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There was a thread on one of the other boards about cheapy auto-dark welding hoods.

I took some one-on-one lessons from the Welding Director of a well known ATV factory.

TIP
Steve taught me to put a 100+ watt halogen shop light near the work piece and turn off the lights...

You will be able to see the working area without flipping hoods up and down -- eliminates questionable auto-dark helmets.

I normally keep the shop light about a foot from the work area with the ambient (ceiling) lights off.

Hopefully this will help some with the "flippy-hood-head" syndrome.

T.

MNAirHead wrote: Hopefully this will help some with the "flippy-hood-head" syndrome.

T.

wheni learned to weld the "flippy hood" was all there was...when the autodarkening helmets came out years ago i bought one..paid dang near 600 bucks for it at a local welding supply store...i still constantly "flipped" the helmet up and down...so money wasted..sold it and still have my old jackson...

It also seems that the auto-dark helmets don't have as heavy a tint as
a regular flip-down. With my auto-dark, I can see spots after welding. Not
so with the flip-down.

Seeing spots after welding????

Do you still use it?

My mom (doctor) said that the end effect of burned retinas is permanantely having blank spots (no sight) ... ie spots.

T.

In general, hard core wleders hate auto-dimming helmets. But trhey're great for beginners and hobbyists. Auto-dimmers takes a fraction of a second for it to darken, but that's still a fraction of a second that your eye sees the weld directly. So a full-time welder that wleds as a living will see that fraction of a second weld hubdreds of times a day will add up.

Generally when I use mine I close my eyes shut for a split second on initial weld spark. If you're a beginner the auto-dimming helmets are the best, I highly recommend it. But if you know what you're doing and don't really need it then you don't really need it...