Keepin' It Cool

For those of you who weld, do you ever get over heated? Would you not want a helmet that could cool you down?  This helmet is programmed to use a simple fan from radioshack and a temperature sensor from parallax to cool you down. The fan kicks on by itself to blow a cool breeze.

Step 1: Gather Materials

For the helmet you will need:

- 2 9v Batteries
- 1 9V snap connecter
- 1 12VDC Brushless Fan
- 2  220 ohms risitors
- Screw Driver Phillips head
- 8 Screws (23.73mm)L (2.71mm)W
- 8 nuts (6.24mm)
- 5 foot of 22 gage wire (60 inches)
- Paralax LM34 Temperature Sensor
- Paralax bread Board with minicontroller
- Paralax Basic Stamp program installed on computer
- Wielding Helment
- An Analog to digital transfer
- Power Drill
- 3/32 Drill bit
- 1 self leading wood drill bit 2⅛ = 54mm
- Velcro
- Solder gun
- Solder wire
- 1 Roll of electrical tape
- Parallax  Analog  to Digital converter

Comments

[audreyobscura]

YES! Sometimes my head gets so hot that I drip sweat on the Lens of my hood! Also, please turn the image in your Introduction step - I would love to feature this project!

[Kiteman]

(Except for the part where it blows the welding fumes at your open mouth?)

[lean04]

maybe with the fan mounted on one side with a "chimney" pointing away from the fumes zone

[dooleyboi]

This is a good idea, but having the fan so that is faces you and pulls air into your helmet from the area you are welding it can pull in toxic fumes as you weld. May want to think of mounting the fan so that it pushes air out the front of the helmet pulling hot air from inside the helmet and sending out the vent or consider experimenting with a way to mount the fan to the top or back of the helmet so it blows down into the helmet from the back and pushes air down over your face thus avoiding welding fumes gathering inside your helmet .

[everywhere]

i will have to do a MODIFIED version of this project so one it adds no bulk to my helmet two get air from a much cleaner source such as behind my body away from the fumes. much like my PAPR system at work. i want no Hexavalent Chromium in my lungs if possible (OSHA is being hard on companies for Hexavalent Chromium)

[Toga_Dan]

good idea!

I might use pic 5 as the opening pic tho. It has better contrast. I opened this -ible without a clue from pic or title what it was about.

[ironsmiter]

This is an AWESOME Halloween prop! And if the costume(forget hockey masked axe wielders. Welding mask chainsaw wielders are so much cooler!) is warm, then this should definitely help keep you cooler.

Add a little 12 volt led lighting, and you're now a cyber-welding chainsaw wielder!

I applaud your efforts.

Not sure what they're teaching you there in Saint Charles Parish public schools, but soldering and safety don't seem to be high on the list ;-(
On the other hand, it LOOKS great!

Looks like that's a computer/electronics class, correct? Parallax is a useful tool, but unless using it is part of the assignment, consider using a slightly more dedicated set of circuits. maybe something like this(http://www.zen22142.zen.co.uk/ronj/ts.html)?





Now for anyone wanting to do this for WELDING... the simple answer is DO NOT DO IT.
Not only do we have the fume issues, but the spinning fan just made a massive opening in your helmet to let the UV radiation in. Even if it DOESN'T screw up your eyes... you're gonna have a nice circular spot of welders-sunburn on your chin.
And don't even get me started about the dangers of fans that close to our manly beards(well for some of us anyway)!
Finally, there's the issue of random loose wiring and EXPOSED CIRCUIT BOARDS to deal with.

[fretted]

I don't remember where i found it at but they do make a fan that mounts across the back strap of your helmet to blow air across the top of your head but it blows up not around or into the back of your head .

I've been welding for years i could see me welding galvanized tread plate with this fan on NOT ! actually i founfd the best way to stay cool is a wet welding bandana lol

This would be an awesome fan for a costume though i've got a wizards costume i swelter in passing out candy this would be great might try it on that !

[Kiteman]

Dopey question, but which way is the fan blowing?

_{(And can you please turn that introduction image around on your PC, then re-upload it?)}

[DonRibble]

"- Take screws, mount fan on inside of helmet so the fan can blow on your face."
I think I know what you were getting at here Kiteman, it seems the fan is pulling air from your working area and blowing it onto the users face, which would be directing all of those harmful gases from the torch and heating metal directly into your lungs -_- I would definitely turn the fan around so it would pull air from behind the wearer's head and out the front, keeping air moving at all times
or better yet, install it how it is, spacing it from the front of the mask inwards half an inch, don't cut a hole.. instead make some ducting so that it pulls air along the inside of the helmet, from behind the head.

[Kiteman]

Exactly. I was simply giving the author a chance to fix the problem (an edit of the text, and we would never have known that the project could damage our lungs...).

[batman96]

I would have to agree that the fan direction is a BIG problem. By the way computer fans always blow air towards the label and support plastic side. So yea the fan needs to be turned around, also I would add louvers of some sort because the arc from welders will give you a serous sun burn. So unless you want a round sun burn around your mouth there needs to be a way to block the light.

One last thing that everybody should know, a temperature sensor is way over doing it, it would be annoying kicking on and off, and it's expensive. Just stick a 9 Volt battery and a switch in there.

By the way it is a great Idea, those helmets do get hot, I just think there are some safety issues that need to be fixed.