G'day All,

this is probably going to sound like a stupid question to most of you but i'm trying to suss out how an Arc Welder works and have never welded before in my life!

I understand with Arc Welding you earth the metal you're welding, and then hit it with the welding rod which is live, thus completing the circuit but what i'm trying to work out is can you be touching the metal being welded at all without getting a nasty shock?

For example if you were patching up a floor pan, or leaning against the body etc.

Cheers

there are no stupid questions... except "does stuff exsist?"

Im a mig man, never used an arc, but its better be safe, ask heaps of questions. I know with mig you can touch the item, but thick gloves are wise, things get hot very quick with welders.

Hi,

The electrode (i.e. the welding rod which is live) is held by you in an insulated holder, so when you are sitting on the pan while welding you are at the same potential (i.e. grounded) as the pan, and insulated from the high potential electrode, so no problem. If you hold the exposed part of the electrode while sitting on the pan and welding, you will weld your nuts together and no longer be a proud_dad.

hth

hahahaha, i like that answer!!!!
well done peter

Although an arc electrode is low voltage and high amperage, so the resistance your body would have would allow you to hold the electrode and touch the panel and be fine. Just like putting a finger on each side of a car battery. 12V not high amps. That is why you can build a portable home made arc welder that runs off a car battery.

Using a water flow analogy, Volts is water pressure, Amps is flow. For example Volts is how high the water tank is, Amps is how big the pipe is.

Volts stop your heart, amps burn you. A combination of the two will kill you. 240V 10A household power outlet is a good example.

An electric fence is usually 10,000 volts and pulses using less than 0.1A/hour of power. Touch one with your nuts and I guarantee you will have tears in your eyes.

That was a great question really. No such thing as a stupid question, especially when dealing with electricity.

colonel mustard, lucky you. I repaired the exhaust on my bay yesterday with an arc. Nobody out there ever try it, okay?
I cracked it royally with the awful muffler flapping around on the awful pipe so I used a fistful of electrodes and welded them together. The whole exhaust breathes about as well as a drowning asthmatic and needs replacing anyway. I just want something roadworthy-worthy.

Oh yeah. If you are going to weld something on your vehicle, disconnect the battery.

yeah you can touch what your welding
i do it all the with mig arc and tig hold and tack
but i would be careful about getting between the earth and the electrode with no gloves and a moist day or damp hands

ok i am an old war horse and it is very easy to get a shock from the welding, i can say with certainty you will get a shock from anything electric.How i hear well if you are on anything damp grass, wet hands, etc just try standing on wet grass and holding the electrode while the earth is on it or attatched to a metal bench,i knew a bloke with a weak hart that nearly killed him
but like everything caution makes it less likely that an acident can happen but no guarentee

I had my hand touching earth and the arc welding stick at the same time...

only a bit of a shock/spasm on the hand, cause it was dry and the skin is of high resistance, if it was wet it would be nasty. but ur fine.

I've welded next to fuel tanks filled with petrol on the car and the current passing through the chassis doesn't explode nuffin, not even ecu's. so its all good.

just keep away from the breather and filler :P

Yeah..... I wouldn't do that.

#1 golden rule when welding cars - Disconnect the battery!!

9 times out of 10 nothing will happen but batterys do explode and alternators and ECUs can fry

ive welded cars more times that i care to remember with the battery still connected and never damaged anything but seriously why risk it for 25 secs of time to d/c the battery