My useless opinion on CDM auto-darkening helmet protection.
08-24-2008, 06:45 PM
#13
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 0
Re: My useless opinion on CDM auto-darkening helmet protection.
Originally Posted by J.H.Christ
the only reason i bought my miller elite is because i wanted to look more wealthy than everyone else.
08-24-2008, 07:55 PM
#14
0.0 BAR
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 19
Re: My useless opinion on CDM auto-darkening helmet protection.
Dudes! It's true! I also heard if you add the cellophane from cigarette boxes in your Oakleys, it makes them filter better! Lights add +1, regulars +2, and menthols add +3 to the shade. Smearing OC on the front makes it as good as a Miller.
08-25-2008, 01:46 AM
#15
3.0 BAR
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 1,811
Re: My useless opinion on CDM auto-darkening helmet protection.
Better idea, how about YOU keep your use-less JR high welding, backyard stick ------- your prostate with a rod self out of giving advise, and let professional, experianced & train welders give the saftey advise
1) the optical clarity sucks
2) they glare
3) they're not durable
4) they have ---- for battery life, they EAT AAA alkeline & nimh cells
5) they have gross light leaks between the plastic shield and the AD unit... Guess what moron, that's not something that can be fixed with layers of duct-tape. the UV will pass that bullshit lfaster than your mouth passes a ***** to your ***
6) horribly uncomfortable, and unadjustable headgear
7) use one in any real welding in any real amount of time and you'll quickly find that your AD unit claimed to be shaded out to a 13 AD is less comfortable to wear than a real lens shaded at a bright 9
very little wrap-around protetion - leaving you prone not just to spatter burns, but to UV/IR damage from reflections.
For that matter you are GROSSLY wrong on how an AD lens is shaded. The VISUAL protection is in the 2-5 light shade range, while the IR and UV protections are typically 1-2 shades ABOVE what the maximum visual shading of the AD unit is. AT ALL TIMES you are protected from damage, working or not. Even turned off the visible light emmitted through a proper AD unit will not harm your eyes. only cause white out that goes away.
To which see reason #7 to not use the import crap helmets. They are OBVIOUSLY NOT providing IR and UV protection that they claim to have. You WOULD NOT be able to physically stand ANY form of welding for ANY amount of real time using the helmets completely darkened out. It simply won't happen. I am very tolerant to the visual stresses. Without any hesitation I can weld on a 10 shade lens for 12 hours doing 300-650 amp wire/flux requiring a minimum of a 13 shade.
Yet I can not tolerate welding a 120 amp short-circuit wire transfer for an hour without needing serious breaks with the HF unit.
You'll find noone else on earth able to do it either, because they are horrible, defective, poorly designed products that DO NOT provide working IR/UV filtering.
For serious... Stop ------- around... Ya we all ---- around with obvious bullshit, but don't give bad advise when it will lead someone to get hurt and make you appear more of a dipshit fool than you already do with my dogs that **** juice streaming out of your nose from where you puffed him too hard
/end thread
1) the optical clarity sucks
2) they glare
3) they're not durable
4) they have ---- for battery life, they EAT AAA alkeline & nimh cells
5) they have gross light leaks between the plastic shield and the AD unit... Guess what moron, that's not something that can be fixed with layers of duct-tape. the UV will pass that bullshit lfaster than your mouth passes a ***** to your ***
6) horribly uncomfortable, and unadjustable headgear
7) use one in any real welding in any real amount of time and you'll quickly find that your AD unit claimed to be shaded out to a 13 AD is less comfortable to wear than a real lens shaded at a bright 9
very little wrap-around protetion - leaving you prone not just to spatter burns, but to UV/IR damage from reflections.For that matter you are GROSSLY wrong on how an AD lens is shaded. The VISUAL protection is in the 2-5 light shade range, while the IR and UV protections are typically 1-2 shades ABOVE what the maximum visual shading of the AD unit is. AT ALL TIMES you are protected from damage, working or not. Even turned off the visible light emmitted through a proper AD unit will not harm your eyes. only cause white out that goes away.
To which see reason #7 to not use the import crap helmets. They are OBVIOUSLY NOT providing IR and UV protection that they claim to have. You WOULD NOT be able to physically stand ANY form of welding for ANY amount of real time using the helmets completely darkened out. It simply won't happen. I am very tolerant to the visual stresses. Without any hesitation I can weld on a 10 shade lens for 12 hours doing 300-650 amp wire/flux requiring a minimum of a 13 shade.
Yet I can not tolerate welding a 120 amp short-circuit wire transfer for an hour without needing serious breaks with the HF unit.
You'll find noone else on earth able to do it either, because they are horrible, defective, poorly designed products that DO NOT provide working IR/UV filtering.
For serious... Stop ------- around... Ya we all ---- around with obvious bullshit, but don't give bad advise when it will lead someone to get hurt and make you appear more of a dipshit fool than you already do with my dogs that **** juice streaming out of your nose from where you puffed him too hard
Originally Posted by Skrenos
I've seen this a lot on many forums. People bashing or complaning about cheap auto-darkening helmets not offering adequate protection for their eyes. Well, it's all just myths and bullshit passed from one person to another until it's taken as gospel.
Most auto-darkening helmets come with a #3-5 light shade, and then darken to #9-13. People will say that the longer response time with a cheap helmet when switching from light to dark is enough to cause damage. Bullshit. A #3 lens by itself is enough to filter out all harmful UV radiation and most of the IR radiation. The darkening feature is just for comfort.
So, what's this mean? I means that even if your darkening feature failed outright and you welded, your eyes would be protected just the same from UV. Now, you'll get more IR (heat) radiation into your eyes, but you'd receive just as much radiation taking off the helmet and going outside in the sun.
So, why buy a more expensive helmet? The only thing you're getting by doing that is perhaps quicker on/off times and buying a brand name. I've been using a cheap $50 (now $60) HF auto-darkening helmet for the last 2 years and I've never had troubles with my eyes that could be attributed to welding.
Most auto-darkening helmets come with a #3-5 light shade, and then darken to #9-13. People will say that the longer response time with a cheap helmet when switching from light to dark is enough to cause damage. Bullshit. A #3 lens by itself is enough to filter out all harmful UV radiation and most of the IR radiation. The darkening feature is just for comfort.
So, what's this mean? I means that even if your darkening feature failed outright and you welded, your eyes would be protected just the same from UV. Now, you'll get more IR (heat) radiation into your eyes, but you'd receive just as much radiation taking off the helmet and going outside in the sun.
So, why buy a more expensive helmet? The only thing you're getting by doing that is perhaps quicker on/off times and buying a brand name. I've been using a cheap $50 (now $60) HF auto-darkening helmet for the last 2 years and I've never had troubles with my eyes that could be attributed to welding.
/end thread
08-25-2008, 02:12 AM
#16
3.0 BAR
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 9,282
Re: My useless opinion on CDM auto-darkening helmet protection.
Tig'ing on an HF helmet = flash burn. Even if it works, it still lets way to much UV through. They're ok for quick flux core ----, but once you get a tig arc going 
eyes > $300
eyes > $300
08-25-2008, 07:04 PM
#20
1.5 BAR
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,037
Re: My useless opinion on CDM auto-darkening helmet protection.
I weld for a total of 2hrs per year. I'll stick with my h/f helmet. The nasty UV I get in a year of welding with that helmet can't be any worse than the UV I sucked up saturday when I passed out on my back on the dock for 2 hrs.
