Before you strike an arc

The helmet, and why sunglasses are not it

An electric arc puts out ultraviolet light at an intensity your eyes have no reflex against. The injury – arc eye – does not hurt at the time. It arrives hours later and feels like sand under the eyelids.

Use a proper welding helmet. An auto-darkening one is easier for a beginner because you can see the joint before you strike, so the first inch of the weld is not guesswork.

Cover your skin

The same light burns skin like strong sun, and it goes through a single thin layer of cotton. Long sleeves in a heavy fabric, gloves, and no gap at the wrist or neck. A forearm burn from an afternoon of welding is a real sunburn, not a warm feeling.

Ventilation

Electrode coatings produce fumes, and so does whatever is on the metal. Galvanised steel is the one to know about: heating zinc coating produces fumes that cause a genuine illness, and the answer is to grind the coating off the weld area first and work where the air moves.

Fire

Sparks travel several metres and land in places you are not looking at. Clear anything flammable, know where a fire extinguisher or a bucket of water is before you start, and look around the workshop again a few minutes after you finish.

Duty cycle

A welder’s rating is what it can do, not what it can do continuously. The overheat cut-out on this machine is a protection against damage rather than a timer you are meant to work up to. If it trips, it has done its job – let the machine cool rather than restarting it immediately.

A first practice

Run beads on a piece of scrap plate before you try to join anything that matters. You are learning one thing: holding a constant short gap between electrode and work. Almost every beginner problem is the gap wandering.