accidents whilst welding

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Originally Posted by Chops

Not sure, but we were told to do this you need to have it as full as possible with water to keep the air out,,, :confused:

I dont care what the cost,, I'll just buy a new one,, :D

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New ones had not been available for decades and the one he was to repair was the best of a sorry lot. Even sorrier after it went bang and popped open along the line of the crack to be repaired. In the end he fabricated one to fit in the same place.

We get the the run-down on workshop safety almost begginging of every semester.

Another accident that one would never have thought would actually happen , we have a Power tools room with several Bench grinders , 2 x Lenishers , Wire Brush etc . now 3-4 weeks ago I was in the room grinding some Butt welds off that I had put down to be able to weld that same area again for practice, and a Female next to me was using the Lenisher.

The Other side of that Lenisher is a Buffing Disc , now While I was angle Gridning the Welds off , The sparks were landing straight on top of the Buffing disc , I got a Tap on the shoulder by the Female to stop grinding , when I questioned her as to why , she pointed to the buffing disc and said because we have to to do something abou this Fire.:o

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Originally Posted by Disco_owner

We get the the run-down on workshop safety almost begginging of every semester.

Another accident that one would never have thought would actually happen , we have a Power tools room with several Bench grinders , 2 x Lenishers , Wire Brush etc . now 3-4 weeks ago I was in the room grinding some Butt welds off that I had put down to be able to weld that same area again for practice, and a Female next to me was using the Lenisher.

The Other side of that Lenisher is a Buffing Disc , now While I was angle Gridning the Welds off , The sparks were landing straight on top of the Buffing disc , I got a Tap on the shoulder by the Female to stop grinding , when I questioned her as to why , she pointed to the buffing disc and said because we have to to do something abou this Fire.:o

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When i was an apprentice i was told a story about people grinding aluminium and steel on a linisher, which causes the alloy and oxide filings to mix, then ignite. This chemical mixture is meant to burn through concrete.

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Originally Posted by andrew e

When i was an apprentice i was told a story about people grinding aluminium and steel on a linisher, which causes the alloy and oxide filings to mix, then ignite. This chemical mixture is meant to burn through concrete.

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:o Thanks for that Tip Andrew, earlier on we were told it's best not to sharpen zerconiated and thoriated Tungsten tips on the same lenisher due to contamination , and this makes sense , but nothing has ever been mentioned about grinding alloy and steel on same lenisher for the reasons mentioned above.

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Originally Posted by andrew e

When i was an apprentice i was told a story about people grinding aluminium and steel on a linisher, which causes the alloy and oxide filings to mix, then ignite. This chemical mixture is meant to burn through concrete.

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Thermite ;)

Worst i've have is the usual blobs down shirts and for a while my garage pants were some old jeans that had a big hole over each knee. after a long welding session, both knees would be burnt to a crisp, everything else fine. Learnt my lesson pretty quick after that :p

worked for a while in an engineering workshop, worst i've had happen to me has been spatter getting caught in my watch band, shirt pockets and (most painfully) a blob dropped off while i was doing an overhead weld under a trailer...... i was pretending to be a contortionist, twisted up in the suspension to get to one weld between the tray and the bearer...... so imagine how long it took me to get out and dance around when the blob dropped down and burnt its way through to the family jewels......

also had a shirt catch on fire while cutting 150x75x5mm RHS with a 9" grinder and cutoff disc, i was used to getting a bit warm while cutting, but figured something wasnt quite right when i smelled smoke.... wore a leather apron when cutting after that, and even that ended up with a hard black spot about 4" across burnt into the front of it

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Originally Posted by Tank

Khos, you were probably told this at TAFE, but for the others out there, NEVER carry (in your pockets) a disposable Cigarette Lighter when welding or Oxy cutting, if a spark sets one off in your pocket it can Kill or maim you, Regards Frank.

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hence why disposable cigarette lighters are banned on a lot of mine sites......

as for slag down boots, a guy i worked with one had had a gouging rod drop into his boot once..... wouldnt let me start work with him till i bought a pair of laceup boots.....

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Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

A guy I grew up with was a highly competent boilermaker-welder. He was restoring a Holden FJ ute and found a leaky fuel tank. He did all the right things. Used a high pressure hose to remove all residue, filled it with hot water and strong detergent to sit over night, blew it out again with the hose, filled it with water and put it on to boil, used the hose again, and left it in the sun for a few days before hosing it out again. Then when he went to weld the crack with oxy-acetylene it went bang. Black peeling face and ears, eyebrows and the front half of his hair gone.

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Quite obviously he didn't do "all the right things", or the mishap wouldn't have occurred. A fuel tank needs to be steamed for 24 hours, tested and certified gas free, prior to welding. Many people have got away with skipping the first three steps, but many have not. Whether or not the job explodes, is not dependant on the welding skills of the repairer.

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Originally Posted by V8Ian

Quite obviously he didn't do "all the right things", or the mishap wouldn't have occurred. A fuel tank needs to be steamed for 24 hours, tested and certified gas free, prior to welding. Many people have got away with skipping the first three steps, but many have not. Whether or not the job explodes, is not dependant on the welding skills of the repairer.

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And those steps are beyond the capacity of pretty well all hobbyists and most repair shops. And most certainly were not in vogue in 1980 when the mishap occurred.

I might add that we used pretty much the same procedures as my injured mate at Wall and Co. in Winton to repair vehicle fuel tanks that regularly used to split seams, crack or be pierced by stones on the superhighways of Western Queensland in the 50's and 60's. We used to boil them over gidgee coals in the back yard. Never had one go pop.

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Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

And those steps are beyond the capacity of pretty well all hobbyists and most repair shops. And most certainly were not in vogue in 1980 when the mishap occurred.

I might add that we used pretty much the same procedures as my injured mate at Wall and Co. in Winton to repair vehicle fuel tanks that regularly used to split seams, crack or be pierced by stones on the superhighways of Western Queensland in the 50's and 60's. We used to boil them over gidgee coals in the back yard. Never had one go pop.

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These were normal procedures in the '70s; just because safety is inconvienient is no reason to discard it! Your mate proves my point, some get away with it some don't. Two workers were fatally injured at Jackson (SWQ) a few years back, welding a diesel tank.

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Originally Posted by V8Ian

These were normal procedures in the '70s; just because safety is inconvienient is no reason to discard it! Your mate proves my point, some get away with it some don't. Two workers were fatally injured at Jackson (SWQ) a few years back, welding a diesel tank.

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It is not a matter of "discarding" safety - it is impossible to completely remove risk (and still do anything). I suggest that the procedures Brian described, if properly carried out reduce the risk to less than many other risks which are encountered every day - for example, running road trains on the Mitchell highway with rough narrow lanes and no shoulders between Nyngan and Nevertire, to pick one example in the local news.

It is not a matter of inconvenience - it is a matter of affordability; exactly what the RTA says about this example.

Having said that, I am very wary of of welding fuel tanks, and would avoid it if at all possible, regardless of any procedures (alternatives such as rivetted patches, plus chemical sealers come to mind). So far I have managed to avoid it.


John