Thread: Arc Welding UV Radiation

I was told if you get welders flash - put the mask down and keep on going.
I have had a few radiation burns but nothing like that bad.
Have had slag down the boots and down the front and back of a shirt as well.
A welder mate of mine says in the welding game you have the shorty or longy welders - pertaining to the length of their sleeves - he is a longy.

On a few occasions I have got radiation burns above the top of the gauntlets but below the t-shirt sleeve. Was burning about 6kg of rods on a Lincoln diesel welder per day. It was noisy work, as the Perkins didn't really have a good exhaust. I learnt to apply SPF50+ in the middle of winter and wear hearing protection under the mask.

Aaron

Originally Posted by crash

I was told if you get welders flash - put the mask down and keep on going.
I have had a few radiation burns but nothing like that bad.
Have had slag down the boots and down the front and back of a shirt as well.
A welder mate of mine says in the welding game you have the shorty or longy welders - pertaining to the length of their sleeves - he is a longy.

As an apprentice in the 1950's it was drummed into me to wear combination overalls buttoned to the neck, and the legs to go down over the top of my boots. Sleeves down and cuffs buttoned with gauntlets when welding or cutting, and sleeves rolled up tightly when using machine tools. We always wore elastic side boots so they could be quickly removed if one got slag or a big smoking blue curly chip down the boot.

I believe it is the chromium in the stainless steel that cause the radiation to be worse. I know also from personal experience that stainless radiation burns are not good. I was wearing overalls, but not buttoned all the way up, so got burned through the work shirt. Had a nice stripe up the chest. You also have to be careful when tig welding stainless, I was taught to cover up well.
Cheers Hall

While on the welding topic when I was at TAFE learning stick the teacher gave us some special rods. We were welding mild steel with it. I didnt take note of the type but it went on like glass and the slag curled up behind the weld like a scorpion. It just looked like black shiny glass. Does anyone know what rod type that might be?

Cheers

Originally Posted by LRJim

Thought I'd post this up considering summers coming and we all love to wear shorts.
I've been doing some welding at work lately, I'm a carpenter by trade and normally just weld at home. Boss asked me to do some welding, he brought along a welder one of our family members no dramas. Normally at home im wearing pants all the time anyway, and generally dont weld for long periods at a time. Not thinking a great a deal about it put the usual mask on, I don't wear gloves normally so I didn't wear them. And began to weld for most of the day, squating over the work overall 6 hours ish. Now I've been burnt before from welding UV rays, but this time I copped it. Still could be way worse if I was welding ALL day but still enough to **** me.
So just a friendly reminder as much as the shorts temptation is in the hot weather, if you need to weld don't forget to cover yourself up. I completely overlooked it today thinking keeping myself cool was the better option, and now I'm wearing it for next 4 days...
Happy Halloween!
Cheers Jim
(Phone photos don't justify themselves)

... and aren't we glad you weren't wearing
loose-leg shorts . . . .

On a serious note, I found this in my inbox... looks good and maybe ok for a quick job or a Very short time, but...
welding glasses - Buy Cheap welding glasses - From Banggood

these are the ones in question. Solar Powered Auto Darkening Welding Mask Helmet Eyes Goggle Two-way Glasses - US$8.99

Originally Posted by ozscott

While on the welding topic when I was at TAFE learning stick the teacher gave us some special rods. We were welding mild steel with it. I didnt take note of the type but it went on like glass and the slag curled up behind the weld like a scorpion. It just looked like black shiny glass. Does anyone know what rod type that might be?

Cheers

I can't recall the the name of the rods, but about 25 years ago a sales rep visited my work place with rods that were designed for maintenance.They were expensive but didn't require any kind of weld preparation like grinding or rust and paint removal would even weld over light grease and oil. They were made for industries like mining companies where the cost of welding rods was insignificant compared to down time.
I suppose the rods had a special kind of flux that just bubbled the crap out into the slag.
The slag would peel off just like you said.
Even a crappy welder like myself could do beautiful runs with these things.
I'm sure there are members here that would know of such rods. If the name of these rods comes back to me I'll PM you.
Cheers