feedback on HF AD welding helmet

[OKnewguy]

It is not often that I laugh out loud when at the computer, but Dargo that was one of the best stories I have ever heard!!!
Still with a grin on my face, Dave

 

[Soundguy]

3/8 rod!!! what.. no rebar was available!!

Nice shield though!!

Now that was a good laugh!

Soundguy

I've welded an awful lot, and I've always been a cheater. You know, I use both hands when welding. That is, of course, unless I'm holding on with the other. I used to work as a deck hand on an old paddle wheeler that ran around on the Ohio River for cruises. The captain got really liquored up one night and rammed the dock, tearing a nice gash in the side of the boat.

We ballasted the opposite side of the paddle wheeler to get the hole out of the water. Two of us went below and beat the inward facing metal back out with sledge hammers to close the gash as much as we could. Man, I bet we beat on that thing for an hour! Anyway, the captain was in a panic to get the hole fixed. He had a really old welder that was attached to an old inline 6 cyl Chrysler engine on it's own trailer. I'd never seen such a thing! Anyway, he darn near drops the thing in the water when using a loading crane to set it out on the dock by the paddle wheeler, but manages to get it on the dock.

It appears that I'm the only person there who could weld other than the captain, who by now is extremely snockered (started drinking more after ramming the dock). So, I get this old Chrysler fired up and clamp the ground on a deck cleat and grab the lead. I open the tool box with it and the only thing in it is a couple dozen 3/8" rods! Holy cow man! I'd never seen rods so big!! Worse yet, no welding hood or gloves! I said that I couldn't possibly weld up an 18" vertical seam in 1/2" plate at 2am bobbing up and down on the water with this old beast that only has 3/8" rods and no hood!! The captain says that he'll do it (rather angrily), but falls down several times before he even gets to the dock.

So, here I am at 3am hanging over the railing with one hand trying to weld vertically with this giant rod while another deck hand holds an old Playboy in my face to block the flash. I didn't know what any settings on that old Chrysler welding thing meant, so I just said "give me all it's got". Yikes, I'm now burning huge holes through the side of the boat! We finally got it turned down to a reasonable level and I started getting used to playing 'peek-a-boo from behind the Playboy (man, that puddle will still blind you when it's really red!) when my one hand slips off the dock rail. Yup, down I went, still holding the lead, right into the Ohio; between the paddle wheeler and the dock! I'm darn lucky I didn't drown, and the captain is only worried because I'm saying I'm not finishing that welding job.

Ah well, I ended up finishing that weld anyway. I can't believe they ran that thing 3 more years before the Coast Guard made them get the weld fixed better. Anyway, you reminded me of that by talking about holding something in front of your face while welding. That old drunk captain told me that was the way he'd always welded. I'd never heard of such. So, I guarantee you that even the cheapest HF AD hood would be better than holding an old issue of Playboy in front of your face when welding!

 

[RobJ]

Well you are in good company SG. While watching a 2 day old repeat of Mythbusters on DVR I caught Jamie doing some welding. The episode was painting a room with dynomite. While Jamie was welding up his triangle paint shooter, got a good closeup of the helmet, paused, slow-mo. Sure enough, a perfect match for my HF $50 helmet. Western something on the side.

 

[Sandlot]

I run a Lincoln Mig welder with flux core wire at the house (120v). I have quite a bit of experience welding with larger machines, flat plate certified. I finally bought an AD hood from HF last week. It is the $60 one with the fancy plastic stick-on flames. We will see how long before I burn them off! I need cheaters to weld after recent Lasik surgery. I can see fine far away, but if I can reach it, it’s blurry. The only way I could get them in this new hood, was to drill small holes in the cheater lens at the corners and wire tie it to the wire bail that holds the auto shade unit in place. Not pretty, but functional. Anybody have a better way? There isn’t enough room under the front plastic cover plate. Oh, the hood works great. It has shade, sensitivity high/low, and delay slow/fast. Delay setting works great for long rows of tacking, it stays dark between tacks.

 

[MossRoad]

My nose touches the glass on the inside but I still have enough room for my eye glasses.

 

[Soundguy]

I run a Lincoln Mig welder with flux core wire at the house (120v). I have quite a bit of experience welding with larger machines, flat plate certified. I finally bought an AD hood from HF last week. It is the $60 one with the fancy plastic stick-on flames. We will see how long before I burn them off! I need cheaters to weld after recent Lasik surgery. I can see fine far away, but if I can reach it, it’s blurry. The only way I could get them in this new hood, was to drill small holes in the cheater lens at the corners and wire tie it to the wire bail that holds the auto shade unit in place. Not pretty, but functional. Anybody have a better way? There isn’t enough room under the front plastic cover plate. Oh, the hood works great. It has shade, sensitivity high/low, and delay slow/fast. Delay setting works great for long rows of tacking, it stays dark between tacks.

Hmm.. flat magnifying shade/lens cover? I'm pretty sure i have seen them..

Soundguy

 

[Sandlot]

Mossroad,
MY hood did the same thing until I set the angle adjustment holes (next to the tension knobs) to the last hole. No more problem with nose prints on the lens!

Soundguy,
I haven't seen outer lens covers with built in mags. Seems like an expensive option. If you do any overhead welding, those covers go fast. Now if you are talking about inner covers, that is what I bought. The inner lens slot on my hood is to narrow to allow the mag lens to slide in, it is over three times thicker then the factory cover lens. The HF hood will not take standard covers. You need to cut down standard covers or buy them from HF online. They are only a buck apiece, so I ordered ten each.

 

[Soundguy]

Why not take a dremel tool and mill down the edges that are 3x thick down to 1x, then slide em in..

Soundguy

 

[California]

I wonder if the lenses from an inexpensive headband magnifier could be mounted in a helmet. Something like this.

Headband Magnifier

 

[3RRL]

I am a toolmaker and have several of these "Optivisors" lying around with different magnification lenses. They are the standard used in the machining trade. I took one of the lenses and glued them into my old helmet. I used dabs of silicon in 4 corners. I have not tried them into the HF helmet yet because it's at camp and I use my reading glasses under them. If you use your reading glasses AND the magnifiers you get more magnification, but you have to stick your face closer to the work to focus.