Since some people weld here

Oh yeah, been there, done that. Scared the **** out of me too.

It's like someone just took the oxygen out of the air. I could breath but nothing was happening. I only got one small whiff, dropped the gun and tossed the helmet as I headed out the door. I was graying out before it got better.

Needless to say I only got close enough the garage to hit the door openers and left it vent out for a while before going back in.

It was far worse than a shot of zinc from burning galvanized metal.
 
Had something like that happen. Was welding an aluminum crank case and there was something on there that didn't come off in the oven. Once the arc hit it I got a small whiff of it and almost instantly started heaving. Reminded me of really strong smelling salts. Also got a really bad headache a little bit later. As best we could figure out whoever had the engine before coated it with some sort of marine paint that didn't get completely burned off in the oven and sand blaster.

Kind of my fault though. It was a really crappy hot day in August and if you open the garage door all the way the sun comes in and beats down on the welding bench. The welding bench had a fan but it was set-up to try and pull air across the bench, not blow it across. So what would happen is the fan would blow against the garage door instead of just blowing out. So i'm guessing, even though a lot of it would just roll out the 3-foot gap at the bottom of the door, some of it recirculated.

After that I made sure to open the garage door behind the welder all the way, hot and sun be damned, and got a small 6" fan that I would sit on a bench to the side of me blowing air up under my mask.

Oddly enough, just like in that article, it was TIG welding too. More specifically, AC GTAW TIG on cast aluminum. We used argon as the envelope gas as well.

Now I'd probably be doing good to work a cracker box. Haven't touched a welder in 5 years.
 
I weld everyday, all day, and there are some scary things that can happen. I have never had any fumes get me but I have had flash burn a few times. No fun, feels like sand in your eyes and hurts bad.
 
did 43 years as a welder pipefitter alwas think before strikeing an arc. phosgene was used in wwi and scattered instance in wwii. once exsposed it is cumuletvie and deadly. gav posioning is bad enough. they have come along way with welding hood with supplied filtered air but you need the right filter to cya. say what you want about ohsa but they have kept some people alive contrary to some peoples belive. always work safe and think, enjoy you cars and live to enjoy them. jd
 
hite337 said:
I weld everyday, all day, and there are some scary things that can happen. I have never had any fumes get me but I have had flash burn a few times. No fun, feels like sand in your eyes and hurts bad.
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Never got my eyes but I did give myself a tan one day when I forgot my long-sleeve shirt. Basically burned the strip from my elbows to my shoulder. Used to take a long-sleeve cotton shirt and cut it off from about the 2nd or 3rd button down from the collar. Thrift stores were your friend for those :)
 
When I cut of my cats and put temp pipes on last year I got CO poisining. Apparently one of the pipes came loose and all te fumes plumed into the car. I had a severe migraine about 10 minutes after I got to work and shortly after started vommiting after everything I ate or drank. At about noon I had my girlfriend come get me as I could barely move. For those of you who don't know CO blocks oxygen from bonding to your blood cells so you will become very weak. I went to the ER and still 4 hours after being in the car I my levels were at 14-16. The doctor estimates at 8 when I got to work I was around 40 or higher, much over 45-50 is leathal.

It's not quite the same as the welding but goes to show gasses can be increadably dangerous.
 
I often look back and think had my drive to work been just a bit longer I may not have been alive to clock in that day...

Anymore I am as careful as can be with stuff, if jacking a car up I have plenty of stands. Never am I under car with out them. Some of you know about my door insedent, luckily I wasn't under the car yet when it came down. A coworkers brother inlaw just died last summer due to a car coming down off a jack, so to all you guys young old, new or veteran mechanic please take 2 extra minutes to put the safety measures in place and check that everything is how it should.

All it takes is a drop of brake cleaner or a jack failure or misplacement to hurt or kill you
 
A header saved my life once.
Young and dumb, had a car on stands trying to fit it in.
It got stuck so I gave it a good shake.

Dumped the car off the stands, the header was the only thing holding the car up.
Funny thing it bent it perfect so it went right in, after I cleaned out my undies.
 
2002_lincolnLS said:
When I cut of my cats and put temp pipes on last year I got CO poisining. Apparently one of the pipes came loose and all te fumes plumed into the car. I had a severe migraine about 10 minutes after I got to work and shortly after started vommiting after everything I ate or drank. At about noon I had my girlfriend come get me as I could barely move. For those of you who don't know CO blocks oxygen from bonding to your blood cells so you will become very weak. I went to the ER and still 4 hours after being in the car I my levels were at 14-16. The doctor estimates at 8 when I got to work I was around 40 or higher, much over 45-50 is leathal.

It's not quite the same as the welding but goes to show gasses can be increadably dangerous.
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Been there myself, kinda. Used to have a 1996 Tahoe, had pipes out the back. One day I had to haul something in it that was longer than it was, just enough that I could haul it with the gate down. When you're driving an SUV with the tailgate down the air gets pushed up and into the cabin area. After a few miles I started getting a headache from it. Good thing it was a short trip. That was the first AND last time I've ever done that. And to think that back in the 1920s they actually used the exhaust to provide heat for the cabin! A leak in that pipe and you'd be pumping exhaust directly into the car.

ford nut said:
A header saved my life once.
Young and dumb, had a car on stands trying to fit it in.
It got stuck so I gave it a good shake.

Dumped the car off the stands, the header was the only thing holding the car up.
Funny thing it bent it perfect so it went right in, after I cleaned out my undies.
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Saw a "pro mechanic" once who had a car up on a scissors jack in his shadetree garage trying to break loose a spindle from the A arms on a local dirt track car. Dude was sitting on the concrete with his legs going under the car on either side and was happily banging away on the spindle (car was in a wreck, spindle was shot) with a sledge hammer! When my dad and I stopped at the shop to talk to someone and saw this we of course put a stop to it, but until we did we were watching the whole car AND the jack shake with each blow to the spindle. Had we not come when we did, that car WOULD have fallen on the guy, crushed both legs, and the brake rotor would have castrated the idiot. The really dumb thing about it is, the idiot had two jack stands on either side of him within easy reach. The really, REALLY dumb thing about it is we actually had to argue with the guy about it to get him to use the jack stands and it wasn't until we pointed out that the car was just one bounce away from making him a tenor that he got the idea that perhaps he should listen to us.
 
Welding is my bread and butter. I weld and fit everyday on code pressure vessels. I weld anything from exotic metals,hr120,nickel,ect. and of course your normal stainless and carbon steel. They key from getting headaches and getting sick is proper ventilation. You should always have something, we call it airhorns were I'm at, it takes out the fumes and brings in fresh air.
 
Comptons04LS said:
Welding is my bread and butter. I weld and fit everyday on code pressure vessels. I weld anything from exotic metals,hr120,nickel,ect. and of course your normal stainless and carbon steel. They key from getting headaches and getting sick is proper ventilation. You should always have something, we call it airhorns were I'm at, it takes out the fumes and brings in fresh air.
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Ditto... Boilermaker
 
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