I was welding up some brackets for a sliding shelf last night. I had some bits and pieces of steel in the shed and some of this was galvanised 20 gauge steel. It was the perfect piece for my purposes so I did two really stupid things.
My first was to even consider welding galvanised without researching this in more depth. My second was to weld it to another piece of steel that had a tan sort of coating on it, causing potentially more noxious fumes. I was lazy and didnt clean my welding surface.......
I didnt think anything of it at the time but something I vaguely remembered about galvanised kept bugging me so I did a search today and realised how dumb I had been.
I thought something wasnt right when a white flakey residue was present after welding and I now think this was burnt zinc.....
My welds were only about 3 inch x4 welds (about five minutes welding if that) so Im hoping I havnt done any damage to my self.
Does anyone know how much exposure is dangerous and whether I should rush off to the doctor? I dont feel any flu type symptoms.
Also, is there a handy website I can use to identify metals that are dangerous to weld. I've got a heap of brackets from a server room clean out that I was going to use but now Im not so sure if they are ok to use?
Cheers,
Big T
My first was to even consider welding galvanised without researching this in more depth. My second was to weld it to another piece of steel that had a tan sort of coating on it, causing potentially more noxious fumes. I was lazy and didnt clean my welding surface.......
I didnt think anything of it at the time but something I vaguely remembered about galvanised kept bugging me so I did a search today and realised how dumb I had been.
I thought something wasnt right when a white flakey residue was present after welding and I now think this was burnt zinc.....
My welds were only about 3 inch x4 welds (about five minutes welding if that) so Im hoping I havnt done any damage to my self.
Does anyone know how much exposure is dangerous and whether I should rush off to the doctor? I dont feel any flu type symptoms.
Also, is there a handy website I can use to identify metals that are dangerous to weld. I've got a heap of brackets from a server room clean out that I was going to use but now Im not so sure if they are ok to use?
Cheers,
Big T