Welding can be quite a dangerous activity if you are not adequately protected. As the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports around 1,000 welding workers suffer an injury in every 100 million work hours. To avoid injuries when welding, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like welding helmets, gloves and goggles are extremely important.
If you’re putting together your own PPE kit, you can consider buying the 3M Speedglas™ welding helmet online, because it offers superior protection to your head, neck and eyes.
What is the 3M Speedglas™ Welding Helmet?
Speedglas™ is a trademarked brand of welding equipment offered by 3M. The key characteristics of Speedglas™ PPE include long-term usage and durability. The warranty period on Speedglas™ products is also among the longest in the market.
Speedglas™ welding helmets are available in 5 different ranges — namely the 9100, 9100-FX, 9100-Air, 9100 FX-Air and 9100 MP — each offering a different level of protection. The 9100 MP, which is the highest range of 3M Speedglas™ welding helmets, offers head, eye, face, respiratory and hearing protection. If you frequently engage in welding projects, whether as a part of your job or even simply as a hobbyist, it’s important to protect your head, eyes and ears with the best 3M Speedglas™ welding helmets available in the market today.
5 Reasons Why 3M Speedglas™ Welding Helmets Are A Must-Have For Welding Safety
3M Speedglas™ welding helmets are extremely well-designed and durable. Depending on the model you choose, you get a wide range of benefits including UV and IR radiation filtration, extensive personal protection, heat-resistant design and more. Here are 5 reasons to include 3M Speedglas™ welding helmets in your welding PPE kit today.
- Auto-Darkening Lenses
Welding processes produce both infrared and ultraviolet radiation. Prolonged exposure to infrared radiation heats the lenses in your eyes and can lead to cataracts over the long term. Ultraviolet radiation, on the other hand, is harmful to the skin. Prolonged exposure can even cause skin cancer.
Auto-darkening technology in the lenses used in 3M Speedglas™ welding helmets reduce the harmful effects of such radiation by filtering out UV and IR rays. They also come in variable shades, so you can adjust the light sensitivity based on the welding job you’re undertaking.
- Enhanced Safety for Welders
If you’re not careful, welding can result in injuries from the splatter produced during a welding job. You could suffer burns from the sparks, and the intense heat from the weld pool may also be harmful over the long term. Speedglas™ welding helmets from 3M are designed to offer comprehensive protection from all these potential injuries and more.
Based on the model you purchase, you can experience the benefit of high-impact face protection, eye protection and even respiratory protection. Some helmets from the brand also offer hearing protection.
- Improved Vision for Better Weld Quality
The combination of auto-darkening lenses and a comprehensive range of protective features greatly improve the visual quality during a welding job. Latest advancements in auto-darkening technology make it possible to allow more colors to penetrate the lens.
This, in turn, gives you a clearer view of the weld pool as well as the metal workpieces and improves the overall control you have over the welding process. You will find it easier to weld with precision, resulting in better weld quality and durability.
- Higher Productivity at Work
Traditional helmets that are not as feature-rich as the 3M Speedglas™ welding helmets require constant adjustment to prevent interference with the field of vision. Some of them even result in the ‘welding nod’ phenomenon, where welders need to periodically flip or jerk their heads to retain good visibility of the weld pool.
The Speedglas™ welding helmets from 3M remove the need to do this, thanks to auto-darkening technology and lightweight designs that fit snugly. The result is that you need to spend less time worrying about adequate protection or adjusting your helmet.
- Application-Specific Solutions
3M Speedglas™ welding helmets are available in several variants, each specific to different welding applications. You can find helmets suited to various applications like machine assembly, metal repair, facility maintenance, sanding, grinding and more.
The helmets can also be classified based on their suitability for specific industries. For instance, you have Speedglas™ welding helmets that are ideal for use in construction, heavy infrastructure, mining, oil & gas, and industrial maintenance, among others.
Conclusion
As is evident from the reasons outlined above, 3M Speedglas™ welding helmets can be beneficial to welders in more ways than one. If your welding safety kit does not include any helmet, or if you’re planning to replace the helmet you currently own, the Speedglas™ range of helmets from 3M may be a good choice to consider. You not only get superior protection from radiation, sparks and splatter, but you can also benefit from improved weld quality and productivity on the job.