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10 Commandments of Welding, And my confession

The commandments:

  1. Thou shalt not weld on an unpurged tank
  2. Thou shalt secure thy tanks
  3. Thou shalt clean thy work carefully
  4. Thou shalt place thy work in jigs
  5. thou shalt not weld near flammable materials
  6. thou shalt take great care of thy tools
  7. thou shalt have good ventilation
  8. thou shalt use goggles
  9. thou shalt wear gloves
  10. thou shalt ground thy work

My confession (and excuses/BS)...

#1 I don't purge - that's done for me when I get them refilled. I could purge the hoses but the valves leak enough that it doesn't matter anyway (though my new torch does hold the acetylene and I would consider it).

#2 secure? - just set the tank on the cart with the loose-fitting lasso-chain. It ain't gonna fall from there.

#3 Cleaning - does paint count as cleaning? Bondo-cover?

#4 jiggs! - usually a pair of vice-grips or a magnet will do. Any method of propping it together is good enough to get a bendable-tack. Then a little heating/bending helps. But no matter what the warping while welding is more sever than any jig will hold, - so keeping something straight requires side-to-side time-share-welding and possibly some post-weld heating/bending.

#5 weld near ... flammable materials - if a fire starts just take a big breath and blow it out! What-r-ya-fraid-of? Big-bad-bondo? Undercoat? Paint-fire? Baaaahhhhh shoooo - poof no problem.

#6 if the tool box fills with rain just dump the water out. When leaves fill the box just blow them off w/ some oxygen or an air-compressor.

#7 ventilation - for what? Just take a big breath and do the job. When you need another breath just blow the smoke away first so when you inhale you get fresh air.

#8 goggles are goofy - a cool pair of #5 shades are all one needs. Sure sometimes the glasses under the shades get pit-marks but by the time those build up it's time for a new pair anyway (from rubbin em on e old shirt).

#9 gloves - an occasionally burning reinforces intelligence (or recognition of one's own stupidity)

#10 grounding - not with torches! In fact, if you don't keep your work up off of the ground you get exploding pieces of the ground hitting you.

OK so I'm a SINNER now what? I DO BELIEVE IN JESUS! and Thankfully faith in Jesus brings forgiveness. Elliott PS: Merry christmas and thanks to this NG for good reading!

Reply to
reitze
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The Unpurged tank indicates thusly : take a 55 gallon tank that was marked JP4 jet fuel on the side. Plan on making an open top barrel. What do you do ?

While a young man, a welder started to do just that. He was ill trained or not on this game. He met his maker when his cutting torch went through the top and ignighted fumes remaining in the tank. The 55 gallon was de-topped, so was the welder. Both at once in a large explosion.

Martin Merry Christmas! Happy Honica! Happy Kwanza!

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

Commandment 11. Thou shalt wear ear protection. Molten dingleberries can end your career in less than a second.

Reply to
SteveB

I once used my hat to extinguish a car's gas-line that was burning near the gas tank. Sadly, it ruined my hat.

And, the 1 gas-tank that I did weld (a 5 gal metal can) still "popped" even though I had filled it with water. Don't think I'd want to weld/cut something that had been filled with JP4. But in that context I guess "purge" makes more sense. Interesting and possibly related is how pipes pop when welding them sealed (eg: using black-pipe to make a truck rack - a cross piece ends up sealed).

Anybody want to make a "Fire-stories" thread? Maybe it's a little too embarresing for those of us who have been welding for 30+ years.

Reply to
reitze

Commandment 11 ==> rewording to commandment 8.

Reply to
reitze

My Dad, who was an old barn stormer aviator, told me a story when I was a kid of a fellow who tried to repair a gas tank used in an airplane. They thoroughly steam washed the inside of the tank, drained it washed it again, etc. When he went to weld it he hit a pocket of gas still residing in a corner of the tank. It blew up and killed the poor fellow .....

Reply to
Doctor John

How do you thoroughly wash the inside of a tank when you can't get at it? I was just wondering because I have been trying to do it. ;-)

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

To take a torch to a tank of questionable vapor content, fill it with water leaving just enough room for the torch to let the slag out. Similar to brazing up a car fuel tank, but you have to fill it with gas first. Let the tank vent nicely, somewhere other than near the torch, and gently braze away. The clincher is that it is the vapor that's flammable, not the liquid. I remember doing some kind of tank one time and it had water or something in it and there was enough vapor being generated that it slowly burned at the filler neck while I worked. The fact that there wasn't enough oxygen inside the tank to support combustion kept flame outside, and the steam coming from the work site kept it down also. As far as vapor and burns, I was welding up a can crusher when I was in high school (they weren't sold commercially in the early 80's) and the piece of pipe must have let some unburned acetylene out the other end. I was doing fine for a good while until I started to realize that while my arm was kinda warm I was also smelling burning hair. I stepped back and the sleeve of my shirt had just about all burned away and you could see a gentle blue flame still coming out of the other end of the pipe. Nothing but a red spot, but the shirt was a total loss. The weldor I was apprenticing to was very adamant about the clothes I wore while in his shop, and the cotton shirt kept me from making a trip to the emergency room to have polyester pulled off of burnt skin.

"SteveB" wrote in message news:m8Ewd.42338$ka2.27942@fed1read04... | | "Doctor John" wrote in message | news:HyCwd.189$ snipped-for-privacy@fe25.usenetserver.com... | > My Dad, who was an old barn stormer aviator, told me a story when I was a | > kid of a fellow who tried to repair a gas tank used in an airplane. They | > thoroughly steam washed the inside of the tank, drained it washed it | > again, | > etc. When he went to weld it he hit a pocket of gas still residing in a | > corner of the tank. It blew up and killed the poor fellow ..... | >

| >

| How do you thoroughly wash the inside of a tank when you can't get at it? I | was just wondering because I have been trying to do it. ;-) | | Steve | |

Reply to
carl mciver

I wasn't there (I wasn't even born yet) but as I understood it there was an access port, or filler port, and they repeatedly blasted the inside of the tank with a steam cleaner, and then let it drain. I have heard of trying this by filling the tank with an inert gas, but I wouldn't do it under any circumstances.

Reply to
Doctor John

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