auto dark helmets for stick pipe welding

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been working with  pipe welders for 20 years on and off,and now im practicing every other day to get certified ,anyway my question is why in the world dont i see any pipe welders with auto dark helmets,with 5 to 6 12 inch pipe welds easy a 8 hr day,there is a lot of fitting (90,45,end caps an 40 foot runs of 375 wall pipe)these guys insist on lifting there helmets up a down,putting glasses on to grind,brush etc.I have an older auto dark when i fool with mig and they are great ,i here the newer helmets have a grinding mode and that was the reason i would not use for stick. but now with this mode, i would thing thats the way to go.pipe welders or stick welders can you answer please?i want to buy a new auto dark helmet.what is best for pipe? i have pipe  fiber helmets, very lite with the 2inch x 4 1/4 inch plastic cover plate dont want to go with larger view glass then that cause i get all that size glass a nd lens for no cost,beside i would thing all the sparks just more a area to damage looking for the litest, grinding mode( of course)and what ever you may recommend thank you
Reply:I'm not a pipe welder, though I do occasionally weld pipe.   I stick, fluxcore, mig and tig with a Jackson EQC most of the time.  Works fine for me.    My EQC's don't have grind mode, just variable shade 9 to 13.  I use safety glasses or a grinding hood for grinding.MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op
Reply:Originally Posted by broadhead0706my question is why in the world dont i see any pipe welders with auto dark helmets.............these guys insist on lifting there helmets up a down,putting glasses on to grind,brush etc
Reply:Originally Posted by BurnitPipe welders are strange, they all look the same and use the same equipment, it gets worse the closer you get to pipelines in Texas. A very strange phenomena.They are convinced that you need a certain machine, a certain helmet etc.....and if you show up with something else but can still do the job well too bad.They are also convinced that welding pipe is akin to a combination of combat and a rock concert, no one else can do what they do, and whatever you do aint ****.This is only my opinion.
Reply:Originally Posted by desertrider33lmao!!  Can you imagine the horror if someone showed up to the pipeline with a blue welder, mounted lengthwise, in the back of a japanese truck, and put an auto hood with a big lens on his head???!!   Omg, the earth would rotate off it's axis, there'd be a major explosion the size of chernobyl, and the poor guy would have to high-tail it outta there, burning rice like mad while dodging stones!!!
Reply:Plenty of the pipewelders I know who work in powerhouses or chemical plants wear autodarkening hoods.  The mysticism and superstition that surrounds pipewelding in the transmission pipeline world sometimes confuses me to.But I have it on good authority that pipeline welding is a finely tuned operation.  I bet your analogy of a cross between combat and a rock concert is true,  and I'll bet there's a historical reason for every eccentricity in the business.  Like automotive manufacturing, pipeline construction jobs make or lose money on pennies per weld or per hour of cost.  Labor is by far and away the most expensive part of the job.  So anything that ensures the manpower stays productive is worth the cost.  And changing anything in the system entails risk, which the people paying the bills or counting on the profits won't tolerate.Red or Blue in the welding business in the pipeline industry carries some of the same stigma as foreign versus domestic in the auto business.  "Domestic cars have crappy quality" is a stereotype that still persists today from the 1970s.  Blue makes some fine pipewelding engine drives, but it will take decades for those improvement to become widespread into the day to day world of petroleum pipewelding.I suspect autodarkening helmets are following the same path, along with several other technologies that are more widely accepted in other welding arenas.Benson's Mobile Welding - Dayton, OH metro area - AWS Certified Welding Inspector
Reply:you hit that right on the head desert rider haha but if iget certified you may see ablue machine with a auto dark hemlet(in blue of course)in a blue truck ,if it isnt the gray machine it is no good as far as theere concern,but  i will say those 200 sa machines are amule .here in nyc the welding in a hole,up against steam lines isnt easy.100 % x ray.the guys are good ,even have some 798 guys.
Reply:Another viewpoint would be that ADF's are (relatively) expensive and fragile. Rolling around in the mud, crawling around inside a boiler, random light fingered labourers etc...
Reply:Most of the Pipeliners, i know are like 55-65 years old, very set in their ways,  all downhill.Lincoln 3+3 machines are the most popular around hear now.  Trans canada pipelines has regulations on machines, you have to use machine that meet thier specs.  and the most important is that these select few can out weld most other welders.  so as my dad always says, Happy welders make happy welds.
Reply:There's a bloke that's 77 running bead on a line in Aussie at the moment On the line they should be doing around nine 26" XS a day with the stick broadhead If you want to go on the line with an auto helmet then best you buy enough for one a week, and you may be lucky to get that long out of them.Or try doing tie in's with an auto, keep the flash harry helmet for the workshop where it's useful because it won't last long on site.I'd rather be hunting........USE ENOUGH HEAT.......Drifting around Aussie welding more pipe up, for something different.....wanting to get home.
Reply:I think that the auto-darkening helmet is not used much for pipe welding because the sun causes it to darken.  On and off the head to adjust for the sun or to put into grind mode makes for a cranky welder after awhile.My plastic Miller Elite will allow a drop of molten metal to melt through and continue on to contact skin underneath.  A fiberglass helmet won't let the molten metal pass through the glass mat even if it burns the epoxy coating.  Wouldn't want to be using it on pipe for that reason alone.My instructor told me that when I get out and on the job with the ironworkers I will have to provide and carry my own clear lenses since the Toolcrib only supplies the small lenses for the fibre-metal helmet.  He also said that he once dropped his speedglass from a zoom-boom and ruined his day to the tune of $600.xx Just some thoughtsGordie -- "I believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."