3M Speedglas Headgear

[Wamsutta]

You guys that have Speedglas helmets, how do you get your up/down set up?

When I tighten the knobs enough to keep the helmet from pivoting down on its own, it won't pivot down.

If I ever so slightly loosen the knobs to allow the helmet to pivot down with a nod of my head, the helmet pivots down on its own slowly.

There's no sweet spot no matter what I do. Helmet is a 9002NC if it matters.

 

[Boogerman]

You shouldn't need to tip up and nod your head to start welding. It takes some getting used to having the automatic darkening, and just leaving the helmet down. Adjusting it to drop easily when you start welding is a habit from having fixed shade glass, and hard to break. It bothered me a lot when I first switched.

My Lincoln helmet also creeps down, if adjusted that way. I recently got a speedglas, I just adjusted it to need a hand pull to bring it down, and will try not to continue the habit of nodding to drop it.

 

[rlitman]

...There's no sweet spot no matter what I do. Helmet is a 9002NC if it matters.

It does. The 900Xx models were notorious for this issue (I've got two with the same problem). The 91xx models supposedly had it fixed.

I think some of it is how you have that square hole plastic washer that sets the friction. If it's not seated on the square seat (and it's VERY easy to have it together wrong), that makes things much worse. But even at it's best, it's fiddly.

 

[bdbecker]

I have a 9002... I just use my hand.

As @Boogerman mentioned, you don't need to do 'the nod' with an auto-darkening lens. It's not good for your neck anyway.

 

[tarbellb]

Better head gear has detents for this

 

[rlitman]

Better head gear has detents for this

True! I just put together a hard hat mounted arc flash rated face shield yesterday, and it has fantastic detents that I suspect could easily be adapted to any head gear. It uses a pair of washers with radial notches and matched protrusions. The washers are teardrop shaped, with a pin sticking up from the elongated corner that locks into a hole in the headgear and face shield frame (and a steel wave washer acts as the spring). Those offset holes lock the washers a whole lot better than the stupid square hole. I wonder if you could borrow parts from one of these. It seems that's what came in my kit.

ERB Visor Bracket for Full Brim Hard Hat VB65

Quickly and securely mounts on all major brands of full brim hard hats to allow attachment of a variety of face shield options.

www.jjkeller.com

 

[no704]

I still use a fixed shade for mig. I don’t trust auto. Might get one as I get into tig.