Hot Sparks

[Paul Seaman]

I am currently taking an advanced stick class covering verticle and overhead welds working toward certification. I recently got a hot slag or pop spark over my hood and on the back of my neck. I am a safety nut and can't see anything I missed but this area doesn't get covered above my tshirt and below my cap. If it were just a small spark I might have dismissed it as a freak thing but it was a 1/2 inch 2nd degree burn which indicates to me maybe hot slag or steel popcorn.

The particulars on the weld performed, verticle up corner multi-pass on 1/2 plate using 1/8" e6011 at about 100 amps with 25% dig.

Does anyone make a hood type covering that tucks into the jacket or velcros to the outside to prevent this. In mig I've never had this happen. Suggestions or solutions please

[Grampa]

Hoods and such

Ouch that smarts!!

Most of my work was outside and using a hood attached to a hard hat..try attaching a piece of leather to the back of the hard hat that goes around about ear to to ear and about 10-12 inches down the back to over to overlap your jacket..Kinda like a little cape..Note: Hard hat style hoods are required in the shipyards and on Structural steel work..the Little cape will help as well as keeping the rain off of your neck..gets a bit warm in the summer tho..Should help your problen tho

Lot of this sort of thing is personal as long as it meets the work rules in your industry..

If you have a hard time finding the leather let me know as I can round some up for you..

Grampa

[hankj]

Hot sparks

pj,

How are ya? Long time no speak.

My weldor's cap, from Airgas, has a large protective bill that hangs down from the back. I seems to cover my exposed neck area OK. Had the wife do a "rear view", and she says no skin shows. Being the newbe that I am, I just took it for granted that this was a standard accessory, but maybe not?

Be well.

Hankj

[Paul Seaman]

Hey guys: Airgas trip new tillman leather welding jacket with a full choker coller with snaps to keep it snug around my 17 1/2" neck. I think this will fit the bill, for only $45 what a deal. I wear the skullcap type beanie hat because it doesn't have thick seams that dig into my forehead since I really crank down on the helmet band for nods and flips even though I have the speedglas, I still nod and flip up. Thanks for the responses and I'll let you know how it works after tomorrow night.

[HAWK]

pjseaman,

Be careful what you wear under the leather jacket. That new leather will really stain your clothes until you break in in good! Good luck. Slag is no good hot or cold. Hot burns like ---- and when cold it is hard as a rock and sharp as nails. It will play havoc with car tires. Don't try it. Just take my word for it.

[HAWK]

pj,

"The particulars on the weld performed, verticle up corner multi-pass on 1/2 plate using 1/8" e6011 at about 100 amps with 25% dig."

AC or DCSP?

[Paul Seaman]

Hawk: This is being done in DCSP, would AC create less pop? In school I get to use the Invision 354mp and If money were better I'd own one not that I don't love my mm210 because it is great but the Invision is so cool.

[HAWK]

pjseaman,

I mostly run the 6011 AC. It is rated for both AC and DCSP My experiences is it runs smoother on AC put still has the "pop". I run the 6010 which is it's DCRP counterpart a lot on pipe and plate root passes. These rods are hard digging and fast freezing making them ideal for out of position, especially overhead, welding.

[Paul Seaman]

Hawk: thanks for the input we also have the 6010 at school but only in 3/32 not 1/8. Wouldn't I need to turn down the amperage 5-10 amps?
Also thanks for the heads up on the Leather bleed of a new coat!

[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

[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

[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

[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]

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
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