noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

Im about to start taking classes at a community college and was wondering what helmet should I get...HF helmets?


Just started my MIG class and want some feedback on my welds

Shield Gas 100% Co2 at 25 CFH
Amp-200
Volt-20
Material 3/16

Let the bashing begin!

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/4827/img1554vd7.jpg

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/9613/img1556ko6.jpg

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/2341/img1559nu8.jpg

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/7197/img1555dx0.jpg

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/6576/img1558mt7.jpg

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/1593/img1560ne7.jpg

^ herpes! Not mine but just had to throw it in

Re: noob welding helmet
 

what kind of welding?
if its tig you might want to get an auto dark that has adjustable darkness. it makes it a lot easier on your eyes when you start doing AC

Re: noob welding helmet
 

HF $50 helmet has auto darkening with reaction time adjustment and darkness adjustment, plus it makes you look super cool!

I treat mine like dogshit but it's worked great for 3+ years

Re: noob welding helmet
 

hf auto darking is the ----, even the welders at my work like them and they use 300 dollar whatever helmets i cant afford

Re: noob welding helmet
 

Get a Speedglas SL.
Don't take a HF helmet. They are ------- trash. They dont last any time, they eat batteries, they're UNGODLY UNCOMFORTABLE and the visual quality through the lens sucks.

If you can't spend $200-300 for a Speedglas, then buy an uncomfortable $50 Jackson Shadow, and assorted GOLD plated lenses. Shield them inside and out with plasic covers and NEVER scratch them. Gold plated lenses are god's gift to optic quality.

My backup is a Shadow, but after 4 months my SL is still on its first set of batteries.

Re: noob welding helmet
 

i learned to tig with some nice gold plated lenses, they are nice and actually allow you to see some color through them

Re: noob welding helmet
 

get a solar mask from tractor supply for $70, 3x4.25" view screen

Re: noob welding helmet
 

I have the Miller Elite. The head gear is great. Its very comfortable. 4 sensors. Big viewable area.

Re: noob welding helmet
 

Im going to take a little of everything MIG,TIG and Flux O0
I need something decent enough for now! Might look into that Jackson Shadow...btw where can i find them?

Re: noob welding helmet
 

everywhere. shadows are like the typical low cost flip down hood. But you should buy a speedglas while the $30 rebate is going on. first off, they weigh about 2/3 of a pound, secondly they have god's gift to adjustable head-gear. lastly they have the best optics of any AD helmet youll find. lastly i KEEP running into entire shops that use the older 9002's. especially large places with 20-60 welders. youll see two or three big heavy miller and jacksons, then a awhole messload of 9002's. youll see places where afew people get together using the big window millers and the two pound jackson helmets.

you take yourself a speedglas SL into class and everyone will ---- themselves as soon as they lok through one, then realize it weighs 1/3 what theirs weigh

its cause they're better :P

Re: noob welding helmet
 

Another vote for the Speedglas SL. I absolutely love mine. I have nothing negative to say about it at all. I've done Stick, MIG (various forms), and TIG (steel and aluminum) with it and it's been flawless. The price is a tad steep, but like everything else; you get what you pay for. When all the other students are rubbing their necks and eyes; you'll be perfectly fine. Not to mention they look great too. Combined with a Tillman Onyx coat and gloves; you'll be the ---- and all the girlies will want your cock.

Re: noob welding helmet
 

i was lookin at the HF AD one but talked my self out of trusting my only set of eyes to some piece of ----

i got a $30 non AD one for now, and a spotlight if i really need to see where im pointing :X

Re: noob welding helmet
 

Now Im leaning towards a Speedglas but which one?Willing to spend about 200-300$

http://store.cyberweld.com/speeduthel.html

or this

http://store.cyberweld.com/spslwehe.html

Anywhere else cheaper?

Re: noob welding helmet
 

dollar store. 6 pairs of sunglasses, $6.

1 roll of duct tape, $2

sheet of cardboard to cover the rest of your face, $free

making a hmt welding helmet in 5mins and buying a case of beer, and a pizza for less than $20: priceless

Re: noob welding helmet
 

replace the sunglasses with the magnetic disks from a floppy disk! you can start into the sun with that ----!

