Welding Topics to Learn About

[dragoneggs]

Stick it on with some Velcro strips as a test before you start drilling holes in helmet.... I am trying a small LED (2 AA cell) flashlight.... Now I need something to weld...

Dale

Oh I will not drill holes... my company specializes in adhesive bonded fastener technology.

 

[WranglerX]

Most welders have a magnet with a gooseneck that a small flashlight clamps too. Usually there is something metal to stick the flashlight on, then you can direct the light to what you are welding.

This is what we use in mirror welding, which can be a nightmare. You have to position your mirror just right, then get into the spot and get your light just right. It can be a lot in one spot, then when you can see what you are doing with mirror and light, now you have to remember everything is backwards as you weld. It is harder than you think, try writing your name on a piece of paper using the bathroom mirror.

With headlamp on helmet the light pool follows you vision also the bead.... Don't think I'll be doing any mirror welding....

Dale

 

[dstig1]

Welding was part of my former pipefitting trade and I was ASME certified for power piping and pressure vessels. I avoided hiring out as a "welder" to avoid breathing all that smoke and the eye strain. Always asked for a fitter position first; but the welding skills kept me on a job longer and fitters were moved up to foreman more often. Until you try welding with a respirator you will understand why they lay in the gang box, along with the heavy full leathers the safety code requires. They were pretty much a must when welding galvanized or other metallic coatings. An exhauster close to the work was usually the best solution except MIG, sucked all the shield gas away. We even used vacuum cleaners with the bags removed to prevent fire from sparks. There are now in hood air supplies that look pretty good. My intermittent welding now doesn't justify the cost. I have lived much longer than most of the guys that were "welders" at the trade. Of course most of them were also smokers and I never have been.

Ron

That is a much bigger factor than a lot of people realize. You know how horrible everyone thinks asbestos is? It's gotten to the point where people act like one look at it and you are gonna get cancer for sure! Well it is bad stuff, but the people who end up with mesothelioma are either those with tons of exposure for many years or smokers. It is the combination of smoking and asbestos exposure that is the big risk.

But yes, you raise a good point that the topic should be "ventilation and respirators." Or just how not to breathe in the bad stuff...

 

[Industrial Toys]

I grab hold of any asbestos I can. In hard form. Beautiful product.

I remember working as an apprentice electchicken in an ABEX Brake plant in the 80s and I thought it was so stupid them going on about asbestos lined hair dryers at the time. When I got home at night, I could blow my nose and have enough asbestos to make a brake shoe!

 

[WranglerX]

Had a friend that died of cancer at young age, his business was mobile brake van where he ground rotors and drums and arced brake shoes....No respirator on anything...

Dale

 

[BrokenTrack]

I did (2) videos yesterday:

1. On times to weld, and times to say no.

I used a few examples like welding in heavy rain to get an inspection completed for the Navy, which I should have said no too. Then a time when I was driving pile, and getting lifted every time I moved my ground clamp to go from pile to pile, so I shut my welder off between moving it, and got grief for by the project manager. I did the right thing in that case. But then I was pretty foolish in agreeing to weld cracked fuel tanks on locomotives.

I basically told my students it is okay to say "no, I am not welding that, it is unsafe." But I did quantify it with the fact that some people turn everything into a safety issue so they can just be lazy and not have to weld. I made sure to tell them, if it is safe to do, we are professionals, and it is up to us to use our skills to help our employers fix something, or be productive.

On the second video, I had my wife give me a stove part and ask me if I could fix it for her. I then went on to explain how people have problems that they need fixed, and it is a well-rounded welder who can weld various types of metals like aluminum, cast iron, stainless, and titanium...because it gives us credibility as welders instead of saying, "that is a different type of steel, and I cannot weld that." Instead we can help people out of a jam by using our skills as welders.

I then went on to explain how to weld cast iron without having it crack.

Both videos were about 8 minutes long, and I think made some good points.

 

[dragoneggs]

Sounds good. Will you be posting the videos anywhere?

 

[BrokenTrack]

Sounds good. Will you be posting the videos anywhere?

I wish I could, but the information is personal, and proprietary, and really focused on our students for their needs, and the companies we train welders for. So it is posted for students to see, but on a private google classroom. :-(

I did do a video last night on hard surfacing ground engagement equipment, since that is something new welders do a lot of. Goodness knows I have burned tons of welding wire hard facing dredges, dragline buckets and cutting edges!

I thought of another video to make as well of the various types of welding inspections there are, so the students will realize how they will be tested in their welding careers.

Visual
Break Test
Bend Test
Magna Flux
Ultra Sound
Xray

 

[Sid Post]

I wish I could, but the information is personal, and proprietary, and really focused on our students for their needs, and the companies we train welders for. So it is posted for students to see, but on a private google classroom. :-(

Too bad. It would certainly be helpful to people like myself with a bit of welding experience who could use some decent overall safety and performance-oriented information. I'm not looking to be a professional, just safer and better on a farm and ranch.

 

[Sid Post]

Can you get sunburn from welding? I did a big job yesterday in tshirt, shorts, flipflops, welding gloves and helmet. The insides of my arms from my tshirt to my welding gloves are on fire. Last night and tonight. I don't burn easily, I'm in the sun half the day every day and can't remember the last time I got burned, but this hurts.

That's a good way to get skin cancer at an early age too!