I've been welding onto galvanized steel for 20 years + . Companies I worked for used no safety. I've had steel fever so many times I can't remember. My lungs are so bad now that I'm older I struggle badly.
Greg, it’s good that do these safety videos. I’m always amazed when someone does a video that includes safety, there are posters who say that they “Don’t want no safety talk.”
Yep, there's always at least one "tough guy" in the bunch. Somebody recently said "The first thing I do when I get an angle grinder is to take off the guard and throw it away."
I know what you’re talking about. Even I hesitated on doing safety videos but I feel it’s important because of the serious things that can happen. A simple lapse in judgement or a mistake can literally cause life long injuries, which is far from fair, but entirely a possibility.
Very good advice young man. When do a welding repair I always clean the area to be welded with a grinder and then a rag. I don't use brake cleaner, I don't have any anyway only acetone. I get as much crud and contaminants off as I can and if have any acetone about when mobile I will use that. Welding under vehicles is particulary bad because of the underseal anti-corrosion treatments. Some of it really bad to get off, but it must come off and be cleaned away, again using acetone. Sometimes, cleaning down with white spirirts or thinners first then acetone and let it dry off.
Thank you for this safety lesson, and all the other videos about breathing masks and eye shields, etc. I, possibly stupidly, use petrol to remove grease.
We are all guilty of some real bad habits. The crap thing is it only takes one mistake to have a serious problem. That’s the bad part about it, you never know when the right safety gear might be needed. It’s better to be safe than sorry for sure.
I knew wd40 would remove sticker glue, sounds like it might have more use than that. Grease can be a real problem to remove. I do know that getting grease off is a major issue, and tends to catch fire if it’s left on lol.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg it seems to be able to dissolve the caked on grease and dirt at the same time, seems like the older the issue the better it works.
Once I had to weld on a frame of a metal door. I could not reach in all those corners and Abends, so i had to leave son of the paint there. I welded with TIG under my wie open Garage door to get rid of the fumes. Suddenly Wind came up in blem my Argon away. I closed the door to solve this overseeing the fumes... The evening and the next day I felt like I had a bad flu although I had my filtermask on.
To me weldable primer is no different that any other paint. Aka really bad your lungs. Wear a respirator and make sure it seals. It’s not as bad as galvanizing in the short run, but likely just as bad in the long run.
Jeez Louise! I knew about the chlorides, but never checked for other stuff. Dunno about about you but Acetone was always told to me to be an extremely powerful and, therefore, dangerous cleaner. Interesting that's the "go to" for really bad stuff that needs cleaning. Many thanks for these kinds of vids!!!
Acetone flashes off really quick and doesn’t leave much residue. It is very dangerous from a flammability standpoint, (hell it’s in acetylene tanks lol). Generally you don’t want to get it in on your skin. Now with chlorine break cleaner the liquid tends to not evaporate as fast, and the chlorine stays around. When you get it hot it produces gas that’s very dangerous. One time I can recall welding a rear axle housing, and I cleaned it out with brake clean. Part of a can had to be chlorinated, because I was welding on the outside and I caught a whiff of a heavy chlorine smell, and that was over 20min after I sprayed it. I shut down the job and washed it out with soapy water. Dangerous stuff for sure.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Wow! Great information --thanks! I try to wear the right ppe but I doubt it's strong enough to keep some of these gases out even though I try to keep my face out of the fumes. I'm old (40's) so any advice on this topic is very important as I think I can count the number of brain cells left on my fingers and toes. 🙂
@@Failure_Is_An_Option LOL You are correct Sir! I know it's the primary ingredient in nail polish remover, but I guess it's where you grew up. People would talk about it like it was Benzene or what not and I was always --you have no idea what you are saying. Still powerful stuff to be treated with all due respect. Good point and I didn't intend it to sound so "dramatic". Lol
Even if you are welding on pristine metal, no matter what process you're using, you should be worried about the fumes. Metals do not do the body good...
I got sick as hell once after I welded on a lawnmower frame. Like a fool, I didn't clean off the paint very well and it was burning and smoking while I was welding away. Later that day I felt almost like I had the flu. I don't know if it was cadmium based paint or galvanized under the paint but it was dangerous stuff.
No doubt probably a cocktail of stuff. I have never had zinc fume fever but I have heard it’s really bad. Some of the stuff they treat metal with is so nasty you can’t even grind through it to get rid of it on thin material because you would have holes lol.
If you can grind off the paint and contaminants before welding, do you need to clean the metal with acetone? Will you get a better weld after using acetone?
In many cases if you wipe down the material it will weld better. Grinding dust, paint particles, etc all will interact with the welding process. Tig will especially need material clean since even normal millscale will contaminate the tungsten.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thank you. You are always most helpful. I only weld with 6013 and 6011 stick and a 110v buzz box, and I don't know much, but I'm learning.
If i had a price per, and an address to send it to, sir, you'd have an order for half a dozen of those "will weld for tacos" stickers. Just saying......
How about this. I am doing a big sticker giveaway this weekend. Look for the video when it’s posted, and follow the instructions. Make sure to put tacos in the message somewhere and you’re screen name and I will send you a bunch of them 😀
No doubt it will flash off fast. The problem is the flashing off without leaving residue is what makes acetone safer than many other cleaning liquids/sprays. Putting an electric arc or heat on any chemical or compound that’s sitting on metal is a bad idea.
Thanks for the kind words and my accent is from Milwaukee Wisconsin. Although I hang out with a lot of people from the upper part of Michigan, and they make me sound normal 😅
The worst youtube welding viedos that make me so anrgy are people welding with very little or no PPE,bare feet,butt naked,welding in the rain ,standing in water,small childern running around,toxic dangarous explosevie chemicals,gas cans,unchained gas bottles,near by and no understanding about the dangers of electricty and welding😮
It’s crazy what people in developing countries do. Even with all the knowledge we have in the USA (and most other first world Countries) people still insist on welding with no sleeves and protection on the neck. That’s skin cancer for sure. Let alone when people have even less than that. Crazy..
