Welding Tips and Tricks

I was welding on my father in laws blade for the tractor with it hooked up to it. The easiest thing would have been to unhook it and flip it upside down, but this was a rush job that needed to get done as fast as possible so that meant overhead welding while in between the lift arms of the 3 point hitch. Long story short I was between the lift arms and the top link trying to weld something under the blade and couldn't flip my Miller Pro Hobby helmet down to start welding. Since it is an auto dark I flipped it down then climbed in the spot and welded it. Does anyone know of a good helmet to use in tight spaces especially outside?

How about the leather ones?

Or this

Dave,
Have you used the leather "helmets"? I was going to order one for easier transport over seas but figured it would be a little hot in South America!

To answer the question, I have a Huntsman 951P that I use for the tight spaces. I have a #10 passive lens. These helmets are not as wide as others thus allowing you to get your head in tight spaces. The last time I used it I was welding in a 10.5" wide space with no room to move my head.
-Jonathan

How about one of these? They are auto dark welding goggles with a separate face mask.
SERVORE ARC-513

I DESPISE a leather sock-hood.

I will not use them. I will tape a lens to my safety glasses and slather my face with SPF-45 first.

I AM going to take a closer look at Dave's post... That is something I could really use at work.

Steve S

Dave,

Do you have a link for those? I'll be looking in the meantime, but if you can hook me up with the source...

Thanks,

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:Dave,

Do you have a link for those? I'll be looking in the meantime, but if you can hook me up with the source...

Thanks,

Steve S

Here's their website but I noticed they are for sale on ebay and other places too now.

http://www.servore.com/en/en_pr_arc513.asp

Dave,
Those are awesome! I don't get into enough tight confines with my face to justify one but I love collecting helmets
-Jonathan

Thanks, Dave,

I think that's the site I found... I immediately shared it with the boss via email... Our new masters are going to force us to wear hardhats (impractical in many of the tight spaces we work) with welding hoods attached by traditional hardhat headgear... Damn near impossible for many of my welds. This design would be a great compromise.

I'll tell them tomorrow that they're available on e-bay.

Thanks for sharing it! I hope it gets adopted here.

Steve S

No problem Steve and Jonathan, seems they would be nearly ideal in tight spots in one of the configurations.

For myself it's a toss up between all the balaclava style masks and the hard mask. Definitely something I will eventually get.

Can I get it with a Burkha, just to piss off the hadjiis?



(Oh, I'm SOOO going to hell for that...)

Thanks for all the replies! I am particularly fond of the blue jean ones. I got a few old pair I could use. I just know when you are in a space that is so tight that you have a mirror taped to the toe of your boot and that boot is slid on the toe of your other boot to get it in position and you are holding your self up with one hand it is hard to fit a regular helmet in a tight space. I was welding a pin on the tractor for a stabilizer bar so I was between the lift arms of the 3 point hitch welding under the finder of the tractor. It was tight.

Otto Nobedder wrote:Can I get it with a Burkha, just to piss off the hadjiis?



(Oh, I'm SOOO going to hell for that...)

Hahaha!!

As a cheap compromise to the Ironman lookin thing above (its cool but probably $$$) Flip up torch goggles with a shade ten instead of the five work good. A bandanna around the face and a welding cap = good to go. Steve don't tell you management but it works with a hard hat too. If you tell them you may not get the cool Ironman gear.

Arizona SA200 wrote:As a cheap compromise to the Ironman lookin thing above (its cool but probably $$$) Flip up torch goggles with a shade ten instead of the five work good. A bandanna around the face and a welding cap = good to go.

I never thought about that. I have an old set of goggles I threw in the bottom of my tool box when I got my miller 5 shade glasses and I have an extra 10 shade lens out of my back up helmet. I might give that a shot.

Matt,
Could an "auto-darkening" helmet not work in that tight place??

~John

It works bro. I wear a pancake hood as often as i am allowed to so this is comfort for me.

It worked just fine I just found myself turning the sensitivity down to where it would stay light so I could get into place and then it was too low to kick on when I was welding. I just had to twist some more which made it more difficult looking back at the project.

I hate to sound like a "salesman", but I bought this helmet about three months ago...
And have used it a lot, and the sensors work awesome, and the lens is perfect for all "3" process's....
$00.2,
~John

Darn it, Dave... I'm a gadget junkie, and those are just too cool. Or contrarian. Or something... Riddick, anyone?

http://arc513.com/ It looks like the base goggles are going for around $200.

RichardH wrote:Darn it, Dave... I'm a gadget junkie, and those are just too cool. Or contrarian. Or something... Riddick, anyone?

I'm happy to help spend other people's money

Riddick movies are pretty good