Welding Gauntlets

[decepticon]

most of my welding is done at height in a cherry picker and more often that not its windy aswell, which means the cage is rocking around and it is difficult to keep good control of the end of the rods (especially the 450mm long ones). i keep hold end of the rod with my left hand (between two fingers) and rest my hand against the work piece to keep steady but the rod gets so hot that i have to let go
does anyone know of a finger sleeve or similar to protect from the heat?
cheers

 

[gordon stephenson]

Hello deception,
Only thing that comes close is the Tig finger sold by the website listed below,


http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/tillman-welding-gloves-tigfinger.html

 

[john224]

Just buy a fire blanket and make your own anything from £2 to £7 on internet
and you can make loads of them out of it,,

 

[pedrobedro]

Wrap something round the rod and hold that instead of the rod, like making a handle for it to go through.

 

[zzr1200]

I seen some 1 inch plate being welded vertically the welders had some heavy duty gauntlets with some form of silver re-flective heat shield on the back of the hand, they said they were stiff to start with, maybe a call to Weldequip is in order.

hth

 

[Welderpaul]

A change in how you hold the rod would be the best bet. I used to let the rod sit by the end of my finger to steady it, but when i started using bigger rods, the left glove used to last all of 5 mins before they started to shrink and become useless. I now hold the rod holder in my right hand and put my left hand over my right to steady it.
We've used the aluminium coated gloves which are good for reflecting heat on high amps but don't cope that well with a rod resting on them. Plus they stink when they start to melt.

 

[decepticon]

cheers every one for the input,
love the ideas to make something from fireblanket or a holder from wire or similar to hold end of the rod (blue peter style)
two hands on rod holder is ok but if machine is swaying i need to steady myself against the structure if i cant wedge the machine against it
thanks