Best Welding Protective Equipment
This light weight welding helmet is so versatile that it can be used on grinding, cutting and welding applications. - Exterior lens covers: Amazon ASIN# B00CIOKN6C. - Inner lens covers: ASIN# B00CIXN50O. - Head Gear:ASIN# B01N5HCMIX. - Hard hat adapter: ASIN#B075FCZJZH, B075FH4J4C. - Sweat Band: ASIN#B073XT6CCQ. - Auto Darkening Lens: ASIN#B01M2DHSDR. - Cheater Lens: ASIN# B017IDJKMK (Diopter various). Great For TIG MIG MMA, Plasma Applications with Grinding Feature.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Great auto-darkening helmet for the money, cheaper and better than HF."
"Noobie welder and needed a helmet."
"This is my first auto darkening helmet and I really love it."
"It adjusts automatically, except when I forget to put it on the appropriate function..either welding or grinding."
"Got this for my dad's birthday."
"Acted glichy once but fixed itself , good product for the price , if I was a welder by trade I would buy a much better one but has been good for part time use."
"And works great no matter what you are welding in whatever enironment you are in."
"Negatives- Small or difficult field of vision or viewing angle no matter how I adjust the helmet, but in fairness, their are models available. with a larger lenses To obtain the best and most natural view of my work area, I have to leave a lot of open area near my. chin, but I will use this helmet when I have to wear my respirator."
Blue-lined leather welding gloves (400) by US Forge are designed to provide complete protection from molten metal and ultraviolet rays which cause severe skin burns. Enter your model number to make sure this fits.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"These are heavy duty gloves."
"These are great for stick welding!"
"Great for fireplaces and burn barrels and welding."
"These gloves work well so far, though I have minimal welding experience."
"While they manage dexterity, I don't think they are as heat-safe as the are claimed to be, as it doesn't take very long holding a hot pan to start feeling the heat through the gloves."
"I purchased these specifically to use when cleaning up after grilling or smoking with my charcoal grill."
"Been using these gloves with my wood stove for over a year and they have earned a great review."
"When I gave these to her, she said that they were too nice to take camping...LOL again (they ARE nicer than the kitchen store ones, but still...) I obviously haven't used these for any personal hot work, but they look pretty well made, and I'm sure they will last a lifetime in our chuck wagon box."
Top Features Made of heat and flame resistant shoulder split cowhide Kevlar Stitching with welted seams for added durability Full sock lining with straight thumb for improved finger tip sensitivity 5 Inch. Enter your model number to make sure this fits.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"A little bulkier than what I was previously used to using, but definitely worth it for prolonged welding in close quarters!"
"These are good quality welding gloves."
"GREAT product made with pretty supple leather that allows good hand and finger dexterity."
"Though a little on the large size for welding gloves, very well made and I would order them again."
"Worked fine for a week, warped and stiffened easily around high heat."
"Have been using Costco leather gloves for years for light welding around the shop but they don't cover the wrist."
"Excellent quality."
"Husband said these are great."
Best Welding Blankets
The Neiko Welding Blanket protects equipment and working area from sparks, flares and spatter while welding. 100% FLAME RETARDENT: durable and general purpose welding blanket to prevent property damages from sparks and spatter.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I'm happy with this as a solution as it was a fraction of the cost of a standard plastic grill cover and they can't be put on when the grill is warm/hot."
"It kept the sparks from igniting my fuel tank (Diesel) while I was welding very close to it."
"The only thing is the edges unraveled easily.not sure if it is my fault."
"excellent welding blanket and a good price."
"This blanket isn't as thick as some that I've seen, but it works great."
"Worked great."
"using this on my pellet grill due to cold weather."
Best Welding Gloves
Blue-lined leather welding gloves (400) by US Forge are designed to provide complete protection from molten metal and ultraviolet rays which cause severe skin burns. Enter your model number to make sure this fits.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Surprisingly soft on the inside, and they insulate MUCH better than the cheap welding gloves I had from Harbor Freight before this."
"Very heavy, heat resistant gloves, and a far better buy than stupid pot holders."
"They are far superior to actual oven mitts and have replaced my fancy silicone mitt which insulated poorly and retained heat."
"These have been my go-to gloves for open fire cooking for years."
"I had to put the fire out so here is what I did: I took a five gallon bucket (plastic was all I had lol) and I filled it half full of water, then I put on these gloves and PICKED up each of the three burning logs and dropped them in the bucket of water....then out the backdoor."
