I was just curious what people are welding in during the summer months. I am in Atlanta so it has been 95deg +/- in my garage which makes wearing long sleeves and long pants unbearable. Is everyone else just toughing it out or do you all have air conditioned garages?

sunscreen.

I know I should, but I usually don't bother with the long sleeves and long pants in the summer even when welding. I do put on sunscreen, though. You will burn otherwise.

Zach

I tough it out with long bluejeans and a long sleeve welding jacket.

Every time I skimp on the clothing I get burned. This even includes wearing socks and a baseball cap if working above my head.

LOL! I can attest to that. I was once doing a little welding and was not wearing a shirt. My chest and stomach were totally burnt. And I have burnt my eyelids tacking without a helmet, just closing eyes for the quick tack.

Thin TIG welding gloves and sunscreen... although I should use the latter, I never do unless on my face when building roll cages in narrow areas where I have just goggles on so I can get my head to a viewable position. I have some long sleeve plaid shits that work well too, not as heavy as leather, but still stop most of the sparks. I find the worst is grinding dust/metal in the inside of the elbow... Harden the F up, mate!

If you go to flux wire you can use a fan. I think I am getting more moles on the inside of my arms from welding with tee shirts on.

If you have time go to the nasioc site and check out the fabrication forum. Some of the beads posted look like a robot did them almost. My friend can weld aluminum and ss like a robot but I can't. He also wears long sleeve dickie type shirts with flaps on the pockets (try grinding and welding without flaps) and long jeans even on 100 degree days. He has low blood pressure and I think that helps as he doesn't like a 40 degree day.

Last year during the height of summer I welded the flares on my GT clone. 95+ and humid as hell. Yes I wore my one piece mechanics overalls and toughed it out. No doubt it was brutal.

Please people. Please do not weld without protective gear. A good friend of mine lost his brother to cancer. He used to tack weld with no gloves. He developed a sore on his finger that wouldn't heal. Didn't think anything of it. They ended up taking the finger, then his arm to the elbow then the shoulder. He lasted about 8 months from the time they discovered the little sore that wouldn't heal was skin cancer.

Please don't even tack without face protection. I started my working life as a welder at a ship yard. It's serious business.

So what is the appropriate welding protection? Does it need to be leather? is the flame retardant cotton ok? Can you get by with a denim shirt? I am less concerned with the occasional slag burn than with welding sunburn.

What about gloves? Do they have to be the big clunky MIG gloves or are thin TIG gloves enough protection? I have difficulty controling the gun with the MIG gloves on.

Just curious,

I always wear protective gear. I'll try and find a link to the jacket I have. It's made for boilermakers. Very thin and FR. I wear mig gloves. I'm so used to them now that thin ones just don't feel right.

Here's something similar to what I use - http://www.automotiveworkwear.com/RedKap/K...FR-Jackets.html

Tig gloves cost more and don't last very long. But they are easier to handle small parts with. If the shirt is long enough to reach the gloves they should be ok. Tig gloves are actually only meant to be used on tigging and not for metal handling. I have also got a mildly sunburned face tacking without a helmet even though I have a auto darkening one always available. Actually they make a hang down flap that goes on the helmet in the front bottom edge to stop from burning your neck in front above the shirt. Heavy cloth is good enough for auto metal welding. Be careful with cutoffs the threads are like gasoline. All old farmers wear long sleeve shirts and pants to keep sunburn in check, they get used to it and say the sweat cools them down. The only problem I have with welding late at night is keeping the light in a good spot. Moths love a tig arc.

Don't forget about ventilation. I work for a company that sells air cleaning equipment - and welding is one of our biggest applications, so I am very familiar with the health effects.

In short summary, welding exhaust can cause cancer. Wear a respirator, exhaust it outdoors, or have an air cleaner.

http://www.hexavalentchromiumdangers.com/

Yeah, I have permanent skin damage from not buttoning my shirt fully; sort of a V-neck area. I have a green retardant welding shirt that is a decent compromise between summertime comfort and slag/pop protection. Since I TIG most everything these days, the shirt is quite adequate but leather is still the best. They make an open back leather upper with sleeves you might look into.

Andys

I just suggest you use your best judgement. I used to weld in a shipyard. There were people welding everyplace around you. I've had flash burns to my eyes from catching arcs from others working around me. It sux alot! In a case where your welding everyday protection is everthing. When spending the afternoon in the garage be aware of your potencial for injury. I use short leather work gloves. They are tight fitting compared to welding gloves which allow better fine motor control. When it's hot I wear at minimum a work shirt buttoned at the wrist and neck. Otherwise I have a mechanics style jacket that works nice.

Respirator yeah right, under the hood. Open ventilation for what we are doing is plenty good enough. Probably much safer that the dope people smoke or the barbeque we eat.

Hot slag burns right through the top of tennis shoes. I'd recommend leather shoes. One con to boots is you can't get them off fast. I found that out when a piece of slag dropped down the top between my boot and sock. Ouch!

Yes, the BBQ we eat is safer than hexavalent chromium.

These are the gloves I use. They are for tig welding, but I like them becuase they fit snugly, are easy to do most any work in. I do go through 4-5 pair a year, but I do this work all dya long, and these gloves are not intended to be used for all the metal work so they are not as thick as heavier gloves. They do however provide your hands all the protection they need, and for the average DIY'er would last a good while. They also have an elastic/velcro strap on the wrist. I personally do not like open cuff gloves, and have had sparks and slag fall in them. This velcro cuff colses tighhly and prevents tht from happening.

