Hot Sparks

[Blondie_486]

Andy,

I seriously doubt that Paul Sr. will pound the crap out of you for pointing out that they're setting a bad example for the youth and inexperienced welders. Have you seen how **** he is about keeping the shop clean? I believe he just may take the suggestion to heart and be a little more mindfull of their image and the examples they set. I think it's one of those things that have been overlooked more than anything else.

Take your kevlar just in case!!

Blondie_486

[ASKANDY]

I've been reading and I too am miffed by the disregard to safety. I will convey our concerns to them in the hopes that I don't get the crap pounded out of me Have you seen the GUNS on SR???

A-

[Paul Seaman]

Andy: I hope that you and the guys have a good time and like blondie said feel the water see if there is any recepetivity to suggestion and thanks.

[Blondie_486]

Andy,

I drove a AA/FD back in the late 70's an older FED that at one time belonged to Shirley Muldowney. The Nomex back then was horrible to wear I couldn't wait to get back to the trailer and change back into blue jeans and my "T" shirt and flannel. Although they did do the job I crossed the finish line at close to 200mph on fire I mean flames everywhere my helmet was pretty much toast and so was my respirator and the only mark I had was a slight first degree burn on my cheeks which I've had worse sunburns than that.

I've always had good luck with my leather I guess you'd call it a veil. It would be nice if Miller came out with one that retrofit to one of their helmets with the Miller logo on it. Hey maybe you could even put the Miller OCC chopper on it??

Let me know if it happens or not, I'd like to have one.

Hey since you're going to be in Daytona with OCC and the Miller chopper maybe you could put a bug in Paul Sr.'s ear about Paul Jr. and Vinnie welding without proper protetcion. I'm sure there are scores of 8 to 10 year olds out there that idolize Paul Jr. and Vinnie and probably will spend their summers in their garages making custom bicycles. Eventually one of them will get access to welding equipment and invite their buddies to come over for a welding party and end up with some serious UV burns and a serious case of welder's flash by not wearing a helmet. What the kids probably fail to realize is that Paul Jr. and Vinnie either look away or close their eyes but it's hard to see that on TV especially when you're that young and charged up. I began welding at age 10 and was taught to use the proper protetcion and wear leather shoes, long pants, long sleeve shirts and gloves. I'm sure you've read our posts on protection for professionals and our concerns for proper welding safety and the hazards of continued exposure to UV rays.

Have fun at Daytona

Blondie_486

[ASKANDY]

Blondie,
That's a creative fix! Sounds like it could be a nice option for our helmet line! Maybe we could affix a MILLER logo on it like Heiti said
I was never bothered too much by the Nomex sock. Nomex has come a long way the last few years and mine all wear like cotton. The original ones were rough and didn't breath at all causing your face to sweat and itch all at once. I'll check with marketing to see if we can get a couple to field test.

A-

[Paul Seaman]

Hey guys the tillman did great, I still have a small area exposed but I don't think this is going to much to aim for like aiming a bb gun at a moving airplane. Later on I will fix up a band to attach to the rear band of my helmet and it will be peachy. Thanks for all the responses and I must say Nomex is a great idea but very clostrophobic for me unless they come in open face which I don't remember ever seeing. Many of the other ideas are worth consideration, but right now no time to fiddle only enough time to stop and go and go and go. The only break I get is late at night. Thanks again

[Blondie_486]

pj,

I've done plenty of out of position welding using various rods including the 6011's and 6010's as well as 70 & 8018's. What's really painfull is when a hot glob goes down into your ear!!! I had that happen several times and here's what I did.

I bought some split leather and velcro I put the velcro on my helmet starting on one side up over the top and down the other side and measured out a piece of leather and attached the other part of the velcro to it. When I had to weld out of position I'd simply stick the leather on my helmet and let it hang down my back and didn't have any more problems. It's hot in the summer and sometimes when inside a boiler shell or heat exchanger shell it gets a bit stuffy but once you're done with your out of position work you can zip it back off again and put it away till next time.

It seems we've all got our own creative ways of solving problems like this. All of the suggestions so far have been good ones although myself I don't know whether I could tolerate the nomex head sock for very long. When I raced I couldn't wait to get it off of me and once back into the pits and at the trailer the rest of the nomex came off real quick. I don't know how the NASCAR drivers can stand to wear it for 500 and 600 miles. But maybe that's just me? I can't stand wearing long johns either.

