[TraditionalToolworks]

Come to the USA buy it, and drive back while wearing it in the car. If they say anything at the border, say it's a driving helmet for safety.

This seems like a good segue to post a pic of Jonathan Lewis (Superior Welding & Fab and WTAT podcast fame) which he posted of his FabTech 19 roadtrip...on InstaGram.

As you can see, his wife is more than thrilled to be riding with him...

[BugHunter]

I got tired of electronic helmets and went back to a passive helmet with lenses from Phillips safety. Not to be a commercial for them but I have to say they have a filter that works miracles removing the arc from the sight picture. They are very proud of that filter and charged accordingly. But I pick up my helmet, I never have to screw around with batteries or get flashed and everything simply works. I love it. I would put it up against any helmet on the market for Sight picture alone.

[DavidR8]

Holy smokes, those Phillips lenses are expensive!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Spartan]

I got tired of electronic helmets and went back to a passive helmet with lenses from Phillips safety. Not to be a commercial for them but I have to say they have a filter that works miracles removing the arc from the sight picture. They are very proud of that filter and charged accordingly. But I pick up my helmet, I never have to screw around with batteries or get flashed and everything simply works. I love it. I would put it up against any helmet on the market for Sight picture alone.

Hmmm. I dunno. I like being able to see the arc. It's a great indicator of what's happening, but perhaps more importantly what's about to happen. But that lens may be the greatest thing ever. Guess I'd have to try it out before judging it.

[BugHunter]

Holy smokes, those Phillips lenses are expensive!

They're really nice lenses, and they know it.

Hmmm. I dunno. I like being able to see the arc. It's a great indicator of what's happening, but perhaps more importantly what's about to happen. But that lens may be the greatest thing ever. Guess I'd have to try it out before judging it.

Well, what we'd call "seeing the arc" I'd say is a bit subjective. For instance, I had a person pm about these lenses, and I mentioned that in this helmet, I can see the plasma cone just as plain as day while I hold an arc. It's in color, a beautiful blue cone-shaped haze emitted from the nozzle. Stuff I have never seen in other helmets. The actual arc itself, it's still visible, but in most helmets it's damn near the only thing you can see because it's so bright (relative to everything else). Using that Phillips filter, the majority of that light wavelength is removed, and it's so clear I can actually see if there's contamination on the tungsten while I'm welding. That's using a Furic cup which is about all I use now.

Those filters can be put into an auto-dimming helmet if you can get a size to fit and if they left enough room in the mount to add an additional lens (thickness). I bought a spare of the Super Magenta filters to do just that, but my Hobart Pro helmet won't allow it to fit, so it sits on the shelf like many other things. I've wanted to pick up an additional helmet that'll use a 2x4 lens so I can set that up for darker shade work when I do higher amp work. But I do it so seldom above 150A I just haven't bothered.

It took me about 10 seconds with one of these a friend brought to let me try, till I decided I was buying one. Funny story, he works for a pharma company and his company bought it. I asked, "how much was that helmet?" and he replied, oh, around $75. I thought, wow, I'ma gonna buy a half dozen of them! Yea... The HELMET was $75... Lenses? Uh, they were more'n $75

[choppaholic76]

I have a Miller digital Elite helmet, for the life of me I can’t find a setting where I can see what I am welding. All I can see is the arc, I can’t see the two pieces I’m welding, can’t see the puddle it’s a struggle. I’ve tried getting as close as possible, changing the setting and getting a cheater lense and still am having trouble. Any help would be awesome! Thanks!

[Jeff2016]

Hi Dave,

That sounds like great hood.
I think price maybe very high.

Maybe we can get lucky and there is app just use a cell phone.

Dave

Hi,

I could be mistaken; but, one of the YouTube makers recently closed out one of his videos talking about his welding hood's capability for variable zoom. I've searched about a little but couldn't find anything in advertisements for new hoods.

I need to go back and look for that video again. In the meantime, I saw this thread and thought that I would mention it.

Besides lack of coordination, my eyesight is my limiting factor when welding.

Jeff

I must be losing my mind. I can't find the reference in any of videos. It was just a quick reference, and there was a quick shot of the inside of the hood looking at the lens. I'll continue looking... maybe I made it up in my head. lol

Jeff

[TraditionalToolworks]

I have a Miller digital Elite helmet, for the life of me I can’t find a setting where I can see what I am welding. All I can see is the arc, I can’t see the two pieces I’m welding, can’t see the puddle it’s a struggle. I’ve tried getting as close as possible, changing the setting and getting a cheater lense and still am having trouble. Any help would be awesome! Thanks!