For those of you who do TIG weld a lot, these gloves are thicker than the Tillmans I prefer for TIG work, but are still one of the better options IMHO.

This company also has a full line of jackets, other gloves and all types of saftey gear

http://www.revcoindustries.com/

This is the thread I have been thinking about for months. Our cars are at an age where we are having to do extensive welding repairs. Protection is everything. If you can afford a welder you can afford protection. It's like a brain bucket for your crotch rocket.

Here's a link to the idea I had to help you all start thinking about welding safety.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=115428

My favorite shorts are made of that thin material that dries quickly when you get out of the water. They are full of pinholes from welding sparks. I treasure them.

Carpenter jeans (loose fit), and if you cant stand long sleeve shirts (they make really thin shirts..), then get a pair of these from your favorite welding supply. I used them all the time welding in the shop in 115 deg weather. Ya we were fucking hot, but we had BIG fans blowing behind us. Just take them off when your not welding.


http://ppe.mrocenter.com/products/671-fr-f...t-18-39518.aspx

I ordered one of Rick's welding shirts for this summers projects.
I have not done a lot of welding since Mike's bus moved west, but with the truck am going to have a LOT to do this summer.

And, yeah, be very careful with cutoffs during the summer around spark fields. I set myself on fire wearing my favorite shop cut-offs and using a plasma cutter a few years back. Lesson learned. No damage was done (other then interesting new fringe patterns on the shorts) but it spooked me and I have been a lot more careful since then.

Zach

Some of you may know I'm an insurance adjuster. I have had a colorful work history but when I was 18 I went to welding school. I worked in fab shops and the ship yard. I can't stress how important welding safety is.

If you read this thread you will see my first story about my friends brother who lost a battle with skin cancer. It was a horrible fight involving several amputations before he ended up in a hospital and then the morgue.

Here's my latest experience. Fast forward to my current profession. I received an assignment to contact a young man that was injured in a school welding shop. Before I made the first contact call I wanted to speak with the assigning inside rep at the insurance company. I wanted to see if they had a incident report from the school. This is useful, it lets you know what the injured person said about how they were burned. Having had welding burns from sparks before and thinking this was no big deal I called the rep. The rep gets on the phone and say's, hey why don't you hold off on the call. He just heard the boy expired in the burn unit at a local hospital. It seems the boy had a flammable sweatshirt on and it caught fire. If you've ever seen a sweatshirt burn you know it turns into aa molten ball of plastic goo. From the little information I had it appears he paniced and ran out the door of the shop. No one could catch him to put him out.

Dead.

I second all the advice about safety and protection.

Another aspect is to think about what is near what you are welding that might
get set on fire. A speck of 1500 degree steel can set fire to some surprising
things, like plastic containers of parts and foam pads. I had both go up in flames
on me recently. Wearing a welding helmet, jacket, gloves, etc. I did not notice
until the heat from the flames was warming my back enough to get my attention.
Flame city. Keep a fire extinguisher handy and check that it is there.

After this, I went out and bought three 6x8 foot welding blankets made from
fiberglass. I hung them around my car to prevent sparks from getting on
anything. You can see them in my latest IMSA car pictures. I realized I had
all sorts of paints, varnish, etc. just waiting to explode if my shelves caught
fire. Dumb.

Another thing to remember is that you can start fires on the other side of the
panel you are welding on, or inside a cavity. These can keep burning after
you leave and torch your whole car or worse. Always make sure what you
welded has cooled and is not holding some hidden hot spot.

John

Shorts and Tee shirt
when you sweat the weld beads just bounce off of your skin
Click to view attachment

Be careful the fans can blow away the shielding gas, then you make crappy welds

Exactly what NOT to do.

Which is why you stand right in front of the fans blocking the wind from the weld. Oh and you crank the gas up 25%.

Did it for years..

Oh dear lord!

No gloves, No sleeves, Shorts, tennis shoes with exposed white socks, and no hat.

ALL no no's.

That welder sure looks familiar.

I had a co-worker when I worked at the ship yard that was sent into a duct to add some missed welds as part of a punch list. All the the ventilation equipment was pulled off the ship already. He pulled a 1" diameter air line into the duct with him to help clear the welding smoke so he could see what he was welding.

He crawled in about 15' pulling his welding gear, a drop light and this 1" air hose. Now normally these air lines are used to run big grinders. The grinders weigh about 30lbs. and use a huge volume of air. In the winter the fitters unscrew the grinders and shoot alcohol into the tool to keep it from freezing up. The best we could figure is that someone added alcohol to the hose at the manifold instead of at the tool.

The guy cracked the air line and the air blew up into his cloths. He struck an arch and instantly burst into flames.

He had to crawl out of the duct on fire. An electrician was still on the ship pulling construction lights and ran down the deck and put him out. We had a saftety meeting the next day. They brought what was left of his cloths into the break room in a hat box. Very sobering experience.

For the real nasty stuff (like overhead) I use leathers.....even those sometimes are not enough. For more normal stuff I use a surplus Nomex flight suit.

I won't bore ya'll with tales from the shipyards about welding/cutting accidents in an oxygen rich atomosphrere......the stories don't end well.

Use your head for something besides holding your ears apart & work safe.