Welding Tips and Tricks

Just a heads up that the sound goes out before the video is over. I tried to fix and reload but my Mac had very different ideas last night. What I said was basically..."what kind of helmet to you use? and do you have any tips for seeing the puddle better?"

best,
Jody
xB42War0wnA

I like my Miller digital elite. My best tip for seeing the puddle better is use good ambient lighting and keep a fresh outer lens on the helmet.

My son and I, both use the Miller Digital Elite Helmet

This reply might be too simple, but the biggest obstacle I had to overcome was teaching my eyes to see detail beyond the light and dark contrast. It took some time to do this. In terms of equipment, the auto-darkening lenses seem to transfer less color variation than a traditional filter. That matters more with GTAW.
Being a scrounger I rescued my heavy pipe hood out of a scrap bin. I use a #10 filter and replace the clear plates frequently.

I use an older Miller Elite (not digital) - definitely the best AD hood I've had to date.

But it's still not quite as clear as the old fixed shade I use on occasion.

MinnesotaDave wrote:I use an older Miller Elite (not digital) - definitely the best AD hood I've had to date.

But it's still not quite as clear as the old fixed shade I use on occasion.

I use one right now, but not impressed with it.

gamble wrote:

MinnesotaDave wrote:I use an older Miller Elite (not digital) - definitely the best AD hood I've had to date.

But it's still not quite as clear as the old fixed shade I use on occasion.

I use one right now, but not impressed with it.

I'm not sure why, but I've never used an AD hood that matches the visual quality of my fixed shade with $9 lens in it.

Never really noticed that it mattered until I started wearing bifocals - now the difference is quite noticeable.

An AD hood is sure handy though I use it most of the time.

Some good info Jody. I have been using a Miller (solar) XLix helmet and when I got my Dyansty 200DX, I started having issues with flashing. You were spot-on with the DC TIG... I don't have any issues with my MIG, however I haven't used it with my new MM350P.

Tough choice, I really like the auto lens, but the Gold manual lens is much clearer .... more high-def, so to speak.

I have a ArcOne Vision coming with the IDF81 lens .... anxious to see how it performs

Just saw the helmet video- I predict a spike in sales of Lincoln's "Viking" model!

The only time I make a real recommendation on a hood is to the fellow 10% of the population that like me, is also color blind. Yes we still see colors but differently and some colors look the same or don't stand out. There are plenty of apps on android store to simulate various colorblindness. In this situation I highly recommend the Jackson Balder series as the best contrast and view of the weld puddle. Others hoods I have owned or used include: Jackson Truesight ws60, Miller elite, older Jackson auto hood, various fixed shade, harbor freight auto dark, and recently tried a fixed gold lens with TIG. For me with red green color blindness the difference with the Balder vs any other is tremendous. The ws60 would be second with its amber tint to the lens

soutthpaw wrote:The only time I make a real recommendation on a hood is to the fellow 10% of the population that like me, is also color blind. Yes we still see colors but differently and some colors look the same or don't stand out. There are plenty of apps on android store to simulate various colorblindness. In this situation I highly recommend the Jackson Balder series as the best contrast and view of the weld puddle. Others hoods I have owned or used include: Jackson Truesight ws60, Miller elite, older Jackson auto hood, various fixed shade, harbor freight auto dark, and recently tried a fixed gold lens with TIG. For me with red green color blindness the difference with the Balder vs any other is tremendous. The ws60 would be second with its amber tint to the lens

I'm anxious for the technology to advance to the point where one of the knobs/dials/buttons on an AD selects COLOR!

Steve S

I think a real time color filtration system would be pricey, as it would almost have to be after the AD lens so it could discern color. It would be cool though

Otto Nobedder wrote:

soutthpaw wrote:The only time I make a real recommendation on a hood is to the fellow 10% of the population that like me, is also color blind. Yes we still see colors but differently and some colors look the same or don't stand out. There are plenty of apps on android store to simulate various colorblindness. In this situation I highly recommend the Jackson Balder series as the best contrast and view of the weld puddle. Others hoods I have owned or used include: Jackson Truesight ws60, Miller elite, older Jackson auto hood, various fixed shade, harbor freight auto dark, and recently tried a fixed gold lens with TIG. For me with red green color blindness the difference with the Balder vs any other is tremendous. The ws60 would be second with its amber tint to the lens

I'm anxious for the technology to advance to the point where one of the knobs/dials/buttons on an AD selects COLOR!

Steve S

You mean you haven't heard?
-Jonathan

About the bird?

GreinTime wrote:About the bird?

I thought everyone had heard
http://youtu.be/2WNrx2jq184

Nicely done


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've only ever welded with a Jackson fixed shade and a HF AD helmet, but I think I'm going to pick up one of the new SavePhace helmets.

I wonder if there is any benefit in testing some color filters with the welding hood. Lee Filters has hundreds of filter colors, used in the film Lighting industry

I have a miller that I love but man I would love one of these!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygcm0AQXX9k
ygcm0AQXX9k

LUKE....

I AM YOUR FATHER!

My hood is the Miller 9400i. It was pricey but my wife got it, a tips and tricks t-shirt and a tig finger for my birthday. I wear it for hours and it doesn't bother me but i'm use to wearing a fire helmet for hours. I like that I can weld then lift the shade lense and grind with the grinding shield then flip the shade lense back down. You can set the sensativity to adjust for the sun if your outside. I did have to tighten the side lugs pretty tight to get the shade lense to stay up but I think it's wearing in now and flipping the shade lense up and down is working good. If it had an American Flag painted over the whole thing that would of been awesome

Ron66 wrote:I have a miller that I love but man I would love one of these!

IMHO, like auto-darkening helmets, this kind of augmented reality or modified reality helmets will probably be getting usable/viable in a decade or so with ongoing improvements in head mounted displays (eg. Oculus Rift), tiny camera's and big CPU/GPU power for live processing of the data.

I suspect they won't replace 'old school' helmets (cost will be one factor!), but I can see very good applications in various production environments where the added clarity/vision of the workpiece and weld is beneficial (and you can zoom in as much as you like! ).

Also, you can add other data like IR/temperature measurements so you could overlay temperature data/feedback when welding temperature sensitive materials like titanium.

Very nice development. Will be interesting to see where it leads to.

Bye, Arno.

Jody,

I posted this observation in the video section, but perhaps it is more relevant to the welding hood discussion.

The clarity and definition of the arc and puddle on this series videos is impressive. What is the nature of the "lens" through which the video is recorded?
I will be buying an AD hood and was hoping to get somewhat close to that clarity. [Current preference is for the HTP Striker Stealth CSV]