Never , Never, try to weld Naked!!!!You'll burn the end right off your electrode. fd

 

My dad taught me to weld, and one thing he never did and so neither do I, is wear gloves. Obviously the main concern here is burns, but I and he don't have any to speak of. I have never been shocked either and I do indeed hold a lot of live pieces with bare hands.

Why I do this I can't tell. Tradition maybe? Laziness?

Birken

 

That is some of the best advice I have seen. I did just what BobbyL is doing. Two years later I am taking a course in welding and it is like learning how all over again. At least get some good books and read up on it. Good luck.

 

What are you worried about getting shocked for a mig welder will only give you a tickle a DC machine will give you a slight shock a AC machine is the worst even if your bone dry it will give you a shock. Most people are scared of welders for me I'am not I have been welding since I was 15 years old I actually taught welding when I was in highschool.

What used to scare the shop students the most would be when I would have the ground in one hand and the stinger in the other and ask one of the students come and touch me. They were so scared about getting a shock they wouldn't come close to me let alone hold the stinger and ground they even got nervous when I used to arc the stinger and ground together.

What really got them so worried was when I poured a gallon bucket of water on the floor stood in the puddle and welded they thought I would be electricuted they thought I was nuts

My familly has a welding shop where we do all of our welding we have 2 stick machines (400 amp 3 phase DC) that get used the most. We do have a 500 amp AC machine that will burn a rail road spike if you could get it into the stinger we don't use this machine much. A DC machine is the only thing that can burn 1/8-5/32s 7018 efficiently its the only rod we use for 90% of our work some times we use 7024 Jetrod.

When I was welding at the school shop I brought some 1/4 7024 Jetrod from our shop the welder at the school was a 250 amp 3 phase. I cranked the welder up and soon as I struck a arc the lights in the part of the school around the IE shop flickered and when I continued to lay a bead the lights dimmed till I stopped

The shop teacher had to come back and see what in the heck I was doing he never seen a welding rod that thick before I said its meant for doing heavy horizontal welds.

The years I took shop there was only me and 3 other students that had almost more welding experience under our belts than the shop teacher. In 95 when I graduated I was the last welder that knew more about welding than the teacher. I couldn't compete with the IE teacher in woodwork as he was a proffessional cabinet maker but when it come to welding I had him semi beat not bad for a 17 year old student

I never did pursue the welding trade in getting my welding tickets my brother has, like meantioned in previous posts on this topic light colored eyes are more sensitive is true. I have blue eyes even using a #14 shade in my helmet I can only weld for 3-4 hours and I'am finished my eyes can't take anymore I even get a headache. I wear a welders Dickey I don't like the smell of burning hair I also wear long sleeved shirts and leather gloves welding arc burns hurt like a SOB.

As for you clothes catching on fire you can smell your clothes burning I have had the crotch of my coveralls catch on fire I get welding burns from sparks all over. If you weld long enough getting burns is just the norm pretty hard to avoid them wearing leathers isn't a option most of the time. You don't want to wear any plastic type made clothes like nylon it melts to your skin your better of wearing cotton it burns not melts. As for foot wear you don't wear running shoes they light up so fast you will never get them off your feet fast enough.

The most important part is don't get any arc flashes you will hurt your eyes in some cases seriously the other thing is watch out for jumping slag. Stainless steel slag is the worst it pops off at any moment and its destin for your eyes so if your using stainless rod becarefull.

Sorry for rambling on

 

Just thought I'd throw my 2 cents worth in here,im a union ironworker,24 yrs,ive welded everything from thin gauge sheetmetal at nuclear power plants to 6" thick black iron on structural steel buildings.In my experiance & opinion,YOU DO NOT WANT A SHOCK AT ALL ,NEVER.
I know,ive been shocked many a times when wet or sweating but,fact is, "if"the current just happens to pass thru your heart,well,i think you get the picture,im not tryin to prove any one wrong,ive also been shocked many a times & said,"hell,im tough,i can handle it" but it makes no sense to NOT avoid it if at all possible .
If you want to cover your ears while welding,buy a welding cap too big for your head & fits over your ears,its not a good idea to have a few bits of slag bouncing around in your ear drums,dont buy the cheep welding caps in a local "cheep" tool store,material is much more flammable than the good ones you buy at a welding supply store ,one more thing,the guy that said to "always wear safety glasses when welding,"is correct,for 2 reasons,one is to help prevent hot slag & sparks from getting in your eyes when welding because even though you have a welding sheild on,look at all the "open" space on the top,sides & bottom where it all can possibly bounce around inside the sheild right into your eyes & 2,safety glasses do help to a percentage to prevent "flash",if youve never had flash,here is a little idea of what it feels like,,someone throws sand in your eye & it stays there & cant get it out because your eyes are gettin a type of sunburn & it burns like your skin untill they heal,another thing about the burn is,it "will" affect your eye vision later in life.One more thing,dont try to be a tough guy & only wear a short sleave shirt or let much of your skin exposed to welding,for one,the burn is like a real bad sunburn,2 & most of all,too much flash welding to skin is proven to cause skin cancer in later years,,good luck & be safe,,,,Jaydubb