"Adjust your logs carefully and quickly."
"Sure, they are comfortable, well made and a great price and you could use them for welding or moving hot tools or logs but if you're coping raptor beaks and you think to yourself, "Well damn, I need a glove for my right hand too!""
"After talking to a few people about fireplace gloves I was told to look at welding gloves, which are extremely heat resistant, durable and cheaper than gloves marketed as "fireplace gloves"."
Best Welding Helmets
This light weight welding helmet is so versatile that it can be used on grinding, cutting and welding applications. - Exterior lens covers: Amazon ASIN# B00CIOKN6C. - Inner lens covers: ASIN# B00CIXN50O. - Head Gear:ASIN# B01N5HCMIX. - Hard hat adapter: ASIN#B075FCZJZH, B075FH4J4C. - Sweat Band: ASIN#B073XT6CCQ. - Auto Darkening Lens: ASIN#B01M2DHSDR. - Cheater Lens: ASIN# B017IDJKMK (Diopter various). Great For TIG MIG MMA, Plasma Applications with Grinding Feature.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Great auto-darkening helmet for the money, cheaper and better than HF."
"Noobie welder and needed a helmet."
"This is my first auto darkening helmet and I really love it."
"It adjusts automatically, except when I forget to put it on the appropriate function..either welding or grinding."
"Got this for my dad's birthday."
"Acted glichy once but fixed itself , good product for the price , if I was a welder by trade I would buy a much better one but has been good for part time use."
"And works great no matter what you are welding in whatever enironment you are in."
"Negatives- Small or difficult field of vision or viewing angle no matter how I adjust the helmet, but in fairness, their are models available. with a larger lenses To obtain the best and most natural view of my work area, I have to leave a lot of open area near my. chin, but I will use this helmet when I have to wear my respirator."
Best Welding Screens
The welding frame is produced from 1-inches by 0.04-inches zinc plated pipe and interconnected with strong bolt fixings. Comes with an approx 6-feet high transparent welding curtain which allows a good overview of the work area; this creates safety and prevents welders from feeling isolated.
Find Best Price at AmazonBest Welding Equipment & Accessories
The Hakko 599B-02 is a replacement solder tip cleaning wire sponge. No contamination risk compared to conventional tip tinners.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The brass is softer than the soldering iron's tip, but it's harder than the oxidized crud that builds upon the iron's tip."
"I purchased this just before I ordered a Hakko soldering station that came with one of these as part of the station."
"Hated using a wet sponge because it reduces the tinning effect on the tips causing premature wear."
"I only wish the bottom wasn't fit so tight to the top as it makes cleaning a bit of a task."
"This works much better at cleaning a solder iron tip than a wet sponge."
"Order this along with some other items for my hobby / side business I've always had and reserved about if these things actually worked I've seen them on YouTube but thought why not try one."
"The Hakko 599B-02 Solder Tip Cleaning Wire and Holder is well made."
"The brass pad works so much better than the sponge. Every so often when the brass starts to fill up, I empty the container and "fluf" (for lack of a better word) the brass sponge."
Best Welding Systems
AHP Aliphatic 200X 200 Amp IGBT AC DC Tig/Stick Welder with PULSE 110v 200v. quality TIG welding on aluminum, stainless or steel and precise welding of thinner-gauge materials. Advanced Inverter Technology with PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) Using IGBT technology; PULSE FREQUENCY RANGE - 5 to 5HZ; PULSE AMP CONTROL 10 - 200 WELDING AMPS; PULSE TIME ON (WIDTH) - 10-90% OF PULSE CYCLE.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"After reading the many positive reviews on here for AHP's welder I decided to take a chance and buy one. I did the troubleshooting which consisted of checking some power supplies and making sure that a snubber coil wasn't too close to the output terminals. There was also a sheet on proper grounding for HF welders that was lifted from a Miller manual. After I sent a couple reminders Jabin wrote me and informed me I had a bad boost control board. I filled out a ridiculously long and tersely worded RMA where I had to prove I actually bought the machine or they wouldn't honor the warranty. Finally losing my patience I sent an email telling them that if they didn't help me I would post a negative review on Amazon. They also cut off my access to Jabin, a move I find laughable considering he has done absolutely nothing to resolve my problems in a two month period. I have worked on large scale electronic system for 40 years and currently make my living fixing multi-million dollar linear accelerators. To put that in perspective Miller includes a general schematics and a parts list in their well written manual. Typical of low end Chinese electronics, the circuits are constructed with many unmarked components. Good luck fixing this thing without an accurate schematic if the company goes out business. Customer service issues aside there are several other disturbing things about the design and construction of this Tig. The boards are coated with a clear sealer which is a good thing in harsh environments. When they soldered in the new integrated circuit they used excessive heat and did not bother to clean flux off the board after repair. Due to small differences in switching times and conductivity there is always more stress on one device than the others. This design approach goes back to the old days when individual devices were incapable of handling the power. Of course since none of these devices are marked I can only speculate on their capacity based on physical size and the shear number of them in the circuit. I don't even know if they use the newer more robust IGBT technology or if it is built with SCRs or large conventional transistors. Given the number of satisfied reviewers here I conclude that if you get a good one, and don't have to endure what passes for customer service at AHP, it has the makings of a competent hobby class welder. Granted it doesn't have the stated capacity and adjustment capabilities of the 200X, but chances are it won't blow up on you and it comes with better accessories. Extensive dealer networks and the shiny semi-trucks full of welders at the state fair cost money."
