Welding safety (Rookie Mistakes) protect yourself...

You know how it is...

You aren't really thinking...

You aren't planning on spending all day in the shop, or you don't have plans to do something major...

You're just going to hang out with your project. Look it over a bit. Get familiar with it once again....

Maybe you were out mowing the lawn or doing something completely unrelated. You go into the garage to put something away and stay a while...

You start going over your baby, noting all the shit that still needs to get done before you can actually drive it...

OH SHIT... WHAT'S THIS?!!

You forgot to finish tacking up that patch last week!!!

...OR...

There are 4 trim holes that you somehow (ahem.. Beer..) missed last time!

...OR...

You forgot to finnish weld that bracket and it's still only held on with 2 tacks...

But you're in shorts and a t-shirt and already sweaty and dirty as hell, so you can't go in and change...

Or if you go back inside the wife will make you fix that leaky faucet...

What the hell!

Fire up that welder and just knock that shit out quick...
GITERDONE and be ready for the BIG stuff next time when you can dress right and be prepared to be out in the shop all day...

MAKES SENSE RIGHT?

That's what I thought...

I had the helmet ready and the proper gloves, but I still had shorts on.

NOW, I got a pretty nasty flash burn on the inside of my knee and can't bend my leg real good. My leg is actually a bit swollen and it's hard to move around. I also can't get back to the shop today...

And, to top it all off, since I was just going to "knock some little shit out quick," I didn't spend enough time on it and my work kinda sucked...

So take the extra time and do shit right... Wear the right clothes, and keep yourself safe and comfortable. You'll get more done that way anyway...

PS: You also won't feel like a big idiot...

 

Many years ago I learned the hard way that wearing long-sleeve shirts while TIG welding is a good idea. Got one hell of a "sunburn" on the inside of my right arm.

 

Good advice, I almost did that last week. I was just gonna practice running a couple beads and hammering them flat as I have been every couple days for awhile now. I had myself almost talked into it, rationalizing that it was only 22guage with a 00 tip and not much heat. I managed to convince myself to put jeans on and sweat it out though - I have a hole in my jeans where the tip popped and sent slag flying - it hurt but coulda been much worse. I also almost talked myself (with the woman's help) into going out in time to catch that band and not giving myself an hour to check for smoldering fires. I waited. Safety rules are there for a reason...

 

Sounds like my house! hahaha
Good advice Kilroy...sometimes we all forget the basics in our hurried lives.

 

How else can you get a tan at night? I did a few tacks on the weekend in a wife beater shirt and made my shoulders all red, but only on the front!
It's worth taking the extra time.

Flatman

 

DON'T WEAR blue jean CUT-OFFS while welding those little frayed strands catch on fire real easiy smell something burning relax!!! it not the car it's only you

 

I've sunburned myself with the MIG on my leg until it blistered more than once, welding in shorts. Dumb!

I have also caught myself on fire many times by being an idiot and not putting my welding jacket on while welding upside down. -sniff, sniff- "What's that smell?" as I sit up to a face full of flaming sweatshirt. Dumb!

 

Only got a little flash burn on your leg or arm . thats the easy lesson to learn. Beware of the dangers of the welding fumes. Welding of galvanized metals shouldn't even be considered , even normal welding produces toxic fumes. Always wear a welding respirator anytime your welding ,along with proper eye protection. You dont know misery until you get a good case of flashburn in your eyes. Take a welding course at a local community college You will be surprised about all the safety measures that need to be addressed in order to protect your health. Weld only in a well ventilated area.

Larry

 

Can you say Skin Cancer? Always cover up.

 

HAHA, oh man im suffering with those same burns right now, Im a pretty decent stick welder, but it was 89* here the other day and i had to choose between wearing a jacket to save my arms or pants for my legs and i chose a jacket. in my head i was thinking no way im gonna wear pants and a jacket in this heat, well anyways I ended up boxing my whole frame and now i can barely walk. its like beat red and i cant bend my legs.

Ouch i woulda rather got heat stroke i think.

 

I saw a Kiwi weld for an entire day straight in shorts and no shirt. It was hot out and he thought he'd beat the heat..................He rolled more cold cans of beer across his belly then he actually drank that nite. Jeans aren't usually safe, I like Dickies since it's a tighter weave of cotton, they don't catch on fire as easily. Boots with laces seem to attract shit as well.

 

I learned the sunburn lesson with the stick welder a long long time ago....

 

You guys take care of yourselves! Health before all else.

This will help....Safety first, I beat it into my indestructable 15 and 16 yr old students all day long. You don't make money (or have fun) when your laid up.

http://www.millerwelds.com/pdf/safety/m199776c.pdf

Be careful I love seeing the pics of all these cars and trucks moving forward!

 

Wow
If I wanted to read a book geess I'd of bought 1, get to the point next time will ya.

Just joking:

Man that sucks any kind of burn.

I'm 40 and still don't know the lesson of cutting corners.

 

Welding "sunburn" is a bitch. More than a few times Ive tacked some brackets or the like with "auto-darkening eyelids" and had some pretty good flash burn.

