Colt Case Ingersoll Garden Tractors

I know some of you guys have done welding for a long time and I would like to know your opinions on welding helmets. I got two helmets at the moment. A cheap auto-darkening helmet, and a very old passive helmet, probably was a cheap one too, came with an old arc welder I got a while ago. The old passive one is really hard to use and I find it hard to see anything through it. The auto-darkening helmet seems decent enough, but I'm having wondering if a better quality passive helmet would enable me to see better the welding puddle. Thoughts?

Don’t know much about that Eugen. My son and I use this auto darken helmet. It’s worked well for my son and I for over ten years. I don’t know if it’s a good one or not. Has a delay switch, slow or fast, shade dial, which we have set at 10, and a sensitivity dial, that’s set to medium or so. And with the helmet in the off setting it’s a shade 4, I think. That shade is use for acetylene, oxygen welding. It’s solar powered and has a low battery light, which never has come on.
I’m sure other members have better information than I.

Noel

I've gone through 2 or 3 cheap auto-darkening helmets over the years. I'm currently using a $60 auto-darkening helmet from Amazon with an oversized viewing area. That matters a lot to me because I wear bifocals in the shop, so the larger viewing area allows me to weld with my glasses on, I can look downward and still be seeing out the viewing area. So I don't even consider a hood with a "normal sized" viewing area.

Tacklife pah02d. It was $60 in 2018, they're $26 now.

I also have a manual hood with a large viewing area.

I use the auto darkening most of the time, it's my default.

But I've learned a couple things the hard way:
1. Welding helmets have a lithium battery, and it's important. The solar panel triggers the mask, it doesn't power the mask. As that battery gets weaker, the helmet starts to be a liitle slow on the draw or even intermittent, which can leave you flash blinded for a few minutes. Very frustrating, so keep on top of that battery, and keep spares on hand.
2. Don't store the helmet facing up where light can trigger it. It'll run a battery dead in just a day or two.
3. Auto darkening helmets, at least the lesser brands that I buy, don't like moisture. And that includes sweat. I've killed a couple otherwise good helmets by sweating into them during hot Georgia summer days. And on a hot summer day my current helmet will steam up in its internal glass cavities to the point that you can't see out of it. That's why I keep the manual hood around. If all else fails, I grab the manual hood and keep working.

Maybe if I'd spend $200 or more on a name brand hood, they'd be impervious to sweat/moisture. I don't know. But for the equipment I do have, that's the paramaters I've learned as I go.

Bob

I'm a young one at the age of 38 but my experience with welding is extensive. I started welding at 14 and used to work for a fab shop for a long time. I just started my 11 year old daughter on it. She has been begging me to teach her how and im super impressed with her welds. So I absolutely hate auto darken lens. I use a standard passive 2x4 lens. Shade 10 for hard wire. Shade 11 or 12 for dual flux core. Auto darken lens fails more often than not. They fail to trigger fast enough and hurts your eye. Think long term with those if you use them alot. The fab shop I used to work at had about 25 welders. Out of all of us probably 3 had auto darken helmets. Most of us had a 2 different helmets with different lens for the welding process we did. Some of the older guys had magnifying clear lenses. Guys that were hard of seeing would run a shade 8 or 9 so they could see what they were doing. I have a leather flap on the bottom of mine to protect my neck. Helps when welding overhead. I'll get a pic up of mine later today. Is it that you have a hard time starting not being able to see what you are doing?

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Agreed for professional welders fixed lens and having a couple of helmets with different strength lenses in them is the only way to go . For the hobbyist , I beleave auto darkening is the way to go . More often than not a hobby welder get flash from not getting the helmet down in time instead of the auto-lenses malfunctioning . There is a learned skill to holding everything in place and striking an arc that a lot of hobby welders do not posses . I have been welding for over 40 years now . I have both in my shop . I use the auto for tacking and small mig stuff , while use the fixed lens for larger stick jobs . Both have there place , and like Bob I like the biggest lens I can get for the same reason . Even then a lot of the time I have to remove my glasses to weld . I hope this makes it clear as mud .

Jancoe wrote: ↑Fri Nov 25, 2022 2:41 pm I'll get a pic up of mine later today. Is it that you have a hard time starting not being able to see what you are doing?

No, I don't have problems starting with the auto-darkening one. I have a problem seeing the weld puddle well enough, maybe the glass/screen on my helmets are in bad shape or just poor quality.

I also wear reading glasses I will buy a magnifying glass insert to solve the glass problem.

I’m firmly in the hobbyist/learning camp. My dad was my welder but once he got to the point that he couldn’t anymore before he passed away I picked up a Lincoln tombstone welder and started learning. @Jancoe question fits me. I have a difficult time starting with my fixed lens. Trying to get everything in place and strike the arc is a challenge for me. Lack of experience for sure. I bought a cheap auto dim helmet from Harbor Freight and it’s been much better. I keep it in the box it came in to try to keep it clean and get the battery to last. I’ve been really happy with it. I think what @DavidBarkey said is accurate if I was welding for a living I’d be much more apt to invest in better helmets. For occasional use the auto dim seems to be good.

I run both types of helmets, stick is pretty much all I do. I run 4" x 5" lens's in my passive helmets because of the awkward positions I'm in. Because it happens gradually and I'm a little slow on the uptake, I'll wake up one day and think man I can't see what I'm doing. I change out the cover lens and , good to go.
I like my auto for tacking little stuff together, but from habit, I still flip it up and down all the time.

Here's my hoods. The left I use the most. Has a shade 10. That leather flap is great i put on. Stops sunburns and is protective to your neck. Middle hood has shade 12. And the right hood with 4x5 lens is a shade 5 for plasma or torch. Now that I don't work at a fab shop anymore I don't get to take home scrap drop pieces anymore. Bummer. I still do alot of fab work out of my current small attached garage on the side.
Im just about finishing my flatbed trailer I just did up. I'll make a post on the work I did here soon.
Here's some practice welds my 11yo daughter has done. Some of her first work. I'm saving it. Once she's figured out mig work. I'm moving her onto stick and then tig. Im excited lol

Lol

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I hate to admit it, but your 11 yr old daughter has a better welds than mine.