Hi guys,
I've got a decent helmet Miller Elite X mode and all that good stuff and its been a faithful cohort for a number of years but it let me down the other day. I was doing about 100A mig and thought something seemed off, couldn't put my finger on it. Then I noticed the weld pool seemed bright, chalked it up to oh well until it got real bright. That is measured in seconds when you're concentrating on the weld not other things that might occur incidentally. So I stop, helmet has indeed turned off. I jiggle it, take it out in the sun for a closer look and lo it reboots, probably solar charges. In the early days there was an issue that you had to use only Sanyo batteries to fit right, but then common lore became the other brands were ok too. So I think, ok, the batteries needed a jiggle its ok now. Wrong!!!! Even though the control display powered and stayed right before and after the weld, I definitely got flashed excessively. Then the helmet actually stayed shut down. Pull the batteries and they were less than 3V by a good margin.
So the impetus for the PSA is the flash effects took me out for a day, sand in the eyes feeling, light sensitivity and spasms in the eye. here effects peaked almost a day after the flashing. And it seemed like the helmet was ok, in question only for a time measured in seconds. Supposedly there should be no permanent effects.
And on a different note maybe mig guys could comment. I find a huge difference in deposition between CO2 and 75/25 ArgonCO2. I have to roll back the wire feed on mix gas. Yet, paradoxically, I can manage thin crap metal on the CO2 without the deposition advantage. ?
take care
I've got a decent helmet Miller Elite X mode and all that good stuff and its been a faithful cohort for a number of years but it let me down the other day. I was doing about 100A mig and thought something seemed off, couldn't put my finger on it. Then I noticed the weld pool seemed bright, chalked it up to oh well until it got real bright. That is measured in seconds when you're concentrating on the weld not other things that might occur incidentally. So I stop, helmet has indeed turned off. I jiggle it, take it out in the sun for a closer look and lo it reboots, probably solar charges. In the early days there was an issue that you had to use only Sanyo batteries to fit right, but then common lore became the other brands were ok too. So I think, ok, the batteries needed a jiggle its ok now. Wrong!!!! Even though the control display powered and stayed right before and after the weld, I definitely got flashed excessively. Then the helmet actually stayed shut down. Pull the batteries and they were less than 3V by a good margin.
So the impetus for the PSA is the flash effects took me out for a day, sand in the eyes feeling, light sensitivity and spasms in the eye. here effects peaked almost a day after the flashing. And it seemed like the helmet was ok, in question only for a time measured in seconds. Supposedly there should be no permanent effects.
And on a different note maybe mig guys could comment. I find a huge difference in deposition between CO2 and 75/25 ArgonCO2. I have to roll back the wire feed on mix gas. Yet, paradoxically, I can manage thin crap metal on the CO2 without the deposition advantage. ?
take care