Best way to protect from weld spatter?

Travelover · Mar 18, 2012

Shield Arc said:
Years ago I was given a lot of asbestos welding blankets, I use them to protect everything. I doubt you can buy asbestos, (new anyway) but maybe theses would work too.

6 Ft x 8 Ft Fiberglass Welding Blanket

I actually do have a sheet of asbestos that I have squirreled away. I use it occasionally when I sweat pipes near wood. It is getting kind of crumbly, though.

toolbox5 · Mar 18, 2012

I use an anti-spatter spray , duct tape or a welding blanket whatever i can get my hands on

koritina · Mar 18, 2012

Nozzle/Tip dip.

ray66v · Mar 18, 2012

I use the anti-splatter nozzle spray too. (Black Magic).

Since switching to flux core wire, I have found splatter is definitely a draw back to using it.

weldermike · Mar 19, 2012

koritina said:
Nozzle/Tip dip.

Nozzle gel for a mig gun works great. Smear it on with your fingers. Reasonably cheap as well.

SandburRanch · Mar 19, 2012

When I was a pup and just learning about stick welders an old man suggested to me that if I would turn my amps down to where they should be most of my spatter problems would go away. He was correct but on surfaces like the OP has we still need some protection sometimes.

Haywire · Mar 19, 2012

Welding tips and tricks says Pam spray works great as a nozzle spatter deterrent.

Travelover · Mar 19, 2012

OP here.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I welded it today. I put some woven asbestos cloth I have had forever on the critical surface next to the weld, held with a hose clamp, then draped a wet rag over the rest. It worked just fine.

Jerry/MT · Mar 20, 2012

Travelover said:
I actually do have a sheet of asbestos that I have squirreled away. I use it occasionally when I sweat pipes near wood. It is getting kind of crumbly, though.

When I took a stick welding course, my instructor said to keep the arc short. I still have a tendency to carry a long arc and I get lots of splatter. It's not that much of a factor for what I do most of the time. I've used wet rags but there were some other good ideas( foil and duct tape) presented here.