The other welding incident aside from the usual lighting a pant leg on fire was the time I was tack welding an exhaust on a lift and had my mouth open...had a weld BB land it self in the back of my throat where it quenched for a second then made its way down. Not a good feeling. Luckily it was only a sore throat for a couple days afterward.... Keep your mouth shut when welding.

 

That happened to me once...once. Now I take my time. Thanks for the reminder.

 

It only takes once! I got my new welder and ran out to use it. Unfortunately, all I had was a pair of welding goggles, not intended for stick welding or wire feed welding. Only did a single tack weld and realized it was the wrong thing to do, immediately. My eyes are very sensitive to light now, and that incident was several years back. It pays to take a course and to know what you are doing, as some mistakes are only needed a single time.
Huey

 

Its not a good idea to weld with a lighter in your pocket either.

 

Have you picked your nose yet? Nummy shop boogers...

 

Speaking of sunburn, how about those guys on Orange County Choppers who do MIG tack welds by just closing their eyes. They don't use a helmet.
Very Macho! Very foolish!!!

 

Funny you posted this today, I lit my car on fire yesterday while welding. Just patchin up the trunk lid key hole. Under that is the gas filler, which I removed to open the trunk while i dont have the solenoid to activate it yet. Stuffed a rag in it so nothing gets in the tank.

LUCKILY for me, its a new tank and didnt have gas in it yet. Or it would have been a mulitoff cocktail.

I WILL PAY MORE ATTENTION WHILE WELDING.

I tried welding in shorts, too. When the sparks started going into my shoes, I put pants on.

 

SPF 45 kids' sunscreen for any exposed meat while arc/tig/mig. Figured that one out after remarkably little pain...

-bill

 

I don't sunburn easy. But those little sparks get me good! I've still got a couple little scars on my arm I'm waiting to go away. I agree, the spark in the shoe is the worst. I've a couple of pairs of socks with little brown holes in them. I've always, always worn a helmet and gloves. I want to get one of those welder smocks with the full leather sleeves.

 

Sparks in the shoes are bad, but those beebees that fly off the weld and go into your ear are the worst. You get to hear it sizzel and smell the hair burning just before you feel the pain. Usually happens when your in one of those positions you can't move quickly from.

I also have a lot of sweat shirts with holes in the sleaves, just above where the gloves end, now where did that welding jacket go?
Gene

 

Laying under a 57 chevy in a junkyard torching the front bumper off felt
like a million fire ants biting at once. duh it WAS a million fire ants.
Welding safety was first emphasized by my high school shop teacher.
No frayed jeans while welding. He walks into the welding room while a
classmate is running a bead and wearing frayed jeans. Calmly walks over
and whips out a zippo and fires up this kids pants while he's still under
the hood.Turns around and walks out without ever saying a word. Must
have been that same semester we figured out that maxing out 4 of the 5
welders would knock the power out to half the high school... Not sure they
ever figured that one out. Also the oxy/acetylene filled balloons for the
prom weren't one of our brighter moments.

 

Not from welding burns,...... For years I have bought the cheapest warm/cold oven cleaner I could find to de-grease engines, well I was spraying one down one day with a couple cans and there was a light breeze blowing,...... can said to wait 20-30 minutes before rinsing off, I am sitting there talking to my buddy when my arms, legs and face start to feel tight,...... then burn, my buddy says " hey your getting red",..... I ran for the hose and started hosing myself down,.. felt better but didn't help much.
I had a BAD chemical burn worse than any sunburn I had ever had,... and coughed a lot for the next couple weeks. Seems I inhaled some of that nasty stuff. Yeah I know stupid, but I just wasn't thinking.

 

A few years back I went in to the doctor's office, my right leg was in a fiberglass cast. The doc asked what the hell happened to all the stuffing inside the cast? I figured that I was supposed to stay off my leg, but nobody said anything about sitting at the bench welding..........
A piece dropped into the cast, it started to smolder, and before I could get it put out, most of the stuffing was pulled out with a pair of long pliers. I later found that my leather arm protectors fit over the cast.

 

i have a pair of dickies with about a 2inch long burn about 4 inches left of my crotch...

drunken welding...and seeing a big nasty peice of white hot flamming flux core wire comming for your crotch...

then having to watch it burn through your pants because you can't "shoo" it off...

if i have to weld sitting down now i sit a peice of wood or somthing over my lap,haha...


i've also had my fair share of bad events walking in on someone welding in my little shop...that gets ugly....but my eyes haven't suffered any permenent damage...i dont think...

these days i take it alot more careful and slow,hah

 

I'm curious about the welding with the respirator thing. Seems most people I know do not do this, including me, but I know my sinuses would appreciate it.

The tig doesnt produce that much smoke, but the plasma and mig sure do.

Do you guys all use a respirator when welding?

 

yeah when i first started welding i thought i knew it all. ya know, a couple of tack welds without a hood turns into alot of welding without a hood. flash burnt the shit out of my face! i felt like i was at the beach all day for a week! i dont do it no more though. becides the welds looked like crap and i had more grinding to do after.