Welding in cold weather

[dannydee]

I broke something on my snowplow. I parked it in my garage and started to weld. No matter what I tried, my helmet glass kept fogging up. I even turned on a torpedo heater to no avail. I finally had to take it off and just weld with three pairs of sunglasses and avoid looking at it as much as possible. How in the heck do the professional welders weld in cold weather?

One other thing. Since I was welding indoors, the whole garage filled with smoke and now I have a horrible headache from it. Its too cold to open a window. What do welding shops use?

By the way, it's weird to have a mild sunburn on my face on December

1. Welding without the helmet gave me a mild burn. I wont complain, it's better than being a winter paleface.

This was just an hour of welding, so I just tolderated the bad conditions.

Dan

[S. Barker]

a. warm the helmet and lens first, your warm breath on the cold glass is what causes the fogging. b. use a MIG instead of stick welder, there's no smoke.

steve

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Was the lens cold too? That will make condensation. Take it intot he house and keep it warm

Open the doors and ventilate. Weld shops have ventilation. They often have high ceilings and lots of space

[The Reverend Natural Light]

Scott Anti-Fog Cloth:

It's a dirtbike trick. I've tried every type of no-fog product imaginable for motorcycle goggles and that is the best. It should work just great for a welding shield. Your local motorcycle shop should carry it. Fog the lens up with your breath and then wipe it dry with the cloth. It will not fog again.

The sunglasses are a seriously bad idea.

[Dr. Doom]

does a Darwin Award for opthalmologists exist ?

i'll bet that poster has undetectable corneal or retinal damage - if the intensity of the welding was enough to give sunburn, you can bet those sunglasses were next to worthless.

actually might have even done MORE damage, since the pupils would've been dilated due to the darkness of the tinting - (vs. them constricting and the natural tendency to look away from harmful things).

usually consumer sunglasses are NOT even close to blocking the harmful emissions from welding. they're not designed for it !

that poster needs to seriously see an eye doctor to make sure no damage was done. if there was damage, perhaps early detection will mitigate/treat whatever harm was done.

[John Barry]

Also, consider that the "sunburn" is almost certainly uv-radiation burn, and can result in permanent damage. DAMHIKT. One reason that welding helmets cover as much epidermis as they do.

John

[wratchethead]

To avoid future self punishment I would suggest Rain-X anti fog and a fan.

[SteveB]

Be careful with that MIG. Unless you are using flux cored wire, it may be difficult to get good penetration and fusion without preheating the metal. And even with FCAW, I'd heat it up first with a torch, otherwise it doesn't do as well. Steve's right about the smoke part, though.

The other Steve

[SteveB]

"John Barry" wrote

Dontcha just love it when you see guys welding in a tee shirt, and some without gloves, too! That's gonna hurt in the morning ................

Steve

[SteveB]

To avoid future self punishment I would suggest Rain-X anti fog and a fan.

And put the fan where it sucks the air away rather than blowing on what you're welding. A MIG will tolerate just about NO wind. Stick just a little more.

Steve

[S. Barker]

believe me, if he burned his eyes, he would have known it that evening. it is very painful and only relieved by putting cold potato slices over the eyes. But yes, you are right, the sunglasses are not the proper protection.

s

[S. Barker]

Agreed, the MIG doesn't penetrate like a stick especially if you're using

5P. BUT that being said, plenty of snow plow repairs have been made successfully with MIG. Pre heat is a good idea. Especially if just coming in from the outside. AND if you're welding the high carbon cutting edge, then stick with special alloys is really the only way that will last. s

[SteveB]

People can get all in a wad over the topic of welding. Lots of things WILL work, and even a bubble gum or gorilla weld that lasts is a "good" weld. It's just if you've done it much, you understand that it's better to do it once and get it to stick (even if it isn't technically exact) than have to do it again. Or have it break again and cause more damage or leave you stuck out somewhere. And then either to grind it all off, or gob more on there.

When I want something to stick, if it is thick enough, I prefer 7018. But then, I've probably burned 500# of it in my life.

Any weld that holds is a good weld.

Steve

[Norminn]

I was doing industrial nursing for a few years, and took care of a nasty welding burn. Chunk of stuff somehow got into a guy's shoe. He had a small but very deep burn on the back of his heel. He wouldn't go see the company doc, so I nursed it along. Took long, long time to heal. Nobody did welding without full shield, leather apron, etc.

[Bob F]

I'm not sure it's a "dirtbike trick". I've been using smith nofog clothes for skiing for almost 40 years. Ski shops or sporting goods store should have them.