welding hoods

[matewsq2]

ive made my mind up im gonna go with the speedglas. they have shade 5,8,9-13 for grinding an cutting an with as much work as we do at the coal mines thats good so i dont have to be changeing hood an cutting an grinding sheilds all the time mine foremens an msha frown when they roll up on a job an your grinding or cutting w/o your sheilds an that get more junk off of my service truck.

 

[ky_bull]

We use to use the Sperian Optrel Orion Welding Helmet untill we discovered that you have to have them on the daylight every once and a while to recharge the batteries in them, and apparently it expensive to replace. We switched to Miller, we dont weld a great deal, but there are times we are at it not stop, especially stainless and aluminum.

 

[matewsq2]

We use to use the Sperian Optrel Orion Welding Helmet untill we discovered that you have to have them on the daylight every once and a while to recharge the batteries in them, and apparently it expensive to replace. We switched to Miller, we dont weld a great deal, but there are times we are at it not stop, especially stainless and aluminum.

i do more stainless than i do anything when im in the shop but when in the field its all 1/16 flux core wire when we have a halfway calm day or 8018 3/16 an 10018 or 9018s.i just dont like the miller hoods all of them ive been around they cant take the heat off that big wire an the big rouds when you set there a weld for 12 - 14 hr shifts.ive seen them get so hot the batteries have busted.

 

[carnivore]

what do you all think of the harbour freight auto dark for the occasional home welder, don't weld enough to justify an expensive one

Go for it.
I think mine is a speedway series, an off brand that Harbor freight use to sell but may not now. I use mine for 2-3 months at a time for weekend projects, and then it may sit for a 6 months. I always remove the batteries when I know it will not be used for a while. I seem to remember having an issue that required me to take it apart but cannot remember what happened. What ever it was was an easy fix and It worked fine this past summer.