Drax240z Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Yeah yeah. I've been wearing fleece while welding/grinding for years now, all the time knowing full well what a bad idea it is. It's always freaking cold where I work, and so sometimes these comprimises have to be made. Anyway, today I was grinding away and I felt something kind of hot, stopped grinding, and 12" of flame was licking up my front. Patted it out and decided that perhaps my luck had run out. I melted through 2 fleece jackets and part of my t-shirt underneath... So I went and bought a nice 100% cotton work jacket and continued working... Say no to fleece! The skin you save might be your own. Actually I just wanted to point out how easy it is to become complacent because "it hasn't hurt me yet!"... Food for thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Hmmmm, Drax...I hear Darwin calling Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETEW Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Hmmmmm.... Note to self. No burning myself up. Check. Ok I'm good, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 When I had the turbo car here and was trying to fab up all the piping and what not, I would be tossing and turning in bed and think "HEY! I could just go right down there and weld something!" so down the stairs in the PJs and big slippers I would go, and sure enough, the second night a red hot got into my cuff and set me ablaze! I was able to stamp it out, but im afriad the PJs were goners. bummer too, they were very comfortable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Actually I just wanted to point out how easy it is to become complacent because "it hasn't hurt me yet!"... Food for thought. Not gonna happen to me. I NEVER get hurt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dp351zcar Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 When I was grinding on rotissery(sp?) I saw the same type of flickering light in front of me. I now use the shirt to cover up hood hinges so they don't catch people wakling to the freezer. Oh I ahd burned a nice four inch hole in it. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
labrat Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Here's my funny story... I bought me a brand spanking new arc welder (one of the little jobs for light work) and decided to test it out. In shorts and a t-shirt. Went to welding on an old flexplate I had, and by the time i had the hang of running a bead fairly well, I had went through about 12~15 of the little rods. Woke up the next day with the nastiest sunburn on the insides of my legs. As I was squatting the entire time, my shorts rode up a little. That sunburn was awfully close to something very tender! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted January 19, 2004 Author Share Posted January 19, 2004 The worst part is I have been welding semi-professionally for about 6 or 7 years... I'm not very accident prone at all, I typically avoid such risks like in this case, I just got complacent even though I knew better. No harm to me at all in the whole experience, lost 2 jackets and put a hole in a T-shirt but not even a singed hair on me. Go figure... I did have a nice incident about 6 years ago while I was TIG'ing up a SS heat exchanger. It was the middle of summer, so I wore my cotton coveralls without a shirt on underneath to try to make it bearable. I spent my entire 12 hour shift welding this heat exchanger, when I took the coveralls off at the end of the day I had a zipper patterned sunburn up the center of my chest. Heh, one of those things that you just have to laugh at yourself for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 Wow man, with that much welding, don't you ever use a leather apron. or half jacket? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted January 19, 2004 Author Share Posted January 19, 2004 Well no... I mean when TIG'ing it really isn't necessary as it's very controlled. All my ARC work was done with full cotton clothing, it was never really an option because of the job I had at the time required me to quite often up and leave what I was in the middle of to help out somewhere else. (I was on an understaffed maintenance crew for quite a large chemical smelter plant) Everytime I left the welding shop for the plant I had to change coveralls to a polyester pair due to the acids... Pain in the ass with even more clothing on. MIG, well again quite controlled though I occasionally find myself underneath what I'm welding and at that point you hope it hits your helmet and bounces to the floor... I guess I'm pretty conscious about where my body is in relation to the hazard... grinding though, well I had no choice in this particular case and that's how it all started. Besides, I'm not a welder! I'm an engineer dammit. (reminder to self) I should be worrying about pocket protecters, slide rules, things that work in theory, and certainly not this type of stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ON3GO Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 i caught my hair on fire once welding.. i smelt it and my boy was like "um dude your on fiire... not that its a bad thing" i started freaken out. that was the same day i cut my finger on some of the body panels on his VW bug.. yep tetnes shot or however you spell it. mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silicone boy Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 After ruining a couple of fleece jackets when grinding and welding, I bought a pair of Dickies (jumpsuit version). My wife makes fun of me when I wear them, but they are black so they don't show dirt and they protect me from spatter. Today, however, I was grinding some metal, making my turbo exhaust manifolds, when I felt something extremely painful on my right thigh, followed by the familiar smell of burning flesh. It seems that a piece of shrapnel fell into my jumpsuit (the zipper was open) and burned my leg. Luckily, burn treatment is one of my skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Drewz Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 Ok, Ok, Ok I will tell my bad story. I still don't live this down. I was welding overhead on my buddies ZR1 exhaust and I had for some reason tucked my shirt into my pants that day. I had never done that before. Well I was cutting the end off a clamp bolt when it sparked back and the HOT chunk of steel went down my shirt. Of course I pulled my shirt away from my body and guess where it landed........??????Right on the head of Mr. Friendly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Couldn't have relations for 2 weeks. Even have a small scar for memories sake. Sorry no pic's avail........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dot Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 eeeeeeewww...BBQed wennies I have only burned holes in my new Levis. Never the old ones that used to be new ones before I burn holes in them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Drewz Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 Glenn nice Z. Like the home page you gots as well. Finally someone who has taken more time on there Z than I have....lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 Ok, Ok, Ok I will tell my bad story. I still don't live this down. I was welding overhead on my buddies ZR1 exhaust and I had for some reason tucked my shirt into my pants that day. I had never done that before. Well I was cutting the end off a clamp bolt when it sparked back and the HOT chunk of steel went down my shirt. Of course I pulled my shirt away from my body and guess where it landed........??????Right on the head of Mr. Friendly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Couldn't have relations for 2 weeks. Even have a small scar for memories sake. Sorry no pic's avail........ Oh my god.....I am rolling in fits of laughter!!! The image I have of someone jumping around like a mad man, with "Mr Friendly" flapping away...ha ha ha I kill me!!! That is funny.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 Here's another two stories. When and buddy and I were gas welding in auto shop in HS about 12 years ago, he had an accident. He had a brand new welding rod and he had the car up on a rack, and was welding on a new muffler. His hands got sweaty, and the rod swiveled in his fingers and fell. The hot tip went through his coveralls, jeans, and undies and about 1/2" into his skin about 1" from Mr. Winky. He wasn't too happy about that, but the rod cauterized the wound, so it didn't bleed. About a month later some guys from the class were welding a banister on in front of the classroom. They finished and left, and about 30 seconds later I jumped up and sat on the banister. It took a couple of seconds for the heat to soak through my pants, then I jumped off and ran around like an idiot yelling "My butt is on fire!" for a few seconds. Luckily there was a large crowd on hand to see this. Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Drewz Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 The worst part was pulling the schrapnel out of my own wound . No, i didn't keep it for a keepsake... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kc6wfs Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 hehe.. Glad you are all ok. I once was fixing the propane fridge on my old (sold) moterhome and I guess it acumelated gas in the rear area and when I went to light the pilot for it.. POOF... a fire ball comming at me "mach 2" !! I put my hair out and turned the main propane tank off and had the wife call 911..... Ahh the morfiene on the way to the hospital was fun!!!! Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 Sounds like Dave wins!!! Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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