I am looking for a welding helmet. I checked all of the posts here and found a couple of references to them but looking for some more specifics. I have read that the auto darkening ones can irritate the eyes after time because they don't darken fast enough but I want to be able to see my work without having to flip the helmet up and down. I just bought a Lincoln 135 Plus so I will be doing mig/wire welding. I have seen helmets that have a small shield that flips up and down on the front of the helmet, any good? Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

Get a high quality helmet and they switch fast enough. If I remember right there is one type of welding process that you are not supposed to use the auto helmets on. I will have to check the paperwork on mine.

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Unfortunately I can't locate the instruction sheets that came with the Jackson helmet I bought at a local welding supply shop. There is no mention of anything other than "make sure you have the proper shade" in the instructions and warning label. Go to a regular welding supply shop to buy a helmet.

 

i've been using an auto darking helmet for 4 years now, with no ill effects, although, make sure you buy one that doesnt' use batteries, they work alot faster, and last longer

 

A friend of mine has a very cool helmet that operates the shield by moving your jaw up and down.It is called an Accu-strike made by Cherokee Ind.
It takes a little getting used to but it is definitely the way to go if you don't want to take the chance of hurting your eyes.You only get two so take care of them .

 

Hi,

What is a good shade that will protect your eyes, I only have two that are used and abused, and am useing a shade 11 I see spots with my auto darkened, but my fixed 13 is so damn inconvienient. I stick & mig.

 

we normally use a shade 11, but one of our helmets was replaced(warrenty) with an adjustable 10-11 shade insert, i find having the 10 for fine work, and hard to see areas is nice, but for any amount of welding (8 hours a day :P) i use the 11

 

 

Speedglas offers some really good auto darkening hemets! They are one of the best automatic hoods around, as they have been making them longer than anyone! Light too! Which is very important for your neck! One of the lightest I have ever used! I have one that is 13 years old and has been the best hood I have ever seen for auto's!!!! Shade 12 with one simple sensitivity adjustment which is the most important adjustment you should think about next to shade!! After all, what good is a helmet that will not darken? I adjust mine to darken to a 60w light bulb!!! If you don't want an auto hood and if you are paraniod abou your eyes (which you should be!!), just learn how to use a shade 13 green lense!! And there is no real advantage to those gold colored lenses, been welding for 15 years for a living and those are just plain goofy!!! The color through the lense should not be your first concern! Its whether or not you have a good clean look at the weld and if the hood is DARK ENOUGH!!

 

Did you guys know that the auto darkening technology was developed to protect bomber pilots from light produced by nuclear blasts? They used to just have a patch over one eye and when they lost sight in the first eye they lifted the patch. If another air burst went off they were totally blind :-(

 

Yup! No one believes me whe I tell them that this type of technology was originated in WWII! And for the purpose of what you stated! To protect the eyes of the pilots that dropped the A-bombs!! My grandfather was drafted Air Force, into The Chindits of Burhma in '43 and told all sorts of great old school stuff about maintenance on engines and things like this!

 

They didn't get the present quick acting auto darkening type technology until sometime in the late 70 early 80 time frame. B4 that it operated quick enough to prevent permanent eye damage but it still blinded you temporarily.

 

Wow! You learn something new every day. Thanks FTE.

 

There's a lot of inexpensive automatic helmets on eBay. Has anyone used one of those?

Or does anyone remember a product called the "mig-light"? It was a bright miniature spotlight that mounted on the torch so it lit up the weld area (bright enough to see through the mask before starting the weld). I saw it in a magazine about 10 years ago.

 

Don't scrimp on your eye protection. They are the only pair you have.

 

Yeah, but... I don't want to overpay unnecessarily, (although those custom-painted helmets they have on Monster Garage do look cool).

This Harbour Freight helmet looks better than the cheap ones on eBay; it's faster (1/25,000 second), and meets some ANSI spec:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=47277