Not that the two are related , I'm just lazy and only wanted to make one post .
welding them with some Invar 42 bare rod . Tried some 312 SS but it was too close to the melting temp of the rods ,and I just ain't that good a welder . The nickel/iron rod works a lot better , but I'm still getting some oxidation in the weld zone . Particulars are 27 amps DCEN with 15 CFH argon flow thru a #7 cup on a gas lens and a 1/16" thoriated tungsten . I've also tried some lanthanated but those didn't seem to work as well . I'm thinking about putting a shield of some kind behind/below the rods (I'm using my lathe as an alignment fixture , and no I'm not running any current thru the spindle bearings) to confine my shield gas and see if that helps .
decided to get set up and do some trial runs . Lit off the torch and the helmet didn't respond ... that one is a HF cheapie , I think I paid about 40 bucks for it on sale . So last night I look at the new HF flier , and there's a Vulcan that looks pretty damn good for $149.95 , especially since there's a 20% off coupon in the flier too but ... turns out that there are exclusions , in print so fine that you literally need a magnifying glass to read it . And anything Vulcan is on the list . So I bought the damn thing anyway . It's a really nice helmet (stock #63749) , multi-range with grind mode and all kinds of adjustments . And all the controls are on the auto-dark cartridge , none on the outside . I almost walked , but considered this unit is supposed to be comparable (specs are anyway) to much more expensive "name brand" helmets . And it works very very well . I'm still a little pissed about the coupon thing , but I guess I'll get over it .