Tool Review Tuesday, Part 5: Speedglas 9100XX welding Helmet

What is it?
The Speedglas 9100XX is a welding helmet. It protects your head and especially your eyes from the infrared and ultraviolet radiation generated by electric welding processes including MIG, TIG and stick. It also protects from grinding debris and can also be used as a shield from cutting processes, both flame and plasma.

This is what it looks like straight out of the box:

 Product website:
Speedglas 9100XX

What does it do?
The Speedglas 9100XX protects your noggin and eyes from nasty crap while you weld. It does it with remarkable clarity, speed and with many features that are class-leading, and honestly, it better for how dang expensive it is. The 9100XX model has the largest ADF (Autodarkening Filter), at over 12sqin of viewing area. As such, it does NOT have room for a solar assist panel (which helps extend battery life), but it still has a remarkable 2000 hour nominal battery rating. (To compare, the Miller Digital Elite has a 3000 hour nominal battery rating for the same or very similar sized batteries.)

Notable Observances:
-The fit and finish are tremendously amazing. It is much better than the newest Miller helmets. (I've tested a few.)
-The headgear is sublime. It fits super well, even over a head cover and respirator. The detent keeps the sucker UP. The friction holding is very good so far, though that might change over time, but with the detent, I doubt that will be an issue.
-The buttons are easy to push, though you will need to read the manual to figure out what everything does. There are several advanced modes that are interesting and possibly useful.
- When flipped up, it sits much, much lower over your head than any other hood I've ever come across.
-It is much wider in the front than Miller's helmets:

-Even though the front is wider, it is not that much wider than the miller since the sides stick out a bit less. This is used to good effect to make it much easier to fit a respirator under the hood.
-It has a built in vent right in front of your mouth/nose. It works! A side benefit is that it is easier to understand what someone is saying with the hood down.
-The protective covers for the ADF are priced about $2.50 per, which is slightly more expensive than the Miller-branded ones, but not too much more. There is no possibility of taking a standard flat cover and making it fit, but that's the price you pay for having a more advanced helmet.
-The lighter colored front piece really does keep the helmet cooler, which will be friggin' awesome when it gets hot out!
-The shape covers the head and neck very, very well, with or without a respirator.
-Ultra-unique, exclusive side-windows:

These are a shade 5 that are curved and allow you to see nearly every dang thing. When you are welding, you can see where you are moving. When you aren't welding, you actually have peripheral vision which makes not tripping over stuff much easier. The best part is it makes it REALLY hard for someone to sneak up on you! LOL!


Pros:
-Fit and finish is amazingly good.
-Very huge, clear view.
-Good performance.
-Many mode options, though I really hate having to click on an internal button to get into other modes. It's faster to take it off and put on my face shield for cutting and grinding.
-The side windows are truly revolutionary. I didn't think they would make as much of a difference as they do for just moving around and overall awareness even while welding.
-VERY clear light state (shade 3). I have no issues seeing anything even in the less than ideal shop lighting we have.
-A pretty useful variety of accessories are available, see the site above.
Cons:
-It is expensive. It is easily one of the more expensive helmets on the market. The Miller Digital Elite (plain black, graphics are for prissy pretty boys and girls) retails for about $255. The Jackson Trueview goes for about $280. I bought this for $395 shipped (with a free respirator, which was a nice bonus). The 9100VX and 9100X are less expensive and have solar assist available while still providing a very good size ADF, so you can consider those if this one is out of the budget, with the added bonus of additional battery life
-I hate having to hit buttons on the inside to get into different modes. It takes too much time. It's way easier to take it off to change the settings, but then I might as well just put on my face shield, as I mentioned before. An external button would be greatly appreciated, even if it made things a bit more complicated to take apart.
-If you need to wear a hard hat with this, there are more than a few complaints about how bad the hardhat adapter performs.
-I am concerned that the additional size might get in the way when doing silly things like roll cages. We'll see how that goes in the future, as I will update this.
-Clear shields are likely NOT available everywhere. Order some online and keep them and spare batteries around. Duh! 

Is it BBA (Beaver Built Approved)?
)(#*$)(*#$(* YES! If you can afford it, get it. I use my welding helmet 5-7 days a week, for long hours. Comfort, usability, reliability and protection are all things that are necessary to prevent me from going blind. This thing is amazingly awesome. I look forward to using it for years to come!

