Welding Tips and Tricks

My helmet has died. Time for a new one. Too many choices out there. Need advice.

I don't know who the manufacturer of my current helmet is but it was a solar powered auto-darkening. I am not a welder by trade, I own and operate a commercial diving company and use welding as required to fab, repair, and maintain our vessels and equipment as needed.

I mostly stick or TIG steel, aluminum and a bit of stainless. I prefer the solar because I may not use the hood for a while and don't want to deal with battery changes. My old hood was adjustable between shades 9-12.

Whats a good basic hood with out a bunch of jazz, and for god's sake.... no crazy ass paint jobs! What happened to a few stickers? lol

Price range would be helpful here. It seems like you don't want to spend a ton of money but I don't know how much is too much.

Welcome to the forum! We'd love to hear sea stories about your dive operation.

To avoid the Ford vs. Chevy debate and the swear-by-swear-at conversation, you might look for certain features, such as a large viewing area, 4 sensors, and low amp TIG abilities. If I was in the market today, I'd look at something like a Lincoln 3350: all these features, good reputation, c2450 batteries are $2 on Amazon, comes with or without the paint job. Good equipment at $225, +/-.

Since your business depends on it you might also keep an old-fashioned static helmet with a #10 lens on hand: good for visitors, that extra helper, or the battery that craps out at the worst possible moment.

I recently purchased this one. So far I'm very happy with it...very affordable and it works great:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EL ... UTF8&psc=1

Red

I have a Pro Point auto dark SKU 8510851 from Princess Auto in Canada ( our Harbour Freight) which appears identical to the Instapark ADF Series GL-950N. It has a 3.86 X 2.44 viewing area with good clear view which is great. I really like it except even though it's rated for 1/25,000 reaction time I still get a sleight flash which is no problem except when I do a lot of tacking. Next week coming on sale is a Pro Point helmet SKU 8699183 with a huge 3.94 X 3.86 in viewing area and a 1/30,000 reaction time which appears identical to the Instapark ADF Series GX990T. The 2.44in view is great compared to my old 1 1/2 in so the 3.86 will be like a picture window. I had tried to find who made Pro Point products and ran into Instapark on the Antra site mentioned above so it's possible they are the manufacturer. Princess Auto has exclusive rights to an extensive line of Pro Point branded products of which I have several and they always have been well designed and good quality. Good luck.

Farmwelding wrote:Price range would be helpful here. It seems like you don't want to spend a ton of money but I don't know how much is too much.

I don't mind spending freedom chips for a quality tool. I am just worried after searching the market briefly that I am somewhat out of touch with all of the new updates and I don't know which updates are great and which ones are worthless. For example, the grind feature. Is it really that helpful or does it start to screw up after a while and the lens darken in the middle of making sparks, etc.

I just want the thing to work. My last one was a cheapo I bought for $50 or something of that nature and has worked for 4+ years. I'm hoping to get so lucky again!

I could go up to $200-$250 but would rather find a jewel under $100 if I could.

Artie F. Emm wrote: Since your business depends on it you might also keep an old-fashioned static helmet with a #10 lens on hand: good for visitors, that extra helper, or the battery that craps out at the worst possible moment.

I have reverted to my old standard helmet in the meantime. I laugh at myself all the time now because I drop my hood before I'm in position to weld and guess what,.... can't see! haha Still getting used to standard hoods again. Really, it's been good training. Not so bad with TIG but stick takes a little more thought to start where I want.

Solar only helmet is a sign of a "cheapie". If you want many sensors, high clarity and high adjust ability it's going to have a battery in it.
If you are young enough to still have great eyes you can get away with another "cheapie" from your local discount tool store or big box store.
You don't actually need an auto darkening helmet if you are good enough. In fact a cheap bucket helmet can be fitted with a glass green lense with greater clarity than many expensive auto helmets.
That's what I use 90% of the time. The only time I use my expensive Speedglas is when I'm bench welding in the shop. The rest of the time on site and out of position welding the $20 bucket helmet is my No.1 choice.

Coldman wrote:If you are young enough to still have great eyes you can get away with another "cheapie" from your local discount tool store or big box store.
You don't actually need an auto darkening helmet if you are good enough. In fact a cheap bucket helmet can be fitted with a glass green lense with greater clarity than many expensive auto helmets.

I agree on both points. Unfortunately I need all the help I can get sometimes. I get in 'fab mode' when I have to repair parts or build out some specialized tool or implement for a job; salvage or construction or whatever the task at hand is. I knock off the rust and start to get pretty good again. Then I may go months without striking an arc. When those times arise a auto darkening helmet helps....