Not much math to it at all. You can just look at the figures without even using a calculator. If it darkened in 1/186,000th of a second, the light rays would have traveled 1 mile, a whole lot further than the distance from the arc to your eyes. But it doesn't darken in that small of a time increment. It darkens at 1/20,000th of a second--more than 9 times slower! If your eyes were a mile away from the arc, the light rays would still hit you before the thing darkened. Not that it would darken at that distance, as the light rays do start spreading out (diffusion? refraction?). But all I am saying is that I'd personally be leery of using a helmet like that on a regular basis to protect my eyes from an arc of damaging light only a foot or two away. People put far too much trust in advertised things and not enough in common sense. A similar case in point, people dying of cancer everywhere and giving NO thought to the chemicals that store-bought food is laced with. They think it's OK because the FDA approved it. LMAO
Just used my Miller Elite big window.Hey did you guys know there is a puddle of molten metal when you weld, darndest thing! Anyway, I love the thing Just remember to turn it on!!!
Speedgl*** is the only way to go if your gonna do any serious amount of welding...... I've put mine through hell , even doing overhead stick welding qualifications, which usually melts most helmets i've had in the past, didnt even phase the viewer on my speedgl***. They're not cheap, but it if you treat it right, it may be the only helmet you'll ever need to buy.
Lately, I have been Tigging with a borrowed regular helmet, that has a magnifier in it. That thing is awesome. You have no idea how much it helps until you try one. I was wondering if you can use a magnifier in an auto darkening helmet?
I got some $99 lincoln i found at home depot and it works better than my auto darkening eyes for sure.
Agreed, I use a 9002X for work and picked up another one to keep at home. Before that I used a Hobart Hood, I got it for $125 back in the day but I see they charge like $160 for them now. It works well enough if you just want to dink around welding every now and then.
I have one of these at work. Very nice helmet. Kinda pricey and I'm thinking parts are gonna be a little hard to come by. Not the cover plates but inside parts.
Just a follow up since I did some welding today. I got 2.0 magnifier for my Miller big window. What a difference! I have no problem following the puddle and my beads are 100 percent better. Better penetration and straighter. I will feel better about doing mor critical welds now
I use a Speedglas and I am going to get a HF for my 14yr old son. It's time to start teaching him to weld so he can carry on the hot rod thing.
in my opinion auto darkening ****s especially if ur in a whole welding welding and theres a little bit of light coming in it messes with my eyes i use a regular helmet with shade 11
Might be OK Wanna trust your eyes to one of those. Salesman at one of the welding supply houses here in town said that. Makes a heck of a lot of sense.
I've worked in many foundries with weld shops, not a red eye a**** those guys, well, unless they were smoking weed in the weld booths. Per your advertised lens response rate, it takes 20,000 arc strikes to equal 1 second of exposure. Even with a full life ahead of me, not sure I'll ever do 20K arcs. And I've accidentally gotten a second of exposure several times without lasting issues. Have honestly never met a pro welder who didn't use an auto helmet. The world is not flat and you're not the unabomber. Get an auto helmet.
On a good auto darkening helmet, the IR and UV protection is present to about shade 13 whether the lens is darkened or not, so the reaction time is adequate from a safety standpoint.
i use a Miller Elite so far so good, i use the #11 shade setting for my mig, but still right after doing a little bit of steadly welding, after i take my helmet off i still cant see the work i just did, for alittle bit.......
i like my regular old cig plastic helmet with a #10, i loosen up the springs in the little window so i dont have to flip the whole helmet down just the little window, i usely keep one hand on my window so i can flip it up and down with my hand when i`m doing lots of tacking or short welds. i have tried auto helmets but i havent seen any that go clear, then if i have a little to much wire hanging out of my gun and go to burn it off they go dark on me. i have an auto lense that you just pop into a regular large window non open helmet and i never use it.
i just bought the jackson nexgen but haven't used it yet.......it's really lite almost flimsy (my other helmet is a huntsman fix big lens). hope it works..... http://store.cyberweld.com/jaweheneauda6.html
As for shades, the rule of thumb I've always been told, go as dark as you can, but can still see. When I was younger, I used to always use a #10, now I actually use a #12 and have less irritation.
by far the speedglas is the best in my opinion. light, small, and STRONG. but the price tag is big! i also have a harbor freight helmet and it works great for a 10th of the price!!!!!!
miller big window elite. . . backlight sensitivity adjustment, shade is adjustable, and as squablow mentioned, you can flame cut/weld as its a shade 5... altho the thing always seems a little lighter than a 5 to me. . . 4 independant sensors so TIG is a breeze as well... one thing too mention also... the big window is nice as you can have a cheater gl*** (magnifier) inside the lower portion of the window, and still leave a gap of unmagnified window at the top if need be, altho i dont know why you'd need to do so
I work in metal finishing for an auto manufacturing plant. I mig and tig. I have used both the speedglas and jackson. The speedglas is lighter, but I prefer the jackson. Better coverage and sight and all the gl*** is replaceable once it gets spatter on it.
Got mine, el chepo, on eGay. It's simular to the ones at Horrible Fright, less than $50. I weld maybe 5 hours in a year. If it were 5 hrs/day then spare no expense buy the best you can. When you use an item quiet often then it's a work tool and you should provide yourself with the best. But when you have to wipe the dust off because it's been so long since you last used it, buy a cheaper one, save your money for something you use constantly.
I didn't know about magnifiers for helmets. I'll have to find one for my miller. I'm at that age, hard to admit!
yea, just about any welding jobber can hook you up, or at least be able to order one for you. they make a world of difference
i'm sorry, but that has to be the single most insane statement i have read in a long ****in time. so you dont use it constantly. . . big deal! if you weld that little, for god sake, dont use a friggin cheap auto darkening helmet and get a ****in shade 12 or so permanant gl*** in a traditional helmet. TRUST ME. THE HARBOR FREIGHT AUTO HELMET WILL FAIL. this i KNOW from experiance and three days of sand in my ****in eyes. the pain goes away, but them ****in scars last forever and i DO now have "dead spots" in the center of my vision. are those worth saving $200 bux? no. i wish i had listened and bought a good helmet in the first place
That's a pretty idiotic at***ude when it comes to your eyes. It doesn't take much to **** up you eyes, if your are only worht $50 then by all means use a cheap piece of ****.. If you're gonna be cheap with a welding helmet just buy a regular shield and not an auto darkening one. And giving out that sort of bad advice is pretty ****ed up as well.
I know the Speedglas ain't cheap. But I like being able to see. My eyes are bad enough as it is. Got another Speedglas and gave my old one to my 11 year old son since he was using it all the time anyway. He does a lot better with it instead of the fixed shade he was using. Eyesight is worth protecting.
Any manufacturer who makes an auto darkening lens has the technology to include UV protection all the time, whether the lens is dark or not, just like gl***es. You would probably get more harmful rays from a day in the bright sun without gl***es than you would get from an auto darkening lens. By the way, you don't need to look directly at an arc to get a burn. When I was in high school 40 years ago I got a very painful eyeburn in shop welding cl*** from the flash reflections of the other welders. For a couple days it felt like my eyes were full of sand. A couple other students had eyeburns too. Not long after, each welder had its own booth. My first auto darkening helmet was solar powered, on cold days it helped a lot to shine a bright flashlight on it for 30 seconds or so. I now have a Hobart that cost about $150. It has a battery and I like it a lot better.
The Jalopy Journal
