when I wa about 8 years old, i had a toy John Deere tractor, made out of pewter. I broke the hitch on it, asked my dad to weld it for me. He said it cannot be welded. So I get the big idea I can weld, I'll do it myself. I was unable to hold the part to be welded plus hold the hemet(had no head-gear, had to hold it in your have while welding!) . so I treid and tireid to weld it, wiht no helmet. That night I had the most pain ever endured by me. Told my mom and dad my eyse wer burning terribly, the old man gave me hell for not using the helmet! So much for any pity on the dumb kid! Never did it again. Get a helmet with magnification, works great for us 65 year olds!
I concure. Two slices and the juicer the better. This brings immediate relief. No need to go to the ER. Pop some tylenol pm and go to bed. Sport the shades for a few days and it will be alright.
I could see, but I couldn't keep my eyes open or closed for more than a half of a second. It was brutal. I was waaay beyond the point of potatoes. My eyes scabbed over. I welded a pair of fender lips back in to a 914 that a buddy had trimmed out, and had to make patch panels. No hood, just turning my head for well over an hour. It hurt... i had had minor itchyness in the past, but this was way beyond an irritation.
Ive been frying metal for 35 years.Had arc eye a couple times and it sucks!!!.Ive done heliarc to heavy plate- (quarter sized puddle).Sometimes i get lazy and tack at home with no helmet to speed things up.I now struggle with my eyes and its a bitch wearing readers under the hood and they are getting worse.Dont try and be a hardass and skip the hood.Theres and difference between "hardcore" and stupid.
Wow.... I had to read these just for the amazement value! When I first started welding I had some cutting goggles that I thought were good enough... no such luck... face was burned... eyes were burned.. OMFG it does feel like sand in your eyes for a day or two and the damndest "sunburn" ever. For years I used to grind without a shield... but after two trips (the second time I had a face shield on!) to the eye Dr to grind out rusting shards I always wear eye protection now. A welding helmet always, and when grinding or wire brushing or using my drill press I always wear a shield. My son does now too, he knows the lessons I learned the hard way. I even wear ear protection too, my ears ring continuously. When I was in my twenties I thought all that protection crap was for pussies, I ran a jackhammer for two years as a laboror (best shape of my life), and my ears used to ring once in awhile. Now they ring all the time, I have to turn on a fan or a radio at night to block the ringing... Now in my fifties... I'm paying for being a 20 yr old dick about protection! (pun alert!)
you only get one set of eye balls...burn em up and you'll be a sad ass... I have a friend that's an eye surgeon and he is always telling about doing surgery on eyes that where weld burnt. It causes a form of cancer... I'm not going to lie and say I've never tacked anything with out a hood... but take care of them peepers.
I had a full beard for about 32 years, finally went to a goatee a couple of years ago and found a similar-cause scar under my chin, remember it like it was yesterday and it happened in 1978. Have gotten some minor slag balls in my ears as well. Bob
I wonder how many teacher are aware of how spreading an urban myth can cause unnecessary fear. As part of my final project in welding school, 25 years ago, I had to do a written project. One of the questions was to research the contact lens warning. It is nonsense. It never happened, and it cannot happen. Millions of guys are out there, welding with contacts without any melting or subsequent blindness http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/cornea.asp
Ahaha, for some reason that happens to me all the fkn time! It seems like these damn splatters of steel know where your most non-protected spots are. btw, pretty awesome avatar dude.
Had a friend in middle school who's dad built a mini-sprint frame without a welding helmet. Thought it was bad ass. During college I worked the summer with him roofing. His dad had the opposite of tunnel vision, no vision in the center of his eyes, 10 yrs later. Maybe it was from welding without a hood or not. Why take the chance. Welding without covering your arms fries them, just think what it's doing to your eyes. Being blind sucks.
