Miller TIG, Which one?

[Koa Man]

Carl and everyone else who never used one,
I have an auto dim helmet and would not use any other kind. They are so much better than regular helmets.

MB,
These helmets do not darken looking at the sun. The light source, although very bright, is too far away. I tried it looking at the solar eclipse a few years ago. I ended up using my regular welding helmet instead. In contrast, it will darken when you turn on a 100 watt electric bulb nearby.

 

[lumberjack]

I already have one, Jay. Got the torches, but the torch is a Weldcraft instead of a Miller. I'm betting the only difference is the color of the band (blue instead of red) but I frickin paid for a blue band damnit.

Looking into that briefly before I start axle swapping.

 

[Al Smith]

The auto darkening hoods are just a personal preference . Kind of like mix oil or brand of saws .Whatever floats your boat .

 

[lumberjack]

Got the old axle out, snagged the 1 3/4 ton rebuilt axle from under my old brown truck, measured for new spring pads (a single pad width difference) welded them on and they're cooling down.

I'll slap the calipers back on and wheel it back over to the truck and see if I can't get it buttoned up tonight.

Forgot I still have to torch the old shock tabs off, they are all sorts of in the way on one pad.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Auto darkening is more a tig purposeful helmet than for regular arc welding, since with tig, the electrode never contacts the material being welded, so starting the weld is easier with the auto, where you can observe the work. Have never seen a pro welder using one for regular arc, and for tig, most people seem to prefer them.

 

[Dave Shepard]

I use mine for everything. I used a 3M brand one at work the other day, big field of view and lots of options. Might be my next hood when I replace mine. I like not having to lift my hood, even when stick or mig welding. I think they are a great investment.

 

[Koa Man]

The welder that made my aluminum chipbox used an auto dark helmet. His normally makes custom gates out of stuff like stainless steel, brass, aluminum, bronze, copper etc. He swore by it and I bought mine soon after trying his.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I have a client that does welding for me and also owns a mechanics shop... swears by the thing.. I tried it out and it was pretty cool. .. He made mention brands make a big difference and that the darkening has come a long way in tech.

 

[JIML]

I got an auto helmet but most of the time I grab my jackson with a big gold number 9 or 10 lens in it.

 

[sotc]

they are much better because you can tack something together with out flipping up your hood every time, then when skip welding you go straight to your next bead with out flipping up and getting set. only thing i can think of better about the old school is you can get prescription lenses

 

[Dave Shepard]

You can get prescription covers for some of the autos. My auto uses standard size cover glass, inside and out.

 

[lumberjack]

Sold the Spoolmate I never used for $413.20 since the TIG can handle it fine for what little I'll need.

Means I have $400 tied up in my Millermatic 185

 

[Dave Shepard]

Not to be a wise ass, but do you actually like all the messing around you have to do with a Miller mig to get it to do anything? My Lincoln had two adjustments, Voltage, measured, surprisingly, in volts, and Wire speed, also another shock, measured in inches per minute. The Miller at work, has more friggin switches, knobs and BS, and none of it in a unit of measure that has to do with anything. I swear for welding thin metal the manual wanted you to stand on one leg, rub your stomach, and pat your head all at the same time. Once you decipher the five adjustments, it does a good job, however it is one thing that deters me from Miller. I don't want to set my amperage to a %, I want to set it to a specific amperage.

 

[lumberjack]

Mine has voltage tap, wire speed, and on/off.

The only other Miller MIG I've used was a multiprocess machine and I didn't notice any cumersomeness with the settings. Voltage (to the .2) and wirespeed in FPM.

I've never seen voltage/amps in a %, but I have seen wire speed like that.

 

[sotc]

never seen voltage either

 

[lumberjack]

Stick/TIG/Plasma is a constant current (amps) MIG/Flux Core is constant voltage.

That's fairly well a universal truth.

 

[cutitup]

I don't use a auto helmet and my neck is REALLY starting to notice! It's pretty common repetitive stress injury for welders to have neck problems. Not so much because of the weight but the constant jerking of your head forward to filp the helmet down.
The problem with the auto helmets is that the jury is still out on the amount of UV and IR you suject your eyes to before it darkens. Now if your just playing aournd and not doing several hundred starts a day - for days and years on end - (no I'm not kidding) you "may" be subjecting your eyes to a culative excessive amont of rays. Like I said this has NOT been proven yet but IS something that is being studied.

 

[sotc]

i would venture to guess that flash burn would be more likely with a standard hood. i know ive had mine hang up as i struck an arc. i used to turn my head to tack when i had the old school hoods. probably a non issue

 

[woodworkingboy]

Carl, you mention using tig to replace the continuous wire welding. Seems like basically different applications. For production welding, tig would be much slower, I believe, possibly more costly considering the gas expense.

 

[lumberjack]

To replace some wire welding, not all of it.

It will replace my minimal aluminum welding, for example.