Welding Helmet repair/mod

[rockcrawler]

I recently bought a new welding helmet, not a $20 kmart special but a middle of the range $130 one. I was quite pleased with my purchase but I did not think much of the headband hardware. Well actually I have yet to see a helmet with headband hardware that I would not be suspicious of (headband hardware seems to be best selling items insofar as helmet parts). Sure enough, on the second day of use I managed to thread one of the knobs I didn't see returning the helmet for another as a solution and neither did I have the time to get my money back and look for a different one with better headband hardware. Decided to bite the bullet and modify my helmet.

Here's one side of the headband hardware.

 

[rockcrawler]

First step is to snip off the ****py plastic thread.

 

[rockcrawler]

Next, drill out whats left of the inner retainer. Being odd shaped and plastic I decided to drill it free hand, better chance of making the drill come out the right place. Using a sharp drill bit I had no problem doing this by applying light pressure.

 

[rockcrawler]

You have to find a nut slightly bigger than the hole in the knob, assemble as shown and then heat the nut and pull it into the knob. Don't go overboard on the heat, only a few seconds over an open flame is needed.

I should also mention that whatever drill size you use in the previous step, you want a tight fit on the bolt when you fit it into the plastic piece.

 

[rockcrawler]

Testing the mod.

All that is needed now is to cut the screw/bolt to size.

 

[rockcrawler]

Fit a rubber boot and its done.

Great helmet now and worthy to be amongst my other tools.

 

[3DAMAN!]

Thanks for this post and for sharing the pictures. Every helmet I have ever had has sooner or later stripped the adjustment .

 

[rockcrawler]

Onto Mod #2 - Batteries.

Just another one of those things that annoys me about these helmets - button cell batteries and the useless circuit they power!

Will someone design a proper welding helmet and put a bit of thought into it??? What is it with people these days, do we have to have **** all the time? I would have gladly payed for all these things, except I would not have gotten them even with a $400 helmet.

So the circuit is one of those "Auto Power Off" with a momentary switch to turn it on. Yes brilliant, except it is in constant "Stand-By" with the processor ticking over waiting for something to happen and by the time something does happen, such as the user wanting to turn it ON, it has sucked the batteries flat. Idiotic.
And those button cells aren't cheap.

This arrangement has now been replaced with 4xAAA Lithium batteries with a switch to stop them from being drained.

 

[KLF]

Doesn't your helmet have a solar recharge for the batteries? I thought all the auto-dimming helmets had that now.

 

[fj40charles]

I'm guessing they don't use big AA batteries because of additional weight.

 

[rockcrawler]

Yeah its got the solar panel but that isn't to charge the batteries its to allow the helmet to work in sunlight if the batteries are flat. Lithium batteries like the button cells supplied are not rechargeable in any case.

Those are AAA's I put in there not AA's. As far as weight it hasn't affected the operation of the helmet in any way, thing weighs only a few ounces as it is.

 

[alia176]

hmm, that's interesting about the solar charger. I thought the UV ray from welding keeps the battery charged? My helmet is going on 8 years and no new batteries needed yet!

 

[KLF]

Yeah its got the solar panel but that isn't to charge the batteries its to allow the helmet to work in sunlight if the batteries are flat.

Ya, I'm not so sure I agree with this. I've been borrowing a friend's old Speedglass for a few years, I know he's used that thing a LOT (always inside) and never needed to change the batteries.

I'm gonna be buying a new helmet this week from the local Airgas place, I'll see what they say.

 

[rockcrawler]

Not sure what you have there, but that is certainly not the case with mine, says so in the instruction pamphlett I got with it. Not that I am sorry about it as I need the thing to work when I pick it up and not have to wait for it to charge or to remember to leave it under light.

 

[RHINO]

i have a middle of the road $130 miller helmet and i havent changed the batts in over 3 yrs now, the headband is plastic but works fine.

 

[KLF]

I just bought a Miller Performance helmet today. The guy at the Airgas store told me the batteries only keep the electronics working, as soon as you start an arc the solar cell provides all the power to run the lens darkening. He says it's unlikely I'll have to change the batteries for 3-4 years.

 

[rockcrawler]

I did notice that the arc could provide enough light to keep it going KLF (even with Low Bat flashing), that was in summer when there was a fair amount of light to start with. Come winter when it gets dark here by 6pm it would always zap me on the initial arc. I found that by taking the batteries out when not using the helmet I pretty much overcame the problem of the batteries going flat, but this was just too fiddly. So what you are saying makes sense about the batteries providing enough juice just to keep the circuit going, but I guess mine didn't work that well when it came to current consumption. I just re-read the instructions again however the chinglish is just too vague for me to make much sense of it.

 

[alia176]

I just bought a Miller Performance helmet today. The guy at the Airgas store told me the batteries only keep the electronics working, as soon as you start an arc the solar cell provides all the power to run the lens darkening. He says it's unlikely I'll have to change the batteries for 3-4 years.

Yup, I agree with your sales guy. On the Miller site, you can see that these lithium batteries have a serious long life span.