Have you tried X-mode?

[v5cvbb]

I have a Miller digital Elite helmet, for the life of me I can’t find a setting where I can see what I am welding. All I can see is the arc, I can’t see the two pieces I’m welding, can’t see the puddle it’s a struggle. I’ve tried getting as close as possible, changing the setting and getting a cheater lense and still am having trouble. Any help would be awesome! Thanks!

If it's that dark and you can't reduce the shade it's either defective or needs batteries. I'm not familiar with the hood so maybe someone that is will drop by.

[TraditionalToolworks]

If it's that dark and you can't reduce the shade it's either defective or needs batteries. I'm not familiar with the hood so maybe someone that is will drop by.

I use that hood and use it in X-mode, which is why I responded to ask him.

[BugHunter]

I have a Miller digital Elite helmet, for the life of me I can’t find a setting where I can see what I am welding. All I can see is the arc, I can’t see the two pieces I’m welding, can’t see the puddle it’s a struggle. I’ve tried getting as close as possible, changing the setting and getting a cheater lense and still am having trouble. Any help would be awesome! Thanks!

This is precisely why I use the lenses from Phillips Safety... Yea yea, I know, they're expensive.. but no offense guys, they're less money than the helmet this guy is using, and with them, you can actually see.

They filter out the wavelength of light produced by the arc. No, there's no way to filter it out 100%, so there's no reason to care about not 'seeing the arc'. You can see the effects of the arc, and that's what matters. Once that arc is removed from the sight picture, it's just amazing how much more you can see in the periphery of the weld area.

Choppaholic, For $75, you can get a 2x4 super-magenta lens, stick it in your current helmet, and try it out. Just turn down the helmet to somewhere between 7 and 8, and you're on your way. I use a 6 shade in mine, so 7.5 effective with the SM lens.

[choppaholic76]

Thanks a lot for all the tips! I appreciate them, I’ll keep you posted.

[TraditionalToolworks]

Thanks a lot for all the tips! I appreciate them, I’ll keep you posted.

chop,

First thing you should make sure your batteries are good. The Miller Digital Elite has 2 x 2450 batteries in it. You can take them out and test them with a multimeter, 3v each. I just replaced mine recently, the originals were Panasonic batteries from Indonesia. I got some Energizer at my local Wallgreens. Open the front, remove the lens, take the bezel off and replace the 2 batteries if they need it. You can only put the batteries in one way, and the lens will only fit in one way also. Good to open it up and clean everything, IMO, periodically.

If they are low you will see the low battery light (red) to the bottom right of the viewing screen.

Do you see the digital numbers turn on when you press the on button?

I set my helmet on X-mode, 10 shade with 8 or 9 sensitivity. I use a 0 delay.

[BillE.Dee]

folks, I'm there with the old eye problems. I've changed hoods and do find that the vision is better with a more expensive hood and lowering the adjustment for darkness is helping a lot. Without doubt my eyes do get a lot more tired as the day goes on. Waiting for eye appointment to get some new lookers and hopefully that will also help. Trying to keep expenses down as I want to retire...again. Be sure to take care of your eyes, you only get one set. there's my penny's worth, hope it helps.
gramps

[BugHunter]

folks, I'm there with the old eye problems. I've changed hoods and do find that the vision is better with a more expensive hood and lowering the adjustment for darkness is helping a lot. Without doubt my eyes do get a lot more tired as the day goes on. Waiting for eye appointment to get some new lookers and hopefully that will also help. Trying to keep expenses down as I want to retire...again. Be sure to take care of your eyes, you only get one set. there's my penny's worth, hope it helps.
gramps

BillEDee, someday when you want to try a nice helmet, take a road trip and stop in. You can also take a test drive on a Dynasty at the same time. I only have a 1.50 cheater in mine, but if you've got a cheater lens bring it along.

[smithdoor]

I always was thinking working steel was retirement.
You try like old time cameraman did with old camera use a black trap over your hood and head.
I do this trick when sun is behind me.

