your inverters are laying in the trash pile. Inverter type welders are good, I have used them, they are lightweight and do a ton of work on low voltages, but let a transistor crap out and they are down for the count. Transformer welders are still working after 60 or more years. You wont find an inverter around that long. The contractor I am supervising now bought all inverter machines a year ago and at least 5 of the 20 have already crapped out and that is just TIG welding at around 100 amps. You can keep your inverter(not offense Mark) but I will stay with my Miller transformer.

 

[patrick_g]

You guys are overthinking the issue here. The lens blocks damaging UV light even if it doesnt turn dark. So you see or think you see a flash in a camera with the autodark, did you see the bright light or just the image on your retina that was lighter than your surroundings. First of all, you are not going to get flash burn from one arc to the eye without any protection. You would do more damage to your eyes by looking directly at the sun for 10 seconds than you would get from a single arc flash. It takes enough UV to basically sunburn your eyeball to cause flash burn. Even if you got 1/1000 of a second arc to the eye with absolutely no UV or IR protection each time you struck an arc, how many arcs would you need in a day to damage your eye? Likely a lot more than what you would get in a day of welding if you were a professional welder. If you struck an arc and burned an entire rod before breaking an arc, that is 3 minutes average burn time per rod X 1000 times= 50 hours to get 1 second of arc to the eye. Since the eye will heal flash burn in 24 hours, I see no way that you could damage your eyes. GO back to work with your AD helmet and weld something and quit trying to be an amateur inventor. If you are still afraid of AD helmets, DONT use one, get yourself an old dark lens and stay in the 20th century.

AMEN!!

AD helmets do not EVER go clear. Cheaper helmets do not go as clear as the expensive ones, with the cheap ones at shade 4-5 you will not be injured by even a very slow switch speed. Even the cheapies stop UV. If you worry about IR getting through before the lens darkens then put a gold coated glass in front of the lens. These reject IR.

Are we headed toward finding out what a AD helmet would do if it were placed on a "MAGIC" conveyor belt?

Patrick

 

[CharlieTR]

Just my humble $0.02 about the Auto Darkening hats.

I was wanting one for a long time, and finally bought a Hobart at TSC for $129 (I think it was).

Got it home, read the book. Was not thrilled to learn that you must turn it on with a button. Then it auto darkens twice. Started to use it and it was great when I remembered to turn it on. Best thing I liked is the fast time it goes to normal mode after stopping the weld. This is variable on my model.
I still don't know how often you must turn it on, no off button and I assume it has an auto off. Just have to turn it on after cutting, aligning, etc.

If I had to do it over, I would have saved my 129 dollars.

 

[notTrue]

Just my humble $0.02 about the Auto Darkening hats.

I was wanting one for a long time, and finally bought a Hobart at TSC for $129 (I think it was).

Got it home, read the book. Was not thrilled to learn that you must turn it on with a button. Then it auto darkens twice. Started to use it and it was great when I remembered to turn it on. Best thing I liked is the fast time it goes to normal mode after stopping the weld. This is variable on my model.
I still don't know how often you must turn it on, no off button and I assume it has an auto off. Just have to turn it on after cutting, aligning, etc.

If I had to do it over, I would have saved my 129 dollars.

That's about right. I think it's disappointing that the hoods (mostly the glass itself) cost so much ($129 not being as much as some others) and have been given the time to mature and yet still do not have all of the kinks worked out. The really far-out ones with flip up lenses that function for other tasks are something else. $250 dollars for a hood like that doesn't seem that bad although it is still quite a lot for a piece of plastic.

I'm finding that welders are easy to argue with on a lot of subjects, many want an out-of-the-box solution for almost everything and if it isn't something material that they can see or hold right in front of them then it's not substantiated enough for them to work with. That's not a statement of derision or contempt, it's just something I can't help noticing. There is a bit of reality to that. I think a tool is something different than a workpiece; a tool needs a greater share of precise work in its manufacture than what the tool will generally be capable of on its own. People get used to that fact and buy the tools they perceive will best satisfy their needs, but a little creativity goes a long way in offsetting unnecessary expense and trouble.

 

[crazyal]

Not true,


While I am sure you are well meaning, I am not sure your angle on this thread. It seems that while you have some "creative" information, you haven't offered any useful, practical, real world information. Miller's Digital elite helmet senses electromagnetic flow as well. A real welder is NOT going to tie himself up with wires, switches and capacitors. Many helmets, even from China offer the electro magnetic sensors.

Arc flash is a real and serious concern. But autodarks, even the cheapest offer full protection from the initial harmful effects of the micro second of flash through protective coatings on the filters that strain out all the bad rays with intensities up to the maximum shade of the helmet without being darkened. The worst issue you'll have with the slowest switching helmets is mild discomfort at the end of the day with repeated starts and stops.

Additionally, you back flash from off your clothes and surrounding objects, walls etc, can cause more damage than the minor flash associated with even the poorest autodarks. This will happen with any helmet. I can tell you don't weld often with all these alarmist concerns. I have 5 autodarks, including 1 Jackson ECQ, 2 Everlast, a helmet that I am evaluating for future use in our line, and one old Harbor Freight. I can tell you there isn't much if any difference in eye protection standards. All of these helmets will darken well down to 30 amps...and most of them will darken fine down to 5 amps or less...which is really not much concern at all. Clarity of optics is one concern with many people as to being able to see clearly while welding. However, most of these have excellent clarity. The old HF is a little cloudy, but the last I used it, I had to tape up the crack in the helmet...the filter was still flipping just fine.

Edit: No offense taken gary, transformers still have their place, just as brush type generators. When you get tired of them, or when they quit, they can always be scrapped for the copper, or at least be used for a boat anchor.

My first Lincoln, a weldpack 100 came with a simple flat face shield that had to oval holes for your hand. Since the glass was the right shade I used it until I had a chance to pick up some new glass for my full helmet. For the first few nights after welding my face was extremely dry and by the third night it was red, looked like I was sun burnt. I hadn't thought one bit about light reflecting.

 

[mjncad]

My understanding after training (not independant research) was that the Top Brands switch to dark 3X faster than the speed of light.

I think Albert Einstein, et al would disagree as modern physics says going faster than the speed of light is verboten.

The only improvement I'd like to my Jackson helmet is a red flashing LED timed to come on 30-seconds before the helmet shuts off. One time I checked my helmet to see if it was on, then placed it on my head and struck an arc only to find out the helmet turned off in those few short seconds.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

My Jackson stays on 15 minutes if inactive. The Everlast units stay on, until the unit is laid face down or put in a dark area. When picked up they come on automatically.

 

[Chilly807]

My Miller Performance Series is auto-on and auto-off, I've never had a problem with it to date. I do press the reset button to make sure it's working before each time I use it.

Sean

 

[Gary Fowler]

My harbor freight helmet also is auto on and off. The speedglas that I had, had a button in front of the clear lens that you pushed to turn it on or off or it would automatically time out (never timed it but is must have been around 15 minutes of so. I like the harbor freight system better