Warning: skip the cheap welding hoods for outdoor work near Denver

I picked up a $40 auto-darkening hood from a hardware store last summer and figured it would be fine for a quick job on a water tank repair outside Golden. The first couple hours went okay, but when the sun came out strong and I had to weld overhead on a stainless steel patch, the hood started flickering like crazy. It kept flashing my eyes every few seconds because the sensors couldn't handle the bright background and the arc at the same time. I finished the weld but my eyes felt sandblasted for the rest of the week. I ended up borrowing a buddy's Miller hood for the next job and the difference was night and day. That cheap one is now strictly for indoor work or cloudy days. Anyone else have a hood go wonky on them in direct sunlight?

2 comments

2 Comments

noah9142d ago

And I bet the auto-darkening on those cheap ones goes way slower too, I had one that would stay bright for like a full second after I stopped welding which is just asking for a flash. That Denver sun is brutal, it's like trying to weld inside a lightbulb sometimes.

julia_jones721d ago

You know, @noah914, that bright Denver sun is exactly why my last welding helmet had that exact problem. I swear I blinked and saw spots for like five minutes after a bad tack weld out in the driveway, felt like I was staring straight into a flashbulb. My buddy laughed so hard he almost dropped his rod, but hey, at least I didn't blind myself permanently! I finally broke down and got a mid-range Speedglas after that, still cost me an arm and a leg but at least I don't have to worry about that full second of bright anymore.