Oh well good luck with your out of position welding.

Blondie_486

[Grampa]

Make mine leather

Heiti,
Honestly I have never seen or heard of any burn through from slag and sparks on leather..even among the guys who work in the shipyards and those guys work in a place where there is really a lot of sparks and weld slag flying..not at all like an auto shop or specialty welding shop..only thing I ever did special was to sew the little cape to the back of my cap..worked fine for me..Now I suppose if one was to place some hot slag on his leather leggings and just set there it would burn through sometime..But then again I know some guys who I swear could break an anvil..oh well..to each his own..

Grampa

[H80N]

Hey Andy
how about a Blue Nomex welders headsock with mouth exposed and bib... big MILLER logo emblazoned on the side...??
8=]
Heiti

[H80N]

Grampa
that would probably work...might be just the ticket...and for cold weather nomex stretch underwear might be the best thing to keep hot stuff off the skin and out of the er.. more delicate areas.. but for the sparks down the neck problem.. one of those Nomex pullover head socks with bib and the leather tillmans on top will probably solve pjseaman's immediate problem... (my only argument with those headsocks is would rather they do not cover the mouth and nose)
thanks
Heiti

[Grampa]

hot clothes

Heiti,

So you are an old aviator eh..me too..anyway how about a set of leggings and shirt made of goatskin with a nomex liner..Since I am a Native American Traditional Dancer hides are easy to come by..somewhat pricy sometimes depending on what one likes..I think one could arrange the seams so the nomex is reinforced by the leather..what I see here is a Traditonal war shirt and leggings updated with a mandarin collar keep hot sparks from going down ones neck (do the velcro thing so one could easily open it up for ventilation on breaks and such) Vented sides on the shirt fro warm weather..Sized to wear over ones long johns in cold weather..I think something like that would be just fine..

Might be worth it for someone who needs this sort of thing..

Thanks
Grampa

[H80N]

Grampa
one thing that I learned about Nomex ... having worn flight suits and jackets out of the stuff for years... is that it does not wear very well especially at seams where stitched.. have a couple of nearly new looking flight jackets that are coming apart at the seams.. while some of the old navy goatskin ones that saw much harder and longer use just seemed to have mellowed with age and use.. Nomex might be better for use under some protective leather on most parts of the body.. but let's see what some research brings us... for what it is worth soaking cotton clothing in a boric acid solution and letting it dry will make it a little bit more fire retardent.. just have to soak it again each time it gets washed... here is a link to some formulas..

http://www.singaporetheatre.com/technical_theatre/theatre_safety/fireretard.htm

also any of the petrochemical synthetics will probably be just as flammable as before ... not to mention the burns that you could get from melted material... myself .. would probably wear untreated clothing directly against the skin (underwear)
BTW.. same stuff can be used for treating heavy cotton cloth to make homemade fireblankets to protect stuff from weld spatter...
hope this was helpful
Heiti

[Grampa]

Nomex clothes

Actually wearing nomex makes a lot of sense...think I will look into that myself..Seems it would be lighter and more comfortable than what we had in the old days..I have seen guys catch on fire in the winter when we were all bundled up against the weather..a spark would catch a guys clothes and he would not realize it until it burnt through his overalls..pants and long handles..Kinda exciting to have to put your buddy out..

I did have a Nomex race driver set at one time and it was fairly comfortable..and cheaper than plastic surgery to repair burn hole sin ones body..

maybe we should do a bit more study on this one as one of the things I found in industry was the issue of finding comfortable safety gear that the guys actually would use and wear..


Grampa

[ASKANDY]

There's a neat idea!
I have a few of those old Nomex race head socks. I'll dig them out and give em a try.
The ones I use are similar to the sample on the left of the link that Heiti posted. I get mine from G-force and they run from $20-$33.

https://www.gforce.com

They are listed in the underwear section.

Andy

[H80N]

Guys
if you are in a particularly odd or crummy position as i seem to be able to get myself into more often than i care to think... you might consider one of the NOMEX head socks similar to what the racers wear.. just a bit of added protection.. am looking into it now but have one on my "to buy" list... know it will be hot and uncomfortable in the summer (what else is new).. but has to be lots better than hearing that sizzle when you are in a place that you cannot exit quickly.. if anyone knows of or finds a good source of this type of protective gear at a good price.. please post ...here is a link to an example.
Thanks
Heiti

http://www.safepro.com/products/heat_and_thermal/knittedhoods.html