Auto Darkening welding helmets

[ryf]

who has one and uses it for ARC and MIG or either and do you like it? if you use it with arc how dark does yours get? I have been using flip downs and my brother in law got an auto darken for MIG and it seems pretty sweet but I use ARC and MIG and want to know if it will replace both well enough to keep my eyes going lol. Arc is sooo much more light in comparison. love to hear your thoughts.

and if you use one, which do you use? HF?

 

[redsox985]

Well, I never used my $35 mask from HF with stick, but I did use it with a MIG churning out 250 AMPs, so it was pretty bright. I believe mine goes from shade 9-13, so you can check what shade your flip-down is and compare that. I really like it since you don't need to take a hand off to flip the lens up or down and plus it doubles as safety glasses for chipping slag. I learned on a flip down, tried an auto, LOVED IT, then went and got the cheapie from HF and couldn't be happier!

 

[machinist@large]

Make sure if you get one that it's battery powered for the actual lens. The original ones (and I believe some of the current cheapies) used the photo cell on the front to power the lens, not just switch it. They got a (deserved) bad rap for letting to much of the flash thru because they were slow to darken. That's important when you're doing a lot of tacking and short welds. To much flash= arc burn on your retina's= VERY BAD. The battery powered ones switch over a lot faster. I'm still running my old hood; the full time welders I know use auto darks won't touch the cheapeis.

 

[oscaryu1]

You mean solar powered? I've had my $45 HF autodarkening helmet for around 4 years. No problems... haven't gotten flashed yet.

I was just using it at 9:00PM an hour ago virtually in the dark... even then no problems?

I believe they're solar AND battery powered.

 

[migel101]

i have a licoln electric that i use for arc welding at between 80 - 120 amp and its sooo much better than a shield or a flip down. once it gets real dark there seems to be a slight delay (one or two milliseconds) but not enough to be a problem

 

[Bluethunder3320]

i use my HF auto darkening helmet all the time.... ive had it for a little under a year since i started to weld.

no probllems. its the blue flame one.

my welding teacher has one as well. she said she got one of the expensive ones but honestly didnt notice any difference.

EDIT: does anyone know how they work? does the welding light power the solar panel that turns on a screen to shade your vision? if thats it then why would you need a battery?

 

[kendelrk]

i think the light, turns to the solar panel and the solar panel sends energy to the shield and the electricy makes it darker

 

[machinist@large]

You mean solar powered? I've had my $45 HF autodarkening helmet for around 4 years. No problems... haven't gotten flashed yet.

I was just using it at 9:00PM an hour ago virtually in the dark... even then no problems?

I believe they're solar AND battery powered.

If you have batteries, then it's one of the newer style. The photo cell on the front is what tells the control circuit when to darken/ lighten the lens. That's the type you want. The cheap ones that I was referring to don't have that circuit; they use the photo cell to power the darkening process. That take more time, allowing you to get flash exposure.

 

[ryf]

I am looking at all of them, I figure my top price is around $125 beyond that IMO they are for people who weld for a living. I do not weld in the dark, I am a hobbyist but I have a lit concrete pad and a lit garage and my policy on fixing peoples stuff is bring it over so i don't have to track down clean power. so I doubt that the dark thing is a major concern for me but good info thanks. I spoke to my brother in law and his is the HF blue flame model as well, and it DOES work pretty good for a cheapo, and they are for sale right now for 59 and I have a 20% off coupon on top of that. might be a road trip tomorrow lol. I am not sold on it completely though, my big fear is trying it with Arc/stick, 250 amps Mig is alot of light I'm sure, I've never gone over 160 amps on stick, but 100 on stick and 100 on mig really is a huge difference in percieved light so I am not sure how that scales but i bet your right i'd be fine with one in my normal range.

 

[devino246]

I use my HF helmet for stick all the time. Works great.

 

[redsox985]

Make sure if you get one that it's battery powered for the actual lens. The original ones (and I believe some of the current cheapies) used the photo cell on the front to power the lens, not just switch it. They got a (deserved) bad rap for letting to much of the flash thru because they were slow to darken. That's important when you're doing a lot of tacking and short welds. To much flash= arc burn on your retina's= VERY BAD. The battery powered ones switch over a lot faster. I'm still running my old hood; the full time welders I know use auto darks won't touch the cheapeis.

There's a switch on them for slow/fast response. I have the absolute cheapest one from HF and had no issues. Welding throws plenty of light to charge it.

You mean solar powered? I've had my $45 HF autodarkening helmet for around 4 years. No problems... haven't gotten flashed yet.

I was just using it at 9:00PM an hour ago virtually in the dark... even then no problems?

I believe they're solar AND battery powered.

i use my HF auto darkening helmet all the time.... ive had it for a little under a year since i started to weld.

no probllems. its the blue flame one.

my welding teacher has one as well. she said she got one of the expensive ones but honestly didnt notice any difference.

EDIT: does anyone know how they work? does the welding light power the solar panel that turns on a screen to shade your vision? if thats it then why would you need a battery?

I used my shop teacher's $125 and the only difference was a paint job and his had a slightly larger window. Maybe 1/2" taller.

 

[oldbikerarlo]

I have HF blue flame one also and I love it, also have a flip up never use it anymore, let the kids watch me weld with it.

 

[will1384]

I got a cheap off brand from eBay about 7 or 8 years
ago, had a solar panel, battery, and knob on the side for
adjustment, I got flashed so many times I threw it
in the trash

Then a little later I tried another eBay auction for a
speedglas auto darkening lens that fit into a regular
helmet, guy took the money and never sent anything

So now I just use a regular Jackson welding helmet.

 

[ryf]

I just got an email from my brother in law, who just got off work and his manual for the HF blue flame says its battery assisted solar which is kinda what you guys were saying it needed to be, he just tosses a lighter in front of it and fires the flint to see if it darkens before welding, seems like a simple test to me. if I can seriously pick that up for $45-50 bucks its hard to not just say I'll buy another one when it dies and dont worry about it. how do you store them in the dark or does it matter? I would think if they are solar sensored battery assisted then dark storage is the key to long life? what do you guys do with yours (brother in law just hangs his on the tank, but if that shortens the life of the battery I should let him know?)

 

[redsox985]

Mine was always stored in dark since I had to lock it in a locker at school so it wouldn't "walk off" on me. I never had any flash issues, but I don't even know if it's battery back assisted or not. I got it from HF and let it sit out for a day to charge up then never did anything special. Just used it and locked it up.

 

[Ropertractor14]

I used my miller auto darkening helmet all day every day for six months. Never had any problems with it. However I didn't like it as much as my cheap princess auto one. With the miller helmet I always had double vision when welding. Don't know why......could have been the extra filter plate I had taped on to save the other ones.... Stored both my auto helmets inside my locker and never had a problem.

 

[Ghanem]

I was looking for one but i couldn't Find one so I bought the normal one it makes the job

 

[the-cyborg]

I learned a long time ago if you're going to be doing a fair bit of welding of any kind don't skimp on a good hood, and take good care of it.
You haven't known misery untill you've had welders eye, it's like someone's ground sand in your eyes.

 

[kendelrk]

its worse than that, it burns, and you can barley see. i remember working a job with my dad for the shift, and he got it bad, so we ended up having to have me drive him home

 

[the-cyborg]

its worse than that, it burns, and you can barley see. i remember working a job with my dad for the shift, and he got it bad, so we ended up having to have me drive him home

Yup it burns like someone shot napalm in your eyes, burns like h3ll with your eyes open, burns like h3ll when your eyes are closed.
Did I mention painful ?