I know there was a thread on here a while back regarding needing more light while welding, and some of the ideas folks here came up with for throwing extra light on welds.
I tried various things, and none of them worked all that well for me. This idea actually WORKS!! And it's cheap, too!!
I was kicking around the shop and came across a new headband-style LED "headlight", and it occurred to me I could take the stretchy band off it & attach the base of the light to the top of my welding helmet. The more I looked at it, the more I thought it would work, so I tried it. The band just slips into a slot in the headlight's base, so it's easy to remove without damaging it (everything can be put back the way it was if you don't like it). I drilled a couple of small holes in the light's bracket, matching holes in the top of the helmet, and attached it with small (M4?) stainless bolts & nuts.
I was astonished when I tried it - no more shadows (and no matter where in the shop I am, my welding ALWAYS seems to be in deep shadow), great detail visible, and it has no effect on the helmet's auto dimming. You can even flip the light backwards, down onto the top of the helmet when it's not in use! The angle of the light is adjustable via detents in its hinge system.
Anyway, I'm sure others have done this, too, but I haven't seen it here so I thought I'd post it for the benefit of others with aging, tired eyes, dim shop lighting, and thin wallets.
Here's some pics - the helmet with light mounted & standing up, a view through the helmet lens under bright shop lighting but no headlight, and one with the helmet light turned on. The pics aren't that great - I used my cell phone camera through the helmet's lens, about 3' away from the subject. When you're at normal welding distance away from the subject, the view is MUCH better than it appears in the pics. The theoretical welding "subject" in the pic was the small steel rod in the vise.
By the way, as one who has to wear "readers" for close-up work (and whose vision is worse under low light....like in a welding helmet), I also purchased a 1.5X diopter magnifying lens for my helmet (similar to this:
https://www.amazon.com/Metal-Man-MMAG1- ... way&sr=8-4 ) It's a generic type, 2" X 4 1/4", and I figured that when I got it I could adapt it to my helmet. Turns out that no adapting was necessary - it clipped nicely into my Miller helmet's auto-dim pack retaining clips perfectly. Now I have sharp vision, and LOTS of light!
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