A word of warning

happy days

happy days

Active Member
Been practicing my welding, had all the gear, mask, gloves etc. After a couple of days my left eye was bloodshot and very sore. Couldn't watch the tv even without sunglasses on. Went to the doc who said got to A & E, luckily we have an eye hospital local which have an A & E for eyes. Anyway they looked in and found a couple of metal fragments. Have you been doing any metal work ie grinding they said and I admitted yes, then got a telling off by a nice nurse for not wearing eye protection. Am now on antibiotics, eye drops every 2 hrs and cream in the eye before bed for 3 days then back to see if all is getting better. I have never been one for all this health and safety rubbish but have now gone and got some eye protection for 2.99p. Guys dont let it happen to you. It's bloody sore. Cheers Mick
 
Mick

I feel your pain. I had a cyst removed from my eyelid a couple of weeks ago and once the anaesthetic wore off it was bloody sore. Worst bit was the drops they put in my eyes to dilate the pupils. Couldn't see a thing after that. Tried making a phone call and sending a text whilst I was waiting to go in for the op but couldn't focus on anything closer than about 2 feet away. Walked outside into the sunshine and was blinded :roll:

I used to work in an aircraft environment so am used to wearing protective equipment. I've got a full face visor with integral ear defenders that I use when grinding and cleaning etc. Comes in handy when strimming the grass too. Hope your eye is better soon.

Dave
 
I once had a grinding spark go in my eye, went to the doc who scraped it off my eyeball.

Scarey bit was about 8 years later I had an eyetest and the optician pointed out the damage !

Since then I always wear eye protection, I tend to use one of the full face visors, rather than goggles as it's easier to see through, and covers your whole face, I've been told that you can get spark come round the sides, but I've never had that even with the grinder firing straight into my face.

Something like this

53860.jpg


Also worth mentioning some sort of breathing mask when welding, some of the fumes given off, especially when old paint starts to burn, can be pretty nasty, you don't want to be back in hospital with some sort of lung problem !
 
webmaster said:
I once had a grinding spark go in my eye, went to the doc who scraped it off my eyeball.
Click to expand...

I had a similar thing happen. A bit of wire from a wire disc brush got stuck in my eyeball. Had to get it dug out with a needle at hospital. Not an experience I'd like to repeat!

Will.
 
I too had a similar thing when I was 16 and helping out in a factory during school holiday. I had a piece of swarf go in my eye and it wasn't half sore. Went to Eye Infirmary A&E in Worcester and they promptly dropped opium into my eye and a dye. Next thing I had a doctor scraping the iris part of my eye, followed by pain killers which wore off about 4 hours later, very sore. I seem to remember using drops for about a month.
The funny part of this was that the doctor said I would always have a blind spot from then on,..... but I've never seen it!
Seriously when it comes to anything where bits are flying about, you do need eye protection at the very least. Personally I am more inclined to use goggles that are a close fit, because little high speed fragments do have a tendency to fly past you hit something and fly back at you and can get behind a visor.
 
Eye's need looking after, I was fabricating some brake conversion parts for a Vauxhall 30/98 which needed a ton of stitch welds done (guessing over a 1000 over the whole project) and the auto welding mask I used was faulty. Driving home that night I noticed the oncoming headlights looked a tad bright, but not too out of the usual. I woke up midway through the night in absolute agony with one eye stuck shut and limited vision in the other, by 8am both eyes had stuck shut and even when held open I had no vision at all in either eye. Had to get the missus to drive me to hospital giving directions as we went, that was fun
Me: "what can you see?"
Missus: "we're on a road"
Me: "whereabouts?"
Missus: "erm, near Chelmsford?"
:LOL:
Ended up with some great NHS nurses and Doctor's pouring varying solutions into my eyes and getting my eyes scraped with a needle as some sparks from the welding had gone inside the mask and bounced around and attached themselves to my eye's just to make things that much better for me.
I now always wear eye protection for any job be it grinding or welding and replace them regularly, going blind for just a short while scared the bejesus out of me and I don't fancy going through it again.
Stay safe all, it's a hobby remember and not worth injuring yourself permanently for.
:D
 
I think the main reason I use the visor is that I wear glasses, and using goggles or safety glasses is a real pain. I suppose I should get some prescription safety glasses to use behind the visor.
 
