lesson learned; Still Peeling! You'll laugh.

[fdburner]

"Time to burn.
No training. FREE. No experience. FREE. Welder. CHEAP
Grandfathers antique burn goggles. FREE. The Burn on my face.... Priceless"

Obviously without the common sense God gave a goat I made a poor descision regarding the welding helmet. I probaly don't need to explain. After buying some aloe, a better helmet, and doing research, I'm looking to get a good machine.
From the first spark, until hours later , I knew I was in trouble. Anyone else ever been in these same shoes?
Started some projects; under deck ladder racks, & stainless bow rail topping the list. Got real lucky with material.
Beside my equipment search, I am looking for reccomended learning resources, & any suggested project ideas.
Any help you guys can offer is appreciated.

[sjmiller]

I'm teaching myself how to weld by mostly reading - and classes I can attend. Mig welding doesn't appear to create as much UV radiation as TIG does. Helment, gloves, and a Tee shirt worked fine with MIG. The first time I did so with TIG - my forearms were "sun burnt" - they crusted over and pealed.

Safety is head to foot 100%, body parts do not regenerate..

[jniolon]

BUT, Mig can toast you quite nicely also...

spent a nice afternoon welding up a field gate... single 20 section of 2" pipe welded to 2" upright with a diagonal brace about 15' long... didn't fuss with fit up much..just mig'd it all with multi passes. Just wanted it strong enough to keep the kids on 4 wheelers from bustin thru it or pulling it down.

Like you... T-shirt and gloves ... had a good old time burnin wire. Later that night after shower started feeling tingle in upper arms. From my elbows up to my t-shirt line, nice, cherry red biceps on both arms. Kept that color and tingle for several weeks.. took a good bit of ribbing from the real welders at work... told me it wouldn't have happened if I'd used SPF50 shielding gas

now when I turn on my MM200 I reach for the nice green fireproof jacket ...it's hanging on the gas bottle valve so I don't forget.


john


I'm learning much more about how much I don't know as I get older.

[squig]

one trhing that really burns me up are these tv shows that have all these so called "WELDING EXPERTS" that are so tough and tattooed they dont need a shirt or jacket to protect them from skin diseases that they could get from these practices .COVER EXPOSED SKIN all welding will burn unprotected skin DUH!

[Bart]

Always pay attention to where you feet are when welding especially when wearing tennis shoes. Slag can burn through the cloth of the shoe real quick . When this happens, you'll be ripping your shoe and sock off as quick as you can. Hopefully there won't be any witness, because it sure is fun when you on the side lines watching someone hopping around trying to get that shoe off. .

[link523]

i was stick welding vertical up short sleeves little burns all over my arms from splatter i have a leather jacket now let me tell you its not fun to get burned also set my pants on fire the other day with a spark from my mig pants frayed at the bottom

[lgjhn]

one trhing that really burns me up are these tv shows that have all these so called "WELDING EXPERTS" that are so tough and tattooed they dont need a shirt or jacket to protect them from skin diseases that they could get from these practices .COVER EXPOSED SKIN all welding will burn unprotected skin DUH!

Thats why I hate those shows...
They are continuously doing unsafe acts on them and the naive people that watch it think they can do the same thing.....only they either hurt themselves or destroy something.....
My two cents worth is to stay away from those shows, practice safety at all times and learn to do things the proper way...
Those shows are giving real weldors a bad rap in the eyes of the public....

[Curly09]

I've been smoked far more than I care to remember. In the Miltary you are required to maintain a fire Watch. The short of it is its an extra set of eyes for safety of the ship. Great in therory, bad on the members selected for the duty. Mostly folks selected are ones other departments can do without.
Spent 3 days in the Hospital with flash burn when one decided to move in for a closer look at what I was working on just before I flipped my helmet. Another was asleep when my coveralls went up in flame with me in them.

Ultimatly, as the operator the buck stops with me! I am the professional responsable for the entire evolution start to finnish and if an area is unsafe its my call to work or not.
Just keep in mind that if a situation feels unsafe it usually is.
If your working under a military contract your going to get folks over your shoulder keeping an eye on there equipment.

[wello]

I'm teaching myself how to weld by mostly reading - and classes I can attend. Mig welding doesn't appear to create as much UV radiation as TIG does. Helment, gloves, and a Tee shirt worked fine with MIG. The first time I did so with TIG - my forearms were "sun burnt" - they crusted over and pealed.

Safety is head to foot 100%, body parts do not regenerate..

the MIG will fry you up just nice with heaps of amps
wish I had a dollar for every time I've had rayburn and spatter burns over the last 27 yrs I wouldn't have to weld any more

nothing worse than being up under the axles of a semi trailer doing a weld and getting burned no were to go in a hurry just have grit your teeth and bear it .

[mccutter]

If you don't have them, you can get these "canvas" sleeves to use with a t-shirt or other garment for extra protection. They are nice if you rest one arm on the welding table for support. They are about $10 at your local welding shop.
Don't forget to increase the darkness of your lens as you increase amperage of your welds.
Hi-freq. TIG will degrade cotton (as will MIG to a certain extent) and may not adequately protect you from the arc rays produced during welding. (ie: sunburn) But ANY skin protection is better than no protection!

True story: a cig. smoking friend of mine was welding when his jeans started smoldering from a bit of slag. After a bit of dancing and prancing to put the fire out, he felt he needed a cigarette. That is when we noticed the "almost" that fortunately never was. The bit of slag that caused the fire had also melted into his BIC lighter! One can only think of the catastophy that could of happened! The moral to this story is to not leave flammable items in your pockets unless you want your nuggets blown off and/or hair singed (if you don't have nuggets)(or worse)...