Mig welding Course Lesson 1 Safety

**Grahame Collins** · 30th November 2008, 06:26 PM

Hi Guys,
For those of your wanting to have a mig course here it is.
The topics we will cover in this order.

• GMAW safety aspects
• OH&S
• MIG welding skills
• Application for MIG Welding
• Equipment maintenance
• Basic machine operation
• Use of different shielding gases
• Wire diameters used in relation to material thickness
• Different modes of weld transfer
• Thin plate welding
• Welding quality assessment
• flat pad weld/side horizontal pad weld
• Single run fillet weld
• Three run fillet weld
• Vertical down fillet weld

What will make it valuable is the questions everyone SHOULD ask.What you might not think to ask ,someone else may. and may well bring up something I have not thought to include.

Lesson 1 GMAW Safety

GMAW Safety aspects

Fumes
Electric shock
Thermal Burns
Radiation burns

Fumes
Heating materials to welding temperatures releases fumes. Depending whats on or in your metal there is a potential to suffer injury or a fatality due to what you could inhale.
It always pays to have an idea of the metallurgical make up of your material and the effects of such metals on your physiology. For instance ,as an example beryllium is added to commonly alloyed with copper for better lathe turning. Beryllium is is suspected of causing cancer of the bone and lung and is mutagenic in laboratory tests.( source -: Hazards of Welding by Ben Bartlett AWMU 1998 )
The idea is to keep this crap out of your breathing zone,either by using a respirator or just by keeping your head,away from the arc area.(A fan is not used here as it will blow away your shielding gas)

Electric shock

Touching live electrical parts can cause fatal shocksor severe burns. The electrode and work circuit is electrically live whenever the output is on.
The input power circuit and machine internal circuits are also
live when power is on. In a semiautomatic process such as MIG , the
wire, wire reel, drive roll housing, and all metal parts touching the
welding wire are electrically live. Incorrectly installed or improperly
grounded equipment is a hazard.

Do not touch live electrical parts.
Wear dry, hole-free insulating gloves and body protection.

Insulate yourself from work and ground using dry insulating mats
or covers big enough to prevent any physical contact with the work or ground.

Keep your AC input extension away from damp areas Ie: Concrete is not always dry as it may seem, it can carry current.

Keep earth return clamps in good nick and check for clean connection every time. Look for overheating connections and tighten them up (power off of course )

Thermal Burns

Thermal burns are possible by just being dumb enough not to wear your gloves, your jacket or in my case I wore a raggedy old shirt while gas metal arc welding. The shirt should have been tossed but anyway I was wearing it and got a hot dilberry on the sleeve which promptly caught on fire .

Work colleagues had the temerity to laugh as I traveled the length of the work shop left arm ablaze, seeking a tap , in an Olympic time that would do Cathy Freeman proud. Other dumb acts are butane lighters and matches in the pockets. Trust me you will only do it once.

Of interest to us in our small workshops is proximity to things that go bang or poof! Paint thinners, fuel and welders don’t mix. As woodworkers as well they are plenty of volatile and combustible stuff available to cause a fire adjacent to an unsuspecting welder. Be aware of what is around you.

Finally if you have the potential to start a fire it is always good to have something handy to use to extinguish any accidents.

Radiation burns
Like sunburn we don’t usually know we have a problem until the harm is done .
Rayburn through radiation burns of the skin is bad enough. Mig or GMAW rates about No 2 on the radiated intensity scale, emissions for TIG being worst.
As MIG welders what we need to do is cover all exposed areas and protect our eyes, not only with a shield but by wearing CLEAR safety glasses under your helmet. Don’t get caught with ,”OH! Its only a 5 minute job so I won’t both with a gloves or a jacket. Firstly 5 minute jobs are never that and second ,you always get burnt even though at first you do not notice it..

Radiation neither respects experience and supposed intelligence or inexperience and or stupidity, it will burn irrespective.

Thats lesson 1 the GMAW safety basics, so lets discuss and ask questions.

Grahame

**Big Shed** · 30th November 2008, 08:17 PM

Ok, I'll open the batting!

Some good information there Grahame, I'd like to ask a question.

The skin burn caused by the radiation, does that cause skin cancer like sunburn?

Also, is radiation caused by arc welding the same as that caused by MIG or TIG?

**Grahame Collins** · 30th November 2008, 08:50 PM

Originally Posted by Big Shed

Ques1
The skin burn caused by the radiation, does that cause skin cancer like sunburn?
Ques 2
Also, is radiation caused by arc welding the same as that caused by MIG or TIG?

