Cascade Crew

chevymad · Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 9:00 pm Post subject: Fire Safety

The last few weeks i've been joking around a bit about setting myself on fire while welding the 1/4 panel onto my 74. I've burnt some major holes in 3 different shirts. This flux core wire i'm using at the moment really sends out sparks.

Something happened yesterday that makes this not so funny anymore. An old guy I know was out working in his shop. He was wearing a pair of insulated coveralls. Most likely had oil/grease/gas whatever on them, like most of us would. As cold as its been lately he had the wood stove in his shop going. So he backed up to the wood stove to warm up a bit, and the coveralls caught fire. He wasnt able to get out of the coveralls and ended up buring 80-90% of his body. Late last night he passed away.

This is a horrible way to go, and it got me to thinking. Maybe we shouldnt be so nonchalant about small fires and should do more to protect our things and selves. Also I'd recommend for all of us that work on cars to make sure we have a fire extinguisher handy. I cant even tell you where mine is, so I think i'll be getting a new one soon.

iansane · Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 10:24 pm Post subject:

Whoa. That sucks. Horrible way to go. I've got two fire extinguishers in the garage that I've accumulated over the years (mainly my high school kleptomania).

And I can relate to the sparks thing. Almost every shirt I own has at least a few welding holes.

chevymad · Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 10:35 pm Post subject:

Welding holes= 2 shirts with 2-3" holes, one shirt with a 4x10" hole.

Twilightoptics · Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 9:23 am Post subject:

Cotton and leather are your friends.

Got an extinguisher in each car and several for the garage.

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 10:10 pm Post subject:

what type of wire are you using B?

I found with the the 75/25 mix of Ar/CO2 it spatters a lot with ET71-GS wire. Try an ET71-T11 or T10 wire. Won't spatter as bad.

As Paul said, Leather and 100% cotton stuff is the way to go. If you can find an old canvas tent and cover most of your body with it in confined spaces, you won't burn yourself.

chevymad · Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 10:15 pm Post subject:

Was using a flux core wire until my welding parts arrived. Now i'm all back up and running with gas. That flux core is just like using a sparkler.

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 10:20 pm Post subject:

Ah, misunderstood. Thought Dual shield.

Yeah, fluxcore is nasty stuff. Goes on ugly, spatters like hell. Real bad. Been a couple years since I've messed with it.

Reminds me of my first experience with E6010 stick.