First Welding lesson

[DannyD]

Use a shield, not your hand, when around welding in any close proximity. Got my first hard knocks lesson last night around 10:30 when I woke to W E L D E R S F L A S H! That freaking hurts! Ok, I was using the helmet when I was welding, but not when the teacher was. I was only putting my hands up to shield the arch from my eyes. According to the nice Doctor who numbed my eyes, put some stuff in to see the swelling and check for scratches then put in the stuff to calm the muscles of the eye to help the hurt, just shielding the arch is not enough. He told me MOST cases of this are from the guy next to the guy doing the welding, not the welder himself. Closing your eyes is not enough either, if the flash is getting in or you can see it on your face, you have a chance of getting this.


This was not an organized course, it was a friend of the family and myself putting up a handrail and enclosure on my mothers porch. I did get some to stick, and learned also that stick is not for me, on to MIG!

 

[mahlers]

Let's all hope that you didn't do any permanent damage to your retina - that UV radiation is intense and can cause damage quickly. It would be a good idea to visit your opthalmologist yearly from now on for a full checkup...

Another painful lesson I learned a while back was to take the time to put on long sleeves and long pants when I was doing some impromptu welding fixes. I got such a bad welders-burn one time that it blistered up all over my legs and arms. I don't think SPF1000 would have helped me avoid that one.

 

[DannyD]

While the Doctor said my inflammation was significant, He did not think permanent, but today I can see, things are brighter as my pupils are still exaggerated and some of the inflammation is still there. With sunglasses everything seems ok. I usually wear reading glasses anyway for of course reading. My eyes look dreadful, bloodshot, and swollen some, but much better than even at 6 a.m. this morning.

They did say to check in and if not better by Monday, see the Doctor.

 

[Inspector507]

Danny,
I think the first lesson we learned on my first night in welding class was, NEVER walk into the shop without safety glasses. The instructor will stop you where you stand and make you put them on. The second hard pounded lesson is to NEVER look at anyone weld without your helmet on.

 

[mark777]

Yep, gotta agree with ya. I think one of the biggest improvements are the self darkening helmets. If you can live without Dale Earnhardt Jr #s and flames, they are reasonable. And it is so nice to see where your welding without constantly flipping mask up and down.

 

[RICHARDG]

You didn't hurt your eyes much,[course you didn't do them any good either],,nothing a doctor can do,other than give you some numbing drops. Every time you burn your eyes,you get a layer of scar tissue,,like a caterac,,,get them burned enough,,and it gets hard to see,,,like a caterac. I have had my eyes burnt so bad,that my eyes wouldn't open in the morning untill you washed them with warm water to get all the buggers out,,[and such],,mirrowed glasses are the best,,as far as sun/safety glasses,,,but,,,,the best,,is just don't look at,around, that blue light... thingy

 

[frank_f15]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I did get some to stick, and learned also that stick is not for me, on to MIG!
)</font>

learn to stick weld(you wont be sorry) then when u get to mig & tig you will have a good grasp of the sound of a good weld. beleive it or not but sound can tell you if you are getiing a good weld.

 

[jim_wilson]

When I first started to teach myself how to MIG weld I almost did what you did a couple of times. I got caught looking at the arc a couple of times and VERY quickly closed my eyes and turned away. I found using a conventional welding helmet to be a real pain when I was stuffed up under the dashboard of my car welding rollcage tubes and brackets and such so I went out and bought one of the self darkening helmets. At the time ( It was about 10 years ago now that I got the helmet) they weren't cheap but I have to say that it was by far the best welding investment I made besides the welder itself. It is great to just flip the helmet down and be able to look at the work and strike an arc and the thing darkens right up. I hadn't actually used the welder for about 6 years and finally pulled the thing out this weekend to weld on some brackets for rear worklights and that helmet made the whole job much easier.

 

[DannyD]

Vision is much better tonite. I can see almost as good as normal, but things are still a little bright. I have noticed improvement all day.

I learned the sound of a good weld, bad one sounds hollow or that is how the bad ones sounded to me.

Self darkening is the way to go, with that I would not be where I am today.........or was that is.

thanks all, any more advice welcomed for sure

 

[KiotiJohn]

Danny I'm glad to hear it wasn't any worse than it was. Reminds me of last year when I went down to Ft. Lauderdale to pick up a motorhome that had to go into a shop first for brake work. There was a welder working in the shop, and a woman had her grandson there letting him watch.
I quickly told her to get the kid inside and away from the hypnotizing flame as he was going to have some major problems if she didn't. She acted as though I had slapped her and said he could watch if he wanted to. I told her I'd have a cop take care of it if she was so stupid not to understand what was happening to her grandchild. I'm amazed how stupid she was after I and others told her what can happen. She got the kid into the waiting room after that, but I bet he had some burning, itching eyes later on. Glad you're okay. John