Think the good message here is those sparks and bits of flying metal do bounce around and can get behind masks and visors. I was wearing glasses and they didn't help me. Safety goggles from now on. Cheers Mick.
 
happy days said:
Been practicing my welding, had all the gear, mask, gloves etc. After a couple of days my left eye was bloodshot and very sore. Couldn't watch the tv even without sunglasses on. Went to the doc who said got to A & E, luckily we have an eye hospital local which have an A & E for eyes. Anyway they looked in and found a couple of metal fragments. Have you been doing any metal work ie grinding they said and I admitted yes, then got a telling off by a nice nurse for not wearing eye protection. Am now on antibiotics, eye drops every 2 hrs and cream in the eye before bed for 3 days then back to see if all is getting better. I have never been one for all this health and safety rubbish but have now gone and got some eye protection for 2.99p. Guys dont let it happen to you. It's bloody sore. Cheers Mick
Click to expand...

Almost as funny as those who use arc welders.. then try to remove their contact lenses afterwards.. :)
 
You only get one pair of eyes, it is not worth taking short cuts, that's when things ALWAYS go wrong. The biggest mistake I made was to use a pair of welding goggles for carbon arc brazing (it was an experiment just to see if I could) I ended up with a face like a huge red football and a racoon piggy eyed white band. Then it all peeled, not a good look :LOL:
 
If you think that's fun, don't try getting arc-eyes...... :cry: :cry:
I have a black spot on the white of one of my eyes from a wayward spark, from back when I was too thick to wear goggles.
It also got me a trip to the Ophthalmologists to have a bit removed from my cornea and the damage ground away with a mini die grinder.... I kid you not. :shock: Still preferable to arc-eyes, though....
 
It's not just your eyes that need protecting. Many years ago a mate was using a wire knotted wheel on his grinder doing some work on an old beetle. It was middle of summer, boiling hot in the old WW2 anderson shelter so he thought a pair of shorts would be ok :roll: :roll:

Personally I have never had to get a girlfriend to remove strands of metal from my Bollocks with tweezers, not sure if the pain or embarassment would have been worse :shock:
 
I did have some welding spatter that got very close to "that area", burnt straight through my overalls and jeans, luckily it got my thigh instead, still nasty though.

You have to be very careful with those wire wheels on grinders, I made the mistake of only wearing latex gloves once, wheel ripped the glove off and took my thumb knuckle almost down to the bone. I would recommend welding gauntlets now !
 
an altercation with a 4" angle grinder and a 1mm cutting disc saw it kick back and cut into my thumb nearly to the bone. this happened at work but was holding it in my right hand while removing some metal I had cut and it touched a part of the job and kicked back causing the injury to my left thumb, the lesson being, always hold an angle grinder with two hands (one on the handle) and let it come to a complete stop before releasing your grip. Although saying that we tend to use angle grinders in some awkward positions and tend to unscrew the handle to get to bits in limited confines. SO, also be careful using angle grinders, full face visors as webmaster has shown are ideal as they are designed for high velocity impact, should a disc shatter or a piece of metal/sparks be flung toward your face, note the yellow part protects your brow. monogoggles can be worn under the visor to stop sparks bouncing back and getting in the eyes, indeed the company I work for mandate this (double eye protection) for any grinding operation. Australian/New Zealand Standards call for a visor use for grinding with potential for high velocity impact as mentioned above, I would say that British Standards, USA and most other European countries would have the same stringent safety standards.
Also make sure any PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) you purchase/use has the relevant safety standards markings on them :!:
 
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