They have been on the market for a long time now. Are they safe to use? I would like to get one, but I don’t want to ruin my eyes.
Thanks,
Rob
I’ve used one for 10 years. Best idea EVER.
I don’t see how people weld without them.
I bought one from Harbor Freight a few years back and think they are great. Mine has an adjustment for darkness (9-13) and has a solar cell in addition to a battery. The solar cell makes the battery last longer. It also has a test button to press and ensure that everythings working OK before you strike the first arc.
You do have to get in the habit of checking it to make sure it’s on, though. Mine times out and needs to be turned on again (by hitting the test button) after 15 minutes or so, and when I first got it, I’d occasionally be doing other work for 15 minutes and just pass that timeout, so the next weld I did was really bright. Only happened a couple times and for short welds, but I’m now in the habit of testing it before striking every time.
So in a sense it’s less safe, but in other ways (like being able to see immediately when the arc goes out, instead of having to flip your helmet back) it’s probably safer.
Is there a noticeable difference in quality depending on the price? Specifically, do the cheaper ones darken quickly enough? I see some adds that mention how quickly they darken, but don’t know how quick is ‘quick enough’.
My WAG would be that all of them are quicker than you can get the mask down. My grandson is a welder and he swears by them. For safety reasons the shop he works in requires them.
The nicer ones have a variable delay setting, I’ve never seen anyone use anything but the shortest delay.
I thought the first word of the thread title was “Wedding” and thought, “safe for WHAT?!?”
One thing you pay for is the size of the window. Mine’s pretty cheap and in order to do anything you really have to flip the helmet up, since you’re looking through a tiny window. A friend of mine has a super deluxe one with three large panes of glass – left, right and center, and all three automatically darken. It’s really nice, since you have a huge field of view when it’s not darkened, but I’m sure it cost a fortune.
People often ask this question (and receive answers) that completely misunderstand the key issue. The assumption usually is that the safety of the helmet depends upon it darkening, or darkening quickly enough.
This is a complete furphy!
Welding flash is caused by ultraviolet and infrared light. Auto-darkening helmets have permanent IR and UV filters, just the same as conventional helmets. Cites:
http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/jan2002/collision.htm
http://www.daytonamig.com/helmet.htm
You cannot get a flash through an auto-darkening helmet even if it fails to darken at all unless the permanent IR and UV filters fail, which is as likely with an auto-darkening helmet as a conventional helmet.
On another board that I post at I’ve seen threads go on for page after page with people dropping in to say they’d never trust an auto-darkening helmet (or to say they’d never trust less than a $500 professional auto-darkening helmet) because they might get a flash, and have a great deal of difficulty accepting that their entire understanding of the technology is wrong.
Slight hijack here. The first cite says pretty much exactly what you said:
“The welding arc emits several forms of light including ultraviolet (UV), infrared (IR) radiation and high-intensity visible light. Both IR and UV radiation can cause permanent damage - such as retinal burns - to the eyes. While high-intensity visible light may not cause permanent eye damage, it may leave the operator with temporary discomfort, similar to being exposed to the flash of a camera bulb.”
But I’ve never understood how IR can hurt your eyes more than visible light. You’d think that visible light, being higher in energy and also being precisely what your eyes are adapted to absorbing, would be a lot more damaging than IR. So how can IR cause problems that visible light can’t?
The iris opens and closes in response to the amount of light sensed by the retinas (i.e., visible light.) Since we don’t see IR or UV light, it is possible for the eye’s iris to be fully open when high intensity light in these frequencies is shining onto one’s face.
IIRC, near UV (close in frequency to visible light) is more likely than IR or deep UV to damage the eye. The cornea is opaque to deep UV, and infared light is generally going to be sensed as heat, causing a person to turn away.
But surely a bright enough visible light would still get enough energy to your retina to damage it, wouldn’t it?
yes. That’s why you shouldn’t look directly at the sun for more than just a glance.
I believe what is being said is that there could be a situation in dim visible light where the pupil would be wide open and a strong and concentrated source of IR. The eye could be damaged without our ever knowing it until too late since we can’t see IR.
I leave the tech to others and just chime in as another happy user of one. After I got it last year I wondered why I waited so long.
Precisely, and thanks for putting into English. 
(Sometimes, I think that language is a second language to me.)
Is infrared light that big of a risk to the eyes? Most of my work has been with UV light sources, but I had the idea that IR wasn’t as big of a risk as UV light. Then again, most nonvisible lasers operate in the IR band, and I’ve had my retinas mapped as part of a yearly physical to monitor for laser strikes.
I have two, as I have frequently to weld in two locations. One is a bottom-of-the-line Jackson, and the other is a HF cheapy. I notice no difference in performance, but the HF is more convienient, as the Jackson requires the lens to be removed to adjust the shade, and the HF also has a photovoltaic pile, while the Jackson needs a new battery every year or three. The Jackson also turns itself off at unexpected times, while the HF is always ready to weld. The Jackson does have a superior headgear.
The only problem I have encountered is when DC TIG welding with an inverter supply that has a VERY stable output.
Apparently both of my helmets trigger on a sudden increase in light intensity, not the absolute brightness. It seems that “normal” DC supplys have enough ripple to keep them darkened. But my inverter supply is so smooth that the helmet will turn clear a few seconds after I start the arc. No issues when stick welding with the same supply. Apparently the electrode burning off, smoke, etc. gives enough variation in the arc to keep the lens happy.
BTW, on the helmets with adjustable delay, the adjustment is for how long after the arc stops before the lens turns clear…they always darken as quickly as possible when the arc starts. this might be handy if you are “skip” welding and don’t want the shade to lighten between welds.
In addition to greater lens area, the more expensive lenses seem to have less variation in darkness over the lens…I will actually tip my head around to adust the brighness while welding with my cheap helmets.
Oh yes, I third (or whatever) that these things are great. Probably the thing that has improved my welding the fourth most…first-third are practice, practice, and practice.
I think the crucial factor is power density. The laser qualifies as a concentrated source. It’s pretty clear that a UV laser of the same power and spot size as an IR laser is the more harmful. But that doesn’t mean that the IR lazer is harmless.
I hear they’re great for inducing a relaxed attitude in the face of immediate peril.
Yes, Arthur.