When your tip goes bad and it blows that hot shit all over your hands and face you will wish you had gloves and a face shield
I see people TIG welding without gloves all the time, how the fuck do they do that??? I'm a welder by profession, and I to have never noticed any unhealthy effects of welding gloveless. Granted I dont do it often, only while placing a tack or making small welds. I think you don't get "sun burned" because your hands a practically always exposed to the sun. I know if its winter time and I weld in a t-shirt I get burnt, but during the summer months when I have a natural tan I don't
I call 'em shower shoes. Do you mean to tell me that there are men welding in shower shoes?? I'm sure there's somebody out there somewhere who's welding naked.
Gloves, ear plugs and glasses, a true test of being able to work with gloves is if you can pick up a dime off the floor, i have three kinds of gloves i use, a heavy long pair for stick welding and heavy grinding, thin long ones for tig welding and gas welding and some hand gloves that are all leather, one time i was in a hurry and just need to grind for a couple of seconds, i start the angle grinder and when it touched the metal it jumped a little and took a chunk out of my finger, so i put gloves on, i touch the metal again and a little chunk of something shoots into my eye, i pull that out and put glasses on, when i'm done grinding which took way longer then i though my ears were ringing for an hour.
Never wear gloves welding. It's like wearing a condom yeah you get the job done with them but you can't feel a damn thing with them on. I like control.
That's why you have been welding for over 40 years. Your hands did fall off because of cancer! Simply idiotic for someone not to wear welding gloves!
Really? Guess you have never made a living as a welder? I got no time to fumble around like a fool. And who are you to call someone a idiot. Guess you have never smoked and don't drink cause that may harm you? Hey you better get rid of any old cars you have cause they don't have abs,airbags or impact bumpers. They are way to unsafe. SAVE YOURSELF NOW WHILE YOU CAN!!!!!
I am a fabricator for a living and try to always wear gloves. There are times I don't, like when trying to fit small pieces, but as soon as it is tacked I put the gloves on. Do a job once wearing gloves and see what those gloves look like when you are done, usually thrashed. It will make you at least think about wearing them next time.
if you've been welding without gloves and haven't gone through a few hundred layers of skin... you don't weld too often.... I lost my gloves as I was starting a project for a buddy of mine, my hands got burnt so bad that the skin peeled so deeply that my hands scabbed up. I will never, ever weld without full protection. The old shop i worked at, I saw a guy bleach a black shirt in two days from doing aluminum mig, son of a bitch turned brownish white.
There's always a few that are indeed Supermen..............like I referred to earlier 'that may weld naked.' They're tougher than I am! I would think that any business owner that allows welding without proper protection would cringe at the thought of an insurance man (be it health or liability) showing up at his job site.
WELDING SINCE 1951----Just for your info--Each time you strike an arc, there are 3 rays that go thru your bod! Gamma Xray Ultra blue violet And for good measure----Blue eyes are more susceptible to a flash burn than brown eyes are.---------Youre' welcome!
there are safety standards as to how far away and the length of time you can be exposed to rays, plasma arc was 20ft the last time i checked, i also have looked at distances for arc welding outside.
I was just asking. Anyways I always wear glove, welding helmet and long sleeve shirt when I weld but since I looking into getting a plasma, I was just asking. I have seen guys use the plasma just with the welding goggles but I will make sure to wear a full welding helmet and gloves when using the plasma.
