Welding Tips and Tricks

I have a miller classic auto darkening helmet. Even though I have reduced the shading A LOT, I still can't clearly see when I weld. And I don't want to further reduce the shading adjustment. My eyesight isn't really the issue because when I weld stick, this issue doesn't happen. Is it safe to reduce the shading even more than I already did?

Can you be specific about the weld process, amperage and shade # the hood is set at.

This is the same hood that you use to stick weld successfully?

Yes I'm using the same helmet. It's as if the plasma doesn't light up the surroundings as much as in stick welding.

taydin wrote:Yes I'm using the same helmet. It's as if the plasma doesn't light up the surroundings as much as in stick welding.

The shade grades are all standard according to specification. I weld TIG at 8 and stick and MIG at 11.

If those shades aren't letting you see it is for one of two reasons I believe: one the helmet is broken, you'll need to get a new one, two you expect to see a lot more of the area than you really need to see. When welding with TIG you want to have a slight push angle that allows you to see the puddle, then you line up the filler rod at about a 90 degree to the torch. This should allow you to see the weld puddle and go down the line.

taydin wrote: Is it safe to reduce the shading even more than I already did?

Safety is not a problem. Even if it does not dim then the lenses in the helmet will block all harmful UV radiation.

It will at some point make you feel uncomfortable and the brightness can/will give you afterimages or headaches if too bright though.

Thing to consider is that especially with TIG the amount of amps directly influences the brightness of the arc, so if you weld at low power levels you may need to drop down a few shade levels to keep seeing it all OK.

The latest whiz-bang helmets can now auto-adjust this as well so to you your vision automatically looks the same at low and high amps.

Bye, Arno.

Are you welding in the same area of your shop when tig welding? Are you getting light in the back of your hood? That will make your weld look dark.