If you weld, you should read this...

[pocket-rocket]

One of the guys on www.therangerstation.com had posted this. It's one professional welders experience using brake clean to clean parts before welding because he was out of his normal carb cleaner. It's scary because most people wouldn't even think about it before doing it...

http://www.brewracingframes.com/id75.htm

With that said, a couple of the guys said that cleaning the area with a grinder, sand paper, flap wheel or wire brush is about as much as you need to do for prep work before welding and this story is one reason why you don't use solvents.

[SappySE107]

that is some scary shit.

[pocket-rocket]

Yeah it is. That's why I posted it, so people watch out. I know if I use brake clean in my garage with my salamander going you have a hard time breathing in a matter of a few minutes, so I try to save the brake cleaning stuff till last before I go in for the night. It looks like brake clean is a bit more harmful then I thought. And they use that stuff to make meth...

[slinky]

You should not really use carb cleaner either, most have a small amount of oil in them, you should use rubbing alcohol, that's what i was taught at a Trade school.. And yeah that weird shiz

[Schmieder]

Well damn! Goes to show how dangerous things can be when not paying attention.

That was a real eye opener. And I could have made the same mistake, though I don't own a TIG welder, I may have used gas in my Lincoln MIG welder. And I do know brake cleaner doesn't leave any film behind. I may have used it to wipe off dust from sanding/grinding the area to be welded. I have 2 cans in the garage now.

wow....

[Joseph Upson]

His first mistake was not going to the hospital immediately after an incident like that. There maybe no antidote for the chemical but there's considerable benefit to treating and preventing the associated symptoms instead of allowing the chemical to go unopposed through the body.

You don't develop emphyzema overnight, a few days or a few weeks. The importance of that statement is that some of his issues could already have been a work in progress from smoking, drinking and most important, chronic inhalation/exposure to fumes and solvents at work. I watch guys inhale brake dust and brake cleaner fumes at work week after week

That habit can set you up for lung cancer and any fat soluble solvent (chemicals that can be absorbed by the skin) can build up in the fat tissue in your body and become toxic over time and the pancreas is one target you don't want hit because pancreatitis is a horribly painful disease that is very difficult to manage. My dad has it and had to quit working. He was barely 50.
He hadn't had a drink or smoke in nearly 30 yrs but had as many or more years exposed to welding, a little painting, and an assortment of auto related solvents. It could have been the beer he drank in his twenties, the solvents and smoke he was exposed to over the years or all of the above.

His lungs are in rough shape to.

Protect yourself from all of that stuff, it's poison.

[Schmieder]

No kidding. i was an industrial/commercial painter for many years. 6 yrs residential, 4 years commercial/industrial.

At the age of 28 I was diagnosed with lymphoma.

6 months of chemo, and I was pumped up with large amounts twice a month for 6 months. Full body exposure, it was not localized chemo. After one week, ALL of my ass hair was blown out. The rest of my hair followed months later. I looked like a train wreck. If it wasn't for pain meds, i would have gone crazy.

many years later I am cured. I am expected to live my full natural life span. Aside from various effects later in life from the chemotherapy. And I was the lucky one. I beat the odds.

Do watch out, it can happen to you too. Even windex has toxic carcinogenic materials in it. But I was spraying some potent paints/epoxies. We used every safety precaution. Masks, respirators, paint suits, vaseline for eye line and even large glasses of milk after epoxy work (helps rid the body of crap from epoxy fumes)

Even motor oil I am careful with now. Gloves aren't a big deal until you don't use them. But motor oil isn't terribly toxic as Xylene and other nasty oil based compounds.

[Superdave]

I usually sandblast surfaces to be welded.. or just sandpaper. screw the chemicals.


I saw this article a while back when it was posted on a local forum, crazy shit.

[IsaacHayes]

Saw this before too. I've burned brake cleaner before with a lighter, but not super hot temps and mixing with argon...

Don't ever ignite 134a and especially not R12. R12 IIRC. Phosgene and HF acid is the by products. I've literally dropped to my knees when I caught a wiff of 134a that was ignited. Horrible stuff.

[RednBlack]

Clean it with toluene. Evaporates completely. Or Denatured alcohol. Daysol, for the un-informed. Make sure you wear shorts with fringe. Just the interesting part.....welders...Hmph.

[slinky]

i usually always wear shorts when tig welding because there are no sparks when tig welding

[Joseph Upson]

i usually always wear shorts when tig welding because there are no sparks when tig welding

Bad idea, I haven't used a TIG welder yet but if the weld flash is as intense as that found with MIG welding you're being exposed to intense ultraviolet light which can damage the skin and predispose to skin cancer.

I had a lazy moment once and did a few minutes of welding without a mask by closing my eyes and tilting my head down while welding. I protected my eyes, but the next day my forehead felt like sandpaper. If I recall correctly the back of the leg is the most common location for melanoma in women and the back for men.

[bszopi]

I had a lazy moment once and did a few minutes of welding without a mask by closing my eyes and tilting my head down while welding.

Sadly, you see this ALL the time on TV...

[slinky]

Bad idea, I haven't used a TIG welder yet but if the weld flash is as intense as that found with MIG welding you're being exposed to intense ultraviolet light which can damage the skin and predispose to skin cancer.

I had a lazy moment once and did a few minutes of welding without a mask by closing my eyes and tilting my head down while welding. I protected my eyes, but the next day my forehead felt like sandpaper. If I recall correctly the back of the leg is the most common location for melanoma in women and the back for men.

believe me i know all about welding, i have been doing it for about 4-5 hours a day for the past 5 years, but i have never gotten arc burn or welders flash and im usually sitting down while doing tig so my legs are under the table ect and never get arc burn, i usually wear short sleeved shirt and no welders jacket when doing tig because i only use tig to do thin metal under 1/8" so that means the amperage is very low meaning the UV isn't high which means its hard to get arc burn from it, but anything above 1/8" tig, mig, stick, underwater welding or any other welding i advise wearing a mask and protective clothing...

[pocket-rocket]

I've been using my carbon disc on my die grinder (no regular grinder) and a steel brush to clean before welding. I also use flux core (MIG is a bit fancy for my pocket book) so no argon. I'm not to sure what ends up being the byproduct of the flux core though... I wear a full set of coveralls that come just past my wrist and I've got a pair of welding gloves and a full face auto dim mask. I don't like to take chances on screwing myself up if I can avoid it. Especially something that can mess you up for life even if it saves me a couple minutes.