Welding helmet

I would appreciate any advice on which auto darkening welding helmet to buy for use with Arc and Mig welders. Also the price to pay, and as I'm in no hurry I can wait for some thing from PRC or maybe one already here in UK. John

I have a lidl one for about £20 and a machine mart one for about £40, the lidl one is better, and has a battery powered led light as well, I wouldnt recomend these for serious all day welding, but they are all built to the same standard as far as the self darkening bit is concerned! You can pay an awful lot, and not get a lot of improvement, and some of the pro ones I have used are heavy. Also use myy Lidl one for TIG as well You can vary the shade, reaction time, and sensitivity. One thing I am going to get is one of the hats that attaches to the screen to stop light getting into the mask from above, which is a constant problem as I do most of my welding looking down on the job, and have fluorescent lighting.

Phil

Yes you definately need a hat, to protect your head and keep the light out.

Make sure you buy an adjustable one, that is light enough for the welding you'll be doing. You don't want, let alone need a 13 shade for thin sheet metal. My welding improved the instant I swapped to a lighter shade.

Most BOC outlets have welding masks like this where their retail counter is. They only stock "good" ones that are not unduly expensive.

Avoid the dirt cheap no brand ones, I bought a different model of this brand, not being sold anymore, but this is the model that's currently on offer, and they are noticeably better quality than the unbranded ones all over ebay, on offer at £37.99 it's a bargain

**LINK**

I dont do much welding these days but was attracted to the Lidle one mainly due to the price so far it's proved to be OK

H

I use a Parweld XR935H.

Once you have gone to an auto darkening helmet, you will never go back to a manual flip one, and your eyes will thank you!

**LINK**

I have a Machine Mart Helmet that is Automatic and has a variable adjusted shade which I find helpful for arc and mig welding and the screen can be switched to clear when using the angle grinder, it wasnt cheap and also not expensive.

Martin P

ESAB Robert Butler

Just don't forget to switch to clear when you put it away.

With most of my tig welding it was very low amp settings for the thin stainless tube I was fusing together.

I read somewhere be careful with some auto darkening helmets as on such low welding settings they might not darken.

I bought an ESAB warrior helmet for mig and plasma cutting. The salesman said all the money goes on the auto darkening kit on cheaper versions which is why the headbands fail etc. Its light and strong and a happy medium at around 60 quid.

As for which welding helmet to purchase the question you have to ask yourself how much do you value your eyesight purchase the best that your can afford I have a Boc one and Esab

It's worth point out that 'Plasma' is correct the main difference with cheap helmets is their comfort and durability, not their protection.

Even on cheap helmets the auto darken insert should meet the standard by having a UV filter which will work even if the darkening fails. The darkening is essentially a 'comfort' feature so turning it down does not affect the UV protection.

The conclusion from this is that if you only weld a few times a year for short jobs, you can get away with a cheaper helmet without risking your eyesight or your safety (plus autodarkening helmets are safer than flip down ones because there is much less chance of accidental exposure to the arc).

Neil

Thanks Neil, but it was the advice of the welding company I found for my consumables. When you consider a commercial helmet would have been £300 + I think the Esab is great value.

I also bought a pair of welders safety boots with a leather flap instead of laces and a leather welding jacket which will save me hiding yet another jumper I have burned holes in. For around a hundred quid I'm safe as houses. Wish my welding was as good!

I bought a 'Tacklife PAH03D' (LINK) from Amazon a few months back. it's currently about £50. It seems extremely good. It is very comfortable & the view you get of work is excellent.

P.

I have 4 or 5 helmets, ranging from cheap fixed shade ESAB's to my £1200 3M 9100FX helmet with 9100XX glass.

Going from one end of the spectrum to the other, I find I get best visibility on the fixed shade glass! in my opinion, they seem to do a better job at blocking the arc without blocking so much light you can't see what you're doing. If you can used to starting blind it's the way to go especially on a budget.

I bought a £120 3M 100v series, great helmet but as above, despite being good quality, and my go to helmet actually, you can see more with the fixed shade, but its comfortable and quality.

I have just bought a 3M 9100FX helmet with 9100XX glass (its a modular system, you can get various different UV filters depending on budget). The auto darkening filter on this helmet is very different to the cheaper £130 100V, for a start when you turn it on, the shade changes immediately, so it's obviously using power to become clearer, when tinted it is also more clear the 100V, allowing me to see more of what's going on around my weld, more like the fixed shade helmet - it doesn't seem brighter, but somehow I can see more?

And finally, I also have a cheap Chinese helmet (ive had 2 actually, the current one was from Cromwell, the other was eBay) I wouldn't recommend them at all, they clearly give me headaches and sore eyes, I suspect the time they take to switch isn't any where near as fast as they claim and you get a bit of a flash each time you start, and possibly the UV protection isn't what it should be - I'm sure they claim to meet all the required standards but who actually checks, and who could be held to account. The one from Cromwell doesn't have a brand on it, I know it's their own brand but they aren't taking responsibility.

I'd happily have another £120 3M 100V although I haven't tried ESAB's offering for that price range so I can't say which is better.

I've had arc eye and with respect sore eyes is not a description of UV damage. Someone pouring hot sand in your eyes at 3am is.

I was agreeing with you. The more you use the kit, the more it's worth spending on a visor*.

Neil

*rather than sad graphics...