Not always what you think it is....

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A humorous story from last nights class. One of the mig students has been having a lot of issues with consistency for the last 7 weeks and he's been getting very frustrated that he can't make any real progress. Early in the evening he comes to me and asks if there is any tape around. He wants to add a cover to the back of his hood to block out some of the back light. They changed the lights in the weld lab over the summer and painted the shop with a semigloss paint, and there is a lot of back light now in the shop. It's been a real problem for many of the students and I even have issues in some of the booths where it's really bad. I dig him out some blue painters tape from my truck so he can tape a bandana over the back and see if that helps him see better.About an hour later I check on him and he's still having major issues, so I spent some time trying to figure out why he's having so much trouble. After watching him run a few beads and making some suggestions he can't seem to follow, I decided that he just isn't seeing the puddle very well.  I figured I'd give him my Miller Elite to look thru and I'd use his hood to run a few beads and see if he can't get a better feel for what  is going on because my Miller blocks a bit more light than his hood does.1st thing I find when I put on his hood is that the hood is sitting up way to high and doesn't cover my neck well, so I show him how to change the head gear so the hood sits lower. That helps quite a bit to cut down on the light leakage at the front of the hood.As soon as I struck the arc all I could think of was this had to be the worst hood I've ever tried to weld with. I've had better luck with HF hoods! I couldn't see the puddle at all with the glare and the lens was kind of foggy and smeary. So I stop and look at what he has the AD set at.  OK he has it at 9, so lets turn it up to between 10 and 11 and try this again. Marginally better but I still can't see the puddle. Turn the lens all the way to max and try again. Now I can sort of see the puddle, but it's like welding in a dense fog because the inner lens is so smeared and the outer lens could seriously stand a good cleaning.As soon as I stopped welding, he immediately comments he can really see well with my hood, even when he's standing 3 feet outside the booth watching me. No big surprise the optics on a $300 hood are better than those on a $50 to $100 hood. That's what that extra money buys you. I will give him credit.  It's a basic Jackson AD unit, so it should be better than the cheap HF hoods so many pick up, but it really doesn't act that way.I comment to him about how foggy and smeary the interior lens is, and ask if he's cleaned the lenses or has spare ones. He says he hasn't cleaned it and he doesn't know how to take it apart, so I figure I'll take him in the class room and show him how to take the lenses out and clean them real good.I pull the whole thing apart and carefully set the AD portion aside, mentioning to him he needs to be very careful not to scratch or get finger prints on the front of the AD unit because if he damages it, there's no way to fix it. The outer cover is pretty grimy so I take the lens cleaner and clean it up suggesting he pick up a pack of spares before next class. When that's done I turn my attention to the inner lens. It's covered with big smeary finger prints. I keep looking at it and something seems strange... Yep he's never removed the clear protective wrapper on the cover lens!  Yeah that will do it...Pull off the protective cove and guess what... You can SEE now! Goes to show that you can't always take for granted what a problem really is. He'd have probably continued to spend the next 5 weeks pounding away with the protective cover on the lens, while getting more and more frustrated all the time and not understanding WHY. By the end of the night he was managing to make some progress finally and was sort of laughing at himself over the whole thing..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Few years ago I was teaching a guy how to weld, the exact same thing happened! He was so embarrassed when I pulled the plastic off his lens. Don’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:DSWAesop also taught welding.Opus
Reply:Wow...never would have solved that problem.  Thanks for sharing that. TxDoc's Photos Lincoln SP175 PlusLincoln Power Mig 256Lincoln 250 LX Spool Gun Lincoln Precision Tig 225 Hypertherm 600 KMG 2x72 Belt GrinderBaldor 812RE Grinder
Reply:I have a Harbor Freight AD hood that I bought when someone on here showed it was advertised for like $12.00 or some redicilous low price.  It works as advertised, and several of us have used it and never burned eyes or anything.  That being said, I quit using it and went back to using my pancake hood even when in the shop.  The cheap AD hood just doesn't have the clarity even with clean lenses that I have with my pancake.  I might change my mind if I ever used a high quality Miller or Speedglass or comparable hood, but I wouldn't haul one of those high dollar hoods around in my rig... Or use it laying in mud... So I'll stick with what's tried and true.-------------------------Chemetron AC/DC 300 HFSnap-On MM300L Lincoln SP140 Lincoln AC/DC 225g Lincoln SA200 Lincoln SA200 Miller Bobcat 225GVictor torchesH&M and Mathey beveling machinesMcElroy Plastic pipe fusion
Reply:I really like the Jackson Balder hood I got from Cyberweld recently.   After u get the $50 gift card rebate which took about 3 weeks, it ends up being $88.67 for a real nice AD hood.   http://m.cyberweld.com/jabasaaudawe.html They even included a free pair of safety glasses with the gift card.  BTW, they ship the rebate FedEx signature required... Sent w/ Tapatalk using Swype, pls excuse typosLast edited by soutthpaw; 10-31-2013 at 05:35 AM.Tiger Sales:  AHP Distributor    www.tigersalesco.comAHP200x; AHP 160ST; MM350P,  Spoolmatic 30A; Everlast PowerTig 185; Thermal Dynamics 60i plasma.  For Sale:  Cobra Mig 250 w/ Push-pull gun.  Lincoln Wirematic 250
Reply:LOL Doug! Two of my friends did the same thing when work issued us speedglass hoods in the mid 90s. They asked me how I could use that thing, cause they couldn't see out of theres. I pulled one apart and we all had a chuckle.I hate being bi-polar it's awsomeMy Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
Reply:For the first time ever in my life I used an auto hood for doing some MIG about a week ago. It was ok but I won't be switching from my fixed lens.
Reply:Must be a fairly common problem .  My new miller hood that arrived yesterday had stuff printed in a pattern all over all the " clear " film  that they put on . That tells me that miller at least has had some issues with that exact problem .
Reply:DSW, let us know how he does now!  Good work, man.-AaronJet 17.5" Drill Press1942 South Bend 16x84 Lathe1980s Miller 320A / BP --- 2013 Power Mig 2562012 Jet 7x12 Horizontal BandsawVictor O/A Setup
Reply:I had a similiar issue. I got into welding over 10 years ago and never got the hang of it.Then 4 years ago, the welding shop near my office ran an open house, including a MIG simulator/teaching aid.What I saw using that machine was nothing like what I was viewing through my 1st gen AD helmet. I spent the $75 for an adjustable (not name-brand) AD helmet right-then-and-there. I can see the puddle and the whole welding process now. I betcha your student's welding will greatly improve as he is able to actually see what he's doing.Be wary of The Numbers: Figures don't lie,. but liars can figure.Welders:2008 Lincoln 140 GMAW&FCAW2012 HF 165 'toy' GTAW&SMAW1970's Cobbled together O/A