wear your safety equipment ..., while working on the car ... Options

[SirAndy]

so, i went to mcmark's shop today to work on my car. mostly prep work for the engine test-fit.

lots of cutting sheetmetal and grinding down spotwelds etc. then on to cutting out the /4 motor mounts with the plasma cutter.

i *thought* i had it all covered, safety wise, got the goggles, gloves, noise protection ...
spent about 5 hours cutting & grinding.

then, on my drive home, it felt like i had a sunburn on my arms, but i couldn't really see anything.

so after i got home, i take a shower and now i can clearly see that both of my forearms are *covered* with thousands(!) of tiny burn marks! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon8.gif)

should have worn something with long sleeves, damm 914club t-shirt ...
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) Andy

[sgomes]

Actually those self darkening helmets are ALWAYS protecting your eyes. The base glass blocks the harmful (read - sunburning) UV rays. The auto darkening is only blocking the super bright (but not damaging) visible spectrum. Yes if it didn't work you would get flash blindness. It's the same as that spot you see in front of your eyes from a flash. That is just saturation and is not damaging.

By the way, that said, UV damage to your retinas is CUMULATIVE. It's NOT the same as getting a sunburn on your skin. The damage EVEN SMALL EXPOSURES adds up over time. I design UV lasers for a living. We've been extensively trained on this subject. Sometimes the hard way. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)

Our training quote is: "Don't look directly at the laser with your remaining good eye."