Hello Cam, you said in your post that you are having a hard time seeing anything but the glow of the arc, I believe you also said that you couldn't see the seam or anything else. My first question would be concerning the speedglass hood that you are using, is it functioning properly, darkening when the arc is started, not flickering in and out of the light stage, those kind of things? Another question I would pose goes like this, sometimes when I am looking at the puddle as I am welding, I will notice that there is a glare generated when I am using too light of a shade, this causes me to not be able to see anything but the arc itself, by going to a darker shade it gets rid of the glare and I'm actually able to see things better. Forgive me for this one, but are your cover plates on your hood in good order(no scratches, warping from heat, no yellowing from heat or age, not all smoked up from being close to the welding)? In swnorris's post he covered it really well concerning suggested shade darknesses based on amperages that are being used in a specific welding situation. You should definitely give some thought to the amperages that you are actually welding at, one little footnote to go along with this would be to consider that when you are welding with a wire process and using a solid wire or tig welding, there is a more visible arc that you are dealing with, meaning there is less smoke and particulates in the arc to refract the light, this means that the rays that are being generated are more concentrated. Lastly my age has forced me to use magnifiers in order to see things with more clarity, if you are in a similar situation with your eyes, you might consider going this route as opposed to trying to use bifocals under your hood while you are welding. Most hoods have provisions to use welding magnifiers and they are available according to reading eye glass strengths. If you have the type of hood that will not work with these you might consider just using reading glasses underneath or there are magnifier safety glasses that are available. Hope this helps some, best of luck and regards, aevald
Thanks, I supect some of everything you wrote. Thanks also for the reference chart. Admittedly, my Speedglas was not what I had hoped it was. It had gotten into a mode where, it would lighten when I turned it on and then in about three seconds go dark again. Buuttttt... would go dark when I struck an arc. I called Hornell and they wanted as much to repair it as a new one cost. I'll bet I didn't have six hours of weld time on it although it was several years old. New batteries didn't do a thing for it. With that said, I'm reluctant to buy another Speedglas although I have heard lots of praise for them. I am stopping by the local welding shop on the way home and picking up a new Miller, big lense, adjustable hood. I'm going to have to play with varying darkenss settings, and lenses/glasses too I suppose. Thanks for the input...
Cam
Cam, one thing about your old speedglass. Check the battery contacts to see if there is any corrosion on the contact tabs, if they have set with the batteries in them for an extended time, it is possible that you could have some corrosion that would cause excessive resistance, thus also a voltage loss and could cause the hood to malfunction somewhat. So before you can it do a little investigating. Regards, aevald
I would also recommend the Jackson Nex/Gen adjustable lense. They are nice because you can also fix the shade to 3 for grinding or 5 for cutting and the lense won't darken more than that due to sparks and such. I have a lot of hours on mine and haven't had one glitch. I went through two higher priced helmets that didn't last long before trying this one. I bought a second one as a backup just in case but haven't had to use it.
When I was teaching at that manufacturing facility, our Weld Supplier brought in several speedglass hoods to try our as they were looking for lighter hoods to prevent neck injuries. Not one of them lasted more than 6 months. Now that I am back in constrution, I am seeing the same thing. The one that is holding up better than any and has 4 sensors so you can weld with tig is the nex gen by jackson. The only complaint is they are a bit heavier. I tell these guys that they should have to wear what I did when I was first in the trade, and with a hard hat under it too.
One of the drawbacks of the nex gen is it will not hold a cheater very well which is a requirement of us old farts.
Mike
I own 3 Speedglass helmets. One is 5 years old. One about 2 and the third is 6 months old. I still use the oldest on a daily basis. The newest I bought just in case the oldest fails. Never a problem and my next helmet will be a Speed glass.
I have students with the Jacksons and the Miller Elites. (They think they need the shiny flamed paint jobs.) Those helmets have also been trouble free for us.
IF your speedglas is new, Did you remove the plastic protector from BOTH sides of the lenses???
The outside plastic cover lense has two saranwrap type covers which are meant to be removed before you start using your hood. Also, the inside plastic lense has the same thing. They are so thin that you think there is only one cover and will cause that conditon you are describing.Just a thought.
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