Ques 1
As with sunburn ,get burnt often enough and it will cause cancer in time .I believe the welding UV is in the same wavelength spectrum as the UV from the sun. Personally I think that different folk will varyy in their reactiona to UV exposure times.

Ques 2 It is all matter of rate of UV and (IR Infra red) emission from the particular process.
Stick,Mig and TIG in ascending order. Its possible to do the same damage with Tig in ten minutes ,what takes half a day with stick. I understand its tied up with the amp to stick /Mig wire?Tig tungsten diameter.

Take no chances ,cover up.

it happened to me last year, A Mig job,Oh! I don't need a jacket-its 10 meters away-its only a 5 minute job.It was a 15 minute job by the time I finished and paid the price that night. By the way the Oil of Olay vitamin e type creme works fairly well to help with the discomfort. Yes!I asked SWMBO -I am not suicidal

Grahame

**Ropetangler** · 30th November 2008, 09:41 PM

The idea is to keep this crap out of your breathing zone,either by using a respirator or just by keeping your head,away from the arc area.(A fan is not used here as it will blow away your shielding gas)

Hi and thanks for the info, my question is when we are mig or Tig welding, is it ok generally to use an exhaust fan to suck fumes away from the breathing zone, or will that still be strong enough to disturb the gas shield in a similar way to that of using a fan?
Cheers

Rob.

**Grahame Collins** · 30th November 2008, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by Ropetangler

Hi and thanks for the info, my question is when we are mig or Tig welding, is it ok generally to use an exhaust fan to suck fumes away from the breathing zone, or will that still be strong enough to disturb the gas shield in a similar way to that of using a fan?
Cheers

Rob,

Rob.
It is a matter of experimenting .Sometimes in situations one can set the fan up so it is sucking the fumes from its rear side.Given it is far enough away from the gas cover it will work.You will know when it is too close. the weld will look like an Aero choc bar.

Grahame

**rat52** · 30th November 2008, 10:38 PM

Thank you for starting this as I have been wanting to get a mig welder for some years. I have done the search on some questions I have but like a lot of things new I don't know the right questions to ask.

Your laying things out in a training course and orderly manner will make it much easier to learn.

I look forward to the next lesson.

OH&S. 90 percent common sense. If in doubt watch out!

**Edd** · 30th November 2008, 11:10 PM

Great post Grahame.

I should also stress the importance of boots or quality leather shoes. Even wearing "leather" (must've been thin at that point) shoes in metalwork 3 years ago in school, a ball of MIG spatter burnt through. It hurt like hell, but I put up with it through the day and I still have the scar - probably 2nd degree or more.

By the time a 1000 degree blob of metal goes into your shoe, taking it off is way too late. While you'd probably have to be doing something seriously industrial to have any serious damage, it's not worth the pain to not have proper footwear.

**BobL** · 30th November 2008, 11:29 PM

Thanks for doing this Grahame.

First thing I do before I start welding in my shed is open all the gates on my dust collector and turn it on. My collector is outside the shed so all the fumes are vented outside.

**Old farmer** · 1st December 2008, 09:59 AM

This is invaluable, Grahame. We owe you for your expertise and your generosity in sharing it.

**JontyG** · 1st December 2008, 10:59 AM

Thanks Grahame - looks like this will be a fantastic thread. Don't have any questions at the moment, but I'm sure i'll have plenty as the thread progresses...

**wheelinround** · 1st December 2008, 02:09 PM

Grahame good thread

Radiation burns

yep they do happen and to your eye's too be

not a fool.

Grahame is it still taught that drinking milk can prevent problems with inhaled gasses and fumes, especially with such as Gal or Zinc coated materials. ???

**Edd** · 1st December 2008, 03:24 PM

Drinking milk is a myth and has no scientific/medical connection to treating metal fume fever.

**rat52** · 1st December 2008, 03:46 PM

I would think taking the time out to drink the milk, away from the fumes, is what does the good.

**Edd** · 1st December 2008, 03:56 PM

Exactly. Take regular breaks.

**wheelinround** · 1st December 2008, 06:31 PM

Ok so all the years of welding and drinking milk was a waste of time, the TAFE teachers who taught that and the video's we saw with it in as medical warning was all myth

. Not to mention when GP he asked had I been drinking it when welding.

Taking break at home is ok in industry well

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