Anything welding

I bought a Miller helmet when I bought my welder a year ago. It was on sale, but still $200.

I have heard stories of sunburned eyes, and it is not something I want to experience. Spending a few dollars to avoid future pain seemed like a good idea to me.

The Milller also has a larger screen than the less expensive ones, making it easier to see what you are welding. But the kicker was the shorter darkening time. Still not as fast as the speed of light...

I suggest to not "cheap out" on the helmet - you only have one set of eyes.

$0.02

 

Exactly what happened to me as well. Ended up going to the ER and they had to use numbing drops so I could open them. Got some pills to help sleep.

 

Suuuuuucks!! Haha. Lesson learned right?? I try to drop my hood or at the very least look away even when I tack stuff. Not worth the damage to your eyes!

 

Definitely!

 

It takes a lot of welding to flash burn the eyes using a HF helmet. You won't have any issue welding up a bumper or sliders. I'm talking 4 hours of actual welding to see any difference between the high dollar hoods and the HF hoods.

It is very hard to get more than an hour or two of actual welding in an 8 hr shift.

The HF hood changes shade in 40,000 of a second. A Miller Elite changes in 50,000 of a second. Neither is faster than the speed of light. Both block 100 percent of ultraviolet light.

The only way one helmet or the other will be a better choice is how much welding you think you will be doing.

 

I agree. If you're fabricating something, you don't usually weld straight for a long long period of time. One entire set of sliders for me is about an hour and a half of actual welding time and that's not all at the same time. I have the $40 Antra hood in the products discussed area below and it works exactly how I need it to

 

The main difference I noticed between a cheap helmet and my truesight is visibility. A good helmet is much clearer and has a bigger viewing area. My welds in odd positions greatly improved once I bought a nice helmet. Only if I'm teaching someone to weld do I put on the cheap helmet anymore.

 

What's nice is that a lot of them come with extra expendable lenses. Once one of mine gets gunked up and gnarly I throw a new one in and I can see clearly again and it makes a world of difference

 

Interchangeable outer and inner lenses is the ultimate reason to get a good helmet! Totally forgot that. My old cheap ass helmet didn't have that option.

 

I disagree. My HF helmet has a bigger viewing area than the Elite.

I do agree that the Elite comes with an add load of replaceable lenses.

I find myself using the HF unit more often because it is lighter.

If I have a big, big job, I'll use the Elite.

I still find myself wondering if the Miller Elite was a needed purchase.

 

Ive got the Antra helmet listed below. I like it. But I'm also not welding every day nor for hours and hours at a time. Usually its a couple minutes here and there followed by fitting up/grinding. Its not as fast as others though (1/25000 of a second).

One thing I do prefer is a grinding helmet/mask instead of using the welding helmet. No tint and a totally clear field of view. Plus no debris hitting the mask.

 

Got flashed good once because knob was on grind mode accidentally. Wish my helmet had the knob on the inside, as I never grind while wearing it anyway.

 

For mig wire, get Lincoln er70s-6. Flows good in just about any welder. My opinion of course, but have great experience with it.

Helmets.
If you can afford it, get speedglass. Hobart has a great new auto helmet that has a very wide view of vision like the speedglass. Sucks looking through a 2.5" by 4" window. The standard $100 Miller auto darkening helmets work just fine, just the view is small.

 

If your wearing the proper safety glasses you might get a flash that makes you see spots but does no damage to your eyes .

I can`t say about some of the cheap cover plates but the ones I buy also protect from ultraviolet rays so with safety glasses and cover plates your protected .

Most flashes come from looking in the wrong direction with unprotected eyes or reflection up under your hood when welding stainless .

If you really get the gritty feeling in your eyes Raw Potato slices over your eyes work wonders

The thing is every ones eyes are different some are way more prone then others to Arc flash I am one of the lucky ones

Hoods are like Bra`s you use what is comfortable and does the job .

If you have been in the business long if your like me you have a collection of old hoods from over the years .

 

'Zactly.

 

Our eyes are tits with nips.

 

Need some help here guys, I just realized that on my trailer build I never capped the ends of my 2 main tongue tubes. They're 2x1 square tubing, welding onto my trailer tub, and there is no way for me to the end to cap both tubes. The cap is not too large, but definitely large enough for water and crap to get into the tub and rust from the inside out. Any suggestions on what to do? The tubes are welded to the tub with 3 passes each, and would be a whole new project to cut off again. I'll try to get some pictures of the situation

 

Maybe put some trans fluid in it and weld it up. Get some plate and close it up

 

What do you mean?

 

Post a picture is the easiest thing to do so we can see what your working with.