Welding Tips and Tricks

As a seasoned nooby (what is that?) I would like to post an observation: I spent my first year playing with my mig 135 from Northern. I did alot of projects with it and love welding. I then purchased a Miller 165 Diversion TIG welder. OMG im love it and my addiction to welding has only gotten more intense. I work as a PA in pediatric heart surgery for a living and dont plan to change that but i thought i'd add a little tip to the other noobys out there. When i bought my Miller i also got a helmet from them , a higher up model that cost about 250, the previous helmet i was using was a Northern auto darkening dealio for 50 bucks. I welded semi-blind with the Northern helmet when i Migged. I thought that was how it worked. But now with the good helmet i can actuall see my work while Migging. OMG! what a difference! My tip is: get a good helmet. It will make all the difference! Happy welding!

Hi there,
I am in a similar situation as you. Noob to welding for about 1 year or so now and also a hobby welding/fabricator building shop projects and yard art/sculpture/junk... I recently upgraded from the Northern $50 auto darkening helmet also to a Speedglas 9100xx and wow what a difference, also I added the diopter to the helmet, in my mid 40's now, and can see even better when TIG welding helps with MIG too. Here I work as cardiology nurse practitioner and have great respect for my PA friends in surgery whatever the specialty. After reading your post I had to say Hi. Good welding!
David

Hi Guys,

I have a question for david,,,,,,,,,,,,what is a diopter for the speedGlass helmet?? Out in the field I use my old jackson with the flip lens for general welding but back in the shop I use the auto-dark, wearing cheaters under both now,,,,,,,,,,I'm in my mid 50's and will try anything to see better, like I used to when I was younger welder with 20/20. I wish someone would come up with a system like you have on the digital cameras but for a welding helmet, something you can zoom in with,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, anybody know of anything like that out there???????

Mike S

Mount an easy pic on the inside of your helmet lol. J/K. I am wondering if I could use something like that I don't have a problem seeing just don't want to be drooping my neck to see what is going on. Maybe that would help me out. The weight of the helmet pull on my neck and causes head aches with me. Need to counter act that.

Raider,

Your cheater lens will have a "diopter" of +1.50 or +2.00, for example. Diopter is a term related to magnification power. I'd have to do a little research to give you an exact definition, but I believe he's using "diopter" to mean the same as you do when you say "cheater".

Steve

All right, according to Wikipedia, diopter (also sp. dioptre) as a measure of magnification equals the inverse of the focal length in meters (1/f). Diopter (apparently with this spelling only) can also mean a lens system.

It seems that "diopter" can be correctly used as a synonym for "cheater lens).

Steve