carl mciver wrote:

"Guy Morin" wrote in message
...
| As per request, you will find pictures of the welding helmet fan, along
| with an explanation of the various components in the metalworking
| dropbox.

Awesome idea and job! I like it! I was thinking, inspired by your
idea, of course, about mounting the fan on the headgear. Not sure how that
would work, but you could be cooled the entire time, not just when you have
the helmet down. Hmmmm....

Hi Carl,

Sounds like a great idea! The band already has the recessed holes for
fastening the fuzzy stuff. I've ditched the fuzzy stuff since it seems
to be an irritant, making the holes available. In looking over the
pictures again, one can see how those dots can get connected, the
headband, the fan. Nicely done.

An added benefit would be that there is no longer the transition of the
wire from the headgear to the helmet. Flex points can be finicky,
although they haven't been a factor so far.

The only concerns include flexure of the headband. Because the headband
conforms to the forehead at that location, the fixture would likely need
to flex to avoid discomfort. It is likely that the fixture will be made
from some sort of plastic.

The fan is light enough so that it wouldn't cause undue stress on the
relatively thin headband.

There seems to be enough clearance between the helmet and the headband.

Although full-time cooling is attractive, the heat seems to be felt only
once the hood comes down. An interesting bit is that the cooling induced
by the fan is so good that in one start/stop application I forgot to
turn the fan back on, the residual cooling on my face prevented me from
feeling the heat as before. I turned the fan back on before heating
became an issue again.

It is foreseeable that a welding shop in the summer would make full-time
cooling an attractive option.

If you give it a try, post the results.

Best regards,

Guy