Overhead welding helmets Specs??

[sunspark86]

Does anyone know the requirements and specifications for a overhead welding helmet? Is there a specific code ? I'm in the market for a new helmet and cant seem to find a hood that's rated for overhead welding

[WNY_TomB]

Does anyone know the requirements and specifications for a overhead welding helmet? Is there a specific code ? I'm in the market for a new helmet and cant seem to find a hood that's rated for overhead welding

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i had a hard hat that took a welding helmet. i wore hard had backwards so you get some protection on head and back of neck, some wear a leather one that totally covers your back of neck.
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or you dont stand right under sparks. steel workers often use suits to totally protect themselves from sparks.
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hard hat welding helmet combination is heavy. but if air carbon arcing and sparks going 30 feet often better to use it and of course hard hat is required on many construction sites

[TimmyTIG]

I bet this one would work!

[sunspark86]

Ok, thanx for the advice.

That guy in the picture definitely knows how to improvise

[Gamble]

Only ones I know of that are rated for overhead welding are the optrel expert series because of the fish bowl shaped design.

[M J Mauer]

Welcome...

[mla2ofus]

And now I find out the Fibermetal, Huntsman and Jackson passive hoods I used for all those years weren't rated for overhead!! I wonder how I made good overhead welds with them!! I found out over time my body wasn't rated for overhead welds.
Mike

[N2 Welding]

I have no idea how good the new ESAB Sentinel A50 hood works or if it is even rated for overhead but it's worth looking into if you like new toys. video of the new hood on Bakersgas web page. Video shows all the interesting facts about the hood.

http://www.bakersgas.com/ESA0700000800.html

[sunspark86]

It'd be nice if a company come out came out with a universal attachment to go over existing helmets. Idk
Thanks for all the information.

[TimmyTIG]

You just need to keep your head out of the fire!

[WNY_TomB]

sparks going down your back is no fun. right up there with sparks going in your shoes
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big old drop of liquid steel hitting you head aint no fun either. you use air carbon arc torch or oxygen lance and sparks and molten metal can go 30 feet easy. usually grab the hard hat welding helmet fast. even then you might want extra leather welding jacket covering your head and back of neck
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bought a oxygen lance thing holding 2 foot sticks you ignite with arc welder. you literally can burn a hole right through a fire brick. of course the sparks and molten metal will going right over and above your head but what goes up must come down

[HT2-4956]

In 40+ years of being a welder this is the first time I believe I've heard of there being any special requirements or specs that would make a hood "rated" for overhead welding.

IMO what makes a hood "good" for overhead welding is that besides being comfortable (and as light weight as possible) it have a good adjustment mechanism for keeping the hood from coming down to far. If the hood comes down to far you've got to keep your neck bent back further. And over the long haul that literally becomes "a pain in the neck".

Believe it or not in the last 5 years or so I've run into quite a few young guys (most just out of school) that don't really know what this adjustment on the welding hood is for.

[WNY_TomB]

little 2 foot oxygen lance thing was a "toy" i bought like 30 years ago, thing will pretty much burn through anything. not welding but burning but boy that thing really throws sparks

[sunspark86]

I was told that there had been some problems with Sparks/slag hitting the solar cell on auto- Dark hoods and Exploding. We did a lot of overhead in the railyard but I never seen this happen.

[Gamble]

I was told that there had been some problems with Sparks/slag hitting the solar cell on auto- Dark hoods and Exploding. We did a lot of overhead in the railyard but I never seen this happen.

that's why you get a helmet that is curved so the slag rolls right off and doesn't burn through

[xryan]

If the helmet is rated for overhead welding it will say so. As a quick test, pretty much anything with a large flat lense like my Miller Elite is NOT rated for overhead and I wouldn't want to ruin an ADF that way with a nice glob of steel melting through the cover lense. My Optrel e684 is however rated for overhead. The cover lense is completely curved, so anything just bounces right off or rolls down.