I was delivering goods on a fairly run down estate today and there was a young guy lying under a Corsa doing some welding with an arc welder. During the fifteen or so minutes I was there he was working away quite happily, taking great care with his efforts.
No eye protection whatsoever, not even a pair of dark glasses. I wouldn't like to be in his shoes tonight.
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Let's hope he's got lots of used teabags lined up ready....
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Ouch,thats gonna hurt.I think you only get arc-eye once.You generally learn that lesson the first time.
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RR
Everybody gets arc-eye...... Once!
[He'll know the true meaning of excruciation by around 2am....]
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RR Everybody gets arc-eye...... Once! [He'll know the true meaning of excruciation by around 2am....]
>
I certainly learnt my lesson nearly thirty years ago.Not made that error again.I think I used cotton soaked in ice water.I haven't come across the tea bag remedy before!.
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I served my student apprenticeship at Baker Perkins and our welding instructor (the legendary Dave Stonebridge) told us about the healing powers of tea bags. Unlike several of my colleagues, I didn't get arc-eye, but I did manage to take a used up welding rod out of the gun without noticing that there was a hole in the thumb of my glove. I didn't feel pain like that again until I decided that it would be a good idea to try to unclog the die of a clogged up Fruit Leather-producing extruder with my bare thumb. You only do things like that once. Because it hurts. And it hurts a lot!
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Your eyes are the "windows to the world"
But you cant see through replacement ones.
Ask my brother! he lost his playing cowboys an Indians.
Always wear your goggles.!!
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I can feel his pain already and thats just reading about it
seen a few repeats with grinder debris but never with the welder ,ouch
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Good of you to warn the guy...
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Aloe vera soaked cotton wool works well, I found.
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A chap came into out minor injury unit a few months ago - his maks had slipped and he had burned both his retainas. We told him he'd need to go to casualty and he got into his car and DROVE off, with his head slightly skewed to one side so that his blind spots were not at the centre of his field of view!
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Good of you to warn the guy...
It wasn't that sort of estate. You do your business and don't let your car out of sight while you are doing it.
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Glad I have never got near an ark-welder. I think I saw one once from a distance of 50+ feet and I instantly looked away again, thinking it would damage my eyes. It was really bright and I thought it could haved cause blindness - looked like the sun, but on a pinprick. Will the poor chap ever be able to see properly again? Can't imagine having the equivilant of sunburn in my eyes.
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Torque means nothing without RPM
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mk124
The level of damage will depend most on the ambient light level; [how far his pupils were open] then the type of welder; [MIG's are worst] the welding amperage and the distance to the arc; [the UV is radiated spherically, so exposure level drops dramatically with distance.] Given current weather conditions and the fact that he was welding under a car..... I think he's way past tea-bags and will be rapidly approaching the "maximum safe dose of morphine" level by about now.
Don't know if it's ever been studied in depth; [must be loads of anecdotal evidence about if someone wanted to do a useful thesis] but as the UV output of the arc causes severe sunburn on the retina at the back of the eyeball, it's likely that it has a similar effect to sunburn on the skin. He probably aged his eyes about 15 years in 15 minutes.
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Got an unpleasent mouthful of abuse from 2 contractors, repairing & welding the back gates to a High Street stores loading bay, a couple of years back.
They were wearing eye protection, but no sheilds to prevent any sparks flyng onto the footpath, or to avert the gaze from passers by.
This was during a sort of 'look after your eyes' week, of some kind.
When I told the store manager, she wasn't aware of the problems thqat could be created, with this type of inconsiderate practice!!
VB
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Maybe that blind guy who was in court recently is due to get his license back?
Kevin...
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"Glad I have never got near an ark-welder"
Now I know how Noah withstood 40 days of rain..... :)
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Not learning to weld when I had the chance is one of my biggest regrets
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When I lived in Hong Kong 20 years ago there was (and probably still is) a wonderful street in Kowloon called Reclamation Street. It?s a DIY motorist?s paradise of toolshops and onstreet metal fabricating industry. It was a common sight to see arc welders working on the crowded pavement with sparks and white hot lumps whizzing everywhere. There were also coffin makers which was handy for the occasional arc-eyed passer-by who didn?t clock a double-decker.
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Sounds like India. Every street has a metal basher. Manufacturing large gates on the side of the road isn't uncommon. We also saw some guys laying hot rolled tarmac whilst wearing flip flops!
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How the hell did he expect to see where he was welding!?
Anyone who would like to start welding an evening course etc would be excellent IMHO, I had to do welding (at Brooksby Melton College, Leics, AFAIK they do evening courses) for my C&G Landbased service engineering L2&3, I used to think I could weld OK before, I soon realised I wasn't quite as good as I thaught I was!!
Never had arc-eye thankfully, despite a fair share of 'flashes', but I've had the 'V' sunburn from not doing my overalls right up....
James.
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