Very good question and lots of interesting replys. For some reason it sounds like tig welders don't need gloves, mig might not either if not for the splatter etc. Only a few have spoken of peeling skin from uv exposure - again, i have never ever burned my hands and if there was any sign of uv exposure i would wear gloves. Plasma needs no protection - read the warning label on the top of your machines - i wear gloves etc only because of the heat/slag etc not for uv and i don't use goggles. There isn't any uv problem with the plasma that i am aware of. I have a large hobart and there may be different machines that do have uv problems but nobody i have spoken with in the trade has mentioned it - think of all the big cnc plasma machines out there and none of those guys have protection and if there were problems they'd be in suits.
yes plasma can burn your skin and eyes, it is ultraviolet, here a quote, The arc that is created when the plasma cutter is in operation is also very dangerous. First of all, and most obvious, the arc is insanely hot, so make sure it doesnt make contact with any part of you. Second, the arc produces intense light in the visible and invisible spectrums (infrared and ultraviolet) which can burn your eyes and skin. For that reason you will want to wear a face shield with a number 5 or 6 shade protection as well as other types of protective clothing. http://www.glowingplasma.com/using-plasma-cutters/plasma-cutter-safety/
And only fools or idiots will believe that.(The hi-lighted part) Plasma? There is as much UV or more than a welding arc from a plasma cutter. Most times you just don't look directly at it although you should wear at least a #5 tinted faceshield when plasma cutting. The main hazard when plasma cutting besides the extreme brightness and temperature of the arc is respiratory. The fumes produced from plasma cutting can be very hard on your lungs. As I said earlier I wear gloves 100% of the time when welding any process and always have and always will. No one does any part of their work in our shops without gloves.
I have always worn gloves. On a few occasions I have had hot slag actually flank my glove and go between my fingers. Good times. Everyone in my family has been a pipeline welder for years. They are all stone deaf from the grinding and banging on metal, but the number one reason none of my family members can hear is from having hot slag roll down their ear canal and bottom out. I always were ear plugs now even for just welding now. I have had that slag ricochet off of walls and into my ears multiple times, but it has bottomed out on my eardrums twice. You think a hot piece of slag in your boot will make you dance? I don't care how far you run, scream and pound on your ear, that shit doesn't stop until it reaches the core of the Earth once inside your ear. Wear your gloves and your plugs.
I never weld without gloves although I used to use plasma cutter without gloves. Got over that in a hurry. My wife wanted a new burning barrel piece of cake right. Yepp fired up plasma cutter and said to myself thin metal no problem don't even look for gloves. Zipped right through the top and was cutting merrily away. Seems the barrel I was cutting had once contained a resin product and while empty it laid on its side all the resin drained to one end and hardened. When I got to the place where hardened resin was I found out plasma cutters don't cut resin it flashed back immediately taking the skin off my hand. I don't even glance toward my plasma cutter without putting gloves on now!
Dude you are kidding yourself. Millers (who own hobart) safety brochure on plasma cutting has a chart with the required shade for various amperages of plasma cutting. You might want to do some reading while you still can. http://www.millerwelds.com/pdf/safety/plasma_eng_04-07.pdf
Ok let the drama start but I don't wear gloves but I always wear my leathers and I bet alot of the people talking about how your going to lose your hands by not wearind gloves have some cheap ass harbor freight hood. I have one of the best hoods money can buy because they are cheaper than new eyes. I wear gloves when plasma cutting but just can't fumble with them while welding. Besides my calluses are tougher than those leather gloves. Now as for the three rays yes I have been exposed to far to much gama so shut up before you make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry. Let it go guys we all do our own things so why talk all this shit on people just because they don't do things YOUR way.
I welded once without a shirt on in my late teens. Thought I was pretty tough, braving all the sparks. Being fair-skinned, I got a "sun" burn pretty quickly. Pretty dumb. Never again.
Tried wearing gloves when I started out and gave up after a few hot lumps went in... 20 years later havent worn gloves, used to weld a lot every day, still weld quite a bit some days more than others. If something is real heavy and doing alot on the table I might put one one my non-gun hand just to hold what I'm doing or move it around, but never on the gun hand. Been working w/my hands since I was a kid..wife says I have sandpaper for hands. Weld in shorts in the summer, and I only own tennis shoes. I do have a leather apron I'll put on sometimes just to keep the sparks from burning holes in my Dickeys work shirts when at the table.......but I still have a lot of religious shirts.... But then again, I also don't even own a long sleeve shirt.......
The Jalopy Journal
