Welding Tips and Tricks

hi guys sorry for the basic questions

right now i`m looking at two collet bodies 1/16 and 3/32 besides the orifice being 1/16 and 3/32 i see no difference between one and the other, it is ok to use a 1/16 collet on a 3/32 body? it fits, and grabs the tungsten well but... maybe there is something escaping my view. i`m asking just to know, as a trick to save the day in case a collet body gets cross-threaded (ask me how... )

the other question is if someone knows how can i test an auto darkening hood. here is the problem, the auto darkening is working like it has his own ideas, sometimes it darkens ok (most of the time), sometimes it darkens way way dark, the shade knob seems to have little to no effect, but what has made me stop using it is that a few days ago i finished a job and left the hood and my eyes weren`t right, like if i had been using a too clear lens don`t know if i`m explaining well, hope you get the idea.
at first thought it was my own impression but switched to a conventional hood with 11 shade and no problems after a day`s work... hate to think the hood is going to take the floatation test but seems to...
the offending item is an ESAB origo tech. i know pretty low end but that`s what my budget could afford at the time. it is now two years old i think. the local rep of esab couldn`t find a horse even if were riding it, in fact they suggested me to replace the batteries. the manual clearly states solar power - no batteries...

well, thanks a lot in advance for any help

glad to be here in the forum

regards

pete

This is only my opinion but I think the primary heat transfer from the tungsten to the copper mass of collet / body / torch happens at the collet body - so if this is not a good fit most of the heat will transfer to the collet itself & this will overheat & collapse so a good fit is important - the heat must go somewhere & as the torch dissipates it there must be a good thermal path between the tungsten & torch - not saying in an emergency you could'nt make do with anything that holds together to get the job done.

With the mask even solar masks usually have a battery inside ( small lithium jobby ) and without this they can act up - so if it goes bad the mask may not work properly - most nicer masks allow you to change this but some are not intended to - it's that inbuilt obsolescence thing that companies like - the other thing that affects their ability to work is how much metallic airborne dust gets in them over the years - they appear sealed but it still gets in - I had an early Speedglass mask ( fixed shade ) that went haywire so as it was old I thought I'd get another - but several mates had bought later variable shade models on my recommendation but all had problems - several were changed - but even these did'nt last - I'm not sure why - so I got a cheapo just to get by as I was doing more machine shop work than welding at the time - one day I decided to see what was inside the old speedglass and I not very carefully cut it apart with a box cutter where the two halves were joined at manufacture - to my surprise it was packed with grinding dust ( although I was always quite careful with it as it was my own ) to the point you could not make out the circuit board - I blew this off with an airline just to see it more clearly and it switched straight on! so I glued it back together & it's still working now many years later- it seems though you can have any make mask last years or just months - it's pot luck - the guy that I share my workshop with looks after his gear but has gone through any number in the time I've had that one - no make seems immune to problems even at the high end of pricing- it also seems to be a bit like microsoft - when companies launch something new avoid buying one too soon - let others rush in to spend their money & when they've had all the problems & told the firm what to fix then get one !

thanks man for your input. i will open the lens of my hood as right now is unusable and remove the battery if there is one (and in the process i`ll remove the foot off my mouth for giving the shaft to the esab rep he). i`ll post the findings.

regards
pete

@ penca

Be as careful as you can when opening the lense - their obviously intended to be sealed " for life" I hope you do find a battery & can change it - but I can't speak for your particular lense as I've not had that model - based on what I found a few of have tried 2 tricks before cutting them apart. - one is as the batteries get old & hold little charge if the hood is left in an area of limited light the solar panel will not charge it & so the battery soon goes flat - so try leaving it face up in bright sun outside for a day or under the strongest light source you have ( halogen spotlight / horticultural grow light ) this can get enough charge back in the battery to work the hood for some time - I know guys that hang their hoods in a metal locker with other personal items when not in use & these have showed up the problem - the other trick we tried is to remove the rear protective cover place the strongest magnet you can find at one side of the cover slot then get a blow gun & blast compressed air at the highest pressure you can achieve the other side - hopefully moving some of the metallic dust inside where it will travel to & get captured by the magnet.
Hope some of this helps - interested to hear your results.

