Welding helmet

I got one of these a few years ago and it's very good, quite comfortable as well.

I remember that the number and location of the helmet's sensors is important, particularly if you're working in cramped conditions or at low amperage. If the sensors can't see the arc then it'll be unable to react as it should.

Martin.

Neil you're so right. Neat graphics don't protect your eyes. As is anyone who supports good quality protective gear. I too have had a dose of arc eye when I was an apprentice and the pain is excruciating.

I also have clear glasses next to all my machines to avoid hunting for them. Having bits of metal picked out of your eyes is also no picnic.

Just a small point , if you wear light reacting spectacles try to use plain lense ones, I found this out several years ago when I started wearing glasses and could not understand why my welding was not as good as it used to be , I was unable to follow a straight line etc welding went back to normal after the change.

Ken.

I wear reactalite glasses and never had that problem, when I'm wearing my helmet its very dark except for the lens and they dont change even when I'm outside welding.

Martin P

I have a 3M 9100 xx like Russ. Paid under £400 for mine which, apparently was a stonking deal.

In practice much better performance than the mid range ones. Far less sensitive to head angle, quicker reacting and generally far nicer to use. As it should be for that money. Headband is still pretty crappy though. How hard can it be to get the click stop and head grip stiffness right. Too hard apparently as I've never met anything modern that managed it. They all either let the helmet drop uncontrollably or, are you listening 3M, tend to pull off the head when clicked up.

My first helmet, a fixed shade one of, by modern standards, heavy construction, got it right though. Push up, moderate click and it stayed up. Nod my head and it swung down with just the right friction damping. Comfy headband with padding that stayed in place for 20 odd years. Plastic headband adjuster eventually died.

Some of the less costly autodarkening ones seriously don't give that nice warm feeling of being safe.

The original Machine Mart ones had a Swiss made filter unit and came with a 6 year money back warranty at a very un Machine Mart price. Several hundred pounds. Mine died with about a week left on the warranty. Even with all the paperwork in my hot little hand it took about half an hour and couple of phone calls to head office to get paid. The then current Machine Mart ones were, um, obviously not that good.

Clive

I too have a 3M 9100 helmet, excellent piece of kit. One of the best health and safety posters I have seen said look after your eyes, that is your last pair.

Michael

I have two,an expensive one bought about 10 years ago and a Lidl type bought recently. I think the cheaper one is better, mainly because over time the sysyem has improved and the lens are better controlled. One tip I was given by a welder is to always wear a pair of plain glass spectacles when welding because sometimes, especially on stainless steel, slag will break off to fly in all directions. I now also use a "cheater lens", taped to the inside of the helmet which works better and cheaper than prescription glasses.

Just to be clear, I was not suggesting the cheap helmets give me arc eye?

I meant exactly what I said, they clearly give me headaches and sore eyes, like not wearing my glasses kind of eye strain. Granted, I might be using it for several hours but still, it is a sign of the protection difference.

Clive, I've got the FX not the XX, however the XX shares the same optics (there are 3 different versions of the glass). The FX has a lithium battery powered belt that filters and feeds fresh air in to the helmet and the welding front flips up to reveal a full face grinding shield.

Get the auto darkening helmet. Absolute Best Thing since sliced bread. Improved my arc welding by 50 per cent in one hit because of not faffing about wondering where the electrode was between flipping the glass down and striking an arc. It makes welding small fiddly hobby sized jobs soooooo much easier. It basically gives you one extra hand while welding becuase it is not back and forth on glass flipping duties. That hand can hold the job or hold your welding arm steady.  I can't recommend them enough.

The other thing I have found is not wearing my multifocal glasses for welding. By the time I strike the arc and then find the "sweet spot" on the glasses to focus on the puddle of molten metal, I have burned a hole in the job or let the puddle go cold. Single focus reading glasses work much better, for me anyway.

Edited By Hopper on 03/06/2022 13:21:18

I got a parweld truecolour for 65 to replace my 25 quid "standard" one and have no regrets

If you do welding quite often a decent helmet is a big must

Windy mentioned earlier issue with detection when tig welding at low amp - most of the inexpensive helmets do not work reliably at low amps - 40 and down, esp in the sub 25 amp region - with TIG - they work better with MIG and stick at those sorts of amps but the TIG arc is very small and rather shielded by the TIG cup - the helmet detectors then fail to detect, or do so some seconds after the event, and clear the lens during welding when the arc is shielded as the TIG cup is rotated, etc - that results in Brighteyes....

I use an ESAB Sentinel-A50 - works very well even down to 4 amps - welding Beer cans together...Eyes are worth more than any helmet.

If you can stabilise the job decently, a auto-dark helmet is not really needed by weekend welders for MIG - you can place the torch nozzle correctly and close the hood and press the trigger - enough light thereafter to see what you need. Production welding is easier with auto-dark. Stick welds - I would go for auto-dark else its a bit of a hit and miss affair - although I would maybe consider spending the decent helmet money, plus a little, on a small MIG machine rather, and use a flip helmet to save the spent money...

Edited By Joseph Noci 1 on 03/06/2022 16:17:44

Jack -

" only on weekends so not long exposure to an arc light."

You reckon? Even quite brief flashes can give you arc-eye, depending not very much on their intensity and power! As Russ says, "... hot sand in your eye at 3am".

Don't take chances.

It's not only your eyes that you can harm although they are the most fragile and most important to protect.

The UV radiation from welding can "sun-burn" unprotected skin, even if safe from spatter.

I don't weld often - I am not right good at it, with my wobbly hands and little practice. Even so I still wear a buttoned-up boiler-suit and leather gloves. Also an auto-darkening helmet, replacing a full-face but nod-down type. Never those little Greek Drama things supplied with the DIY trade welders.

'

Regarding the auto-darkening ones, this may not apply to all those now sold but...

Mine has an instruction to keep it (like all good employees?) in the dark when not used, to maximise the sensor's life I believe. And when using it, to keep the sensor covered during off-head rests. I stand mine on a safe surface lens down for rests; but store it in its original, intact sales carton.

I need to wear reading glasses for close work and have an auto darkening helmets but find it cumbersome to wear glasses under the helmet.

I recently bought a magnifying lens on ebay and attached it to the inside screen with double sided tape and can now clearly see the weld without wearing my glasses. The lens is available in different magnifications and not expensive.

I have one of the Parweld Tru-colour auto darkening helmets and find it very good for Tig but not so good with MIG. For MIG I revert back to my Speedglass 9002. I also use a cheat lens (2.5mag) with the Parweld and 3 times magnification lenses in my close work spectacles. I can actually see what I'm doing. Just done a C&G Level 1 TIG course (FOC) and now doing a C&G Level 1 MIG course (again FOC). Only have one test weld (lap fillet weld) left to do, but cannot see what I am doing with either helmet. I have tried marking the edge with chalk, next time I am going to linish the top face so I can hopefully see a shiny edge and a dark edge.

I think this is a penalty for getting old. Rubbish eye sight for jobs like this.

Colin