Bonus pics:

 That is with the front part taken off. You can see the venting. It is really very clever!

This is the full compliment shipped with the helmet:

Already putting it to work:

S&W Cage install in an "EG" hatch. This was NOT fun.

Be prepared for a rant. I am in a ranty mood. I think I have every right to a good, old fashioned top-of-the-soapbox rant. First, let's establish some facts.

The company:
S&W Race Cars.

It seems many people have heard of them and their cheap roll bar kits. They sell nearly any 8-point kit of EWS (Electrically Welded Seam) tubing for $199.

The Products I've personally worked with:
92-95 Honda Civic Hatchback
88-91 Honda CRX

First impressions:
The tubing is of good quality. The bends are good mandrel bends. There is very little deformation across the diameter of the tube for the radius of the bend. They do NOT send enough reinforcement plate, in my opinion. The copes and cuts on the tube are done with a plasma cutter, very likely CNC as the similar tubes are nearly exactly the same. The cuts and copes SUCK. Whoever programs the cutter needs to have his job reevaluated.

Second impressions, starting install:
The main hoop of the CRX kit fit well. The main hoop of the "EG" hatch was atrocious. The legs were bent in nearly 4 inches too much.

This picture seems to exaggerate the bends of the legs, but it was really that bad. No, welding the cross bar in did not suck the ends of the legs in much at all.

 I ended up having to do something horrifically janky and dangerous to spread the legs wide enough to hit the reinforcement plates:

That is a 5 ton bottle jack which I maxed out twice and had it fly off twice making me fear for the intactness of my nethers being permanently disturbed. I play with multi-ton steel beams all day and THIS is scarier than nearly anything at work. Springs are a magical, but terrifying thing.

Only one leg moved much, so I ended up just having to roll with things as they were and made due with what was given to me. This is the driver's side:

 Nice and proper, right?

This is the passenger side:

Yuck. remember, this is AFTER stretching the legs about 4" out!

It was hard to get a picture of the whole hoop from the front, but I managed to get the upper parts of the hoop even side to side and front to back (which was no easy feat!). I matched the angle of the door opening to make it look good, just like I did with Steve's cage.

If you'll notice in the pics above, I added in metal around the corner. This is because there wasn't much there to begin with due to some rust damage. That took a whole bunch of time to fix, which was frustrating, but not an issue with the cage itself. Here are some pics from the rust repair and baseplate install:

Lots of welding, but making the foundation for the most important part of the cage solid is really, really important. Having a pretty level base also makes installing the hoop easier, too, so it is vital to get it correct from the get go.

The only halfway decent copes in the entire kit were for the rear bars. These were the easiest to install. The copes could easily be much better with some better programming, but I guess for the price S&W just DGAF about that, preferring to pass on the labor of correcting the copes to you, the consumer.

Rear bar install pics:

I could have sworn I had taken more photos, but, well, I guess I didn't or they didn't save or something. I dunno.

Side rant:

That thing is NOT good for male tender bits. It is in just the wrong place at just the wrong angle to do all sorts of damage to the meat and veg. And rip your pants. That too. But mostly mangle your dangler. Ugh.

Now . . .  here is where I really want to shove poorly coped EWS tubing up the rectum of whomever programmed the cutter.

The center bars Sucked. That is correct. Sucked with a capital "S."

Gaps EVERYWHERE, even after a lot of rework.

It took way too long to get these in:

If you can't confidently fill vertical gaps with MIG, DO NOT purchase this kit. (Well, don't purchase it, anyway.)

This also brings up another annoyance. There are 8 connection points to the chassis. S&W only provides 6 plates. What I ended up doing is splitting the last two plates into slightly more than 1/3 and leaving the rest for the door bars, using the skinny piece for the center braces connection point. You should NEVER weld a tube directly to the body, because there is not enough surface area with enough material thickness (and thus tensile strength) for the connection to actually do anything in case of a crash. You need thicker material and wider material in order to properly distribute the huge forces applied to the tubes in the event of a worst case crash. The instructions are mum on this point, and I find it extremely poor to not include another plate with instructions to split the plate (or, heaven forbid, shear a plate in half and ship it that way) to actually provide proper connection points for all of the tubes.