following advice from noddybrian i took the angle grinder an went for it ... HA!

ok, so after a procedure a neurosurgeon would be proud of these are the findings ok max file reached to next post

and...

the batteries are spot welded, i`ll take the lens to the batt store hopefully sometime next week and we`ll see

i`ll update soon

regards

pete

Happy to see you got into it without alot of damage and not much dust inside - I think what Esab meant is there are no user changeable batteries in the sense that most people will not cut apart a lens to get to them - what I don't understand is why a mainstream reputable manufacturer would do this - but then again I've seen what looks like that exact same lense sold here with any number of make stickers on - but it's Chinese & retails here for around £30 - they actually work OK as entry level hoods but all suffer with battery issues - life depends alot on how much light they get inbetween being used.
Most of the batteries used in these will be lithium & if no numbers are present that make sense just measure them - that's in metric !! ( sorry America ) diameter first then thickness - a common one being 2032 - meaning 20mm diameter and 3.2mm thickness - only difference between these & regular ones used in remotes etc is the connecting strip fixed to the battery- don't try soldering regular ones - the heat pretty much destroys them - you will need to look at an electronics supplier such as "Maplin" / "Radio Spares / Shack " / or on good old Ebay - just add the word " Tagged" after the size you require.
Good luck with fixing it.

hi guys, just wanted to thank all who sent their replies and show how it all ended

looked for the parts to fix this right away but haven`t had the time to do it. long weekend, holidays and all, suddenly have some time and gave it a shot

i couldn`t find the batteries with the tab welded so instead of ruining the batts trying to weld some piece of wire, bought the sockets and well the rest you`ll see in the pics.

it`s working like before but now i have other problem bc the lens is shading like tiger stripes... well this pos is my farewell to esab, not that i think they care but anyways...

regards

pete

sorry the crappy pics are from my phone...

I like your power solution - never seen those battery holders before - an elegant solution allowing future replacement - I'm sorry to hear of this striping effect - never come across that before so can't offer any advise - usually just a battery change returns the lens to full working order - guess you'll not be going to Esab for another one ! - but at least it proves the point when shopping for a hood - make sure the batteries are accessible .

noddybrian wrote:I like your power solution - never seen those battery holders before - an elegant solution allowing future replacement - I'm sorry to hear of this striping effect - never come across that before so can't offer any advise - usually just a battery change returns the lens to full working order - guess you'll not be going to Esab for another one ! - but at least it proves the point when shopping for a hood - make sure the batteries are accessible .

If you look closely they are the tops of bottle caps ...

Tiger-stripe...

Meaning equal bands of dark/not dark?

You've dropped half the power, somehow. Possibly smoked half the output by not following static-control protocol, or possibly in your new power supply. Confirm at the solder joints at the board that both batteries are connected. Depending on the circuit, an "open" at one battery can cause this.

This may not be the case, but with the time you have invested, I'd think it worth a look.

Clever idea for the battery holders, BTW!

Steve S

hi guys thanks again for the suggestions, now i`m just laughing at this deal bc in no planet of the solar system the time i`ve invested fixing this pos would make sense but anyways i`m following bc i`m just a cheap stubborn sob, hahaha. and bc i want to know a lot of things i don`t... auto darkening lenses among of them..

