The bad part is this ain't no ground breaking, awe inspiring thread, BUT, the good part is that anyone can do it in a few minutes, it's a handy little helper, and it don't cost much! I've been notching the frame on the 54 Chevy, and when it comes time to weld, I can never seem to get enough light in some places under the car. I have an auto darkening helmet (I know some people think China's sending these over to blind us all) but even with it on, I just can't see under there. So I was in the dollar store the other day (I don't usually shop there but they were having a sale) and I spied these little lights. So I bought one for $1.27 including tax, and together with a piece of Romex copper wire and 2 hose clamps I made this. And if your too stupid to figure out how I made it without further instructions, please leave the HAMB immediately. Anyway, it's got 3 led's and it's pretty bright and small. I am very pleased with it. I don't know if this would be bright enough to guide you with a conventional helmet, but it really works great with my auto dark. No, I'm not attempting to weld there, it's just to show you the light in a dark trunk. Anyway, that's it, with the economy the way it is, those of you who can still afford $1.27 should rush out to your local dollar store and get one.
very cool,I have welded tons of times and needed just that amount of lite those re cheap enough also if you melted it or burned it to get cheap replacements
Yeah, these contain 3 of those little flat round batteries, I don't think that you can even buy the batteries for a buck 27! The same store also sold anther little light that used AA battery, but it was a little larger. If anyone is interested in trying this, I actually got these in a Family Dollar store.
could you be a little more specific as to the clamps, do they need to be stainless steel? and also, do you have to use white wire or can you use black or even red wire? inquiring minds want to know.
If you do a lot of underwater welding, I'd go with stainless. As for the wire color I used white because it was all I had, but I'm afraid it's going to show the dirt. Black would lend a more high tech look I believe, and red would have been nice since it would have matched my Lincoln welder, and thereby probably have looked like it came from the factory.
i rigged up something similar,,,, you are right,,,there are many times where it is very hard to see what you are doing,,, a very inexpensive solution,,,
Man I did some welding today and couldn't see anything and this thread is exactly what went thru my mind!!!
Glad to see so many of you like this. I did a lot of joking around, but this really is a handy little device. If you do any welding in dimly lighted areas, it really is a great help.
That's a great idea. Horrible Freight had some of those larger lights (with like 9 led's) on sale (2 for $3) and I bought a pair just to see how bright they were.. Wow, they were way brighter than I expected. And yeah, each light already has 3aaa batteries in them.
Wow, 9 LEDs probably would be a lot brighter, but with 3 AAA batteries wouldn't they be a little bit heavy? Might work with a heavier wire though. I've been sorta looking for a small bright light for a while now, and these are just about perfect, the push in switch is ez to turn on while wearing a glove too.
I'm going to get me one of them... but with tax, mine will only be $1.07.... Dollar store right? They have 27% sales tax in Pennsyvania?
You need to make sure you have a match between the kind of electricity and the kind of wire. See only white electricity can travel through a white wire. Red electricity, red wire. One needs to be careful.
True, bigger and heavier.. it still does have the huge button that is easy to push. Maybe zip tie it to the gun with a wedge between the light and the shaft?
This gets my nomination for Tech of the Millenium. So simple. So helpful. I instantly asked myself "Why didn't I think of that?"
I'm thinking black and red wire, twisted would remind me of my favorite unique black paint with red wheels scheme. Kidding aside, I wonder if one of those cheapie laser pointers would have any use...
I think a laser pointer would be too "pin point". You need something a little broader than that I think.
It's stuff like this that makes me feel STUPID. (I've been hand-holding a light for years and never even thought of a couple hose clamps and some wire! DUH!!)
I'd go with green wire for the proper grounding, you could really get zapped with those huge batteries. Tom
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