| One of the biggest misconceptions out there, is | | | | Auto darkening welding helmets can range anywhere |
| whether or not you need an auto darkening welding | | | | from $100 all the way up to $400. It all depends on |
| helmet (speedglass). I'm not going to lie to you, having | | | | your budget and what you want out of it. Most of |
| an auto darkening welding helmet is a good thing to | | | | them will have a feature to set the shade of lens you |
| have if you can afford it and if you're not going to | | | | want to use. Some will even go down to a shade 5 so |
| abuse it. If you're going to have it rolling around in the | | | | You can use it for cutting with a torch. |
| back of your pickup, you should seriously consider a | | | | A standard welding hood can be as little as $5 at a |
| standard welding hood. | | | | garage sale up to about $50. That's generally the |
| When you first start out learning how to weld, it can be | | | | highest price out there, unless you get one with some |
| a real advantage to use a speedglass just for the | | | | really fancy graphics. Standard welding helmets are |
| simple fact that you can see what's going on. This is | | | | very affordable and if you happen to wreck it, it's no |
| probably more important for learning how to stick weld | | | | big deal since it only costed very little. |
| than it is for learning how to wire feed weld, since the | | | | I have personally used auto darkening hoods, but to |
| wire feed welding requires you to only pull the trigger. | | | | this day, I choose not to just for the simple fact that I |
| Plus you can get everything set up before you put | | | | think they're kind of expensive and I really don't need |
| your hood down. The advantage to seeing what's | | | | one. Some people will lead you to believe that you |
| going on when your stick welding, is that you can put | | | | need an auto darkening hood, but I disagree. I think it's a |
| your hood down and know exactly where the rod is | | | | luxury, not a necessity. Spend your money on your |
| when you're scratching to try and start your arc. If you | | | | welding machine and your welding rods and make |
| don't have this feature, you have no idea where you | | | | sure that those are up to snuff. That's a better place |
| are starting your arc, unless you have experience. | | | | to spend your money. The more you practice welding, |
| Another advantage to an auto darkening hood is, if | | | | the more you will realize your welding rod or welding |
| you are doing a lot of production welding. If you're | | | | gun are nothing more than an extension of your hand, |
| starting and stopping an awful lot or are stitch welding | | | | and it's pretty easy to figure out where that is at all |
| for long periods of time, it's handy to not have to lift up | | | | times, even if you're not looking. After all, practice does |
| your hood every time you need to find your next spot | | | | make perfect. |
| to weld. | | | | |