Welding Tips and Tricks

Having watched the many youtube auto helmet reviews they never bring up what I find to be the most important point.

Keeping the lenses clean.

I tend to keep my face "in the weld" so I can keenly watch the puddle. (Getting old and half blind, I have to wear 3.0 cheaters!)
LOL.

That being said, the smoke residue accumulates inside the outer plastic lens and onto the auto darkening module lens.

I have a Jackson Element WH40. The plastic frame that holds the outer plastic protector lens does not seal at all, so the smoke residue just seems to work it's way in and onto the auto darkening module lens.
(The frame is poorly designed and the plastic tabs that hold it in are junk).
The WH40 seems like a good unit, I have never been flashed, it's fast and the sense control works very well as does the shade control.

My solution was to, using electrical tape, tape off all around the frame to seal it up.

Are there helmets out there that have a proper seal to prevent this???

I tend to use my old standby glass helmets because of this issue.

Optrel with curved outer lenses have a seal all the way around to keep the inside pristine.

I am not doing a lot of welding but find it necessary to find a new helmet that will provide clear view and auto darkening. Is there any helmet that won't brake the bank. These old eyes and broken parts are starting to piss me off. I don't spend a lot of time under the hood either. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Bill

A lot of people like the Lincoln 3350 series hood.

On Amazon <$250

I know I may be horse laughed out of here but I have tried a bunch of high dollar welding hoods and have a esab sentinel and I like the Vulcan from harbor freight better than any hood I have used, in fact the sentinel has been in the bag since October and has only been used twice by me and once by a fella I loaned it to so he could try it out.

where did you get the 3X, I haven't been able to find better than a 2.5.

Does the inner lens get covered up by the welding smoke on the Vulcan. Take a look at the picture of my helmet. Just ordered a new set of replacement plastic lenses. The frame that holds the outer plastic lens is junk, one you manage to remove it, the clips break, piece of crap design.

I just use 3x reading glasses, I get them from Home Depot, they are the best cheap ones I have come across, about 4 bucks a pair.

not that I have noticed but I clean all the lenses at the same time. i'll check out the HD readers.

also the fella I loaned the sentinel to has the Viking 3350 and likes it better than the sentinel, the Vulcan hood seems to be a copy of the Viking 3350 but with everyone's eyes being different I like the Vulcan over the Viking and the sentinel over the Viking.

good luck.

Before you go out and spend any money.Take a look at the Eastwood Helmets.You will be Surprised at the Quality for the price.And if you do not like it send it back.On safety stuff No Questions asked. I bought one with the controls on the outside.I never use my Miller Elite anymore. I think the Miller is twice the weight.To clean the Lens I use Nova 2 for light scratches.and Nova 1 just for a cleaner. Use very soft rags like cotton T shirt. If I have to use Nova 3 than it is too far gone

I have the Eastwood L6700 large view " True Color" helmet. Decent quality and works great. Lightweight, 4 sensors, no flashes. The light blue tint is much clearer than my conventional green tint auto darkening helmet. On sale for US $65,00 right now. Mine was delivered to my doorstep for about $100,00 CDN.

I just upgraded to the Miller Digital Elite (Black) for $211 from Cyberweld. They're offering a $50 rebate at the moment so you're in $161 approx.

I've had the helmet for 2 weeks and so far so good. The clarity is good, nothing ground breaking in my opinion, and I've never tried the optrels that people claim are amazing. It darkens when I light up, so it works fine. I also had issues with my last helmet eating batteries. If this one does also, I will be disappointed, but if not I will be very happy.

I pretty much only TIG weld these days so I don't worry too much about spatter getting on my hood.

Good hunting.

bap_ wrote:I just upgraded to the Miller Digital Elite (Black) for $211 from Cyberweld. They're offering a $50 rebate at the moment so you're in $161 approx.

I've had the helmet for 2 weeks and so far so good. The clarity is good, nothing ground breaking in my opinion, and I've never tried the optrels that people claim are amazing. It darkens when I light up, so it works fine. I also had issues with my last helmet eating batteries. If this one does also, I will be disappointed, but if not I will be very happy.

I pretty much only TIG weld these days so I don't worry too much about spatter getting on my hood.

Good hunting.

That is a good score. I have a Panaramxx that I just use for tig.But being honest The eastwood lens is just as good as the Panaramaxx.But a few more bells and whistles does not justify the price of the Optrel.They got me again

That's really interesting to hear. Most people rave about Optrel. I suppose everyone's eyes are different. I was certainly looking at the new 2.0 hood, but it was 250 less for the miller. The extra 250 has already gone to an excellent cause of upgrading my small shops lighting above my bench, some clamps, level, 12ga extension cord, and I still have $130 to spare after as well. I've used the helmet everyday this week fabbing up a bunch of different things and really liking it.

One additional comment, the xmode seems to work a lot better if you are on hi-freq tig. If you are lighting up on low amp lift-arc or a non-hi freq mode, I recommend switching to the regular weld setting on the miller with the highest sensitivity you can before it is just always dark.