thanks noddy for noticing the batt holders haha i did catch the irony ... like ranger said they are tops of bottles (gatorade) my nephew gave me (he drinks that, me only the occasional beer but that caps won`t work for this)
steve, i did a recheck of all connections and followed procedure (static grounding, low heat, etc.), checked also power and i`m at 2.9v (each side) which think is ok.
so.. today i had the time to go to my ws for some consumables and looking for answers and got the most possible solution, for what i now know, an auto darkening filter is some sort fo lcd, apparently whenever i`ve cleaned the lens i exerted too much pressure on the filter and bc of that i disrupted the liquid crystals or moved someting inside the filter layers (sort of like when you press too hard a computer screen) the striping i see is not like there are stripes of clear and stripes of dark but different shades of dark. according to a local ws he has seen this problem with these filters (esab branded chinese made whatever)
so now i know why but i`m still unsure if this is fixable, if anything fails i will try to squeeze the filter and see what happens, like i said it is now just for the fun of it. i`m not sure if i will eventually use again this unit bc i`ve lost my faith in it
i only see from my right eye and love that piece of equipment very much, believe me it is really difficult to be a good welder (not that i think i am) seeing only from one eye, not seeing at all i guess would be harder.... i wasn`t sure on the idea of an auto darkening lens but tried bc of the reviews of my ws...
i ranted on and on bc i don`t like to spend my money in crap, this helmet for a couple years worked well (averaging 4-5 hours a day of stick welding) was the top of the line my ws carried at the time (no optrel, speedglass, jackson or anything really good) it came branded with esab and i own a couple machines from them so i know (or at least is my perception) of their quality.
like i said i`ll try some things and if some of them work i`ll post the findings
thanks again,
it is really nice to be in this forum
regards
pete

penca wrote:hi guys thanks again for the suggestions, now i`m just laughing at this deal bc in no planet of the solar system the time i`ve invested fixing this pos would make sense but anyways i`m following bc i`m just a cheap stubborn sob, hahaha. and bc i want to know a lot of things i don`t... auto darkening lenses among of them..

thanks noddy for noticing the batt holders haha i did catch the irony ... like ranger said they are tops of bottles (gatorade) my nephew gave me (he drinks that, me only the occasional beer but that caps won`t work for this)
steve, i did a recheck of all connections and followed procedure (static grounding, low heat, etc.), checked also power and i`m at 2.9v (each side) which think is ok.
so.. today i had the time to go to my ws for some consumables and looking for answers and got the most possible solution, for what i now know, an auto darkening filter is some sort fo lcd, apparently whenever i`ve cleaned the lens i exerted too much pressure on the filter and bc of that i disrupted the liquid crystals or moved someting inside the filter layers (sort of like when you press too hard a computer screen) the striping i see is not like there are stripes of clear and stripes of dark but different shades of dark. according to a local ws he has seen this problem with these filters (esab branded chinese made whatever)
so now i know why but i`m still unsure if this is fixable, if anything fails i will try to squeeze the filter and see what happens, like i said it is now just for the fun of it. i`m not sure if i will eventually use again this unit bc i`ve lost my faith in it
i only see from my right eye and love that piece of equipment very much, believe me it is really difficult to be a good welder (not that i think i am) seeing only from one eye, not seeing at all i guess would be harder.... i wasn`t sure on the idea of an auto darkening lens but tried bc of the reviews of my ws...
i ranted on and on bc i don`t like to spend my money in crap, this helmet for a couple years worked well (averaging 4-5 hours a day of stick welding) was the top of the line my ws carried at the time (no optrel, speedglass, jackson or anything really good) it came branded with esab and i own a couple machines from them so i know (or at least is my perception) of their quality.
like i said i`ll try some things and if some of them work i`ll post the findings
thanks again,
it is really nice to be in this forum
regards
pete

If you can't get it fixed you could always do what I did ...
I bought a used speedglas welding helmet but one of the sensor came loose and when I tried to repair it ... I didn't know that both sides of the plastic was glued to the glass and when I tried seperate them I broke one the lenses which really pissed me off because the replacement lenses is like $200 bucks or so .. So i just glue a fixed shade lens in it's place till I can afford a replacement lens or a new helmet ...

Here are before


After

I would put a fixed lens in until you can afford a new helmet, and get the best you can. In my mind its the most important piece of equipment you can buy. Don't skimp on a helmet your eye sight will thank you

Hi. You may have slightly bent the lens when removing the batteries which can cause the internal liquid crystal (if that's what it is) to crack so producing strips.
Interesting as I have exactly the same helmet and esab also said not batteries only solar powered from the front panel. So basically it is a throw away helmet.