I eventually got the door bars in, which was a real pain since I ran out of wire, then ran out of gas and had to pay way too much for a bottle from a supplier local to the garage I was working out of.

I managed to keep things fitting tight:

 Both doors close perfectly, but give as much space as possible. The seats fit perfectly well, too. For the record, I do NOT like side/door bars of this sort, but I am of the opinion that if you are putting in a cage, put in a real cage and stop pretending that the car is streetable at this point.

Another shot showing how wonky the main hoop is, as it really doesn't utilize the shape of the car at all well:

After install conclusion:
I will NEVER install another S&W cage knowingly. The fitment is poor. S&W's instructions are poor. S&W's customer support is poor (reference issues with Steve's CRX cage: the center bars are clearly coped for a straight cross bar, not the angled crossbar they supply with the CRX kit, and they just DGAF about correcting that). The price makes the kits appealing, but you have to have well above average fabrication and welding skills in order to install the cage so that it is an actual safety device. This, IMO, makes these kits dangerous, as having a false sense of security is worse that not having a darn cage. One caveat: As you can see, I have only worked on two Honda cages. Their fitment might be better for other makes and models of cars. However, the consistently terrible coping likely carries across all of their products and as such, I cannot recommend you become a guinea pig for them, or you risk your life if you aren't confident that you can fit tubes properly or make them fit as best you can to ensure that you are going to come out alive in the event of a crash.

So, S&W Race Cars cages are NOT Beaver Built Approved. They are cheap monetarily but horrifically espensive in time and consumables. I went through almost six pounds of .030" wire between the rust repair and gap filling. I also used up over two whole 33CF C25 bottles. That adds a somewhat hidden but very significant cost. A well fitting cage would use less than half of that, take less time and probably be safer in the hands of someone who isn't very experienced with welding and fitting tubes.

Just SAY NOT to S&W Race Cars cages. 

Initial review of my new Everlast PowerTig 200DX, along with some crappy photos of crappy welds.

Yesterday I picked up most of the rest of my welding stuff from Dave's place in Brooklyn. With the back seats folded down, the Fit really does live up to its name!

Not stuffed to the gills, but the back end was sagging significantly:

Eventually I'm gonna have to get some stiffer springs. This is pretty typical of a stock Honda.

Today after a lazy morning with pancakes and bacon, I got to unloading what I needed to get welding. I even remember to bring my shield home, too!

I got the welder hooked up to power and argon and connected the foot pedal, ground and torch. These are all the items that came in the "deluxe package" (well, not the gas of course, but the regulator fits normal bottles, not that weird metric stuff that came on my previous welder).

So, setup is  pretty easy. I am a huge fan of direct turny-button things. I am NOT a fan of the modern digital controls that most brands are moving towards. I really detest having to go through menus just to make simple changes. That actually goes for more than just welding machines. Phones, cameras, electronics of all sorts just SUCK when it comes to this kinda thing. Burying things in menus just makes no sense. Anyway, I don't have to deal with that with the simple and newly designed layout on this welder. I like the layout. I like the clear cover. I WOULD like the finger notch for the clear cover to be larger, though. With thick gloves on, you cannot open the cover easily. If I have gloves on, I don't want to take them off just to tweak the amps or flip switches.

I ground some 1/8" 1.5% Lanthanated (black) tungsten, as that is what I had for testing. The torch itself is actually decent! The cable is decently flexible, but it is not flexible enough to wrap around your forearm or hand like most welders to to support the weight of the cable without having to grip the torch itself hard (and thus shaking all over the place). The DINSE connector is actually very good. The fitment into the socket is excellent. The machining of the threads for the collet body and cap are excellent. Everything fit well together. The body is grippy. It comes supplied with a switch. I actually like switches for tacking. Bop the switch, and you have a tack. (As long as your fitment is good, that is.) The switch action is positive. It is placed well. It even came with a zip on cloth cover! I actually like the cloth cover more than the leather cover I have for my normal torch. The only gripe I have about the torch setup is that no one should ever be supplied with a a torch that is less than 25ft. long. this one is about 12. It is useable, but, it's not long enough for "real" work.

