Hot weather welding/cutting protection

[HerbD]

Thanks for the tip jbman, I'll look into those. We've already broken the record last month for consecutive days over 100 degrees (17 in a ROW in May!) We're on a roll for June also, but somehow we have become more conditioned to 100 plus and actually expect it to be hot. I stop welding when it gets to 110.

One of the things, among others, that drew me to TIG welding was fewer sparks than ARC welding. When you work in shorts and no sleeves ARC welding can be a pain, literally. Unfortunately the more destructive part of welding, UV rays etc, can hurt you even more.

HerbD

[clearchris]

Originally Posted by HerbD

At first I thought I had gotten into a spider web under my welding table since I weld in the back yard, then I realized that my shirt had melted and stuck to one of the closer welds which was still hot. I had read not to wear synthetic shirts, but that didn't pertain to me of course. Dad was a welder all his working life and always wore heavy longsleeve work shirts.

Yeah, I learned the hard way on synthetic shirts burning too, though thankfully not while welding. Nylon is especially bad because in addition to it burning, it melts, becomes sticky and burns the %^&* out of you.

[bhardy501]

Back in the late 80s I worked at a place that made car haulers, big trailers that haul about 12 cars. In the summer it would get very hot in the fab shop. You would get very sweaty inside your leathers. When we would stop for break I would take my leathers off and hang them in front of one of the big fans. After about 10 min. the wet inside of the leathers would get nice and cool and stay that way for a pretty good while after you put them back on. Any time I had to stop to change out parts and reset the jig I would hang them up and get a quick recharge on cooling them off. An old welder told me about doing this, I was suprised how well it worked and how long the cool would last inside the leathers. I tried it with one of the green jackets and it only lasted a few min then I was burning up again. Now if you are out in the sun your cooling effect would be shortened. Also remember to stay hydrated you can get in trouble with heat exhaustion and heat stroke a lot quicker than you think.

[kb3gun]

Originally Posted by clearchris

kb3: Just out of curiosity, were you grinding without a guard?

Yes. No guard. I was grinding with a 36-grit flap disk. I know the guard should be used, but it's just not functional to have to re-position the guard all the time for different angles and directions.