"Working at a welding supply store that is a Miller dealer I've had the opportunity to use almost every domestic welder (Miller and Lincoln).I'm not going to say that this machine is getting a Dynasty 200 DX for a quarter of the price, because it certainly is not."
"It took about 3 weeks to get the welder, and while waiting I studied the manual and watched numerous tig welding videos. After receiving the welder in good shape, I set it up and started welding. While I still have a lot to learn, I feel confident enough to start my next welding project using this welder."
"I've been welding with a Lincoln SP135 Plus for several years (MIG welder), but had some jobs where a TIG welder would be the better way to go. I spent quite a bit of time looking at welders at the local supply house (Central Welding is where I usually go), but the cost of the machines, even used, were simply more than I was willing to spend for what I imagined would be relatively light duty use over the years. I think the only real thing missing on this welder is a giant power switch on the front of the welder that can be operated with gloves on, otherwise everything else is very livable. Welding mild steel is just kids play with this welder. Welding aluminum is a bit tricky, but not because of this welder at all. If you're expecting a TIG welder to magically make welding aluminum easy, you are not being reasonable. Welding stainless is the one thing I've had more trouble with, but I also have not been equipped with a second tank to properly purge the welds. I've been able to weld stainless similar to welding steel, but the welds are definitely more brittle without purging and not as good as I'd hoped. In my opinion, welding stainless seems a bit more difficult than welding aluminum, but I'm not sure if that's just me or a common experience others have had as well. The settings are pretty universal though, so if you can find a buddy that knows their TIG welding, they should be able to tell you what all the settings are for. There is also Start Amps, Main Amps, and End Amps, which I think are all pretty obvious and do pretty much exactly what they say. Pulse Freqency, Pulse Amps and Pulse Time On allow you to control the speed of the pulse, as well as the amount of amps the pulse drops to, and the amount of time that the pulse is at the Main Amps setting (or percentage of it based on pedal input); or at least this is the way that it seems from my experimenting with it. You can turn pulsing on or off with a switch, as well as switching between stick and TIG, AC and DC, or pedal and finger switch input by switches as well. I have a larger bottle, somewhere over 300 cubic feet, and it seems to last me about a week of intermittent welding, perhaps 7-10 hours total depending on what I'm welding. It does cost a lot more to weld with TIG than MIG in my experience when it comes to the gas, so plan to spend twice as much on about the same amount of welding. I only use a small 90 cubic foot (if I remember right) bottle with my MIG, and I feel like I get the same amount of welding done with that as I do with the larger bottle on the TIG. MIG forces you to work at it's pace, or end up with a pile of ugly weld if you don't cooperate. I've come to a workflow where I use the TIG where I want welds to look perfect and require no real cleanup, but where I can use the MIG for heavy quick welds, I do so to keep costs down (at the expense of having to clean up a little bit of weld spatter). I have not used the finger switch more than a couple times, but when you need to work where you can't use a pedal, it's a pretty good option. Once you start welding, the display will show you the amps in real time, so if you are using the footpedal, and let up on the pedal a bit, the amps reading on the LED will drop to match. If I recall right, the first click goes to the starting amps, the second click to the main amps a third click to the end amps and a fourth click to off, but it's been a while since is used that function and I may be off."