Emergency welding

Someone get me three car batteries and I'll test this out:
Emergency welding

-Blast

I have heard about this for years. Give it a try and let us know...

Are those just regular type Arc welding rods they are using?

Yes they are, DC rod probably works best but I am sure AC rod works too. I haven't done this myself but my father has a setup he's working with that's very similar to this. I think he's using 6 batteries though (I think he said in banks of two to up the amp's, which would allow him to weld thicker stock. I'm not positive on that though)

I should give that a try. My dad uses DC rods in his arc welder and has tons laying around.

A good reason perhaps to put an extra pair (or two) of booster cables in the car.

Here's another way.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Alternative-Energy/1980-11-01/Build-a-20-Portable-DC-Arc-Welder.aspx
http://www.huv.com/jon/jeep/Welder/portable-welder.html

The alternator welder works...but it's not what I'd consider emergency...It would be near impossible to build one from scratch in the bush like the guys in the top article did unless they pirated essential parts from their trucks.

Here is the consumer version of what you show, MIG as well.

http://www.readywelder.com/

Bill

I was looking at some welding goggles but they said they were for oxy/acetylene welding only. Can someone tell me what's the difference between eye protection requirements for differnt types of welding, especially DC or AC welding versus gas-based welding?

Thanks,
-Blast

Hi Blast,

Its not only eye protection that is required for electric arc welding. A full face shield is required to protect the face from the UV light generated from the electric arc as well. Electric arc welding requires a much stronger light filter than gas welding goggles. A full flip up/down face mask with a very strong light filter (the light filter is normally so strong that it is completely opaque to normal lighting conditions, hence you cannot see what your doing until the electric arc is struck). With gas welding, the goggles glass filters are much less opaque. So generally you can see what your doing in normal light conditions before introducing the light produced from the Oxyacetylene flame of the gas welding tip. Gas welding temperatures are some what lower and don't really produce UV light during the welding or brazing process. If you are doing any electric arc welding a proper full face mask is required. There should also be no exposed skin in direct line of sight of the electric welding arc either. This include all electric arc welding including MMA, MIG and TIG.

AFLM covered it pretty well, Blast.

You want a "welding helmet". They even have electronic ones which use some type of LCD technology to darken automatically when the arc is started.

The welding arc is literally as bright as the sun and there is no way you can watch for even a moment without a nice dark filter. There is a ton of UV so cover your skin unless you like sunburn - or use SPF 1,000,000 sun block.

So, minimum PPE, even for an emergency, would he helmet, leather gloves and long sleeves. No synthetics. Helps to wear a baseball cap backwards under the helmet to keep sparks out of your hair. Oh, and no shorts or sandals.

I've used both an oxy-acetylene torch and an arc welder with insufficient eye protection. Grabbing a torch without a proper set of goggles was not something that ever bothered me. Been there, done that, did not see spots. Never tried to arc weld without a mask, but sometimes when you are working on something with someone else who is welding, you don't turn your face away as quick as you should. The arc welding glass is so opaque under normal lighting conditions, that you need the mask so you can find the work using your free hand. In some situations, I might risk not having the right eye protection. Having a makeshift mask would be better. If you had a face shield of any type, you might be able to create a mask.

The flash from an ARC welder is a real danger.

Between college terms 25 years ago I worked at a low-end fabrication sweatshop where we made portable metal buildings (I think they were going to be schools in the far north).

Everything was bolted together by labours (me and my friends) and then ARC welded by a certified welder. The welders used full facesheilds but us labours were often close to the welding operation and exposed to the ARC flash. Often your eyes would hurt/burn (felt like hot sand in your eyes) after work so we started to wear sunglasses on the job to cut down on the flash. In reality the welding operation needed to be screened from the other unprotected workers but being inexperienced we did not know that.

The worksite had a lot of air quality problems (zinc welding dust, paint fumes and engine exhaust) and defective equipment, working there for a summer made it an easy decision to go back to school in the fall.

Mike

I've seen people weld blind. Some small welf ot just tacking something in palce you just place something between the arc and your eyes and go for it. You can make a long bead out of sereral short ones if you have to do it that way, might not be pretty but would hold to get you out of the woods.
You should ideally have a face mask and long sleeve clothes as well as the Uv rays will burn any exposed skin. The football player in my high school shop class that had one of those shirts with all the little holes in it to let air in gave himself a spotted tan.

The different types of welding produce an arc of different intensity and color temperature so the goggles ideally should match. If you want something compact for emergency use then there are simple face shields that you have to hold with one hand (gloved with long sleeve shirt of course) which are pretty small and flat. I have one as it was the freebie that came with my welder.

Iv'e heard of welding (really brazing technically) done with car batteries, jumper cables, and 5 cent nickles. I've never tried it though.

Everyone else covered it pretty well. Oxyacetlyne is just a dark filter to allow you to see better, MIG/TIG/ARC has a UV filter to block the UV light from the arc. I've seen dumb people do quick welds without protection, just looking away, but it's not recommended. It's just like swampdonkey described, having a piece of sand in your eye. In reality, it's a sunburn on your eyeball from the intense UV light, and it hurts a lot (I guess you know who the dumb person now). It's not permanent damage, but it's not something you want to experience.

If you want to get started in welding, definitely go for the auto-darkening hoods. The auto-darkening feature is actually more for comfort, the clear shield already blocks out the UV light even when not dark. I don't think I can ever go back to having a flip up hood flying off my head evertime I wanted to run a bead or tack.

