Old timer told me to stop using those fancy auto-darkening hoods for boiler work

Guy named Rick, been welding since before I was born, saw me with my new auto-darkening hood on a job last month. Said I was gonna miss stuff and get sloppy. Laughed it off at first. Then I had to do this tricky pass on a 2 inch tube sheet in tight quarters and the sensor kept flickering on me. Switched back to my old fixed shade number 10 for the rest of the day and honestly my welds looked way cleaner. The auto ones have their place but for precise boiler work I think he had a point. Anybody else stick with the old school hoods for certain jobs?

3 comments

3 Comments

graygonzalez18d ago

Nah, those old timers just hate change, my autodark hoods never flicker on me.

the_margaret1mo ago

Did you notice the flickering was from the arc angle or the sensor picking up reflections off the tubes?

uma_johnson1mo ago

Went cross-eyed trying to track that flicker, ended up looking more like a strobe light at a rave than a technical observation. Pretty sure I saw the arc angle, but honestly my eyes were watering by then so who knows.