Wow, I hadn't run into this one before...
I'm sure the experienced welders here will say "Duhh", but it was new to me.

Yesterday Dad came over. He needed me to make him some brackets to mount a tow-bar on his little pickup. He brought over a template and I cut out some 3/8" plate and drilled the holes and welded it up. I was doing heavy fillet welds and had my little Hobart mig set on it's highest heat setting. The welds were the best I've ever done. I was really happy with them.

About an hour later I was in the house and scratched an itch on my leg. YEEEOWW!! My leg is fried! Looks like BAD sunburn. Like an idiot I was wearing shorts when I made the brackets and my leg was "in direct view" of the arc when I welded them. My leg was a good two feet from the workpiece, but I guess there is some serious UV action going on when you weld with electricity. So beware. No exposed skin near the welder. You don't have to touch it to get burned.

-Ben M.

damn, that can burn! btdt

i'm always simultaneously impressed and dismayed when i see pics of certain members of this board welding in t-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops...

Duhh! (why do you think the helmet covers your entire face?)

Common problem, you learn once if you're smart.

When I worked in the factory, worst job was welding PTO brackets onto truck frames. You had to lay under the truck and burn in heavy overhead welds.... So when you lay on the floor and weld over head, guess where the splatter goes. Know mater how careful we would be with the leather covers, at least one would get in. the splatter would roll down your body to the lowest point...

Burning hair several times, not that head

OUCH!

That's what motivated me through college!

lmfao

here's brad from an old thread

Well, every day is a lesson if you pay attention. I think I've got this one down pat now.

-Ben M. (Ouch)

Try using the wrong glass in the hood and see what happens to your eyes.

I, too, am guilty of welding in shorts/t-shirt/sandals, but only if I'm doing a little.

Yup. Used to weld with just goggles, until the sunburn and skin peeling cheeks made me go get a helmet. The light damages your eyes the same way even without looking at the arc. Buddy thinks he's okay without a helmet if he just looks away.....until he wakes up the next morning and his eyes hurt like hell and everything is all blurry.......burned the outer layer (skin?) of his eyes off. Took a week or so before he got all of his vision back and that was just minor damage.

Is it the same for plasma cutters?

Same for any electric arc. "Arc Eyes" are the worst. By three AM you just want to claw your eyes out of your head because it feels like you have sandpaper on the inside of you eyelids, and every movement feels like sanding raw flesh. You get the picture.
Different types of welding provide different degrees of UV burning. Mig welding stellite with argon gas produces very little shielding smoke thus burns real good. Stick welding produces the most smoke and UV burns are about 1/4 of that of Mig and Tig welding.
Plasma cutters produce alot of smoke (when I have used them) but will still burn as bad as stick welding.

Feel your pain man. Beats spending the day at the beach though.

I got reminded why I should wear my leather gloves while welding this weekend. Try to clean away slag from nozzle ...

Note to self: Keep fingers away from MIG nozzle even when you are not welding. Damn wire burnt right through my mechanics gloves and INTO my finger.

-datapace