Hot Rods Need help from Tig Welding guru's

"someone on here had a thread about velcroing a led head lamp to his helmet and stated that it was the fix for his predicament of not being able to see the puddle fwiw"

I read that thread too, didn't he place the light under his chin on the helmet?

 

That`s the question, are you wearing glasses? if not do you need glasses? I have to wear glasses full time, and I have to combine cheaters in my shields to see to tig weld, @ shade 9. Try to keep out light from behind you. If your shield does`nt have a provision to hold the cheater lens, just duct tape it to it. I`ve devised an awesome little light to see the area of my weld start with the shield down so I can see exactly where the puddle is to continue bead etc. You may have to buy different diopters cheaters to get exactly what you need. I use 1.75s . The only downfall with cheaters are they will scratch just by looking at them. LOL

 

I'm using a Miller elite and i agree the band is junk ! i had to adjust it where i want it and duct tape it fast to keep it from loosening up. I may start shopping for a speedglass

 

Been waiting for the more enlightened here to bring this up because I'm not sure this is why I've NEVER been able to see well while welding.
I've always had glasses that automatically turned dark in the sunlight and I had my welder (mig) for years before I had the "lightbulb moment" so to speak that this was possibly adding more shielding.
I actually tried welding without glasses a few times without really coming to a conclusion other than the fact that I have become blinder as I get older.
I even had one of the weldors where I worked recommend the gold lenses, tried them too.
Any thoughts as to whether this scenario could be increasing the particular lense value.

 

I posted this same question over on one of the welding forums, and got many of the same ideas you are getting here.
One other one that I heard, was one guy said he used an umbrella to help shield out background light from reflecting on the inside of the lens, especially outside in the sun. I'm guessing he taped/tied it up behind him. I havent had a chance to try that , but it seemed reasonable enough.Good Luck.

 

VISION DETAIL.
fine detal I sometimes dont know I miss.
That's what it seems to be for me.
Tig seems to need fine detail vision more so than other kinds of work.
I had to find out by trial and error that what I thought was pretty good vision wasn't good enough to see the small details I didn't know I wasn't seeing.
Earlier this year when I finally decided that the Hobart ac stick welder I bought in jr high days in 1968 to build my first minibike was not enough today, and my nearby buddy didnt have his mig anymore to loan me every now and then, I recently signed up for a Tig class at the local jr college just to see if I should want to get a tig for myself.
It was a crap class that really didnt teach much- just "here, and watch the other students, then copy what they do" The instructor was retiring and didnt teach at all. no class time, no book. wasted money.
But I did get some tig practice time, as aimless as that was, I still found out enough to know I needed one
I decided to buy a new square wave Lincoln 200 tig and teach myself from youtube videos at home.
It didnt take long to run circles around the crap jr college class.
Little at a time I found out that what I thought was decent vision really didn't show me the close fine details I needed to keep a close watch over in order to master the really thin stuff.
An arc or Mig "good vision" wasn't nearly good enough to let me actually monitor the fine goings-on you need to closely watch for good tig work.
So far I haven't gotten down to the razor blade or coke can welding, but I have been able to work all the way down to .045 aluminum and .060 stainless without cooking it.
This is cool! I even tig brazed some bronze ...
I had to put in the usual helmet cheater lens. The common ones hanging on the hardware store pegboard. 1.5 was it? THEN use my usual reading glasses under the magnified hood.
I had to then find where was the best focal-length that it gave me, and always try to weld with my helmet at that exact distance from the work puddle.
I had to get the brightest light and aim it right at my focused work spot.
Maybe thats making up for bad shop lighting, or maybe it's making up for a cheap auto-dark helmet, or maybe it's this young hot rod kid finding out the sad truth the hard way that years must have slipped right by without notice... I dono.
I learned more from free videos and an actual home tig than I did from fake classes.
Chasing after the best fine point watchmakers-vision of what you're doing will likely help you more than anything.
I'm still practicing
so far I can do decent down to
.045 before I start burning stuff.
I think my next step is to practice slower patience and keep the heat-soak from catching me.









580 lumens I think

.045 aluminum. at little hot at the ends

WHY BE ORDINARY ?

 

I guess I got lucky, we have good welding instructors at our CC.

 

A couple of things to suggest. First make sure that the work is grounded properly , I use a 2% thoriated tungsten for aluminum and steel , when sharpening the tungsten , make sure that you sharpen lengthwise not sideways and always use a fine stone. Otherwise the arc will spiral and make it difficult to see the arc. Try covering your head with a towel to prevent back ground light. Last but not least magnafier lenses. I had to go there 5 years ago after over 40 years of welding .
Good luck
Vic

 

I have been a certified TIG welder most of my life. I welded mostly s/s pipe in all positions. Now at 72 I found myself having difficulty seeing what the hell I was doing when welding. I bought a set of new reading classes and had the distance from the work when welding applied to the glasses. What a difference. Just a thought!


Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.

 

I just bought a new auto darkening helmet for my TIG work. I noticed that the cheaper helmets were not suitable for TIG, only MIG and stick. Must be something in the settings. Also a note in the instructions with the helmet to keep it covered when not in use to prevent the solar panels from burning out prematurely. My old helmet worked fine for MIG but not for TIG.

 

Some helmets have shades that are more blue than green, those seem to be easier to see things with. My Jackson helmet is like that, the "Balder" lens or whatever they call it. I like it, and it definitely seems to be easier to see than a regular green shade. I wouldn't say the difference is night and day, but it does help.

If you also use the helmet for MIG or Stick welding, definitely change the clear plastic lenses in the helmet. The smoke and spatter eventually builds up on the lens, it happens over time so you don't notice it. But it always amazes me how much easier it is to see when I change them out. Each time I change them out I think "I should have done this sooner".

 

Try an old standard non electronic helmet and 1 or 2 shades lighter lens. Add a spotlight if need be.
Adding a spotlight with a self darkening helmet makes the problem worse.
Make sure you can see the work area VERY CLEARLY at the distance you will be welding BEFORE YOU PUT THE HELMET ON.

 

just get a regular passive hood with a large window and get a gold lense. no headlamp necessary.