Welding in the work shop

[pigdoc]

I am very lucky to have a large industrial surplus seller just a couple of miles from where I live. I'm in there on almost a monthly basis for bolts and screws, steel, stainless, aluminum, or even HDPE stock. Or, just to wander around and see 'what's new'.

A couple of years ago, I bought several of those tinted vinyl welding stand-up screens for my son's shop, for like, $20 each. He uses them all the time. Also great for containing grinding sparks which are just as much a damage hazard in small shops as welding sparks.

Reclaim, Reuse, Recycle with Moses B. Glick, LLC

I've also bought carts, steel shelving, cabinets and stuff like that. Pennies on the dollar. Lots of stuff is barely used. A lot of it is sold by the pound.


Hugo, one of those squirrel cage blowers would be helpful in your situation also, to push the nasty stuff out under a garage door... I've seen portable ones, about 12", with a plastic housing and a handle on top to move them. They move a LOT of air.

-Paul

 

[Mark_BX25D]

Hugo, one of those squirrel cage blowers would be helpful in your situation also, to push the nasty stuff out under a garage door... I've seen portable ones, about 12", with a plastic housing and a handle on top to move them. They move a LOT of air.

Are you talking about a carpet dryer? I use one to ventilate my basement. Push the air out one of the foundation vents. Works great.


Once in a while there's a good deal on the furnace blower on Craigslist. Usually 3 speed, and they move a ton of air.

 

[chim]

If your welding is mostly done in a given area it wouldn't be too hard to rig something like we did at work, on a smaller scale. I bought a few of these "Monkey Arms". For our application we needed to cover fairly large areas. Each of our guys had a large table for some work and an area near the table for welding larger things and using pipe rotators. I used inline fans that we mounted to building steel and fabbed larger swing frames from pipe. The one picture below shows the setup (prior to running the discharge out through the wall). We had large exhaust fans that were OK in warmer weather but sucked too much warm air in Winter.

Being a hoarder of things that may some day be useful, I have a couple gas furnace draft inducers with 2"-ish connections that could work for such a thing.

Monkey:

Super Max Extractor Arm

Super Max fume Extractor Arm

www.monkeyindustrialsupply.com

Rotator:

PR3 Pipe Rotators

Key Plant PR3 pipe rotators offer a 3-tonne drive and idler set, specially designed for lower weight and small diameter pipe work.

www.keyplant.com

 

[pigdoc]

Are you talking about a carpet dryer?

Exactly. My experiences are similar to yours. Very convenient, effective, and versatile.

 

[trikepilot]

Hugo, one of those squirrel cage blowers would be helpful in your situation also, to push the nasty stuff out under a garage door... I've seen portable ones, about 12", with a plastic housing and a handle on top to move them. They move a LOT of air.

I literally just bought one of these last week to exhaust mig welding fumes and smoke from the shop.

VEVOR Portable Ventilator, 8 inch Heavy Duty Cylinder Fan with 33ft Duct Hose, 195W Strong Shop Exhaust Blower 1070CFM, Industrial Utility Blower for Sucking Dust, Smoke, Smoke Home/Workplace | VEVOR US

VEVOR Portable Ventilator 8 inch Heavy Duty Fan with 33ft Duct Hose delivers 1070CFM airflow, eliminating smoke and odors efficiently, perfect for various settings.

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Works well with the end of the hose out the doggie door flap.

 

[Hugo Habicht]

So here my "solution": a welding shelter for outside. Cutoff pieces of timber and I bought the perspex and the latches. Pretty flimsy lightweight, but it will do the job. Can be taken apart fully and I have only a few flat pieces to store.

 

[hagrid]

So here my "solution": a welding shelter for outside. Cutoff pieces of timber and I bought the perspex and the latches. Pretty flimsy lightweight, but it will do the job. Can be taken apart fully and I have only a few flat pieces to store.

As they say in scotland, "Tis better than nowt."

 

[Bee-Positive]

So here my "solution": a welding shelter for outside. Cutoff pieces of timber and I bought the perspex and the latches. Pretty flimsy lightweight, but it will do the job. Can be taken apart fully and I have only a few flat pieces to store.

Perspex is flammable and can release toxic fumes when burned. It is not suitable for applications where fire resistance is a primary concern unless treated with fire-retardant coatings. Not sure if it's the right choice for a welding enclosure.

 

[Concept Automation LLC]

Thank you Sir for pointing this out, I was aware of the chromium VI health hazard but not that it can be emitted when welding stainless steel. I always have good venting when welding inside.

The Hex-Chromium Vapors are present welding Stainless in ANY manner. Stick, Mig, TIG. ALSO Plasma Cutting it, as those gasses are released. Good PPE is essential. I'm an AWS life Member 46 years.

 

[Hugo Habicht]

The Hex-Chromium Vapors are present welding Stainless in ANY manner. Stick, Mig, TIG. ALSO Plasma Cutting it, as those gasses are released. Good PPE is essential. I'm an AWS life Member 46 years.

Thank you for pointing this out. I only use TIG with stainless and, unfortunately, I do not have a plasma cutter yet

 

[Hugo Habicht]

Perspex is flammable and can release toxic fumes when burned. It is not suitable for applications where fire resistance is a primary concern unless treated with fire-retardant coatings. Not sure if it's the right choice for a welding enclosure.

I know, I thought about that, but I need light for the helmet to work and I want to see what I weld. I hope the splatters will not go too far and not do any major damage. Will try it out soon.

Not sure if you saw that, this is used only outdoors and it will keep the wind away. I would not use that inside, too dangerous.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

You need a forced vent up top to suck out the smoke!

 

[Hugo Habicht]

You need a forced vent up top to suck out the smoke!

Sorry, the headline may be misleading (now), I will only weld outside and this is a shelter against the ever present wind in Ireland. Otherwise the protective gas is blown away.

 

[Concept Automation LLC]

Thank you for pointing this out. I only use TIG with stainless and, unfortunately, I do not have a plasma cutter yet

I worked for Thermal Dynamics Inc., for 20 years, a mfg. of industrial plasma cutters and plasma welders (yes plasma welders, imagine a TIG torch with various sizes of tips in front of the tungsten). Mostly used in automated applications where the high freq. start was a problem. I still specialize in large CNC plasma, Hypertherm, Thermal Dynamics / ESAB , Lincoln Electric / Kaliburn, for the past 26 years . Lots of very, very cheap China hand held plasma out there now. I just bought an Arc Captain 120/230v H.F. start non-pilot plasma for $180.00, just for xxxx, and it has a Linde / ESAB PT-31 copy torch. In 1985 Thermal Dynamics launched the 1st. single ph. plasma in the world for $3,600.00.. It changed the fab business world over. Then the 1st. air plasma in '87 for $1,650.00. Anyway, at least from the feedback I see in the market, Arc Captian seems to have a lot of trust and support. Will give this little beast a try on both 120 and 230 volt. As it is not a pilot arc version, it is limited to arc start height like a TIG torch. Piercing thicker will cause slage to short out the nozzle /tip, starting too close. So pilot arc plasma's are better for thicker materials, painted, rusty surfaces, and worth the extra cost. Search posts by Jim Colt, a former Hypertherm plasma specialist, now retired. Incredibly respected. Just got my used B2650HSDC with BH77, and starting some mod's, like adding better entry steps for my bad knees. Going to transfer the sno blower I modified for my old Ford, now to the bare quick tach plate for the Kubota. Enough of my ramble...