New to welding: Safety Questions

[metalbender]

Laying on a creeper, under a vehicle, grnd on said vehicle, wet conditions, changing rods on an AC buzzbox will give you a wake up call.

 

[mmranch]

Thanks VERY much to all for all the tips and explanations!! Yes, I am paranoid and obviously don't have a good understanding about the electrical aspects of the welder.

I don't mean to sound totally ignorant about the safety aspects. I've got all the safety gear and plan to use it.

Because of where I live (at 9500ft on the top of a mountain in the forest) I spend a lot of my time doing fire mitigation, etc and I don't want to be 'that guy' that lit the national forest up. My shop is about 35' square and there is about a 40' square area in front of the two garage doors of the building where the ground is roadbase. About 40' away there is an island of Lodgepole pine with the roadbase road going around it (I plan to rake and clean out the pine straw on this island and the pad in front of the shop before I begin welding). There is forest on 3 sides of the building (about 1/2 Aspen and 1/2 Lodgepole). The shop does have diesel cans and gas cans in the back of the building but I would be about 35-40 ft away if I was welding up front. I don't plan to weld if it's too windy, etc.

Because of skin cancer issues, I also spend a lot of time protecting against that and will use all protection from the arc light.

Thanks for the explanation of the voltage aspects of the welder. I was unaware of this and will have to re-read all this and digest it. I'm assuming if the stinger contacts (with no rod in it) touch the worktable/workpiece it would try to arc? Contact unlikely I know, but just trying to understand where NOT to put my fingers.

Assuming the electrical system the welder is plugged into is good, the welder is using the ground of this system by being plugged into it. On the back of my welder there is a ground connection bolt. Should this be connected to something? Is driving a stake in the ground and connecting the welder to that safer than not? Should the weld table be connected to a stake in the ground for added safety?

I'm a little worried about my 240v setup as the shop was wired with 2 240v circuits both with 20amp breakers and small outlets (I've changed them to large outlets). The welder will do 120v but I'd prefer to use the 240v. I've got 50amp breakers but haven't installed them yet.

Thanks again for all the ideas!

 

[mmranch]

Actually, if you look at my icon... that is the front of my shop building in the picture with the island of trees between the tractor and the building.

 

[/pine]

You are the first one I've heard of that does that. OP,wear gloves or you'll be sooorrrry


You tell-um Doofy. And nearer the arc is the worst.

It was not a recommendation to not wear gloves (or any protective gear)...
I think a big part of my hands not getting burned by splatter etc. is because I have such a hard time seeing (even with a cheater lens) my helmet catches the brunt of the splatter...I go through a lot of outer helmet lenses...

...Being able to clearly see and control a bead makes a big difference in making good welds that look good too...

New to welding tip of the day:
FWIW...anyone not already familiar with the danger should take note and NEVER weld on a rim with a tire mounted on it...!

Tire Explosion - YouTube

 

[k0ua]

It was not a recommendation to not wear gloves (or any protective gear)...
I think a big part of my hands not getting burned by splatter etc. is because I have such a hard time seeing (even with a cheater lens) my helmet catches the brunt of the splatter...I go through a lot of outer helmet lenses...

...Being able to clearly see and control a bead makes a big difference in making good welds that look good too...

New to welding tip of the day:
FWIW...anyone not already familiar with the danger should take note and NEVER weld on a rim with a tire mounted on it...!

Tire Explosion - YouTube

Yep, "kerbooom" usually several seconds to minutes after you quite welding..

What a big "nice" surprise...

 

[ericm979]

Upsizing the breakers doesn't upsize the wiring. You can look at the wires and see if they meet the spec for 50a... those are some big wires. I had a 220v50a put in my garage last year. I'm ok doing house wiring but I paid for pros to do that one as part of other work. After seeing how hard it was to wrestle with that thick wire I was glad I did.

It's likely the wires you have are only large enough for 20a. In which case drawing 50a though them would be bad (as in setting things on fire bad).

If the hot part of the stick holder or mig gun touches something that's grounded to the welder (or something conductive that's grounded to the welder) it'll arc. Be aware that some multi process machines have all ports hot. So for example if you have a mig/stick machine and plug in both the mig gun and stick holder, they may both be hot when using either process.

When possible I put the ground clamp on the part being welded. That makes one less way to have a poor connection. The poor connection can make for bad welds and arcing between the table and the part. Of course if you put the ground clamp on the part and there's a good connection through the table surface, the table is grounded to the welder too.

 

[RandyT]

Upsizing the breakers doesn't upsize the wiring. You can look at the wires and see if they meet the spec for 50a... those are some big wires. I had a 220v50a put in my garage last year. I'm ok doing house wiring but I paid for pros to do that one as part of other work. After seeing how hard it was to wrestle with that thick wire I was glad I did.

It's likely the wires you have are only large enough for 20a. In which case drawing 50a though them would be bad (as in setting things on fire bad).

If the hot part of the stick holder or mig gun touches something that's grounded to the welder (or something conductive that's grounded to the welder) it'll arc. Be aware that some multi process machines have all ports hot. So for example if you have a mig/stick machine and plug in both the mig gun and stick holder, they may both be hot when using either process.

When possible I put the ground clamp on the part being welded. That makes one less way to have a poor connection. The poor connection can make for bad welds and arcing between the table and the part. Of course if you put the ground clamp on the part and there's a good connection through the table surface, the table is grounded to the welder too.

What is funny though is that 2-6 gauge wire going to the welding outlet on the wall gets plugged into the 10-14 gauge wire in the welder cord.

 

[Fallon]

What is funny though is that 2-6 gauge wire going to the welding outlet on the wall gets plugged into the 10-14 gauge wire in the welder cord.

Well ventilated wire inside or outside the welder cools itself off a lot easier than wire under insulation in the wall. They spec the wire in the wall & corresponding breakers for a worst case scenario.

 

[mmranch]

Thanks very much for the tips. I will check the gauge of the wire and if necessary install a short run of 6 gauge to a new outlet. Running new wire the to existing outlets would be way too hard as all the walls are sheetrocked and I'd have to swim through blown-in insulation to do anything.

Thanks again.

 

[RandyT]

Well ventilated wire inside or outside the welder cools itself off a lot easier than wire under insulation in the wall. They spec the wire in the wall & corresponding breakers for a worst case scenario.

The point I was trying to make was that same cord attached to any other home appliance would only carry a 15-30 amp rating. Not the 50-60 amp wire and breaker that is feeding it like a welder.