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Welding helmet.......

Towpack

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Any recommendations for a good reasonably priced reactive welding helmet. Lots for sale on Ebay from around £15 but how good are they?
 
I like to read reviews of what your actually buying so screwfix and toolstation give me a benchmark of £35 . A no quibble returns policy makes selling rubbish pointless .
 
Generally auto darkening helmets have a four point rating. The best you can get is a 1.1.1.1 and the worst a 3.3.3 .3 The numbers relate to things like optical clarity. There is a world of difference between the top and bottom screens. One of the most important things that you need when welding is to be able to see what you're doing! A cheap helmet is a false economy like most things. I bought an ESAB that was new old stock not long ago and it was £70. It's very good indeed.

Have a read here. Incidentally for those wondering just what I am doing with my self at the moment - I'm running a welding business......
1) Optical Class (1 / X / X / X)
This section could also be referred to as accuracy, as it rates the level of distortion the lens provides. As an example, looking through rippled water would provide a great deal of distortion, while a clear pane of glass would provide almost none. A rating of '1' would be earned if there is minimal distortion, resulting in a clear picture with crisp, accurate details.

2) Light Diffusion Class (X / 1 / X / x)
This section focuses on what many of us would see as the traditional definition of clarity: whether the image is blurry or not. While cheap glass will often feature impurities and cause extra light diffusion that will blur the image, quality glass will not, resulting in a better and clearer image. A '1' rating here would mean a clear and uniform image, with no blurring or extra light diffusion in certain areas.

3) Luminous Transmittance Variation Class (X / X / 1 / X)
This category is concerned with how consistently the lens' auto-darkening function works. The shade of your filter should darken uniformly across the surface of the lens, with no dark or light areas in comparison to the lens as a whole. A lens that is completely uniform with the same level of shade in all sections would garner a perfect score of '1'.

4) Luminous Transmittance Angle Dependence Class (X / X / X / 1)
The final spot in the EN 379 rating scale refers to the clarity of your filter when looking at an angle. A poor quality lens may distort the image you're looking at when you look down, up or to the side, making the image look dark, stretched, blurry or distorted. A perfect '1' quality lens would maintain a consistent shade and image quality, no matter what angle you're looking from.
 
I use a 3M speedglas, had it a few years now. Wasn't a cheap one at the time but works great.
 
Cheers guys, some useful info there. I'd prefereably like to but one over the counter instaed of mail order as returns are easier. There's a Screwfix and a Machine Mart near us and they have a selection with some good rviews so may well end up getting something locally.
 
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Just make sure you can spare inner and outer lenses - easily. You can get through them easily and if the auto screen is a cheaper one, it will suffer far more from a pitted screen. If you go with a no-name helmet and they sell spares then get them now whilst they're available.
 
This is looking like the favourite. Spares available and gets good reviews and ratings according to the criteria listed by Chris. A bit more than I wanted to spend but what the hell!

Helmet
 
Seally do a good range you can get over the counter from your local car and commercial vehicle parts specialist and other things to help with your welding
 
An old thread, I know - But - I bought a new Auto-darkening helmet back in June 2016 but didn't use it as my old SIP helmet was working fine, but starting to show its age. Recently I pensioned-off the SIP started using the new one. I wasn't very happy with it.

Its a Futuris FF650 with a sensor rating of 1:1:1:2, it has a solar panel AND a battery, a split range of 5-8 / 9-13 and a 'grind' function (i.e. its OFF !). It has 'Sensitivity' and 'Delay' dials inside and an external dial for 'on' and the filter range.

I bought it from my usual Welding Supplier (Northern Industrial Alloys) so it should have been good, the helmet plus some grinding disks was £78 -.

Today I was having a quiet time after a late lunch (went for the Covid Vaccine this morning) and decided to have a really good look at the helmet and re-read the instructions.

No clues in the instructions, everything set-up correctly so I removed the ADF screen in order to clean it both sides and also get to the inside of the outer shield.

I was putting the screen back in when I noticed a small wrinkle on the inner glass . . . . . .

Aaaaaggggh - its got a green plastic protective film over the glass :doh:. There is no mention of it in the instructions or on the box. I peeled it off and I CAN SEE :eusa-dance:.

OK, I'm an idiot - but I thought I'd mention it in case anyone else is caught out.

Bob.
 
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