OT: Arc activated headshield

Life , don't talk to me about life, brain the size of a planet......... your right it does look like Marvin GGJ

re: the mask me too cant understand how I managed without one . I got mine off ebay more darth vader than marvin the only drawback I've found is on sunny days the bugger goes dark while you are moving towards striking an arc with the light behind you bit like "Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses " of course there is a nice dual purpose one welding and Halloween

Mother"

I was intending to get one once I start learning to weld, but was concerned about the possibility of it not working at the crucial moment. Has anyone ever stared directly at the arc with no protection by mistake? Any lasting damage?

I used to have a chair reserved at the local A+E for treating arc eye when I was welding escorts for a living.It's not nice at the time but so far there there has been no long term effects. I think the most damaging thing to the eyes are the sparks these have to be dug out of your eyes like splinters (with a needle) but with a reacttolight mask you should be ok as the eyes will be protected from these even if the glass stops working.

Icky

No lasting damage when mine failed - I threw it out & bought a fail safe model. A day or two of watering sore eyes, as far as I remember

Karen

My favourite Marvin line:

Life: loathe it or ignore it, you can't like it.

Machine mart, don't talk to me about machine mart. Brain the size of a peanut and they expect to be able to sell you stuff............

Went into my local machine mart the other day to buy a tool box. The one I wanted wasn't on display, so I asked the muppet behind the counter if they had on in stock.....

Mup."Yep, we've got one of those" Me "Could I have a look at one then" Mup "We don't have one open" Me "Well I'd like to see it before I buy it"

Muppet then turns on his heels and slouches off into the store room grumbling away to himself. Several minutes later, he comes back out and slams a very large cardboard box on the counter in front of me.

Me "Ok, can I see it then" Mup "Its a seven draw tool chest, it's a tool chest with seven drawers, nothing much to see really" Me " " Me" " (gobsmacked) Me "Well I'd like to see it before I buy it if its all right with you".

Muppet did then with much reluctance and grumbling unpack the bloody thing, I couldn't believe that this total prat could behave like that, and that no other staff would intervene. The only reason I didn't just walk out was that I needed the box there and then as it was being installed on a job. I can safely say that machine mart have no lost a customer for life, it's not like their gear is particularly good anyway.

AFAIK, the UV protection is permanent, its only the visible light filter that switches on and off with the arc, so even if it failed, the worst that could happen is you would be dazzled for a while, but I'm pretty sure that they all fail to dark anyway.

In article , SimonJ writes

Bought a floor standing pillar drill from them at Christmas. When unpacked, discovered that the motor mounting plate was bent (so the pulley rubbed the belt), the chuck guard was the wrong size (so wouldn't fit, and the chuck is rubbish.

I first contacted Clarke, who were very helpful and apologetic, and said they had the parts in stock but I would have to go through Machine Mart first. MM told me on two separate occasions that they had ordered the spares. Six months down the line... zilch.

So I 'mended' the motor plate with a big hammer, and use the thing without a chuck guard. I'm still looking for a good chuck at a sensible price.

Will think twice before doing _that_ again...

Regards,

Simonm.

Not trying to be picky here but what else did you expect to see by looking at it that you coulnt have seen from looking at the other ones in the same range and the picture in the book? Its the same as the one with 9 drawers but with less drawers!

I think a lot of machine mart is down the the staff in the branch. The ones here seem great. If i want a tool and dont want to mail order my choice is halfords or machinemart. machinemart very easily win!

Ditto for the Sheffield branch. They're a smashing bunch and not at all unhelpful or stuffy. I needed some 5" cutting discs and a 6" wire brush wheel for my bench grinder. I thought I had a wire wheel somewhere so didn't bother. Asked (aged mind) for a 6 inch cutting disc. Chap smiled, gave me the 5" one he knew I meant to ask for.

More than anything else, they're 'nice', and don't seem to hurried, keen to answer totally stupid questions and not too in your face when you're just mulching.

I buy shitloads on-line these days, but I'm trying to keep the balance of supporting 'real' shops - lest all we end up with is on-line, with no hands on, no local jobs and no real chance of living without the tinternet.