 

Just thought I'd throw my 2 cents worth in here,im a union ironworker,24 yrs,ive welded everything from thin gauge sheetmetal at nuclear power plants to 6" thick black iron on structural steel buildings.In my experiance & opinion,YOU DO NOT WANT A SHOCK AT ALL ,NEVER.
I know,ive been shocked many a times when wet or sweating but,fact is, "if"the current just happens to pass thru your heart,well,i think you get the picture,im not tryin to prove any one wrong,ive also been shocked many a times & said,"hell,im tough,i can handle it" but it makes no sense to NOT avoid it if at all possible .
If you want to cover your ears while welding,buy a welding cap too big for your head & fits over your ears,its not a good idea to have a few bits of slag bouncing around in your ear drums,dont buy the cheep welding caps in a local "cheep" tool store,material is much more flammable than the good ones you buy at a welding supply store ,one more thing,the guy that said to "always wear safety glasses when welding,"is correct,for 2 reasons,one is to help prevent hot slag & sparks from getting in your eyes when welding because even though you have a welding sheild on,look at all the "open" space on the top,sides & bottom where it all can possibly bounce around inside the sheild right into your eyes & 2,safety glasses do help to a percentage to prevent "flash",if youve never had flash,here is a little idea of what it feels like,,someone throws sand in your eye & it stays there & cant get it out because your eyes are gettin a type of sunburn & it burns like your skin untill they heal,another thing about the burn is,it "will" affect your eye vision later in life.One more thing,dont try to be a tough guy & only wear a short sleave shirt or let much of your skin exposed to welding,for one,the burn is like a real bad sunburn,2 & most of all,too much flash welding to skin is proven to cause skin cancer in later years,,good luck & be safe,,,,Jaydubb

 

As far as safety gear goes..
I've started wearing ear plugs in addition to the welding cap. I was recently burning with oxy/acet and some slag popped and went down my ear. Sparks can and will find their way into a welding helmet and if yur welding under something with yur head turned the risk is even greater. Safety glasses and good side shields as a must under the helmet. And one other thing I found out.. you can get UV burns thru a shirt. Ours from our uniform company are 50/50 cotton polyester and during extended welding periods I got burned thru the shirt. Arms and chest. Cotton only if you dont wear leathers.

Mike

 

Poly is not good to wear around heat and flames, even the poly cotton mixes can kind of melt and stick or burn. Cotton just smolders.

 

true about clothes,one thing i forgot to mention,if you have a white shirt on while welding,you will get a flash almost as bad as you was wearing nothing,it bleeds right thru a white shirt,i geuss because a white shirt has no dye in it & the dye is a type of block from the uv rays

 

When welding, watch out for your eyes. They can get burned from the reflection off of the arc. You don't have to look straight at the arc to get burned.

 

Any part of the arc comming from welding will burn your eyes and if its strong enough can seriously damage them if the arc can give you a severe sunburn imagine what it does to your sensitive eyes.

 

I took the time to read most of the other posts on this thread, so here is my well-earned 2 cents worth.

I own a Lincoln WeldPack 100 that I purchased oh, 10 years ago. It has proven to be more than adequate for the bodywork and light fabrication I have been doing.

I seldom wear gloves because I prefer a lighter touch. (I have never experienced a shock from doing this.)

I do wear long sleeve clothing. (Had some slag roll under my wrist watch once.... still have to scar to show for it.)

I always keep extention cords as short as possible (and use a heavy duty one). Doing otherwise will only over heat your welder, and lesson its duty cycle.

I always use a full-face shield. (Knew I fella once who used gas welding goggles to do a little mig welding on his VW...even after I caught him doing it and warned him about the dangers) He said that he could not see what he was doing with the helmet on...(or off in my opinion). The week he spent with his eyes bandaged shut convinced him that he should have headed my warnings.

Only one regret, I wish I had purchased the mig conversion for my little welder way back when. It WAS $72.00, now its around $100.00. I think I’m going to keep this little rig burning .035 flux core, and get a bigger gas equipped machine later on down the line, that is after I buy a plasma cutter.


Melt metal not your mind......Dave

 

I noticed you were going to purchase the Lincoln 135T. I work at a welding supply store, and would recommend buying the 135Plus. It gives you the infinite control that the 135T won't. Finding your sweet spot while welding is much easier with this machine.

 

Welder topics sure draw lots of posts,
I am glad to see that everyone seems to be concerned about safety, a good thing, I did not see however any mention of the fact that almost any type of welding produces toxic fumes that must be removed from the work area, galvinized metal and burning paint being among the worst, please provide adequate ventilation when doing any type of welding

 

Remember light reflects. a friend of mine was helping me when I was welding she didn't look at the pretty light. but she cought the reflection off of a fence and still flashed burned her eyes. didn't help that it was kind of misting rain so everything was wet. Just remember the sometimes it better to have extra masks. I've gotten in the habit of telling helpers to turn their heads and close their eyes. better not to see anything for a few seconds then not being able to see for several hoursor days.