Helmet View Angle Question

[Gordon Gould]

I have only had one welding helmet so don't know how others compare. It is an inexpensive self darkening Metal Man with a variable dark adjustment. Not knowing any better I would say it works great. However, in the dark mode the clear viewing angle is very restrictive. The plane of the lens has to to be perfectly perpendicular to the line between my eye and the work. Most times this is OK but in restricted space it can be a real problem. Is this typical of all helmets, just self darkening helmets, or just inexpensive self darkening helmets??? Just wondering how I can improve this problem. Thanks

gg

 

[WranglerX]

Never had any issues with my Metal Man about view other the batteries failed and "Metal Man" has replacement "window" with electronics and replaceable batteries ... Never gave much though to angel of view, seem to be there is basically the small window that is about 2 x 4 inches and the large size of about 3.5 x 4.5.... The larger window would probably give better up/down view (in relationship to head) but probable not much help in side to side as both window seem to be about same width...

Small window area seems to average about 9 square inched if viewing and larger about 13 square inches of viewing....

Curious to see what others have to say, too...

Dale

 

[Gary Fowler]

I did most of my welding looking thru a 2x4 window and never really had any issue with viewing angle. You may need to twist the helmet around on your head sometime when welding overhead in a tight spot, but set the helmet so when it is lowered completely, the view is directly in front of your face when looking straight ahead. Most helmets have adjustments that allow for this. You may also need to adjust the strap that goes across the top of your head so you get the welding lens directly in front of your eyes when it is lowered. I keep my friction knobs on the side of the helmet tight enough that they hold the helmet at any position that I lower it to now that I use an automatic darkening lens.
Back when I worked construction and had a regular dark lens, I set the friction knobs so it held my helmet up when I raised it but released it when I nodded my head so it lowered fully. Pipe welders are not allowed to arc outside the weld bevel so we had to hold the electrode between the fingers of the off hand and lower the hood by nodding since you rarely could see the electrode end thru the lens before striking the arc. Auto-dark hoods now make it easy to avoid arc strikes outside the weld bevel.
NOTE: yesterday while rummaging thru some stuff, I found an old American Optical "Gold Lens" which had a blue tint instead of the standard green which was easier on the eyes. It also had real gold leaf between two sheets of glass that reflected lots of the light. They were the best lens available back in the 60-80s

 

[yomax4]

Part of the hood cost is clarity. Some have lighter shades in the light state than others and better vision in the dark state. Now they even have the new Blue lens instead of green with digital clarity and near perfect optics in all angles and are very easy on the eyes. 2 come to mind off hand, Optrel and Weldcote. Weldcote is much less cost and the lenses are cheap. Optrel lenses are crazy expensive. Check them out. Good Luck !!

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

The effect that you are experiencing is called the "venetian blind effect". You actually only have an effective viewing angle of about 30 degrees with most welding helmets without a drastic change in shade. This is due to the way the LCD is configured. That's one reason that super large lenses are of limited value. But there are some newer technology from what I can understand can extend that a bit, but you still experience a variable change the further away from the center of your vision. It's not damaging but it does disorient and confuse you from time to time.

 

[Motorboatin]

Buy a helmet with a traditional lens to solve the problem

And save $$$

 

[WranglerX]

Buy a helmet with a traditional lens to solve the problem

And save $$$

Seems to me the "traditional" helmet has same viewing window as AD...

Dale

 

[Industrial Toys]

I only have a speed shade that I got from Mom for X-Mas a long time ago. I can't see worth a crap what I am welding. VERY frustrating! It helped when I put in a cheater lense, but maybe I should look into other helmets.

 

[WranglerX]

I only have a speed shade that I got from Mom for X-Mas a long time ago. I can't see worth a crap what I am welding. VERY frustrating! It helped when I put in a cheater lense, but maybe I should look into other helmets.

Cheater lenses help me too.... ALSO headlamp to light area where I an going to weld....



Not my picture/helmet, grab off i-net for concept...

Dale

 

[Industrial Toys]

I always prided myself on good, nice solder joints and doing anything nice basically. So when I weld off the seam into no mans land, it bothers me terribly!

 

[Motorboatin]

Seems to me the "traditional" helmet has same viewing window as AD...

Dale

Traditional doesn't have the "venetian blind effect"

All the guys that weld in our shop have auto helmets but I still like the old school lid. I get a headache if I use the new style. In my opinion the they don't darken fast enough for welding all day. The new helmets are better but I still get a headache

 

[Gordon Gould]

The effect that you are experiencing is called the "venetian blind effect". You actually only have an effective viewing angle of about 30 degrees with most welding helmets without a drastic change in shade. This is due to the way the LCD is configured. That's one reason that super large lenses are of limited value. But there are some newer technology from what I can understand can extend that a bit, but you still experience a variable change the further away from the center of your vision. It's not damaging but it does disorient and confuse you from time to time.

Venetian blind effect - that sounds like what I am talking about Mark, thank you. Makes sense now. I never thought about shifting the helmet on my head before I start a bead in anticipation of the angle I need like Gary F suggested. That should help.

gg

 

[Industrial Toys]

I prided myself on my visual accuity working on tiny electronic stuff into my mid 40s. Mind you, I could not see far away from age ten or so, without coke bottle glasses or contacts (that I chose).

Now, there just can't be enough light to work on almost anything. I find myself in the basement of an unfinished, unlit home and I can't make out the BK,RD,GN,Y colours of quad alarm cable!

Much of what I do, I realize I just pretend to see. I mean, totally blind people, adapt incredibly well. So, is this welding problem an issue with equipment or is it just me?

 

[jaxs]

I always prided myself on good, nice solder joints and doing anything nice basically. So when I weld off the seam into no mans land, it bothers me terribly!

Friends don't let friends weld drunk so it's not your fault. I have some of the same problems but consider myself lucky being able to at least try. I find that shifting hood forward to lower window helps but always thought it was because of progressive eyeglasses. After cheaters,soapstone lines,extra light on work and dark cloth on back of hood I'm wandering off the seam less but try as I might,I can't see the puddle. Maybe I should have said "friends don't alow OLD friends to weld.":worried:

 

[Industrial Toys]

Yes, the reflection from the rear is a factor. Never tried to do anything about it, but had pictures in my mind of those japs on Bridge over the Rive Kwai wearing some kind of apparell, back of their hat!

About welding drunk. Back in the 90s I was drinking, welding, grinding, welding, grinding and so forth. Got my head gear mixed up and started welding with my clear goggles. I had a floater that bugged the crap out of me, up until just recently, which all the medical pros told me wasn't on account of that, but that's when it happened.

 

[WranglerX]

Yes, the reflection from the rear is a factor. Never tried to do anything about it, but had pictures in my mind of those japs on Bridge over the Rive Kwai wearing some kind of apparell, back of their hat!

About welding drunk. Back in the 90s I was drinking, welding, grinding, welding, grinding and so forth. Got my head gear mixed up and started welding with my clear goggles. I had a floater that bugged the crap out of me, up until just recently, which all the medical pros told me wasn't on account of that, but that's when it happened.

Another thing I found when going to back to welding after long pause was welding jacket... Picked up nice green one, BAD idea, it reflected so much light into back side of helmet it drove me nuts after about 10 minutes, was able to take it back and exchange it for a black one....

For blindness as mentioned before , magnifying lens (cheaters) and a lot of ambient light...

Dale