Dave

folks, I'm there with the old eye problems. I've changed hoods and do find that the vision is better with a more expensive hood and lowering the adjustment for darkness is helping a lot. Without doubt my eyes do get a lot more tired as the day goes on. Waiting for eye appointment to get some new lookers and hopefully that will also help. Trying to keep expenses down as I want to retire...again. Be sure to take care of your eyes, you only get one set. there's my penny's worth, hope it helps.
gramps

[DavidR8]

I know the apparent gold standard is the Optrel Crystal 2.0 but I wonder if anyone has experience with the Blue Demon 9300 or Blue Demon Pano?

[Jeff2016]

Hi Again Everyone,

Hi,

I could be mistaken; but, one of the YouTube makers recently closed out one of his videos talking about his welding hood's capability for variable zoom. I've searched about a little but couldn't find anything in advertisements for new hoods.

I need to go back and look for that video again. In the meantime, I saw this thread and thought that I would mention it.

Besides lack of coordination, my eyesight is my limiting factor when welding.

Jeff

I thought I lost my mind when I couldn't find the reference to the helmet with the adjustable zoom.

I'm attaching a screen shot from the YouTube video that apparently shows the inside of the author's helmet. In the video he talks about his helmet "with a 10-times digital zoom function". I sure haven't found a helmet with this feature, though while searching. The reference is at the 6:36 mark on the video. The video is by This Old Tony (TOT) and the name of the video is "Welding Straight is Hard to Do".

This is a link to the video, although this is first time I have to post a link here, so I'm not sure that it will work correctly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svHI9nmV5nw

Just wondering if anyone has seen something similar.

Thanks,

Jeff

[DavidR8]

Hi Again Everyone,

Hi,

I could be mistaken; but, one of the YouTube makers recently closed out one of his videos talking about his welding hood's capability for variable zoom. I've searched about a little but couldn't find anything in advertisements for new hoods.

I need to go back and look for that video again. In the meantime, I saw this thread and thought that I would mention it.

Besides lack of coordination, my eyesight is my limiting factor when welding.

Jeff

I thought I lost my mind when I couldn't find the reference to the helmet with the adjustable zoom.

I'm attaching a screen shot from the YouTube video that apparently shows the inside of the author's helmet. In the video he talks about his helmet "with a 10-times digital zoom function". I sure haven't found a helmet with this feature, though while searching. The reference is at the 6:36 mark on the video. The video is by This Old Tony (TOT) and the name of the video is "Welding Straight is Hard to Do".

This is a link to the video, although this is first time I have to post a link here, so I'm not sure that it will work correctly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svHI9nmV5nw

Just wondering if anyone has seen something similar.

Thanks,

Jeff

I can almost guarantee that no helmet exists with variable zoom. This Old Tony is a master of video effects and editing. He has in all likelihood superimposed a zoom-like overlay onto an arc shot.

[DavidR8]

Deleted

[LtBadd]

I can almost guarantee that no helmet exists with variable zoom. This Old Tony is a master of video effects and editing. He has in all likelihood superimposed a zoom-like overlay onto an arc shot.

Yea, ToT does some funny stuff, over the top but very enjoyable

[Jeff2016]

Hi,

For those of you with the 3M Speedglas 9100xxi helmets, can you share your experience with the shade setting?

For older eyes, which setting makes it easier to see the puddle for welding between 100 and 160 A? I presently have mine set to 11. Would the puddle be more visible at 10 (less shading) or 12 (more shading)?

And on a separate topic, will a bright LED task light help see the puddle, or will the arc from the torch affect the vision more?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeff

[Spartan]

Hi,

For those of you with the 3M Speedglas 9100xxi helmets, can you share your experience with the shade setting?

For older eyes, which setting makes it easier to see the puddle for welding between 100 and 160 A? I presently have mine set to 11. Would the puddle be more visible at 10 (less shading) or 12 (more shading)?

And on a separate topic, will a bright LED task light help see the puddle, or will the arc from the torch affect the vision more?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeff

I'm usually at a 9 or 10 when welding at those amperages. But each process is different. Set the shade just high enough so you don't see spots where the arc was after welding.

[v5cvbb]

Like Spartan, I'm in the 9-10 range there. I go light enough that I can see where I'm headed, without being bright enough to bother me. Seeing spots afterwards is probably a good metric of judging too much light getting through.

Modern quality helmets filter IR and UV in separate layers for safety. The LCD panel mainly just blocks visible light to suit your needs.

Also, the bright task lighting can help illuminate the area around the weld puddle, which I find helpful at times.

[robtg]

Seems so simple. Just try different settings and see what works for you.