2015 POTD Thread Archive

[Firestopper]

Speedglass for 15+ years now. Unfortunalty,can't find a cheater leans that fits into helmet so cheater glasses have to work for me. I once had 20/10 vision but age has a way of catching up.

 

[tazza]

I have used an auto-darkening helmet for years, I'd never go back to the old school tinted glass ones afterwards......

I spent a fortune on my first one, i was given a "broken" one a few years later, all it needed was new batteries, it worked so much better than the $400 one i bought.

 

[chevydyl]

Speedglass is the best helmet made, or rather the best lens, there are some fancy helmets out there and I've used some, but none of them, even come close to 3Ms lens, it works right evrytime, only issue I've had with mine, and it's because it's the cheaper model, is the photoeyes/sensors can be blocked when your in a weird position causing a block in their line of site. No lights or lighting have ever caused interference with mine, and the adjustable shade is the bees knees, when I'm doing low amp stainless tig you get to see what the heck that bastardly puddle is doing, at the same time the dark settings are perfect for the thick aluminum welds with a helium mix, helium intensifies the arc ALOT, even makes the arc sound different it's quite wild.

 

[uncle harry]

Auto darkening helmets have a delay, so you get a tiny bit of arc flash, bad on the eyes over long periods of use (yrs) that's why most pipe weldors don't use em

I however have a speedglass hood, no cheaters as I was blessed with 20/15 vision, I always used to pull the cheaters from my dad's hood so I could weld

A welder friend explained to me that auto darkening hoods used to be called "blink" helmets because of the very slight delay. Welders were instructed to blink when striking an arc.

 

[kvt]

I like the hitch in the floor Idea, you could also make a hitch insert with a long upright and a side mount on it so that you could pit it in then mount the vise, grinder or other stuff on them, Then when not using them you could have a rack with a bunch of receives that holds them all. Plush they would work on the back of your truck and such. Otherwise I would just make a long extension for the receiver mounted in the floor and then mount everything on where they stick straight down into the receiver extension. Thanks.

 

[brasssmanget]

I've shot a couple sub machine guns. Sights are useless on them. Once you pull the trigger, they vanish.

I think you are missing the point here. Full auto guns may be less needy of a sight system, but even those have some expensive intricate setups. If these guns can be set to semi mode, a good sight system is imperative to hitting what you want to AIM at. Case in point - many 1921/27/28 Thompson rear sights are presently presently selling for and getting $200.00 +. Granted - not really needed in combat, but certainly helpful in competitive shooting.....

Regardless, my post was about a a project with machinery that I indulged in, and that Thought turned out well and might be of interest to others. Not to debate the sighting systems on weapons....

 

[Franko]

I get that, brassmanget. I was making a different point, regarding full-auto shooting.

 

[sanddan]

I would go with the engineers that design the auto hoods before I would go with the opinion of a old pipe welder (old engineer I guess). Auto hoods have been on the market for many years and if they hurt your eyes they wouldn't be able to sell them. I would NOT buy a cheap Chinese knock off from HF but spend the money for a quality hood from a known manufacturer such as 3M or Jackson. If the money is an issue just stick with a reg hood. I have a Jackson Nexgen that has multiple shade settings so you can adjust for tig, mig and plasma. Never an issue in the 12+ years I've used it other than changing batteries. I always keep extra batteries on hand so that's not a big deal.

 

[catskinner]

Mr skinner, get the magnifying lens insert for your helmet, you'll love it. And if you don't have an auto darkening hood already get that too. You won't believe how much those two items will help your welding. You can't weld what you can't see.

$4.23 from Amazon.

sanddan I have the HF auto darkening helmet and wasn't able to find one I thought would fit, but that one looks like it will work. Got one on the way.

 

[chevydyl]

Here's the point sanddan, if the eyes of the auto hood are obstructed (like welding pipe and boiler tubes) your gonna get blasted with arc flash. So...... I don't care what some fancy engineer says, tell that boy to out in the field and use it. This is coming from a guy that only owns an auto 3M helmet.