How to Weld - MIG Welding

Step 3 Safety Gear

MIG welding can be a pretty safe thing to do so long as you follow a few important safety precautions. Because of MIG welding produces lots of heat and lots of harmful light, you need to take a few steps to protect yourself.

Safety Steps:

• The light that is generated by any form of arc welding is extremely bright. It will burn your eyes and your skin just like the sun will if you don't protect yourself. The first thing you will need to weld is a welding mask. I am wearing an auto-darkening welding mask below. They are really helpful if you are going to do a bunch of welding and make a great investment if you think you will be working with metal often. Manual masks require you to jerk your head dropping the mask into position or require to use a free hand to pull the mask down. This allows you to use both your hands to weld, and not worry about the mask. Think of protecting others from the light as well and use a welding screen if it's available to make a border around yourself. The light has a tendency to draw on lookers who might need to shielded from being burned too.
• Wear gloves and leathers to protect yourself from molten metal splattering off of your work piece. Some people like thin gloves for welding so you can have a lot of control. In TIG welding this is especially true, however for MIG welding you can wear whatever gloves you feel comfortable with. The leathers will not only protect your skin from the heat produced by welding but they will also protect your skin from the UV light produced by welding. If you are going to be doing any amount of welding more than just a minute or two you will want to cover up because UV burns happen fast!
• If you are not going to wear leathers at least make sure that you are wearing clothing made from cotton. Plastic fibers like polyester and rayon will melt when they come into contact with molten metal and will burn you. Cotton will get a hole in it, but at least it won't burn and make hot metal goop.
• Do not wear open toed shoes or synthetic shoes that have mesh over the top of your toes. Hot metal often falls straight down and I have burned many holes through the tops of my shoes. Molten metal + hot plastic goo from shoes = no fun. Wear leather shoes or boots if you have them or cover your shoes in something non-flammable to stop this.


• Weld in a well ventilated area. Welding produces hazardous fumes which you shouldn't breathe in if you can avoid it. Wear either a mask, or a respirator if you are going to be welding for a prolonged amount of time.

Important Safety Warning

DO NOT WELD GALVANIZED STEEL. Galvanized steel contains a zinc coating that produces carcinogenic and poisonous gas when it is burned. Exposure to the stuff can result in heavy metal poisoning (welding shivers) - flu like symptoms that can persist for a few days, but that can also cause permanent damage. This is not a joke. I have welded galvanized steel out of ignorance and immediately felt it's effects, so don't do it!

Fire Fire Fire

Molten metal can spit several feet from a weld. Grinding sparks are even worse. Any sawdust, paper or plastic bags in the area can smolder and catch fire, so keep a tidy area for welding. Your attention will be focused on welding and it can be hard to see what's going on around you if something catches fire. Reduce the chance of that happening by clearing away all flammable objects from your weld area.

Keep a fire extinguisher beside the exit door from your workshop. CO2 is the best type for welding. Water extinguishers are not a good idea in a welding shop since you are standing next to a whole lot of electricity.

Comments

[Njangu470]

If one does find that you have welded galvanized steel drink whole milk, vitamin D, or whatever you call it. Something in the milk fat binds with the zinc and it gets moved through your system faster or something like that. Besides the flu like symptoms you may notice a permanent loss of the sense of smell because of something the metal does to your nose. A teacher of mine had zinc poisoning a while back from a casting experiment that went wrong, her doctor decided it wasn't bad enough to be admitted to the hospital so he told her the milk thing and she has noticed a marked reduction in her ability to smell things.

[DANE1111]

man this is a great informational site.I am leaving for trade schoo in a couple weeks and taking welding and glad that I know the basics and so much already. Thanks to all those who put there time and effort into these sites.

[darnocpdx]

Galvanized steel is nasty stuff. You can get zinc poisoning with it's exposure. It is inert until it burns. It's the zinc in the smoke that will make you sick. You can taste it as you get it when welding (a weird kinda taste in the back of your mouth can't really describe it real well). And since your body has no way to get rid of it, it actually builds up in your system and it gets easier to get with future exposures. Trust me it's no fun, being a welder I get it from time to time. (Sometimes it too hot outside and I'd rather take the chance on poisoning than wearing a respirator all day long). Also it can be quite frustrating to weld through. If your just starting out with welding, don't practice on galvie. It's not going to be easy, the zinc resists not only water/air but electricity too. And you'll be have a hard time getting a good weld. Even if you get it going, the zinc will weaken the weld in that it will contaminate the weld with zinc, reducing the structural integrity of the the weld. Don't use galvanized steel unless you have too. And then it's only really needed for things that are going to be exposed to the elements constantly. I wouldn't use it for anything that wasn't structural, other than a perhaps dune buggy frame or say the support frame to water tanks or something of that ilk.

[flatcurve]

I would recommend wool as well as cotton, because wool is naturally fire resistant.

[melds]

Check out http://www.sperkoengineering.com/html/articles/WeldingGalvanized.pdf and http://hazmap.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/hazmap_generic?tbl=TblDiseases&id=69 on galvanized steel.

I did however find warnings on NiCd welding rods and Fluorite in some fluxes. I don't know anything about welding, though.

WikiPedia has an article on heavy metals does not list zinc in the toxic metals category and also discusses Zinc Shakes.