Hi all, I finally was able to pursue a sort of dream I've had since I was about 12 years old. I bought a tig welder and got it all set up this past afternoon. I had done a ton of reading and research prior to even being able to afford one so I know enough about tig welding to be dangerous. I've never welded anything before in my life and I picked up on the tig process pretty quick. The first bead I put down looked fairly respectable for someone that had never done it before so I was really pleased. I'm no Jesse James, but I'm significantly better than I thought I was going to be.

Moving on to the point of the title, I played around with it for an hour or so, then I asked my dad if he wanted to give it a whirl. He said sure so I got him all set up. He is 59 and I'm 18. That will come into play later, and yes I am the result of a broken condom, I've been told I was a really good mistake. Lol. He played around with it for 15 mins or so (he has also never welded anything in his life before either, we build custom kitchens so neither of us have any welding experience what so ever) and did pretty good all considered. I then told him the only real problem was that he was over running the puddle here and there. To which he said "what puddle?" For 15 mins he had been laying fairly decent tig beads with out being able to see the weld puddle. I was like So no matter how I set his helmet(auto-darkening hobart) he couldn't see the puddle, turns out, he couldn't even see the electrode when I had it pulled out a 1/2 inch. All he could see was a green glow, and yes the helmet was working. So I don't know what to do short of taping a magnifing glass to the front of his helmet. Does anyone have any recommendations or suggestions about what might help him?

Not that it matters, but the machine is a thermal arc 186. Stock maxi-sized wp26 torch with a gas lens setup. My budget was about $1600 for the machine and footpedal so it was by far the best out of all my options. Everlast or rather Neverlast was not one of the options.

Thanks for any help. He thinks it's pretty fun so I'd love for him to be able to pursue it to some degree with out just doing it blindly.

 

sounds like something with the helmet or his eyes. does he wear glasses at all?

 

I had a hobart helmet when i first got my tig, ended up burning my eyes with it.... I bought a miller helmet, very nice and can see very good out of it.

 

I'm really thinking it's his almost 60 year old eyes. He doesn't wear glasses, and he has no problems reading fine print, but still, that is really the only thing that makes sense. I used his helmet just for the heck of it and I had no problems with it...

What miller helmet did you end up buying Ty? I've been under the impression that hobart and miller are pretty similar being that they are owned by the same parent company and parts are in many cases identical on similar machines.

Thank you both for the replys.

 

They make magnifying lenses for welding helmets. I don't wear glasses so I have never used them, but have heard of other people using them. I would say try some cheap off the shelf reading glasses but my dad complaines about glare if he welds with them. Maybe put a towel or something to keep light from coming in the back of the helmet.

 

The hobart came from tractorsupply.
The miller helmet is an Digital Elite... Now think its about time to get a new helmet design

 

Get a better helmet, those cheap auto darkening helmets are usually really dark as is.

 

http://www.welders-direct.com/mm5/me...Code=LNS-MXXXX

 

Thanks fellas, going to pick up a couple different magnification cheater lenses. I guess if all else fails we'll try a different helmet.

 

More than half the guys I work with can't weld without them. We have guys who can weld to code with no less than a 3x. hah

 

i have a Tweco auto darkening and love it. set to about 9 for Mig, and about 11 for Tig...all of this also depending on what kind of lighting i have in my work area (welding table is right next to a window)

 

I have to look at crazy angles to see the puddle it's very hard for me to tig because of that lol

 

sounds like your helmet is not rated for the amperage you are welding with. The hobart ones at TSC are not rated for low am DC.

 

yeah sounds like you need a better helmet.

 

This is probably the best helmet you can get for the price. $99 free shipping. And has a grind mode. I've used it and love it!
http://www.usaweld.com/Striker-Steal...p/90130-wg.htm

 

When I was taking my welding classes my harbor freight helmet worked great because the transformer welders at school put out more light than the inverter welders. When I bought my inverter welder I took it to class to try it out and it was somewhat hard to see the puddle at the lowest setting because the light output they put out is way less. If I can't manage with this helmet I will need to find myself something fancy.

 

Use a gold lense. The gold finish reflects the arc light back on to your work piece casting shadows more so than you would on a regular black lense. I've had that issue at welding school trying to cap my pipes not being able to see the guide lines when doing the final cap. Another trick without the gold lense is making sure you're angle of the torch is consistent. Too steep of an angle wont project the light ahead of the torch therefore not illuminating the direction of your travel. Now the issue he's having where you what's seen is just a ball of light, seems like the quality of the lense its self. The school issued us a $20 hood to start with and all I saw was a ball of light as well and not the tungsten and puddle. Upgrading to a better lense like an ArcOne Singles 240 2x4 greatly increased my vision. Costed me at the time $80