First Welding lesson

[DannyD]

Use a shield, not your hand, when around welding in any close proximity. Got my first hard knocks lesson last night around 10:30 when I woke to W E L D E R S F L A S H! That freaking hurts! Ok, I was using the helmet when I was welding, but not when the teacher was. I was only putting my hands up to shield the arch from my eyes. According to the nice Doctor who numbed my eyes, put some stuff in to see the swelling and check for scratches then put in the stuff to calm the muscles of the eye to help the hurt, just shielding the arch is not enough. He told me MOST cases of this are from the guy next to the guy doing the welding, not the welder himself. Closing your eyes is not enough either, if the flash is getting in or you can see it on your face, you have a chance of getting this.


This was not an organized course, it was a friend of the family and myself putting up a handrail and enclosure on my mothers porch. I did get some to stick, and learned also that stick is not for me, on to MIG!

 

[mahlers]

Let's all hope that you didn't do any permanent damage to your retina - that UV radiation is intense and can cause damage quickly. It would be a good idea to visit your opthalmologist yearly from now on for a full checkup...

Another painful lesson I learned a while back was to take the time to put on long sleeves and long pants when I was doing some impromptu welding fixes. I got such a bad welders-burn one time that it blistered up all over my legs and arms. I don't think SPF1000 would have helped me avoid that one.

 

[DannyD]

While the Doctor said my inflammation was significant, He did not think permanent, but today I can see, things are brighter as my pupils are still exaggerated and some of the inflammation is still there. With sunglasses everything seems ok. I usually wear reading glasses anyway for of course reading. My eyes look dreadful, bloodshot, and swollen some, but much better than even at 6 a.m. this morning.

They did say to check in and if not better by Monday, see the Doctor.

 

[Inspector507]

Danny,
I think the first lesson we learned on my first night in welding class was, NEVER walk into the shop without safety glasses. The instructor will stop you where you stand and make you put them on. The second hard pounded lesson is to NEVER look at anyone weld without your helmet on.

 

[mark777]

Yep, gotta agree with ya. I think one of the biggest improvements are the self darkening helmets. If you can live without Dale Earnhardt Jr #s and flames, they are reasonable. And it is so nice to see where your welding without constantly flipping mask up and down.

 

[RICHARDG]

You didn't hurt your eyes much,[course you didn't do them any good either],,nothing a doctor can do,other than give you some numbing drops. Every time you burn your eyes,you get a layer of scar tissue,,like a caterac,,,get them burned enough,,and it gets hard to see,,,like a caterac. I have had my eyes burnt so bad,that my eyes wouldn't open in the morning untill you washed them with warm water to get all the buggers out,,[and such],,mirrowed glasses are the best,,as far as sun/safety glasses,,,but,,,,the best,,is just don't look at,around, that blue light... thingy

 

[frank_f15]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I did get some to stick, and learned also that stick is not for me, on to MIG!
)</font>

learn to stick weld(you wont be sorry) then when u get to mig & tig you will have a good grasp of the sound of a good weld. beleive it or not but sound can tell you if you are getiing a good weld.

 

[jim_wilson]

When I first started to teach myself how to MIG weld I almost did what you did a couple of times. I got caught looking at the arc a couple of times and VERY quickly closed my eyes and turned away. I found using a conventional welding helmet to be a real pain when I was stuffed up under the dashboard of my car welding rollcage tubes and brackets and such so I went out and bought one of the self darkening helmets. At the time ( It was about 10 years ago now that I got the helmet) they weren't cheap but I have to say that it was by far the best welding investment I made besides the welder itself. It is great to just flip the helmet down and be able to look at the work and strike an arc and the thing darkens right up. I hadn't actually used the welder for about 6 years and finally pulled the thing out this weekend to weld on some brackets for rear worklights and that helmet made the whole job much easier.

 

[DannyD]

Vision is much better tonite. I can see almost as good as normal, but things are still a little bright. I have noticed improvement all day.

I learned the sound of a good weld, bad one sounds hollow or that is how the bad ones sounded to me.

Self darkening is the way to go, with that I would not be where I am today.........or was that is.

thanks all, any more advice welcomed for sure

 

[KiotiJohn]

Danny I'm glad to hear it wasn't any worse than it was. Reminds me of last year when I went down to Ft. Lauderdale to pick up a motorhome that had to go into a shop first for brake work. There was a welder working in the shop, and a woman had her grandson there letting him watch.
I quickly told her to get the kid inside and away from the hypnotizing flame as he was going to have some major problems if she didn't. She acted as though I had slapped her and said he could watch if he wanted to. I told her I'd have a cop take care of it if she was so stupid not to understand what was happening to her grandchild. I'm amazed how stupid she was after I and others told her what can happen. She got the kid into the waiting room after that, but I bet he had some burning, itching eyes later on. Glad you're okay. John

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( take the time to put on long sleeves and long pants when I was doing some impromptu welding fixes. I got such a bad welders-burn one time that it blistered up all over my legs )</font>

I second that.

