Completely An Amateur

[joshuabardwell]

Dont weld galvanized unless you absolutely have to. The fumes will make you really sick.

I'm not a welder, but I am familiar with heavy metal poisoning. It is no joke! The quickest way to get heavy metal poisoning is to breathe vaporized metals. Think about how drug users get drugs into their systems, right? They vaporize them and inhale them. That is exactly what you're doing when you breathe fumes from galvanized (zinc impregnated) metal. There are ways to remove the galvanized coating, if you have to weld galvanized steel. I know that Wazrus said, "keep your head out of the fumes," above, but if it were me, I wouldn't take the chance. I'd use a respirator mask rated for vaporized metals. At the very least, I'd have a strong fan blowing across the work area and stand up-wind.

 

[Gary Fowler]

First off, galvanized metal (zinc coated) doesnt weld very good at all if the zinc isnt removed so if you want to weld it, get out your grinder or sander disc and remove it to clean metal. You will see the color change from dull gray to white shiny metal when the zinc is removed.

 

[dstig1]

Zinc isn't a "heavy metal" but it still has some toxic effects when it is vaporized and inhaled, and you want to avoid that. Grinding, cutting, etc are not really an issue, within reason. Welding or torching is the big problem as it vaporizes the zinc. The good news is that it is acute and generally temporary, but still highly unpleasant. Heavy metals are Lead, cadmium, mercury, and a bunch of other stuff that is less common and tend to act on the central nervous system.

A properly fitted respirator with particulate filters will generally be all you need to deal with short zinc fume exposure, if necessary to be exposed. P100 filters would be best, but probably any level all the way down to N95 would be fine. Metal Fume particles tend to be pretty large and easy to catch, but they clog filter up quickly as a result of that.