Anything welding

I appreciate the info

 

Shade 10 FTW

 

Lol. All shade 10 are not the same.

I had a fixed shade 10 AD from harbor freight that was too light to use without sunglasses.

My adjustable shade Elite AD is much darker on 10 setting.

 

Actually there is a standard for determining welding shade numbers, which is based on optical density (OD). There's formulas for calculating how much light is transmitted through a lens, which is technically based on the wavelength of the light but can be generalized.

OD=-log(T)

The scale is logarithmic, so each full number jump is a factor of 10 darker. Say you want to block 99.9% of light or put another way transmit 0.1%. That's a transmission rate (T) of 0.1% / 100 = 0.001.

So 99.9% blocked OD is -log(T) = 3.

Shade numbers are then related to optical density using another formula.

SN=1+(7/3)*OD

So that OD of 3 is 1+(7/3)*3 = 8

Therefore something that blocks 99.9% of light would be a #8 shade.

A #10.333 works out to 0.01%
A #12.667 works out to 0.001%

That the scale is logarithmic is why one person's comfort at 10 might seem too dark or light for another. A jump of 2 shades would be a huge difference, so I doubt one person being comfortable at 12 would still be fine for another at 10, at least long term. That's like saying you're OK not wearing sunglasses all the time. You probably will be fine on a daily basis but you'll develop cataracts sooner. It's a trade-off, you want to be as dark with your welding hood as you can and still see.

Whether or not a helmet meets this is of course up for debate, but OSHA and ANSI have rules that give recommended shade number ranges for processes and currents based on this, so helmets that carry OSHA PPE compliance should adhere to it. 3M is pretty strict about this, so a #10 on a 3M ADF is the same #10 in a passive. A Harbor Freight helmet is unlikely to stick to this or any standard.

 

I R just dum welder.

Just kidding good info.
My point was that I don't think the Chinese factory that made the HF helmet were aware of the above.

 

Yup, it's not something anyone tells you and how the numbers came to be isn't at all important on a daily basis. But just pointing out they're not just random numbers. It's also why a 3M is $500 and a HF isn't, they have done the work and can say what their filters do.

For someone welding all day, every day it's important to at least know this information exists. All of this is like anything else, safety glasses, ear plugs, leathers, face masks, steel toes. It's all just extra shit to spend money on and hassle until you're sitting in a chair, wheezing, blind, deaf and toe-less.

 

Acquired a 120v wire/gas fed welder. New guy going to start playing around and may have some dumb questions. Can't wait to start pushing some puddles.

Someone told me once. "You don't need to be a good welder, just a good grinder." Lol

 

So I feel like a weakness of mine for a while has been welding around round tubing. I feel like I’m getting better though. Here is one from today. Thoughts?

 

Just so everyone can learn from my stupid mistake, be super careful of what you leave on your work bench or work surface while you’re welding. Keep all things that could potentially catch fire at a good distance away from where you’re welding. Was welding a set of sliders up today and I caught an oily shop rag on fire and it caught my little fan on fire. Didn’t notice until I felt the flames and then since I had my welding gloves on I quickly grabbed the engulfed fan and rag and threw them outside. I ran in my house and grabbed the fire extinguisher and luckily got everything extinguished. Could have been bad though. Just be careful! KEEP A FIRE EXTINGUISHER HANDY!!

I think the fan will still work, so we’re good

 

Haha can you imagine pulling a fire extinguisher on yourself haha? Number one question is, did you stop, drop, and roll?

All jokes aside, hopefully you’re all good and didn’t get burned. Fire can be gnarly!

 

You’re lucky that’s all that happened. Glad you’re all good.

 

You weld in that workspace and don't have an extinguisher in there? Brave man

 

The backside of my garage also opens up like the front and my sliding glass door to my house is right there. The fire extinguisher is right there so it’s easily accessible. However I should get another for the garage cuz every second counts in a situation like that!

 

LOL, got myself not long ago too.

 

Wise words! My $.02 is "don't ever assume". Had a bucket of water nearby for cooling purposes working in a oil patch fabrication shop. Real busy place. Everybody left for lunch & when we returned the shop owners kids had cleaned up a bit & changed the water in my bucket. I'm sure it was accidental but my water was mistakenly replaced with methanol. Grateful I'm alive.

 

WTF, why would someone fill a bucket with methanol?

 

They were just kids. We shared the shop with a service co. that used Lots of menthol in winter.

 

Bajeezuz

 

I like this weld a lot. Thin tube to thicker base metal s one of my favorite mig welding to do.

I think you have a very good handle on welding. I may have missed it, what is your welding rig you are using?