The "deluxe" pedal isn't. It is much more compact. It has a decent length to the cable, with a connector on each end making extending the cable easier, if necessary, and it might be, as the length is, again, decent, but not as long as I would like. I may still be getting used to it, but there seems to be an annoying "hitch" on the very "low" end, just before the contact switch clicks. This is REALLY annoying when trying to taper off. I think I might try the clunky pedal with this machine to see what happens. (If the impedances don't match up, it might have low end control issues.) The clunky pedal, while huge and not particularly smooth, did not have any weirdness like this "deluxe" pedal.

The ground clamp is also decent. It has a wide clamping range and enough (but not so much it is hard to open) tension in the spring. The contact points a decently thick copper. The connector between the contacts is, oddly (at least in my experience) a solid sheet of copper instead of your more typical flat braided copper ground strap. The DINSE connector fits very well and locks in solidly. The cable crimps are well done. Again, the cable length is not as long as I would like, but with the ground, it is typical to have it be shorter than the torch whip, anyway.

I haven't used the electrode holder yet, but it is a proper clamp type instead of those disgustingly annoying twist type. (I HATE THOSE!!!) For a stick welding whip, the lead is so short it is laughable. I wouldn't even bother trying to use it without getting a longer cable. If I am stick welding something, it is likely going to be in a horrible spot that I wouldn't want to lug my TIG box to or expose it to all the sparks and spatter from stick welding. I really would prefer to see 25ft. leads for everything. I consider that the bare minimum useable length.

The regulator is actually rather good. The machining is just plain excellent. All the markings are neat and very readable. Everything fits perfectly. It adjusts very easily. It seems to be very consistent at holding the set flow rate. Overall, this is a hugely improved accessory.

The NEMA 6-50 to standard 110V outlet adapter is a bit clunky, but, well, it kinda has to be. That being said, it is very well made with molded rubber ends and it fits securely together.

So, for the accessories that come with the deluxe package, they are all a DEFINITE step up from the base stuff. It is useable, even if the leads are short. I am impressed with the overall quality, fit and finish of them and feel that they represent a good value, but not a great value. I have my reservations about the foot pedal. This is the only disappointing part of the bunch. I will work with it more and see if I can get used to it, but I already have a US made pedal in my sights, though it will have to wait a bit as they are $160. If I am remembering correctly, the whole "deluxe package" is about that price if you are paying retain. Since I bought this welder while there was a special going on, I was upgraded to the "deluxe package" for free.

On to the welding! As a reminder, I am currently using this on a 20A 110V circuit. That is the primary reason I bought this box. I can just plug it in and go nearly anywhere! The box WORKS. VERY VERY well. The adjustments are easy and correct, meaning turning knobs does things in the expected manner, in the amount of the turning. Low amp start, even with the silly large 1/8" tungsten is good, and I expect it to be much better with a more reasonable tungsten size for the lower amperage. On of the best features of the newer models is that it has a "real" fitting for the gas hose instead of a barb fitting. This does a few things. First, it reduces stickout in the rear. I transport welding crap often, and having a fairly flush fitting in the rear instead of the barbed fitting that sticks out a good bit is actually a relief. This also makes for a simpler setup. You only need one tool (an adjustable crescent wrench) to set it up instead of a screwdriver and an adjustable wrench (or multiple wrenches for the regulator and gas hose fittings). Simpler is better!

I am simply way out of practice. Geez. It SUCKED welding today. The box itself functioned flawlessly. I was just plain awful for most of it. Here are some pics of the crap I was putting out:

 Note: The scrap isn't the cleanest . . . and I accidently welded the steel to the stainless bench topper . . . That's going to be annoying to get apart. ARG!

I noticed that when welding aluminum the fan pitch changes, especially when I am cranking on it to get a puddle started on cold aluminum. I suspect that it won't do that on 220V. HOWEVER, it did not effect the welding at all. That was rock steady!

Steel multipass:

 Ugly because I didn't clean it up much and I also have to relearn WTF I am doing. Geez. It's gonna take a lot of practice, but I am going to put the time in!

After finding a thicker piece of aluminum, I started to get some decent welds without burning through. I started running multipass welds to just work on my angles and timing and motion:

 I actually started to get some decent beads in.

As you can see in this last picture, I am having issues with cratering. I am attributing that to the hitch in the pedal. I have not had that issue before when I could taper off normally. I'd expect it on the thin piece, but not so much on the ends of a very large multipass weld. I am going to have to figure that one out. Maybe it really is just me!

