No room for a hood

[Flyingpig]

Ive got some welding to do under my semi trailer where I only have about 3 inches vertical clearance. If I wear the hood I cant see the weld area. I did some tacking using only sunglasses and holding the gun to hide the arc. The welds didnt turn out so good. What can I use for shade in this kind of close quarters?

[DDA52]

That's easy. Go find a leather hood. It will be lots smaller than a regular one and will "give" to squeeze into tight areas. The ones I have seen use a 2x4 , regular sized lens.

http://www.weilerwelding.com/shopsit.../Weldhelm.html

http://www.thegangbox.com/c-29-leath...ding-hood.aspx

http://www.nextag.com/HUNTSMAN-800-S...86/prices-html

[MAC702]

Not knowing your situation, I'll just spout off ideas as they come:

Any way to raise the trailer? Jacking it, driving it onto blocks, etc...
Can you dig a hole underneath to give yourself more room?
Can you remove the lens from your hood and insert it behind a hole in a piece of steel, plywood, or leather?

[Leons2003]

Pancake hood

Like Mac said make or buy a pancake hood.
Good luck
L*S

http://www.millerwelds.com/resources...ke+hood&page=3

See post #30
*

[PTsideshow]

Again not knowing what you are doing or how. I picked this up at the LWS garage sale event a number of years ago. I haven't used it yet and haven't hooked it on to the MIG unit as it would get damaged laying around.
So I am not endorsing it etc.




Will the wonders of the internet never cease They got a web site http://www.accustrike.com/mig.htm

[Flyingpig]

The floor of the trailer is supported by I beams. The I beams sit on the slider rails. The slider rails have cracked away from the I beams. So if you can picture this there is the slider rail then the I beam then a wood floor. It wouldnt matter if the trailer was jack up on its side or upside down, Id still only have a couple inches to work with. Its so close that I really cant even position the gun at the proper angle. So you understand, Im welding between the wood floor(top) and the slider rail(bottom). I have to reach under the trailer and keep my head out beside the outside frame rail to even get a glimpse of what Im doing. Each weld would be less than 2 inches long, but thats on each side of the I beam on both sides of the trailer and probably 20 crossmembers. As it is now Im only tacking the outside edge.

The close proximity is one of the reasons I bought the Thunderbolt. I thought I could bend the electrode to get the right angle. Too late I found out about something called "inrush" and couldnt use my generator. So now Ive got two welders. I suppose it wont be too long before I go out and get a Max 150 since now Ive learned the difference between transformers and inverters.

I hope Ive explained that well enough that its not mud.

[nfinch86]

nfinch86-CANADIAN WELDOR :

The floor of the trailer is supported by I beams. The I beams sit on the slider rails. The slider rails have cracked away from the I beams. So if you can picture this there is the slider rail then the I beam then a wood floor. It wouldnt matter if the trailer was jack up on its side or upside down, Id still only have a couple inches to work with. Its so close that I really cant even position the gun at the proper angle. So you understand, Im welding between the wood floor(top) and the slider rail(bottom). I have to reach under the trailer and keep my head out beside the outside frame rail to even get a glimpse of what Im doing. Each weld would be less than 2 inches long, but thats on each side of the I beam on both sides of the trailer and probably 20 crossmembers. As it is now Im only tacking the outside edge.

The close proximity is one of the reasons I bought the Thunderbolt. I thought I could bend the electrode to get the right angle. Too late I found out about something called "inrush" and couldnt use my generator. So now Ive got two welders. I suppose it wont be too long before I go out and get a Max 150 since now Ive learned the difference between transformers and inverters.

I hope Ive explained that well enough that its not mud.

HI; WHAT IS INRUSH !!.... Norm :

[Craig in Denver]

PT:
That's a cool gadget. I wonder if the lenses are replaceable. It looks like they're pretty close to the weld. I understand that you're just passing on info and don't know any more about it than I do.

[PTsideshow]

Looking over the instruction sheet, the clear lens in front of the shaded one is. They have another version of it with a magnetic base. It is shown on the website in my other post.

[CD Industries]

If the floor is getting old too, I would re-deck the trailer and go in from the top while the floor is out.

[PUMPKINHEAD]

WHAT IS, IN RUSH :

it's the question to the Jeopardy!(tm) answer: "Geddy Lee is famous because he was."

[JTMcC]

Like Mac said make or buy a pancake hood.
Good luck
L*S

http://www.millerwelds.com/resources...ke+hood&page=3

See post #30
*

Pancakes don't fit into tighter places than a bucket hood, it's the opposite, they won't go into places a bucket will.

JTMcC.

[Flyingpig]

My understanding of in rush is the amount of juice it takes to energize the transformer.

[MAC702]

it's the question to the Jeopardy!(tm) answer: "Geddy Lee is famous because he was."

Okay, that was clever!

[Shep]

Ive got some welding to do under my semi trailer where I only have about 3 inches vertical clearance. If I wear the hood I cant see the weld area. I did some tacking using only sunglasses and holding the gun to hide the arc. The welds didnt turn out so good. What can I use for shade in this kind of close quarters?

You might try a standard set of 2"x4" cutting goggles with piece of cardboard or gasket paper fitted to them as a face shield. Used that a number of times in tight spots tig welding boiler tubes.