Welding Tips and Tricks

Is it possible?
I'm wanting to see it but my hoods need something more than the sun to activate consistently

Arrange to weld something overhead during the eclipse?

I'll have to see if my auto-dark will do the job. Supposedly shade 14 is the way to go.

What kind of helmet

If you have a sensitivity adjustment if you turn it to high would that not do it? In a full eclipse area probably not but maybe in a partial

Auto darkening helmets are designed to allow outdoor welding, so they have some kind of bandpass filter that's looking for some part of the sun's spectrum so they don't get dark. So it might be tricky to get it to stay dark. I've found they're really sensitive to flourescent light, so if you had one of those small battery powered flourescent lights that people use to read books in bed, you could hold that up to the lens and that should darken it. You could experiment with LED and CFL lights to see if they would trigger it.

Also, you can use a shade as low as 12, 14 is supposedly going to be too dark to see anything. Here is a quote from NASA's page on eclipse safety:
"The only ones that are safe for direct viewing of the Sun with your eyes are those of Shade 12 or higher. These are much darker than the filters used for most kinds of welding. If you have an old welder's helmet around the house and are thinking of using it to view the Sun, make sure you know the filter's shade number. If it's less than 12 (and it probably is), don't even think about using it to look at the Sun. Many people find the Sun too bright even in a Shade 12 filter, and some find the Sun too dim in a Shade 14 filter — but Shade 13 filters are uncommon and can be hard to find. "

Thanks for all the replys. My hood is one of the harbor freights. I'm gonna have to experiment with those lights but I did find out that pointing a remote with a button depressed works. One of my hoods just blinks but my harbor freight stays on with the remote. And that nasa tidbit is good to know. I hope everyone makes time to see the eclipse

I just responded, it didn't work.

I used Lincoln Innershield .045" in a Millermatic 252 last night. The product burns deep like 6011. I believe it is considered to be low hydrogen if wire is properly stored. It runs vertical with incredible ease, and lays down a lot of filler in a big hurry.

My project involved filling 16 cubic inches of joint in (I'll estimate) 1 hour of trigger time. The 252 handles the load fine. On demand fan comes on, runs continuously while welding, and shuts off a few minutes after stopping. I fused all the head components together in my stock M25 gun, so I bought a 400 amp Bernard gun for Dualshield.

You need the gun, knurled rollers, roller wire guide, and .045 either Dualshield from ESAB or Lincoln's Innershield, Or is it outer shield?

Willie