1/2 galvanized conduit

[wroughtn_harv]

i see a lot of panic about health issues from welding galvanized metals. while i'm not a physician or ever had any training in welding galvanized, i have been told a few things over the years by people who have done it a lot. i've also decided to look on the internet, and i found the following:

http://www.sperkoengineering.com/html/articles/WeldingGalvanized.pdf

before you run out to put a deposit down on the cemetery plot, read the third section: zinc fumes -- a safety hazard? i've done a lot of small projects over the years with old galvanized pipe, and while i try to keep my head out of the fumes, i'm sure i've breathed some in, but never felt any effects from it.

That's probably the best explanation of metal fumes fever I've ever seen. It describes what I've experienced and gives me some peace of mind.

In the early seventies our welding instructor at a junior college told us that the number one bad effect of welding galvanized was we would lose the lead in our pencil. He claimed that he had welded some galvanized one time and had lost the ability to perform his husbandly duties for almost a year.

I doubted what he said because by that time I had been welding galvanized for a couple of years without suffering such a problem. Also my father had been welding it for many years by that time and I was sure he would have allowed me to weld it if there had been that kind of problem in his own life.

 

[2manyrocks]

I think a lot of this has to do with how much dose you get. A friend was welding in a horse trailer and got pretty sick. I think it was due to welding on galvanized material in a confined environment so he got more than he would have if he had been outdoors.

Probably too late and maybe not much of a suggestion, but do you think using a copper heatsink would help in drawing away enough heat to stop from burning through the EMT? :confused2:

 

[schmism]

i welded up a dolly for my pasture pen (to jack up one end while you lift and pull the other)

The stuff must be getting thinner because i NEVER remember haveing as much trouble welding it as i did. Kept blowing right throw it on the lowest level on my mig. used a LOT of 1 sec pulses in order to let the area cool down before i lit it up again :confused2:

 

[fishpick]

i welded up a dolly for my pasture pen (to jack up one end while you lift and pull the other)
:

I have had a dolly for years - works great right up until one of the wheels gets one of the birds
I'm trying something a little different this year and that's where this project comes in... we will see if I go back to using the dolly or not!

 

[travis potter]

The brand of rod makes a big difference. I will only use Lincoln rod it runs smother for me. I use 6013 rod because it is a surface rod not a penetrating rod like 6011. I only weld on light metal in my work. I have tried other brand and some of them just will not weld good.