These portable welders will stick metal together, but if your goal is to learn how to weld those probably aren't the best to start on.

Blast,

What time do your neighbors go to bed??? Maybe you could use their battery. I have a welding hood you can borrow and several fire extinguisers to put you out. I know you have a first aid kit, I've seen you wash a cat!!

kmat

"...go for the auto-darkening hoods..."

A friend once had one of those fail to darken, had a couple of miserable days after that. I don't know how those things work, but his didn't...

"...to keep sparks out of your hair..."

No worries there for me...

Been there, done that. There are certain welding rods that are "contact" rods - once the arc is started, you can put the flux coated portion of the rod to the work without it 'sticking' (7014 is one of these rods). We had one fixture at work that required you to at least tack one part "blind" - I could run a nice 2" or so bead on that fixture blind after a while

I've done my share of welding with no gloves, apron etc - just a tee shirt. You will probably get spatter burns on your hands, and if you do more than a few seconds, you'll get a sunburn. If it's 5-10 seconds in an emergency, there are probably worse things than you can do. That said, as everyone else said - don't try to look at the arc - a split second flash is bad enough

I'll admit it is hard to get used to those things if you're not very trusting of electronic items. I still reflexively blink the moment before I start the arc just by habit, because I would never trust something like that to work all the time. But even if the electronics fail completely, those hoods block 100% of the UV at all times. The auto-darkening is a separate filter behind the UV shield. Maybe he had removed the UV filter or had a really, really old model?

If you're doing any type of flux or mig welding, you'll find out very quickly why welders wear leather aprons and caps. I just burned a few nice holes in my coveralls and T-shirt, with matching burns underneath each one. When you're laying under a car with a hot spark down your shirt, there's not a whole lot you can do but wait for it to cool. My friend was laughing at me because I probably looked like a fish flopping around on the ground trying to get the spark away from my skin.

Now as far as blind, I'm meaning just without eye protection. In some emergency situation you will most likely have some sort of hand protection be it a glove or rag dipped in a mud puddle. But to get something stuck together to get you home you can use something to shield the arc and turn your head and hit it.

http://www.justih.org/Binder-Bench/showthread.php?t=4747&highlight=OBW%2A

those fancy auto darkening are really not necessary. Just adjust the hinge knobs on the regular one to where it stays up until a nod of your head causes it to fall has worked for many people for many years. I have one of those myself.

I have a small welder which uses a flux core wire and the output is 17v DC which makes it pretty close to a car battery. I'm thinking it would probably work pretty good that way.

Nishnabotna,

Welcome to the fire, newguy! That was a great link.

-Blast

Thanks for all the advice. I'm hoping I can use all the warnings to convince the DW that I need to take a welding class at the local community college. For some reason she always changes the subject when I bring up a real welding class.

I'm glad I didn't just buy a set of cheap gas goggles and give it a go...

-Blast

at very least you can buy a welding book. I had an old one my dad gave me that was so old the pages were feeling like they were going to fall apart so I scanned it.

Need to preface this with i have never used a battery welder. Think i would work BUT, you will have no current control. Tig and stick welding use constant current power sources, when you stick weld the current is stable and the voltage varies. Mig welding uses constant voltage power sources, the voltage is stable and the current varies. So the mig welder previously posted would be a good choice for using batteries. Might be willing to try it in an emergency but it is not something i would want to stick weld with for any length of time. Of course i tend not to do much stick welding anyway, i can tig weld in air conditioned shops with out fuming up the place.

Something else to mention, batteries produce hydrogen gas. Keep the batteries away from the welding area, or at least where the spatter is not going to land on them. Some of this has already been mentioned, no exposed skin unless you want a 3rd degree sunburn. Cotton, wool, and leather will only burn, synthetics will melt to your skin while burning. And you will get burned. If you are welding overhead use earplugs, aside from all of the other protective clothing, welding spatter going ZZZZZZZZZZZZ round and round in your ear canal is nowhere near as much fun as it sounds.

Use the correct eye protection. Gas welding uses a shade 5 lenses, these are really dark sunglasses. When electric welding, use at least a shade 10. The shades go up to 14, with a shade 14 you can stare at the sun with out harming your eyes. The higher the amperage you use the higher the shade you need. The auto dark helmets are really nice, especially if you are learning to weld, you can see what you are doing before and after you strike your arc. If you buy one make sure that it has IR and UV protection even when it is in it's light state (about a shade 4 for most i have seen). That way your eyes are protected if it goes light while you are welding. The down side is the auto darks tend to be heavy, more of a problem if you are wearing on a daily basis. And they are more quite a bit more expensive than a regular welding hood. I have a variable shade, variable sensitivity auto dark hood that set the boss back around $300. Remember thinking that this is cool, and then he handed me a production welding job that lasted over two weeks.

Blast, taking a welding class is a great thing to do. That is how i learned to weld. And while i don't normally do welding for a living i wound up with a temp job working at a testing lab for a while as a welder and one of the fixtures i fabricated out of aluminum was subjected several shock loads over 250 g's and the fixture stayed together. BTW the fixture weighed over 200lbs. As far as convincing your DW point out the things around the house that welding will fix, and you can take those things to class and burn big holes in them.

Hey Blast,

can't add much more than anyone else, but I have been teaching arc/oxy/mig for 20 odd years to high school students. try to find a night class at local high school in your area. If you know an agriculture teacher locally, he/she might be willing to teach you one on one in a "crash" course about welding.
If I was closer, I would invite you over.
Dale