Safety

[jbaker]

Do Not work on tanks--video starts 20 seconds in

Rick you might like this to show yor coworkers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lw_fhNAIQc

 

[rkelm]

All, this is a real safety issue. I just had a dear friend of mine crushed by a pickup he was working on, rolled off ramps, I know everyone here has done it once or twice but be careful and block it with jacks, even the cubs can crush you with their weight. Knew him for 30+ years and usually he was safe but it only took once.

 

[thoffman]

Jeff,
Are you tring to make me puke?? Almost did it.

 

[jbaker]

yea,,, but there is a warning at the begining

 

[digger]

Kraig,
We had 8 or 9 of those fire balls back on Oct. 25th!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Charlie, did any of yours take off like rockets like a few in the video did?

Many years ago there was a fire in Houlton, WI at a supper club located about a 1/4 mile from where the old IH dealership is located. They had the liquor stored in a room in the basement. The fire started in the kitchen. I sat across the road in my car like a bunch of other people were doing and watched. The fire department, I think at least three responded, had a ladder truck (?) with a hose way up high so they could shoot water down into the fire better. It seem that just as it looked like the fire was under control a case of liquor (supposedly) would ignite and a big fireball would explode into the air. This cycle went on for quite some time. It was great entertainment!

 

[dfrisk]

KRAIG - Had to laugh at the driver of the compressed gas cylinder truck, he took off across the center divider as soon as he got out of the truck. Something about a foot of reinforced concrete maybe being a bit safer than leaning on the frt fender of a car?

Really, ANY compressed gas cylinder is a bomb, whether it has oxygen, acetylene, CO2, argon, even compressed air in it.

My Uncle had a 1 HP air compressor, had a 15 or so gal. tank sitting in the corner of his garage along a common wall with his living room of his house, and the exterior garage wall... when it exploded. He never knew why they put drain valves on compressor tanks! It not only blew the exterior wall off the foundation, but blew the common wall off the foundation. I saw the tank after it blew up, was turned almost completely inside-out.

 

[digger]

Yepper, we found the mig tank about a 1/4 mile away, and one of the oxy tanks about 300 yards to the north,LOL

 

[aschumacher]

Charlie, 'you' found the MIG tank, or did a local resident bring it back and ask a dumb question. <font size="-2">Hey, is this yours?</font>

 

[mhomrighausen]

Okay... here goes... I've been welding for years using a # 10 shield. while I can get nice big beads where needed it is hard to get the smaller ones when needed due to the darkness of the shield. Most of my welding is under the 125 amp mark anyway. My question is: Would it be safe for me to drop to a #9 shade to weld when using 105-110 or even lower amps. I already wear glasses and don't want to hurt my eyes anymore. I appreciate everyone's answers that do a lot of welding on small thinner metal pieces. By thinner metal I mean anywhere from the heat shield where the muffler bolts onto to hoods, etc. TIA

 

[kide]

Marlin - I drop down to an 8 on low amperage welding - my Miller DE runs from 8-13. Info I have is that the UV rays that do permanent damage are filtered by any lens - you can get flashed and also get eye irritation from too long exposure to too light of a lens, but the UV rays should be gone. I used to braze with regular eye glasses, just squinting - glasses felt like they were coated with carborundum on the outside..

 

[mhomrighausen]

Gerry I. A BIG THANK YOU!!! I'll have to get an 8 shade lens. Good thing I have a couple of extra helmets so I can just change helmets.At Lennox as a line/table brazer (subbing parts at the table) we wore the shaded glasses. I miss doing that. They had their Miller welders set up really high. And I got to keep my helmet with the darkest lens available. With their welders you learned real quick how to move fast or burn a big hole. Have a wonderful day.

 

[rkelm]

Hello all, I do not do much welding but would like to do more with the farm/ranch now (semi-retiring). I have a stick welder and now have a wire feed - do the auto darkening lens hoods work very well and what type to buy? Right now I only have a dark lens for the stick - I'm not sure how dark, it was my father-in-laws. I've only used it a time or two but it seems to work ok and he used it for several years with no problem. Any help is appreciated.

 

[kide]

Rodney - they do work very well, but I'll throw my two cents in here.. I won't buy a cheap welding helmet - my eyes are too valuable. The issue is the same as motorcycle helmets, 20 dollar helmets are good for 20 dollar heads
.
I've had three auto darkening helmets since they first came out - a fixed 11 Speedglas, a Miller Elite and then a Digital Elite. One of the things I don't like is the time it takes some of the cheaper lenses to darken - they may work, but in a day of two's constant use, the flash exposure can add up and if you've ever flashed your eyes badly, it can be painful and take time to recover from. Of course, this is IMHO, YMMV and BTDTBTSNAR.....

 

[mhomrighausen]

Rodney K. Although I've not yet purchased the aut darkening lens/hood, I totally agree with Gerry I. Cheap ones are just that. I've hearing loss so it makes me more vigilant with the rest of the senses I've left. Angel has nine eye diseases. So I surely say... "Spend the extra $$$ and get not a good helmet however a great helmet."

 

[rkelm]

Gerry, Marlin - I thought that might be the case. I have always spent the extra bucks on things - it takes longer to get them but you have something when you get it. Yep, I am a little hard of hearing also and my eyesight is pretty good yet and I want to keep it good as long as I can. I don't do much welding but with what I have it has to be a bright sunny day with it on to kind of see what I am doing. Thank you both for the information - I will keep saving my pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters to get a good hood.

 

[mhomrighausen]

Rodney K. I also know the feeling of saving the pennies, nickel, dimes. I'm sure there a lot of Forum members in the same boat. I also need the bright sunlight right now to see. I'll have to stop at Theisens and get a #8 shade for one of my helmets. I got one helmet when I initially bought my ex father in law's welder on his moving to town sale. Another from when I had a $10.00, 50 amp welder and then mine from Lennox. Right now I tend to overweld with a bigger than needed weld. It sure holds though.

 

[kide]

Another tip - if wear glasses, especially bi-focals, cheater lenses that go inside the helmet, against the hood lens, keep you from having to tip your head back when running bead. These are essentially magnifiers like reading glasses. If you have trouble mounting the cheaters, thin strips of brass can be bent and used as holders or you can just use reading glasses...

 

[rkelm]

Gerry, thanks for the tip, I do have bifocals and you are right when having to do something and always tipping my head back and forth to see. I usually get my readers on and it works.