Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[buzzy bee]

Hi

Well, I seem to have had this last night, thankfully only mildly, but it was sore enough, still got a good headache!

I think the story I have learnt is the battery opperated welding masks are not as good as the solar ones, as they runn out of battery power mid weld!

Does any one know if it can be triggered by the shear amount of welding, even with a good mask on, as it is still a bright light? I mean I probably did 8 or 9 hours with a 20 min break yesterday to get the trailer fixed, it broke it's axle on the main road.

Cheers

Dave

[Greeney in France]

Make sure you have the right grade screen too a lot of the cheap ones only go as far din 10 but you really need 15 and also the reaction time is important min 20,000th of a second a lot are half this and even though 10,000th sounds fast, with all day welding it will build up and you will get pains in the eyes and headaches
If you are going to work hours at a time in the future invest in a promask.
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[wrinx]

[welder]

Dave, it's very unusual to get arc-eye whilst welding on your own, particularly when using a self-darkening mask. Arc-eye is usually caught when working with, or alongside, someone else who is doing the welding....a tangential glance at the arc is often all that it takes.
I imagine that you suffered from too much welding in a given timescale and, possibly, from the use of a less than ideal mask.
I'm often surprised by the people who don't think twice about the capital expenditure involved with quality welding sets yet are reluctant to spend a further £140 on a decent, self-darkening, mask/helmet.
My son and I use Eyetech helmets with a filter range of 10 to 15. No batteries are required and the last time I suffered from sore eyes was a few weeks ago when I worked for 12 hours a day for 3 days running. No headache though!

Ian

[Rick]

is there anything from the fumes during mig welding to be concerned about? I'm sure I read or heard something once on the subject but can't remember the details

R
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[welder]

Rick, this is a wide ranging topic.
When TIG welding aluminium, ozone is generated. After doing so for a few days I can smell seaweed, I swear it's true!
Arc (stick) welding of steel certainly does generate fumes which can be seen and ingested. Not great.
MIG welding of new, clean steel is, in our case, often augmented with the use of anti-spatter spray which is vegetable oil based and generates light fumes. Visible but not unpleasant.
MIG welding of/on old steel components which carry surface corrosion/paint/oil/grease etc, regardless of best efforts at cleaning, can generate several types of fumes.
In summary, all welding processes are best carried out in suitable, well ventilated environments. If we have any concerns or doubts we position a large fan/fans as near as is suitable to the job in hand.

I hope that this is helpful.

Ian

[buzzy bee]

Hi

I think the new steel we have is thickly coated with grease, it does give off fumes, but nothing like welding second hand or galv, then you need lots of milk.

I am sure you are right, too much welding, I had it again on monday night, but had done hell of a lot of welding. The masks we have are about £300, quite nice, and on tuesday think I set it a shade darker, and the delay much shorter, could be that and the fact of lots of welding. Mig shades are 9 - 11 and stick around 12 or 13 and 14 for 300+amps. Do you go on simmilar figures?

I think we are using a miller mig, what are you using Welder? The miller is brand new and seems great.

Cheers

Dave

[welder]

Dave, fully agree with your appraisal of the Miller. We have a Miller 300P Syncrowave TIG set for aluminium and stainless steel work, it's the business!
For steel work we have MIG sets by Migatronic and Esab in the workshop. On the van we carry a Honda petrol engined combined stick welder/240 and 110 volt generator and a single phase MIG welder by Esab.
The shading levels you are using are pretty much the same as ours. I tend to go a shade darker if welding onsite in very bright conditions, my son doesn't bother. We both always set the delay at maximum/fastest.

In case anyone in the Midlands area, or elsewhere, has need of welding repairs to aluminium components or steel fabrications feel free to send me a message. We speak fluent Classic!

Ian

[welder]

Dave, fully agree with your appraisal of the Miller. We have a Miller 300P Syncrowave TIG set for aluminium and stainless steel work, it's the business!
For steel work we have MIG sets by Migatronic and Esab in the workshop. On the van we carry a Honda petrol engined combined stick welder/240 and 110 volt generator and a single phase MIG welder by Esab.
The shading levels you are using are pretty much the same as ours. I tend to go a shade darker if welding onsite in very bright conditions, my son doesn't bother. We both always set the "delay" at maximum/fastest.

In case anyone in the Midlands area, or elsewhere, has need of welding repairs to aluminium components or steel fabrications feel free to send me a message. We speak fluent Classic!

Ian

OOPS! Moment of stupidity

[buzzy bee]

Hi

Going slightly off topic now, what is the work you do then, what do you weld?

I used to really stuggle with gas welding, so I read all about it on the internet about 3 years ago, and haven't had time/the chance to have a play since, anyhow, I did yesterday, and what do you know, I can now gas weld. I was allways a person saying you can't learn stuff by reading, in this case I have done just that!

Now I want to have a play with the Tig machine. Any tips?

Cheers

Dave

[Rick]

interesting thread gents, worth moving it into one of the resto categories so that it doesn't get lost??

Rick
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[buzzy bee]

Hi

You can put it where ever you like, as long as I know where it has gone, as I like talking about one of my favourite pass times!

Cheers

Dave

[Rick]

[buzzy bee]

Hi

You would not believe what was put in the skip at work today, I was too late to save them, after they were dropped from the forks. I am not sure if I should see if they are any good still???

The old Oil filled Stick welders, are they Lincoln, or something, dark green in coulour?

There must be 5 or 10 in there, they have emptied the oil too, on the floor by the skip! what a mess!

Think I will leave them there, shame as a nice stick welder would be handy as a spare! I am sure they would find new homes too! Big Compressor went in too, Cylinder mower, numerous engines, brigs and stratton type..... (The list continues!)

Cheers

Dave

[wrinx]