electric shock

[neilgrahamirwin@hotmail.c]

This may well be a stupid question, but if you touch the metal you are welding is there a chance you will get an electric shock from the welder-i don't mean touch the exact point you are welding but say the other end of the plate you are welding etc. Is it bad practice to hold the piece you are welding to position it while you tack it in place or should it always be clamped and you keep your hands away?
thanks

 

[madkayaker]

Welcome I got a tingle when i grabbed my earth clamp last night but the voltage is to low to do any damage (unless you have pacemaker etc then we would have to test) As for touching when your welding that's fine as the voltage is circulating back to welder. Welcome were a friendly bunch here.

 

[rtbcomp]

You should be ok unless there's a fault in the welder. I run mine through an RCD to be on the safe side.

You should be wearing gloves anyway.

 

[Hitch]

As long as your not in a puddle with wet gloves you will be fine.

The way you do sometimes get a very slight tingle is if your holding two peices together that arnt touching, then it tries to find an earth through your finger.
Just make sure you have metal to metal contact between the two bits.

 

[madkayaker]

You should be OK unless there's a fault in the welder. I run mine through an RCD to be on the safe side.

You should be wearing gloves anyway.

I know why you say that and an RCD is a must in most situations IMHO as long as its not used to encourage bad practice. For some faults such as over voltage on secondary windings it might not protect and they can and do fail. I once pushed the test button on one and it blow up and burnt my finger! If you suspect your welder could be faulty get it PAT tested by someone used to testing such machines. I have rapped the handles of my clamp in insulation tape and PAT the welder every 3 months (retest duration for site equipment)

 

[Woody.v8]

I once pushed the test button on one and it blow up and burnt my finger!

I know it shouldn't but that comment made me chuckle for a while

 

[madkayaker]

It did with me once id stop ed swearing.

 

[aero]

I've put myself between the two open ends of an oxford. The result was a highly unpleasant 50 hertz jingle. Nasty enough to make me remember not to do it again.

Although I see on some websites people pay for such treament? With quite disturbing ideas as to where to poke the electrode.

 

[madkayaker]

very true

 

[paulmowers]

Hi

I've put myself between the two open ends of an oxford. The result was a highly unpleasant 50 hertz jingle. Nasty enough to make me remember not to do it again.

I did that once with my sip topweld 140, wound full out, it smelt hot to I touched one of the terminals, it was hot, then touched the other, it was hot too, but couldn't decide which was hotter, so like a prize prat I touched one with my left hand and the other with my right, I let go in a hurry!!!!!!!

Never done it since.

Paul..

 

[chunkolini]

In a word No!
When I first started Mig welding I fannied around with a set of ridiculous jigs to hold small components together (like pieces of 6mm bar 50mm long) then rashly I got fed with up with this system and held them free hand. And bugger my face off, I was not electrocuted. I must have been proper desperate to try this with in my head a 50:50 chance of a shock. But there 200 of them to assemble.

The thing to watch out for is being burned by holding manually tiny components that get hot, spot welding it is surprising how small you can do it and get away with it, but now and again it does sting a bit. The advantage of this approach? No finger prints.

Chunko'.

Mind you it is worth wearing gloves if you can find them, but at some scales gloves dont work, you have to feel what you are doing.

 

[madkayaker]

the gloves offer insulation if there dry

 

[gavuk]

When i came out of my time (fitter),the lads at work put a ball and chain around my leg ,because they couldn't find a padlock they welded a nut and bolt through the clasp,unfortunatley my overalls got hot and started to smoke,so they tipped water over the weld to cool it and my overalls down ,then tried welding the bolt again ,,,,i would have jumped if three of them had not been holding me down .......removing the ball and chain later that night was no fun either

 

[madkayaker]

like it bet that was funny. How did you get it off?

 

[gavuk]

They tied me to a tree for a couple of hours,then released me took me to the pub ,got me very drunk,then 1 lad took me back to work and cut the ball and chain off with an angle grinder,i was past caring then.......don't think these "high jinks "happen so often now for fear of getting sacked

 

[madkayaker]

at least they made it up to you.