First Welding lesson

[tillerkiller]

I had a friend of mine get a pretty good case of "arcburnt eyes" from being in an all metal shop building while welding was going on in another part of the shop. He was nowhere near the arc and was never in direct view of it. He figures that the metal insides of the shop directed the arc flash all over into every nook and cranny of the shop. Needless to say we are all more careful about that now.

I also can not see a thing without a helmet that is the right shade, and I am too scared of loosing my eyesight to be stupid about not wearing a helmet anyway. Anytime I get an accidental arc flash without my hood down then I see the ghost of it for 5 or 10 minutes which surely cannot be good for your eyes. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[markct]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( edend up with more sunbun on my neck, this was especially prvelant with TIG WELDING

)</font>

i have noticed that also, seems with tig if i weld with gloves that are too short of cuffs or whatever that in a matter of minutes i have sunburned an area of me, yet with stick or mig it rarely happen unless using high amperage and alot of welding time, i think that tig is a much more pure light, theres no flux and splattering like with stick and mig so the light is a more constant rays that burn ya, maybe so or maybe its just me i dunno, i am by no means a welding expert lol

 

[LWFrisk]

Most everyone who welds or is in the immediate vicinity will eventually get some welding flash burn in the eyes. I have welded for some over 50 years and have even taught welding at the local community college. I have had my share of visits to the doctor for eye burns.

I would strongly advise anyone who receives a burn with a lot of discomfort see your doctor. They can not do a lot but provide drops that lower the pain. I have found (don't laugh cause it works) that if you peel a potato, cut it in half and lie down place curved (peeled) portion in the eye. You will be amazed how much relief you will get from the pain. The doctor that provided me with that little tidbit of help said the soda in the potato is what helps. Believe me, you won't want to remove the potato and you will peel a bit more potato away to keep it moist for your burning eyes.

I guess you could call this one of the old home remedies. -- Leo in San Diego

 

[keeney]

UV light bounces around just like any other kind of light. If the arc flash is lighting up the room with visible light, its also lighting up everything in the room with UV. You don't have to be in direct line of sight to get burned.

The good news is that its also just like regular light in terms of its easily blocked. Anything that regular light doesn't go through is unlikely to let UV through either. Even a cheap pair of sunglasses will block a lot of it, so those guys on American Chopper are not being so crazy after-all (assuming they wear their shades and sun-screen when they are being so Macho)

One nasty thing that happens is that often, the arc-flash is coming at you from a low angle. Not many people have developed good tans on the undersides of their arms, neck, etc, so its easy to get burned in strange places. I have occasionally welded small, quick projects with short sleeves, and the spot on the inside of my arm, just aboved the crease of the elbow is a vulnerable spot to get burned.

Besides the UV burns when welding, its also easy to get regular-old-burns as well. White-hot steel is a lot hotter than any food out of the oven. One touch from a drip onto bare skin, or even through thin cotton socks is instant 3rd-degree burn (personal experience).

The other thing a lot of people ignore is the air quality. Especially when welding anything with zinc or chromate plating, there are a lot of toxic fumes coming off of the parts. Good news is that the hot air sweeps most of the fumes upwards. Bad news is that a lot of times, the best place to see what you are doing is right in the stream of fumes and smoke.

Then there is this whole issue of starting other things in the shop on fire...

Welding is dangerous. Not many welders who can say they have _never_ been injured in some way doing it.

- Rick

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Use the grinder a lot though )</font>

When I first learned to weld.. someone told me that.. the worse you are at welding.. the better you get at grinding.

I'm happy to say that I've graduated from bad welder to not so bad welder. Used to my stuff had some decent failure rates.. and looked horrible.. like a chicken with an intestinal infection was welding... now.. it all stays stuck together, and I'm working on the looks..

Soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( have an extra elcheapo helmet in my workshop just for friends that stop by and hang out while I am welding )</font>

My cheapo buzzbox came with one of those face shields you hold with your hand. I never use it. but kept it for other, like you pointed out. I got a nice full helmet that covers my neck as well. I had almost thrown that hand held shield away when i though about it being a fairly decent 'buddy' shield.

Soundguy

 

[Phred]

I am glad that you had no permenant damage.

I can't get over the TV shows and the total lack of safety gear in some cases. I have seen guys using welders and grinders without proper safety gear. What message does that send?

Eye protection is the biggest deal in my book. Think about the ramifications of not being able to see anymore! /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

Even hearing protection. When your twenty it does not sound like a problem, but 40+ years of power tools, tractors, and other noisy things and you will care.

Fred

 

[DannyD]

Eyesight is back to normal. Took about 3 days to get the light sensitivity to working again, but it is fine. NEVER again will I not use all protection available for my eyes. I was concerned about not being able to see like before. Eyesight is precious for sure.

As for the shows, I see some of that too, but most that I watch they are careful to use correct protection.

I want to see the kids that today have the music (if that is what you call it) in the car so loud that you can hear it 5 cars back and forward. At my age they will be wearing hearing aids. I was working in a factory long before ear protection was required, I have about 20% loss now (wife would swear it is 50%)

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I was working in a factory long before ear protection was required, I have about 20% loss now (wife would swear it is 50%) )</font>


That's 20% real loss... 50% selective loss! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Soundguy

 

[markct]

yea hearing loss is definatly somethin too that probably will show up in kids my age down the road, and when it shows up in people who never ran machinery or worked in a factory then they will look at what loud noises they were exposed to, and when the only thing they see was that they had a car with 20,000 dollars of stereo equipment then thats what did it! i dont have a big stereo in my truck of course, but i still worry about my hearing when running my ford 8000 or our IH TD9 dozer, i wear hearing protection when i run both of them