Overall, the PowerTig 200DX is EXCELLENT. The Deluxe package is a decent value as you can actually use everything right out of the box to hook it up and get to making welds. That's a pretty important step up in quality and usability, especially if you are just starting out with a TIG welder. I'll report  in on the pedal, if it "breaks in" or if I just want to chuck it in the bin.

So, there you have it. So far one 110V, I can do 90% of the work I would ever do with a TIG welder. That's very impressive. Everything works and works well. A few minor gripes is all I can muster. The handle on top of the box feels a bit loose. The handle on my PowerTIG 250EX was not. The accessories had a fairly horrific oily rubbery smell at first. It subsided overa  few days, but holy crap! I wish the Chinese manufacturers would realize we don't want to smell how terrible things are right away. Other than that, it is excellent!

I'll have to modify the tool cart in order to fit it on the bottom shelf, as the handle makes it too tall to fit in the self space, but I was anticipating that and already have a plan. In the mean time, I am going to gather up all my TIG tools and put them in the cart which will be AWESOME to have all of them in one place. I'l be ordering steel soon for the cart and new work benches! YES! Lots to look forward to. Lots of welding to do. I'm on it!

Tool Review 1: Permatex SaferScraper

Tool designation: Saferscraper
Manufacturer: Permatex
Product website: Permatex SaferScraper
How I found the product: Browsing the "sticky goop" aisle at a local Pep Boys.
Amazon reviews: Amazon SaferScraper Reviews
Amazon Price: $7.35 (at the time this article is being written)
Price I paid: $3.99+tax
What you get: One blue plastic holder and two double-sided, orange plastic razor blades tie-wrapped to a cardboard backer.

Overview: The Saferscraper is a plastic razor blade and handle/holder. Instead of relying on normal and possibly dangerous razor blades, the Saferscraper aims to provide the same basic functionality while greatly increasing the margin of safety for the operator and the items being scraped. 

Product photos:

After a good bit of use scraping off old gasket and gook from a valve cover:

 Today's test:

 Leftover paper gasket and who knows how many years worth of not having a decent air filter:

Time to get working!

After scraping:

Closeup:

Why did I buy this?

For $4 and change, I figured I would take a chance. I've used a LOT of razor blade to clean up a lot of different gasketing materials and various engine gunk off sealing surfaces. I have injured myself doing so, and also caused cuts and gouges in surfaces. In some cases, when I had to be particularly careful, I have resorted to blunter metal objects or various plastic bits to finish scraping, and while those work, they usually lack leverage or still indent flat surfaces. I figured these plastic razor blades could improve on the makeshift scrapers that I have used, and it would be worth it to make sure sealing surfaces, well, seal.

How does it work?

I would say that the SaferScraper worked surprisingly well for most things. I didn't have to worry about tearing up the surfaces I was scraping or cutting myself. In that regard, this tool works VERY well. It excelled at dealing with gunky, gooey stuff and actually was very good on curved or not exactly flat surfaces. However, it is not a complete replacement for your typical razor scraper when it comes to really, really hard-baked on stuff. When it comes to things like that, I can recommend very fine fiber pads soaked in WD40 (some examples) to finish taking off the hard stuff, as long as you don't remove the base material.

Competitive Products:

There are plenty of competitive products on the market that end up being much better values. Here are a few examples:
Automotive Plastic Razor Holder (w/25 double sides blades)

Scraperite Plastice Razor Blades - 25 Multi Pack

Or if you already have a razor blade holder, here are some bulk blade options:

Plastic Razor Scraper Blades - 100 Pack

Scraperite Plastic Razor Blades - 25

Would I recommend this tool?

No, I would not recommend this price, but only for pricing, not for performance. I will continue to use my SaferScraper, but I cannot recommend anyone purchase it. As you can see above, there are other options that are much better values. I can absolutely recommend the concept of the plastic razor blade as a safer scraping tool, and will certainly report on other uses, strengths or weaknesses I find with this tool and any similar tools I try in the future. I do not regret buying this tool at all, and I can live with the purchase price of $4, but would prefer to have gotten at least 5 blades instead of just the two, though 2 should be enough for nearly any single job.

Leave any questions or comments below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

Thanks for reading!