Welding without eye protection!

[Paul99]

just found thjese they are virtually identical to the ones I made
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Solar-Aut...ing-Goggles-/351272858711?hash=item51c97e7457

A farmer friend of mine was given a set of these after asking his GF at the time for a basic auto welding mask as a birthday present - he was initially chuffed to bits with them and thought they were the best thing since sliced bread. He reckoned that it made several hours of arc welding his FEL bucket back together quite enjoyable - until later that evening when he suddenly developed a bad case of sunburn on his face - the eyes of course stayed white and apparently looked like Panda in reverse - I was roaring with laughter when he told me what had happened and honestly thought he'd have had more common sense.

 

[Farside]

just found thjese they are virtually identical to the ones I made
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Solar-Aut...ing-Goggles-/351272858711?hash=item51c97e7457

Holy crap! I thought they were a toy.

 

[zx9]

Holy crap! I thought they were a toy.

Fisher Price 'My little MIG'

 

[Kent]

Dogs can learn quicker than dumbo welders who bring dogs into their shop - thankfully

 

[normspanners]

I used to be world wide travelled in my last job and seen some eye watering attempts at welding ppe. Best one was in Nigeria where a guy was hard facing a coal shoot using a broken wine bottle to darken the arc and a pair of safTy glasses to prevent the Rays burning his eyes. He was also using a cable which was stripped back and the electrode was clamped to it with a pair of mole grips. Wish I'd kept the photo.

A little like this guy then BTW that is his welding set next to him

 

[Richard.]

A little like this guy then BTW that is his welding set next to him
View attachment 69540

Takes me back ha ha. Yes just like that.

 

[eSCHEn]

Still looks better than my stick welding

 

[johnakay]

chinese seem to be doing alright.

 

[normspanners]

I made some moulds for forming aluminium ingots like these

but mine were equal all round ie the stacker could pick them up from either side, they where 5ft x1ft square with a 3ftx1ft square base so that was 104 ft of welding 30mm fillets coz it was welded inside and out, I had my old lincoln on flat out at 600 amps continuous with 1.6 wire with the feed flat out and that was still not enough so was using 5mm brite steel as a filler 'al a' tig .
After designing and making the first one, The people I made them for were so happy they wanted another because one was not enough because they could melt the ally quicker than they could cool it !!
So they wanted it, post haste, but I had a holiday booked in two days time, so had to start,but in 48 hrs later it was finished, I had two pairs of gloves with ally tape on the backs of the fingers and hands to reflect the heat I could stand it for only so long untill I had to throw them off for the cold pair and I also had tape on the helmet but melted the plastic screen on the bucket several times and the auto bit on the helmet Kept going strange, it was probably the heat, I went through about 8-10 rolls of wire and countless bottles of argoshield.
I went on holiday but spent the next day in bed with a migraine from hell. and sore eyes from the bucket messing up.
PS you would not believe the shape these moulds would go, after a few months of use, of having molten ally poured into them but they didnt crack. They used to warm the mould over the furnace before pouring

 

[outofthefire]

I nearly always tack up without a shield on, generally I try and put my hand over the torch but otherwise I turn my head or shut my eyes but usually I have reading glasses on as well glasses even clear ones stop the uv light that gives you flash. I've had flash two or three times never from tacking up though

 

[normspanners]

I have just welded this defender up and some of that was done with sun glasses and keeping my eyes out of the direct way of the arc behind the gas shroud mainly welding by sound because you couldnt get the helmet in

This was the state of it, and this was AFTER a power wash it was level across the chassis rails like one long sump guard

 

[outofthefire]

This was the state of it, and this was AFTER a power wash it was level across the chassis rails like one long sump guard

Flash has never been an issue for me working under cars or wagons, it's the fact that choose what the hell you use to cover your eyes sh*t still manages to get in them the instant you move your hands towards the body and I don't think i've ever had to work on anything as mucky as this.

 

[roofman]

iff ime just doing a small job and need say 2 or 3 tacks before i fully stich it up then i hide behind the shroud for the tack (half second burst)...done this for over 20 years. Having said that i repaird some steel tressels today and ive pepper potted my left arm...looks like i have the pox

 

[Kent]

One must be aware that the high levels of uv can be dangerous being way more powerful than the well documented sunbed risk

 

[Wallace]

chinese seem to be doing alright.

If the KKK did welding.

30 years ago I did a batch of short tacks on paint hangers wearing gas welding glasses and hiding behind the shroud as Norm did above, worse arc eye I ever had next day mainly due to the quantity.

 

[arceyered]

Monkey mask we used to call them and sun tan cream, before the days of reactolites.
With all the PPE available now at responsible firms they recon you can be put through disciplinary procedure for self inflicted arc eye / arc burn .
We always prefered hand held masks so you could have a fag and talk to your mate while you were welding, well it was piece work.

 

[TurtleDude]

I'm surprised at the responses to be honest.

I'd never strike an arc without being protected by my mask. That's what it's there for.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

I'm surprised at the responses to be honest.

I'd never strike an arc without being protected by my mask. That's what it's there for.

But you've only been welding a short while, try doing it for a living and you might change your thinking.

It reminds me of how I was touching up the paint on a repair I did to the lawnmower using a rattle can and my mother in law tried to tell me off for not wearing a dust mask, this advice from someone who smokes 20 a day!

 

[outofthefire]

I'm surprised at the responses to be honest.

I'd never strike an arc without being protected by my mask. That's what it's there for.

It wastes time when your tacking up, when your welding all day it all adds up.

 

[lbulloc2]

A couple of years ago I was doing international travel at work, we were in South America conducting repairs on a fleet of vehicles. We needed to weld up some cracks in the chassis of a pickup and our bodyguard had contacts at a local armoured car factory. After an hour of poor translating and some googling of pictures we finally got a mig set, but no helmet - the entire factory was welding with closed eyes.

We hadn't expected to be welding so had no appropriate ppe. I ended up making the repair in shorts and t shirt, slathered in factor 25 sun cream and wearing my sunglasses. The earth clamp was two feet of bared off copper strands wrapped around a convenient crossmember