General Questions about Welding

"Julie P." wrote: (clip)3) What is an auto darkening helmet? Does this mean the lens darkens automatically and you don't have to shake your head? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Exactly! Get one. You will stop bumping your nose, and you will be able to see. The important thing is that you can see your work WHILE you are about to strike the arc, so you have much better accuracy in where you strike it.
Several people in this group, including me, have had very good success with the blue, $49, autodarkening helmet at Harbor Freight.

Thanks Leo! I will get one there, or at Homier (HDC), which also has a similar one to the HFT one.
Another question:
4) Do welding carts come with a strap to hold the cylinders in, like an appliance handtruck does? For example, for this one at Harbor Freight, I can't tell:
I'm worried if I were wheeling them upstairs that they would fall out.
I want to get either 40 CU Ft or 80 CU Ft tanks.
Also, is it safe to store Oxygen, Acetylene, CO2, Propane, MAPP Gas, or Argon insude the house? I don't want to leave them outside, even under a covered porch, since they might rust.
Thanks!
J.

4) Do welding carts come with a strap to hold the cylinders in, like an appliance handtruck does? For example, for this one at Harbor Freight, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I can't see any sign of a strap in their illustration, nor is it included in their list. They seldom miss a chance to take credit for every feature and accessory, so I would say no. However, tying or strapping the cylinders into the cart is not difficult. The thing that may give you trouble is the combined weight of two cylinders and the cart on the stairs. If you should lose control while you are on the stairs, the whole thing will go to the bottom at pretty high speed. One thing you might do is put one cylinder on the cart at a time while going up. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Also, is it safe to store Oxygen, Acetylene, CO2, Propane, MAPP Gas, or Argon insude the house? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Acetylene, propane and Mapp gas could be very dangerous if stored indoors. Many people worry about oxygen, but not I. I think it would be very hard to build up an oxygen concentration from a leaking cylinder that would make things burn really fast. CO2 and argon would be hazardous only if you were asleep in a room with such a large leak that it displaced the air, which seems highly unlikely. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I don't want to leave them outside, even under a ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ How about under a covered porch, wrapped in a tarp?

There is a stop adjustment at the hinge on the inside of your helmet. Usually it is a little plastic plate wih several holes in it so that you can adjust the stop. It is normal so see nothing when you stop welding. Darkening helmets are nice if you can afford them. In my case a regular helmet lasts a year or less before it falls from height or gets crushed under some steel. Electronics would not last a month. Randy

| 1) How can I prevent the welding helmet from slamming me in the nose when I | shake my head to get it to lower?
There should be an adjustment on the helmet and/or strap that lets you move your head farther away from the front of the helmet.
| | 2) Is it normal to see nothing but pitch black when you stop welding and | have the helmet on? Because on other helmets I have borrowed, you can see | when you are not welding; and you can see everything around the weld while | welding. But with my helmet, you can see only the orange/yellow weld while | welding, and then nothing but black once you stop welding! This makes it | hard for me to weld.
You've got too much light coming in from the back and your eyes are adjusting to that. You can put a flap of leather or heavy denim on the top of your helmet and it does two things: helps keep sparks off your head and keeps light out.
| | 3) What is an auto darkening helmet? Does this mean the lens darkens | automatically and you don't have to shake your head?
Yup!

Get an auto-darkening helmet.
Your tint might be too dark if all you can see is the puddle and arc, however, if you can see when you AREN'T welding, then it is not dark enough. Are you sure your friend had a hood for arc welding and didn't have gas-grade lenses fitted?
Yup. They're like a #4 or #6 when you're not welding so you can actually see quite well and make minor fitment adjustments prior to striking the arc. They are too dark for comfortable extended work, but they eliminate the need to "nod" the helmet down. You can casually bring it down with your hand and then prepare to strike the arc. They are adjustable so that while you are welding, they are anywhere from a #9 to a #14.
Harbor Freight has a couple of nice ones (Western Safety brand) for $50. Other online dealers are selling the same one for $100 or more.
--- Rich

the last one I saw had chain included
Stairs? Welding cart?
NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gunner
"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

I added a bit made of welding rod that hits me in the chin when the helmet is down.
Filters for welding are fairly cheap. You can take the filter out of the helmet and look for a number that indicates how dark the filter is. A ten is about right for stick welding. But you can go lighter especially if you are using small rod. Oh yes you can also get magnifying lenses that fit in the helmets. I wear bifocals, but have a lense in my welding helmet so I can look through the top part of my glasses and see clearly. Talk to your local welding supply co.
Dan

The real danger from an oxygen tank is if you have an unrelated house fire that gets to the tank and causes it to burst. Asside from the shrapnel, 80 cu ft of pure oxygen suddenly loose in the middle of a house fire might make things rather "interesting".

There should not be _any_ shrapnel - that's what the burst disk is there for. The O2 will tend to make the fire happier. But given the fuel gas part of the question, the first thing I'd ask about your welding lens problem is "are you gas welding, or arc welding?" You need a different shade (5 or so) for gas than arc (10 or so). And fuel gas in the house is a definite no-no - it's not only hazardous, it will cause your insurance company to retroactively void your claim if the house burns down...
Lease the cylinders, and let any rust be the suppliers problem.

>>SNIP

It depends on the pressure in the cylinder and the material. Steel tanks peel open like a banana, so it's not a big issue, but aluminum tanks fragment badly.
Now here's the problem. A full tank will heat up and blow the burst disk quickly. A tank at or below 500psi will build pressure so gradually that the tank will soften and begin to melt, suffering a "blowout" before pressure builds to a dangerous level.
At 1000 to 2000psi, it gets dicey. You have the head from the fire building pressure. You also have the heat from the fire removing the heat-treating from the cylinder. At around 400 degrees, 6061 becomes plain old T6. You now have heat building pressure (rapidly) in a rapidly weakening cylinder. At 400 degrees, a 1000-2000psi cylinder will not be raised to anywhere near the 4500 psi rating of the burst disk on a 3000psi cylinder.
Boom.
Fortunately, aluminum cylinders seem to be pretty rare.
--- Rich

Try checking superpawn.com for auto dark helmets. In fact, I check there from time to time to what tools they have. Sometimes they have decent deals, other times not so much
I picked up a Speedglas 9000x, with side windows, for 79.00, plus shipping (see below) It was in standard 'used' condition, and the clear lenes will need to be replaced. But be warned - Super Pawn rips you off big time on the shipping charges - 32 bucks to ship the thing form Seattle to Phoenix, so take that into account if you buy from a store out of your area. Still a pretty good deal though, for me at least. They gaurantee the stuff they sell, and you can return it in 10 days for a refund, minus the 'shipping charges', of course. So buying localy makes more sense, if you can.