What welding hood do you have

ja_cain · Dec 4, 2014

I actually use my cheap northern tool one at home with my wire feeder as I don't care what happens to it and it gets beat up. It actually does good for everything except low amperage tig.

The speed glass one is nice with the respirator setup. It really is a nice comfortable hood. For my head anyway.

Do you do any sub 20 amp tig welds?

psduser1 · Dec 5, 2014

Jacain, I've done a little sub 20 amp welding on the bench. The speedglas is my go-to for that kind of thing, but that stuff is pretty rare for me.

kurtforkner · Dec 5, 2014

Pancake with silver filter 8 shade

Skill_Kills · Dec 5, 2014

I just have a cheap auto from northern right now, an ancient fixed shade on the wall for a backup. Probably picking up a miller digital next time i go on a welding supply binge lol

KYpatriot · Mar 9, 2015

Cheap auto from tractor supply. Works great, never flashed me.

IDIoit · Mar 9, 2015

ive had many many 100-200 dollar hoods.
screw em all.
GIVE ME A DARK FLIP FACE ANYDAY!

ja_cain · Mar 10, 2015

IDIoit said:
ive had many many 100-200 dollar hoods.
screw em all.
GIVE ME A DARK FLIP FACE ANYDAY!

No bueno for the cervical vertebrae if using one on a regular basis.

I'm pretty sure that auto darken hoods (especially the more expensive ones) protect you from the uv regardless of whether they dim or not. They just reduce the amount of visual light with the different shades. When you get flashed with one on, it's more of an inconvenience than anything else.

I'll say this again, I love my Optrel. That being said the cheaper hoods are fine for all processes except for tig and more specifically low amp tig. This is the only time my cheap Northern Tool hood was a little sketchy.

lincolnlocker · Mar 10, 2015

IDIoit said:
ive had many many 100-200 dollar hoods.
screw em all.
GIVE ME A DARK FLIP FACE ANYDAY!

yup. shade 10 if wearing dark safety glasses and shade 11 if wwearing clear safety glasses for me..

ja_cain said:
No bueno for the cervical vertebrae if using one on a regular basis.

I'm pretty sure that auto darken hoods (especially the more expensive ones) protect you from the uv regardless of whether they dim or not. They just reduce the amount of visual light with the different shades. When you get flashed with one on, it's more of an inconvenience than anything else.

I'll say this again, I love my Optrel. That being said the cheaper hoods are fine for all processes except for tig and more specifically low amp tig. This is the only time my cheap Northern Tool hood was a little sketchy.

dude, you over analyze chit way to much... i have a high dollar auto dark lensed hood but the funky positions i find myself welding in makes them useless to me..

live life full throttle

ja_cain · Mar 10, 2015

lincolnlocker said:
yup. shade 10 if wearing dark safety glasses and shade 11 if wwearing clear safety glasses for me..

dude, you over analyze chit way to much... i have a high dollar auto dark lensed hood but the funky positions i find myself welding in makes them useless to me..

live life full throttle

Lol You got that right. Neurotic/ocd behavior does run in my family. It kills my productivity sometimes too.

I have read so many of these hood threads, it makes my head hurt. I just feel like a blanket recommendation to wear a fixed shade hood if you are doing a lot of welding is a recipe for disaster in the long run. I realize they just don't work in some positions/situations but when they do they can be a useful tool and way more convenient. For really accurate positioning of arc starts there is no better solution in my opinion.

I couldn't imagine trying to flip that thing down in a tight area like welding airframes or something similar. There are some helmets that work off of high frequency detection or the emf generated by the arc too I think. A cool helmet wood be one that would darken with retina detection (blinking). They used this in cameras years ago.

Sorry for the useless blather.

IDIoit · Mar 10, 2015

ja_cain said:
No bueno for the cervical vertebrae if using one on a regular basis.

I'm pretty sure that auto darken hoods (especially the more expensive ones) protect you from the uv regardless of whether they dim or not. They just reduce the amount of visual light with the different shades. When you get flashed with one on, it's more of an inconvenience than anything else.

I'll say this again, I love my Optrel. That being said the cheaper hoods are fine for all processes except for tig and more specifically low amp tig. This is the only time my cheap Northern Tool hood was a little sketchy.

i tig and mig with mine.
im only a hobby welder, with 500 dollars in auto darkening hoods on my wall,
my 50 dollar horriable freight hood with a 10 in it does me just fine.
i can still eyeball 0.003" with one eye closed!

89 Stroker · Mar 10, 2015

id weld with my eyes closed before i used some harbor freight pile, but you get what u pay for, my auto speed glass iv had for 6 years still works great, cant imagine how many harbor freight hoods i would have gone through in that time...

ja_cain · Apr 4, 2015

Check these out. I predict some of you will think they are gay but figured I would post it up anyway. Not sure about welding with the full head cover but may be nice in boilers, other vessels and airframes where clearance is important.

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/welding_protection/head_face/goggles/weld-mask-auto-darkening/

Cyberweld has them for $190

lincolnlocker · Apr 4, 2015

ja_cain said:
Check these out. I predict some of you will think they are gay but figured I would post it up anyway. Not sure about welding with the full head cover but may be nice in boilers, other vessels and airframes where clearance is important.

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/welding_protection/head_face/goggles/weld-mask-auto-darkening/

Cyberweld has them for $190

you are correct! queer as BWarning... and thats bad!

.lol.. it would be kinda nice for crawling around inside a machine that needs worked on.

live life full throttle

equalizier · Apr 4, 2015

titanium 9400 wife got it for me for xmas it's a bad ass help and had no idea what they cost till i just looked holly freaking ****.i could've used that money for other stuff lol. you gotta love it when you got a good woman for sure.

B.Warning · Apr 4, 2015

*** off jake. I'm in need of a new helmet but it sure as hell wouldn't be that hot box. I had a Jackson but it crapped out on me. Probably end up buying a miller digital elite. I like the auto darkening/sun feature it has for welding outside in the field.

ja_cain · Apr 4, 2015

B.Warning said:
*** off jake. I'm in need of a new helmet but it sure as hell wouldn't be that hot box. I had a Jackson but it crapped out on me. Probably end up buying a miller digital elite. I like the auto darkening/sun feature it has for welding outside in the field.

Is that the one that senses the arc (em) instead of using the uv sensors?

lincolnlocker · Apr 4, 2015

B.Warning said:
*** off jake. I'm in need of a new helmet but it sure as hell wouldn't be that hot box. I had a Jackson but it crapped out on me. Probably end up buying a miller digital elite. I like the auto darkening/sun feature it has for welding outside in the field.

lmao. whats matter sweet cheeks? you dont need a hood. just let the guy you hire to weld do the welding.. no need for you to watch him....

live life full throttle