+43 if it's an AOL, Compuserve or Logitech floppy

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

:1

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

My HF took a crap but I took it in last weekend and they said just grab another like that. No questions whatsoever. It looked like it was sitting outside as it covered in soot and just looked like hell.

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

that bird ---- herpes was teh sex

Re: noob welding helmet
 

Where do I find the these gold plated lenses.. all I see are the plastic clear ones.



Also how often do you use a number 13 lens? Im about to start spray arc and the instructor told me that I would need a number 12 lens. Trying to figure out which Speedglas to get the 9002X or SL

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

I just ask the local WSH for them. They dont normally keep many good gold lenses on the floors. Or get them online. Using a 13 is half requirement and half personal choice. Like... Technically spray starts at around 280amps and 20v'ish. It runs the best around 320amps. In industry when you use spray... Like... You run from 500 to 700 inches a min on .035 wire to keep production up. I know if I were teaching you we'd start pretty low so you can control it. 300amps I use an 11. I can use a 10 for practicing but I can't take that for hours at a time, too bright visually.

Do I use 13? No my SL tops out at 12. I just came off a 4 months job. Was doing 500-700in/min .035 10+hours a day. Absolutely no eye strain through the SL helmet. (the minimum would have been 13-14 depending on who you want to believe)


http://content.lincolnelectric.com/p...dinglenses.pdf
http://www.thefabricator.com/Safety/...cle.cfm?ID=732

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

What you need is more personal choice. Good helmets / lenses will protect beyond what youd ever need regardless of their visual rating. Like, some people can tig weld at 120amps all day with a shade 9, and some people still complain about it being too bright at a hade 11 so. Just however your eyes are.

What have you been welding so far?

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

Started off Short circuit then about to start Spray arc...TIG a couple weeks after that. Im stuck on welding my vertical up position but finally got my angle right should be fine. Next is the overhead position which everyone in class is having problems :X.

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

Overhead is really easy. Just get under there, lean up against something to get steady and run it. The angles are almost exactly the same. All you're trying to do is keep the bottom of every weld to hold the rest of it up. Helps to have a leather coat. I bought one (like 10 sizes too big). Used it one day and never needed it since. Took me an hour to visually OK 6 pass T joints (first three were tits, just kept doing them to make sure). Took me the whole day to get a 1/2" V-groove down overhead tho. ---- just didn't sit well with me!

LoL, ya vertical T joints always take some getting use too, but if you can do them in one transfer you can do them in any other after afew practice runs. You just have to be confident in watching your weave passes so you don't hesitate on them and ---- them up + you have to have a nice consistent hesitation at the end. After you get it you can pretty much sleepwalk through it.

Pulse was my favorite with vertical & overhead. Runs fast, looks good and just sticks in place without being quite so ------- fast.

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

Spray is 100x better than short. Dear god, when you're learning SS unless you're lucky and you have a good wire feed it just feels very consistent and fucks with you (even tho its non-existant). You run spray and the wire never remotely touches anything so its smoothe as a hand toy made of silk and whipped topping!

Here was when I was in school last year.
https://www.homemadeturbo.com/forum/...?topic=74765.0

My first descent short circuit 3F from when we were first learning it.
Attachment 14429

Here's our very first day of welding, short circuit. LoL Even the hand cut test piece was terrible; which is funny because when it came to hand cutting anything - I would up being the best out of the 30 odd people we had while we were there LMAO
Attachment 14430



Looks like bleh, but we all got alot better by the time we went to spray pulse & flux.

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

Our exhaust system in the lab went out a couple of weeks ago so we are now using face masks. It so annoying and uncomfortable, I just hate wearing them. After the first week of using them its dark as hell. Do anyone even wear a face mask when welding?

Oh...I hate welding vertical up :S

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

Only with stick, or really heavy flux. I dont weld if there isn't an exhaust system. Its 2 thousand and ------- 8. Otherwise by the time you finish 6, 6" weld passes with brushing between to remove the flux you'll blow black nasty snot for two days.
Its gross and takes alittlewhile to get use to but doing some nasal irrigation when you go through your flux welding processes will really help the sinuses. Sounds gross, but its really no different that diving down 15-20' in watter or so. your nasal cavities fill with water anyway so... I had to do that one year when we were doing houses because of the dust & dirt. Was tits!