I teach welding, among other things (in fact that's what we're on right now), and we manage at least one bad flashburn every class. Either from students striking without warning, or tacking with the hood up. We instructors usually get a mild one at least once a week, and I can tell it's slowly affecting my eyesight. We don't have booths, only tables with screens, so there's not much to be done about it with 25 machines going all at once... What most people never grasp is you shouldn't NEED to see where you're welding until you have the hood down and strike the arc. If you're properly positioned and have your body and welding hand braced to the work, a grenade could go off over your shoulder and you can still hit the spot. Auto-dark helmets have taken away the need for proper positioning because you don't have to snap your neck with the gun (or whatever) in place. Ask any old rod-burners how THEY managed to do it without an auto-dark and having to scratch start...
I couldnt read all the replies... made me cringe. Worked with a buddy who had little ones running round most afternoons. Ornery kids for sure but fun. He came in one morning and said the oldest woke up in the middle of the night screaming bloody murder... he thought someone was in the house tryin to take the kid! Turns out he was watching us weld all afternoon the day before! Poor little dude was miserable.. we made him wear the o/a goggles while in the shop for a long time after that! Wear a hood guys. Even while tacking. Your eyelids wont stop the burn. And the last time I checked, to make a good weld, you need to see it.
I always wear a helmet , However i somehow got flash burn late one night after mounting my axle. I remember waking up in the middle of the night trying to find the jackass that hit my eyeballs with some 400 grit and a belt sander. It was pretty rough , Not the worse pain ive ever been through but it was close.
I remember the last time I wore my wedding band. I was tack welding without a glove on and a spark landed on my ring. Gold conducts heat real good. I couldn't get the ring off and it hurt like hell. Nice scar to show for it. Now that was like 25 yrs ago and still don't wear a ring or watch (watch is a similar story). Wearing gloves at all times is another good idea.
I had a couple of flashburns, but never from not wearing a helemt. I don't even understand how that would work. How can you see through the flash to run a bead? Every single time I've burned my eyes it's been from equipment failure. Hairline crack in your hood will do it everytime, especially when it's around the lens. It may not let in enough light for you to see, but it'll still get ya. Same thing as using a hood with too light of a shield. I don't usually go lower than a 10, and I don't use autodarkening either. I've tried, but I just don't trust em. Last one I tried had a delay, and you would see the arc for a split second before darkend. Fuck that. I've never seen anyone flash burn their eye's enough to need to go to the ER. The potato thing works perfectly and will save you a lot of time and money. The foreman of the first fab shop I wirked in didn't like wearing his hood either. Eye's were a gross shade of yellow and had rust spots in em too (rarely wore safety glasses). Definately not a role model. And to everybody that's talking about safety glasses and sunglasses; they're not effective PPE. I've actually had a metal sliver shoot up under my safety glasses and into my eye while grinding. Definately not sufficent for welding either. Even if you can get some that are dark enough, the radiation will still bake your unprotected face. Be smart.
Well fellas, my eyes are back to normal now. Thanks for all the tips, both remidies and safety. I would have never thought this thread would have gone on this long, CRAZY. Reading back through the thread its kinda funny how theres alot of guys who "Never would even think of striking an arc without eye protection, EVER". But then there is a small handfull of guys that have been there and done that and realise that it's not all that uncomon. I also noticed that most of the first group had more posts here on the HAMB than the second group. Hummmmmm........ What does this mean.........? Is it that spending all of your time on the HAMB makes you that much smarter? Or is it that the guys with fewer posts actually spend more time out in the shop gettin shit done? Hummmmm.....
You said it! I let a buddy do some welding on his car in my shop once, and came back from an errand to find him welding new floors in with no hood. I didn't say anything, I just walked over and unplugged the welder. I told him to get the f out of my shop. He spent 2 days in a dark room, groaning in pain. A hole.
About 12 yrs ago I walked into a friends shop right as he was starting to weld... got me.. In my shop I have a welding curtain between the welding and doorway WHENEVER I am welding. I even cut one up and put it over the windows into the shop area....
thats why you need to wear a thick glove around the opposite hand and kinda wrap it around the mig nozzle, its shields the arc light, ive never been flashed. ps, i dont encourage the use of no helmet
So, if there is someone you don't like, offer to teach them how to weld.........no, don't do that...........
The Jalopy Journal
