are they worth the money?

my only concern is that they say the reaction time is 0.001s, now thats not much but does that mean that your eyes are exposed to an arc for 0.001s? over a couple of thousand times you strike an arc on the chassis surely that time could add up to some eye damage.....

is it just easier to use one of the £15 ones out of halfrauds?

cheers

Matt

i think they are perminant x ray filters, so the 0.0001 second would only be bright light. And yes, they are a necessity IMHO, cant see how people weld without them

The better ones are much much quicker than that, down in the nano second range and will not lead to eye damage...

I've got a cheap one off ebay and I probably couldn't weld without it now! Its brilliant. You don't really notice a flash but sometimes if your hand gets in between the arc and the glass it can undim itself which leads to you looking at the arc again. On the whole its pretty good though.
Having said that I had the opportunity of using Mark's (Calvinix's) proffesional auto helmet the other week and the difference was astonishing. It was far clearer than anything I've ever used before. Reacted instantly and was a quality bit of kit! I'd deffinately recomend getting one though whether its the cheap one or not. In honesty I'd say if your mig welding get a cheap auto one as the splaater will obviously stick to it etc where as this wont happen with TIG.....Good luck with whatever you decide. Oli.

I wouldnt be with out mine now, cant weld with the old type now

As above I wouldnt be with out

You will do a lot more damage to your eyes by lifting the visor to see where to start.

when i got one,,i was kicking myself for not getting one sooner

so its pretty much agreed then that auto darkening helmets are a good investment then lol

I was planning on getting a cheap one off ebay too

Matt

First video I've ever taken on my camera.
Heres how I do it.
Look no auto helmet & no gloves.
Welding modified towing setup on my MGB Sebring.
Bad tune on radio tho!

<video>

nice vid, using a real mans welder too.


i got a auto darkening helmet cheepo off fleabay. its a bit naff as its battery powered one. does the job tho

Even Ebay cheapo masks are good!!! Use one all the time. No arc eye yet!!! As mentioned you have to be a little bit careful the sensor isn't shielded from the arc (by welding clamps, hands, bits of the stuff being welded etc)... I've occasionally had the mask not darken but that must be all of two or three times in 18 months of reasonably frequent welding and each time it hasn't taken too long for me to realise!!!! Wouldn't even bother using a non darkening one. For beginners an auto-dark is so much easier, and the professionals I've seen welding have only ever used them too!!!!!! Nuff said?

Agreed, theyre the mutt's nuts. Leaves you with a spare hand to position stuff when youre tacking up cos you can see whats going on with the mask down.

I bought an SIP one for about 60 quid, and its very good.

Ed.

I have mixed opinions of auto shields.

I have an expensive auto jobbie, (Air Liquide) that the lens alone costs £80.
It's a fixed 11EW.

I've also used a cheapo one (fixed 10EW) and found the glare too much, like using a 7 or 8.

After an hour or so I put it back in the box.

For clarity you still can't beat a non auto with a glass filter IMHO.

I reach for that when welding round the back of something or past clamps etc.

Paul G

I've managed for the last 30 odd years. My mate bought a cheap ebay one and I tried it, it was like welding in fog. It was handy for tacking up though but I have always got by with my visor set so a nod brings it down and a piece of foam taped inside hits my chin to stop it going too far.

I got one as payment for welding up a friends landy. Love it makes such a difference especially tacking panels.

The best non-auto helmet I ever had was a BOC one - it had a large 6" x 4" filter that was similar to a gas welding filter. Behind this was a darker filter about 4" x 2" that, together with the main filter, added up to a decent EW value.

The effect was that your eyes were protected by the inner filter, but you had a tremendous spacial awareness because of what could be seen in periferal vision. Also, when you wanted to tack up, all you had to do was shift your head a little to aim through the lighter filter, then dip back to weld.

Unfortunately the helmet was literally let down by a poor headband that wouldn't let the visor stay where it was put, so I ended up getting a refund from BOC. Sad, as it was very nice to use.

David

I am a 'novice' welder and my Speedglas one i would not want to be without it. Never tried a cheap one, only expensive ones so i can't comment on the cheaper ones.

Message to Big_Wasa: the helmet you gave to me does work, just needed a very odd (expensive) battery, new screen covers and it works a treat, Thanks very much.

Mark,

What like are the ones you are bringing in from China?

Caber

thats a bonnie looking weld, stainless is meant to be a pain to weld since it dont conduct heat as well as normal steel so distorts more, that a finished weld the pic dont look like its been capped yet? not getting picky, might just be the way stainless looks, they dont let us do that at college.

I have a pricey one and a fleabay one. I agree that the difference is noticeable. The expensive one being much nicer to make good welds with. You can actually see the area in front of the weld. Amortize the cost of the helmet over your lifetime of welding and it's an inexpensive upgrade.

However.... I had the good one FAIL on me this past weekend... my eyes physically hurt for hours, and I saw a purple spot in the center of my vision for days afterwards. Not fun. So the newfangled ones (expensive and cheap) CAN and Do fail and that's the benefit of the old style. 0% failure rate on the electronics.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Peteff
It was handy for tacking up.

---

burnt myself too often not to use gloves.

learnt at school when i was 12 that it hurts to pick up what you have just welded, especially when it sticks to your hand and pulls the skin off with it.

The UV protection then becomes a useful side-effect!!!

another aside - my automatic helmet doesn't react when my tig is on AC, dunno why, but I use the old grp lid again then!

quote:

---

thats a bonnie looking weld, stainless is meant to be a pain to weld since it dont conduct heat as well as normal steel so distorts more, that a finished weld the pic dont look like its been capped yet? not getting picky, might just be the way stainless looks, they dont let us do that at college.

---

Yep thats true, when i was an apprentice plater i just used to use clear plastic wrap around glasses when tacking up, not that you would look directly at the tack, more to just save your eyes from other people tacking up around you.

IIRC the ultravilot wavelength given off from welding cannot pass through solid matter.
The UV rating of sunglasses is a different type of UV(A or B?) which CAN pass through solid matter and damage your eyes.

[Edited on 20/1/07 by Gav]