Welding area in metal space

Extract hood .

And mig is much cleaner than stick . Its not a big problem

That’s what I thought…but need documentation to assess the risks properly.

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http://www.hse.gov.uk/welding/index.htm

All we need to know.

Mig is about half way up . Stick is the worst and under watter is the best

Hate to be the one to pee on anyone’s bonfire , but not sure we should be adding to the metalwork tools until we have the ones we do have are operational.

We need someone to step forward as a @metaltechs who is experienced in the lathe and mill to get this moved forward .

If there is no one experienced enough @Barnaby_Coote suggested sending someone on a training course. Which I think is a great idea.

We have one metaltech we need more who have the time to commit to the metalwork area. Maybe once this is in place then we can start talking about welding

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You’ve kind of said this already in your earlier post.

If @Calum_Nicoll is willing to lead on welding I don’t see how it detracts from other activities getting started? It might feed into the overall energy of getting metalwork going.

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We already have all the tools - it’s just sitting in the snug.

Re the lathe - I don’t feel I have enough experience to induct people on it - I can use one for the basic operations but not enough to answer every question on it. I am trying to work on a metal work hand induction as well as a milling one, as well as a drill press one. It’s difficult for me to justify the time to come down to do inductions etc though when there is not enough tools operational for me to do any personal work - so I am trying to work on improving it with the help of lots of others.

I’d like to attract/steal more technical metalworkers (from LHS or SMEE or a couple of other guys I know) but it’s difficult when we have no tools and no possibility of getting some - so I’m trying to change this. When we get gas welding my next target would be ideally a cold saw and then we’ll be able to build almost anything.

Agreed tig is nice and super tidy as akin to Joe’s link. MIG is easily an order of magnitude better than stick welding - TIG is even better. http://www.hse.gov.uk/welding/fume-extraction-rpe.htm

Some examples where you will not normally need extraction
All examples assume the work piece is free from contaminants (dirt, grease, excessive oil, etc) and surface coatings (plating, paints, etc).

  1. Welding and hot cutting outdoors;
  2. flame welding (oxy/acetylene welding);
  3. a few minutes every hour of manual arc welding to tacking or small repairs (except on stainless steels)

For a demo, MIG with no extraction will be fine. It will be short - think 30 seconds of trigger time in total. HSE guidance above suggests it would be ok to weld non-stainless steel a few minutes per hour generally with no extraction generally too [see point 3) above - MIG is less fumey than manual arc] but I think we should go above and beyond this and get extraction setup once we verify the light reflection etc are not too annoying for folk.

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I think we should let him give it a go. We are at serious risk of killing another members enthusiasm to help out in the space otherwise.

The concerns have been well laid out. Let him have a go.

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Sounds good to me :slight_smile: just as a reminder though, welding using flames and combustible gas is prohibited by our lease. All manner of arcs are fine though :slight_smile:

Look forward to seeing some creative solutions emerge here :smiley:

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Absolutely no flames/flammable gases planned! Will get cracking with plans for a test and will try and arrange some filming of it going on so folk can get an idea of the light reflection/lack of it. Will also have a secondary person standing by with fire extinguisher to make extra extra sure of fire safety - though I’m sure it is all fine.

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Dean Forbes has kindly offered to donate some welding screens/curtains (in a fitting makerspace red colour) so we won’t need to improvise - they are in LHS currently but I will move them over for the test - if it’s decided welding doesn’t suit I will return them.

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Just dug the welder out the snug and had a look at it. It looks pretty good but needs a new regulator. We could get the current one serviced but it is pretty beaten up and regulators are cheap (20/30 quid). I will have another look next time i am in.

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That’s worth spending for the trial. Also: it belongs to @peter_hellyer and @joeatkin2 on long long term loan, so they need to agree

Yes let’s get one :grinning:

+1

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I’d be interested in putting myself forward for this. There are probably many more suitable people who have prior experience of metalwork, and if they’re interested, then go with them. However I have a reasonable amount of spare time and willingness to help out. If it comes to the point of having to get people professionally trained up to roll out our own metalwork inductions etc, then I’ll gladly volunteer my services wherever needed.

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Got a bit delayed but back in london after the weekend and keen to get on with this.

Looking at regulators - https://www.weldingsuppliesdirect.co.uk/welding-equipment/gas-welding-cutting/gas-regulators/sheilding-gas-regulators.html looks ideal. We need a 1s 2g one - basically this means it has two gauges, one for the the tank pressure (so you can see how full the tank is) and one for the flow rate (so you can see how much gas is flowing to the welder).

Cost of this is £31.78 + 7.80 delivery (including VAT). Can I buy this @directors

Cheers
Calum

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Yes, go for it!

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Finally got the MIG up and running - and it’s nice! Extraction worked great thanks to @joeatkin2 , it would be good to have some more curtains as the current setup is a bit sparse, and we need to sort wire to hang them on, and a risk assessment before training can begin, but looks super promising.

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Great start.

Fraser said he might have some curtains. And some spare tips.

Other than 1) finishing a risk assessment, and 2) installing the second curtain, is there anything else that needs to be done before we can start running inductions/do we need any ok’s on smoke etc? The extract works great.

I have notes from training folk at lhs so can reuse them for a practice training session.