- Thread starter RobK
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Seano
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When you wear one nearly all day, you need something that is not going to give you neck strain, Speedglas 9002V is my choice, very light, great for removing exhaled air, and don't smash when accidentally dropped, also ALL parts of a Speedglas are independantly replaceable....just my 2p worth you understand....
Sean.
Sean.
Hello all..... This is the second £50 odd auto mask that has the same issue. It does not seem to cope with low amps Tig welding stainless or stainless to m/s. It seems that this flaring occurs at the beginning of a weld or rather in the first few minutes. It occurs even with a diamond ground electrode point. I could not turn up the darkness or alter the reaction as these settings are already adjusted to a setting whereby the path and vision of the welding can be seen, nicely. If I increase the darkness it is difficult to see the weld clearly and the path of the weld is hit and miss.
A pal of mine who is a fantastic professional stainless and also an extremely brilliant ali welder says it's probably the helmet is crap. He says he's tried a few cheapo auto helmets and they are usually crap. I often weld stainless 1mm and I've welded thinner with a bit of ali at the back of it.
I am assuming I might have to invest in a more expensive helmet.
I must say that my first real project Tig welding was a large stainless towel rail which was 40mm vertical box section with 25mm horizontals after being only a gas welder. I bought a really cheap auto darkening mask that never had any flare whatsoever. Then came the problem that was with a dearer mask which on occasion flared which is worrying due to the fact that eyesight is precious. I'm wondering my professional pal may well be right. Of course he paid £200 quid second hand from Ebay for a mask I think is 3M, but I see usually they are hundreds usually and I've not seen anything in his experience for 200 quid that looked brand new to me only a couple of months ago. He seems a lucky bugger .
I found the two cheapo masks did not flare but both of the cheapo ones lasted about 14 months each and were defunct !
If one is going to use low amperage amperage welding a lot , by necessity, then I might well have to consider a much better welding auto mask than the ones I've got. Shame!
What is annoying it has a setting of 5 which does not work properly at low amperage Tig which as a lot of you have experienced.
A pal of mine who is a fantastic professional stainless and also an extremely brilliant ali welder says it's probably the helmet is crap. He says he's tried a few cheapo auto helmets and they are usually crap. I often weld stainless 1mm and I've welded thinner with a bit of ali at the back of it.
I am assuming I might have to invest in a more expensive helmet.
I must say that my first real project Tig welding was a large stainless towel rail which was 40mm vertical box section with 25mm horizontals after being only a gas welder. I bought a really cheap auto darkening mask that never had any flare whatsoever. Then came the problem that was with a dearer mask which on occasion flared which is worrying due to the fact that eyesight is precious. I'm wondering my professional pal may well be right. Of course he paid £200 quid second hand from Ebay for a mask I think is 3M, but I see usually they are hundreds usually and I've not seen anything in his experience for 200 quid that looked brand new to me only a couple of months ago. He seems a lucky bugger .
I found the two cheapo masks did not flare but both of the cheapo ones lasted about 14 months each and were defunct !
If one is going to use low amperage amperage welding a lot , by necessity, then I might well have to consider a much better welding auto mask than the ones I've got. Shame!
What is annoying it has a setting of 5 which does not work properly at low amperage Tig which as a lot of you have experienced.
skotl
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Welcome to the forum
13 years is possibly a record for time between posts
That said, I agree with everything you wrote! The topic's been had a few times so do a few searches and if you have specific questions about specific makes and models, start a thread and the many helpful and knowledgeable people on here will help you out!
Tinbasherdan
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Lincoln Viking 3350 for around 200 quid. Works excellent for low amp stuff and very clear. I have 2 and prefer them over my speedglas for tig
Tinbasherdan
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Depends what I’m doing, it mostly lives on 9/10 but will go much lower if I’m on real low amp gear
addjunkie
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But do you know where the box is?I've got the 3350 too only really used with the mig but I should have the tig set up soon Its been in the box for about 7 months now.
