Short version: I need a hood that I can actually see out. I’m doing all of the other stuff ‘ok’. But I just can see and the DMS hoods don’t seem to work very well for me.
The upside is that even welding blind the welds are strong enough to hold up against a lot of abuse. They’re just not welds you take home to show mom.
So - shopping for my own hood. Or maybe something like curb feelers for the torch.
Why don’t the hoods work for you? Did you take our Mig welding class?
A funny story Walter Anderson loved to tell.
He took welding with Lee Jones. When his turn, everything was a mess. Lee keep giving him instructions on how to get the arc started and maintain. No Good. Wasn’t happening. Walter was getting frustrated, he wasn’t a klutz and Lee was also getting fruststrated, he’s a good teacher. Walter kept telling him “I can’t see the arc, the puddle or any of that”
They adjusted to knobs for auto-darkening, still couldn’t see. Lee said let me try it. He put on Walter’s new helmet, just like Walter could see. WTF? Lee looked closer at the inside of the helmet. Walter had not removed the protective lens cover from inside the new helmet he’d bought for the class. Problem was solved.
Walter loved telling how dumb he felt. Of course the whole class got a good laugh.
You don’t have to see to make good welds. I know it may go against convention but it’s possible.
I may be able to let you test drive mine.
I agree with you, especially on corner welds, you can hear where you are as you weave across the corner. And once you have good muscle memory on travel speed, you can lay a surprising corner bead without seeing it. But getting to be that good, you need to see what you are doing.
Did you check the shade setting?? should be between 8 and 10.
@ioport51 the shade selected is based on weld current (tig)…when in doubt go darker! Cataracts are the consequence of going too low on the shade.
Below is from the miller website.
It’ll be a year this month, January 18th IIRC. Hard to believe.
@zmetzing cataracts are caused by UV and IR exposure. I’m just not sure about IR (SWIR) blocking from undarkened and low shade # welding helmets…but yes UV and LWIR is almost 100% blocked in darkened or undarkened modes.
I couldn’t see anything until I put a magnifying lens in my helmet.
If you need reading glasses to see up close, you’ll need one of these in your helmet. (That and adjusting the knob to let more light through)
the DMS hoods arent bad. Scratched up and dirty. but not bad.
However, I notice on helmet #5 if I go below 9 it seems to have trouble.
The above mess was made at 60 amps.
With the hood set on 9 I could see the puddle and maybe a half inch around it.
I had exactly the same problem the first time. Second time I got a different helmet and had no problem. Did you try different helmets? They may perform somewhat differently.
I have a welding hood in a bin in the galley if you’d like to take it for a spin. Msg me and if I’m around I’ll drag it out for you. If I’m not, I’ll point you in the right direction.
