Help cheap ebay helmet

[Paul-n]

Hi all

Before I knew any better [ found this forum ] I bought a cheap Auto Darkening helmet from ebay , no manufacturing name on it at all.

I need to use it for some arc welding until I have some cash to grease Weldequip's palms

It only has the numbers 7 and 13 on it , if I measure the arc between the numbers and split it into segments can I say the mask is set to 9 or 10 accurately enough from that ?

I assume if I have the mask set too light I won't get Arc Eye but what are the symptoms of the mask being set too light for the arc ?

regards Paul

 

[hotrodder]

Not being able to see what you're doing and/or eye strain- same as trying to read etc for any length of time when the ambient light is too bright/dark. Shade settings should just alter the amount of visible light that's able to pass through, actual shade numbers not that big of a deal and can vary in brightness/darkness a little between brands anyway. If it's particually cheap/cranky looking be worth holding it up to a bright light to make sure there's no light leaks i.e. no light can make it's way past the join between the lens and shell and/or wearing a pair of safety specs too

 

[Sid]

The shading level affects what you see, but the screen will always filter out the harmful light so long as there's no light leakage as hotrodder says. Adjust to what you're happy with and crack on.

Many of the helmets look to be the same but branded differently anyway.

 

[Paul-n]

Hi all

Ok thanks , will test for light leakage and fiddle away , so much new stuff to master !

regards Paul