I was getting some welding in at work on our lincoln 225 ac/dc rig. I was building a center ramp for my JD-B for trailering it. The metal was free from the scrap pile, so i ran out choped it up and welded it during my lunch hour... in shorts. Boy that machine could really glue some metal together. 3/8 angle iron and flats and some 1/8 6011 rod.

In less than an *** I had chopped and glued a great ramp together.. and turned my legs into hotdogs. I put aloe and cream on them for a week. i think they peeled 3 times and the pink color took over a week to go away... boy did I feel dumb.

I've just got a little 70 amp buzzbox at home to play with the thin stuff, but always 'dress' up for it.. including leg chaps which cover the tops of the shoes, full arm chaps.. high gauntlet cloves, and a nic roomy helmet and welders beany.

Let me emphasize the shoe coverings... tennis shoes will still let some dripping slap or splatter find its way in!

Soundguy

 

[Inspector507]

Yes UV radiation burns from a welder are quite common on areas that are not covered.

 

[markct]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I was only putting my hands up to shield the arch from my eyes)</font>


not to sound like i am being a jerk or anything, and this isnt directed towards you neccesarily just a general observation, why is it people do that, i see it all the time, is it a macho type thing to show that the light doesnt bother your or whatever? why wouldnt people just look away and close there eyes, with your hand there ya cant see whats actualy going on in the welding so what difference does it make, all you see is a big bright light around your hand, if thats what ya wanna see then look at the sun. and again i dont mean this as a personal attack against you, just in general its one of those things i see guys do all the time around arc welding, just like on american chopper and those type shows where they will be welding in short sleeves and no gloves! or tacking stuff together by just looking away! a hot globule of metal in the eye would most likely be the end of your eyesight in that eye, and arc "sunburns" have been shown to lead to skin cancer over time just like regular sunburns. i just dont see why take the risk, when i weld it is always a long sleeve shirt, gloves and welding helmet, no exceptions, and most everyone says im not very safety concious in general, maybe so im not sure, but welding is one area where i dont take too many chances

 

[slowrev]

Danny,
It seems like you decided stick welding was not for you a bit prematurely. I could not do much at all for a while when I first started. With a little perserverance (aka stubborness /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif ) I got quite a bit better after many hours of practice. Still sort of a hack welder, but it stays stuck together. Use the grinder a lot though /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Ben

 

[Junkman]

I learned stick welding over 40 years ago and I burned my eyes once and never again. I wasn't particularly good at it, but nothing ever came apart. I do believe that learning stick will help you to do MIG better faster. A few years ago, I saw a car that the owner had restored by welding in patch panels to the floor. The underneath of that car looked like it was full of porcupine quills because he wasn't very proficient with the MIG welder and didn't have enough common sense to break off the short pieces where he tried to weld and failed. From the looks of it, he might have been better off with pop rivets... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I recently purchase my first (used) MIG welder and have yet to try it. I also purchased a auto darkening helmet. I tried a few that a friend had and found that the better helmets had a larger field of view. Mine is a FIBRE METAL WELDING HELMET, FUTURA MODEL, ADF LENS, 4 1/2 X 5 1/4. It works great..... I have been observing a friend weld and can't believe the changes in technology from the old. Safety doesn't cost, it saves. Spend a little, save a lot..... your eye sight and possibly your life. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[slowrev]

right you are Junkman. I have an extra elcheapo helmet in my workshop just for friends that stop by and hang out while I am welding. I have a stupid cat that hangs around while I am welding too, try to at least keep my body between the arc and the cat. Does anyone make kitty welding helmets ? First cat I ever had, momma had 3 in my wood shed and then disappeared , dead I guess...took pity on the little suckers and one like to "help me work".

Ben

 

[markct]

yea i know what ya mean about animals liking to watch you work, my goats fence goes up in back of our shop and when im workin outside the shop they like to stand up on the fence and watch me, i have to remember to put them all in the front pasture, im sure they would watch the light till they were blind if i let them, we used to have ducks that we just let roam around the yard, and one of them liked to hang out near the shop when i was there and more than a few times i would flip up my welding helmet and see him standin there opposite me, unfourtanatly i think he did get some eye damage cause after a while he started triping alot and bumping into stuff, but later all 3 ducks got eaten by a fox or coyotee so that was the end of them anyhow

 

[DannyD]

Dont worry one bit, I really wish someone had said this to me BEFORE I screwed up and just hid my eyes. Things are a lot better now, but still lights are brighter and I can not see that my pupils are active...........and my reading glasses are used a lot more. Hope that some of this goes away soon.

 

[DannyD]

I totally agree, but having a place to practice is the problem, and dont want to put out money on a machine that will get put to the side later. My wife now thinks I am totally over the hill, brain fried and lost my senses. She may be right!

 

[frank_f15]

KNOW WHAT U MEAN about the weld burns, at work (when i was still working) and i had to weld (which i am not good at) i always forgot to button thre top of my shirt, edend up with more sunbun on my neck, this was especially prvelant with TIG WELDING