Ya youll get it. Just hang in there. Some people get it done in 2-3 days, most people... Takes 2-6 weeks to actually get it RIGHT.
Always keep multiple joints prepped and weld multiple joints at one time. As soon as you finish a pass on one, do a second & so on. Don't do any good to finally get one mistake in a long list fixed, only to forget it between pieces!
And you can cheat the angle alittlebit. Instead of a a pure 90* vertical, lay that bitch back to about 80-85*. (code says no more than 5* off) The farther back it goes, the easier the joint is to weld.

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

I tried welding my overhead piece today, I did way better then vertical up piece. My T weld are decent but the lap weld is too convex..got to work on that some. Yal don't even want to see my butt welds :X

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

Ah man laps are easy. If you can do T joints you can do lap welds LoL! Just pick up the travel speed alittle. Butt welds are the funnest :) Just gap them with a 3/32" tig rod. Good strong 1/2"+ tacks every 6" or so and it wont best the tacks and pull together. Weld 2" at a time and memorize what the keyhole looks like. Look at the backside. When the backside weld is 1/8 - 3/16" wide and 1/16-1/8" tall. You've got it for life.
Get the keyhole started and have it say... 1/16" bigger than your root gap. Anytime you're going too slow and are afraid to burn-through, jump up on one side of your beveled wall for just an instant. The leading edge will cool down and ya back in biz.
The electrode travel angle is important too. The more you rock that head back the amperage will drop slightly. Stay within the limits, but if you're just a touch hot or cold you can just changle the angle along with the travel speed.

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

I prefer a shade 13 for spray transfer. I use as dark a lense as I can see through. I do not use auto darkening hoods. I definitely don't trust anything like that from HF. I've been in several manufacturing/production facilities in China, and I know how they lack quality standards. For all we know, the plant that makes them doesn't even know what ANSI is....they just put it on their lenses because that's what they're copying. In other words, for all they know, ANSI means "Protector." They copy what they see.

I just don't trust them with my eyes... and after being a certified welder and welding for a living for 20 years, I still have 20/20 vision. I think that says a lot for the fixed shade lenses.


What code is that? I think (memory may be off) AWS D1.1 allows something like 15 degrees. I remember it was enough that I was quite surprised when I saw it.

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

I wished my Speedglass9002X window size was big as my fixed one but Im happy with it.


Is the code class even necessary?
My instructor told me its a yes/no kind of thing.

Hopefully I can get more pics up of my V groove welds. :1

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

No its not, but it depends on where you are taking it. If its at a college then you'll likely have to take it for their program. Might as well take it. Learn some general AWS and ASME code.
I know Engloid, I was pointing it out to him. Seems alot of guys that try to teach it don't immediately tell you that you can cheat it alittle. :D Ours didn't tell us the first day.

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

I only use a 13 shade for HCD transfer (1000+ ipm wire, 32+ volts and a water cooled nozzle). I run shade 11 on spray and 10 on pulse. My huntsman auto darkening hates spray after about 3 minutes straight of welding a 10mm fillet weld (it turns darker around the edges).

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

What's HCD transfer, and what machinefeeder do you have that will run 1000 ipm of wire?

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

I started TIG class a couple of weeks already, now Im stuck on my aluminum T joint. I been on this for 4 days now and still cant get it right. The start looks real good then the last half would get too much heat. The instructor told me to play with the pedal or increase travel speed...but still cant get it right :X The setting on the machine is 25AR, 100volts, and 5 penetration. Its a mutli pass joint weld in 2F flat position. I will post pics up later.

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

what kinda machine is that?

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

Some old ass machine never payed attention to the brand.

Monday Im try mess with the pedal some more...try to press the pedal up and down as I get towards the end.
The instructor was showing me the pulse stuff but I got too frustrated and left. :1

ALUMINUM CAN DIAF :7

Re: noob welding helmet-Critque my welds!
 

idk man never heard of settings like that.
show me the joint ill try to tell you the problems if i see them.

not bad better than my weld lol