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Anderzander

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Having set fire to endless jackets and jumpers with my welder, I bought a welding jacket. Having had too many bits in my eyes from grinding, I finally bought a decent mask. I also bought some ear defenders too.

What I want to look at next is a better pair of gloves - I haven't found a pair that seem to strike the right balance between offering good protection and allowing me to retain some digital manipulatory ability ... For bot when I use the Mig or the grinder. Could anyone make any suggestions or recommendations for me please?

Also, maybe a bit of a daft one, what do people wear in general for the workshop ? Overalls ? Jeans ? T-shirts!?

Any helps gratefully received.

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I wear an old brown leather jacket a drop face mask and some of these gloves they took a bit of breaking in but I've never burnt myself while wearing them, they're great for grinding and ok for manipulating relatively small bits of steel.

I always wear ear defenders when i do anything loud and generally light safety glasses since for me I have been burnt far more often wearing full goggles than I have in glasses. I also wear ear defenders if I am under the thing I am welding , Ive had a couple of really painful burns in my ears from molten metal so be warned.

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I use Screwfix's not-quite-the-cheapest riggers, black & yellow, about £2.50/pair. Start off a bit stuff & clumsy but after a bit of use they soften up and work nicely. I've got some pukka long lined welding gauntlets that stop you from getting sunburn on the forearms when welding in t-shirt but they're a bit clunky.

Not found any "fine" gloves that don't get shredded by regular workshop activity. The fancy fine leather TIG gloves are very thin but doubt they'd stand much spannering.

I don't bother with overalls unless it's proper cold or I'm about to do something horrifically dirty. Mostly just old cargo trousers, t-shirt, fleece top if it's nippy, old pair of trainers.

Don't do ear defenders.

I'm a speccy git anyway so those take most of the eye damage (and make finding practical goggles/mask nigh on impossible).

One thing I do miss for welding under things is a leather apron, had one at the lab and it was handy just to drape over unprotected areas to deflect sparks. Never got worn as an apron!

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No recommendations from Nige? ;)

I'm surprised you don't use ear defenders or plugs, Fridge. Just working on the one 109 with ear defenders when grinding or hammering hard has done a small amount of damage to my hearing (but then again, I suspect driving it and my work environment are responsible too).

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General work in the workshop I wear Ansel hyflex gloves, the white with grey grippy faces. They're good as you can still feel stuff when you're wearing them and they don't restrict any movement They seem to last pretty well, but eventually the palms start peeling at the edges.

Ear protection wise, I use a mixture of ear defenders when I'm going to be doing grinding on and off, or decent squishy ear plugs when I know I'm going to be doing a lot. I find the ear defenders get a bit sweaty after a while if its a warm day or the stove is going.

When welding I'm normally in the same hyflex grippy gloves as normal. Particularly when using the TIG as I want the dexterity for feeding the filler. I do have some nice big leather gloves for the MIG and a nice set of thin TIG gloves for when its going to get a bit hot. However. they're a little tight, so I wear an odd pair of one thick pair and a thin one on whichever hand I'm filling with.

I also have a mixture of 'rubber' gloves.... cheapy latex ones if I'm going to be changing them often (but they rip easily) and some really nice nitrile ones if I know I'm keeping them on for ages (Touch-n-Tough).

Glasses wise, I just have a pair of tight fitting safety specs.... can't remember what brand they are.

For general workshop wear.... I'm in shorts and Tshirt! I keep a dirty set in the workshop and change. So it's not great from a H&S point of view if I'm welding or grinding... being hairy hot stuff sticks :lol:. If I'm just popping in briefly, I stick overalls on.

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I wear the slightly thicker latex gloves all the time, i find the thin white ones tear if you so much an sneeze and things like coolant give me a rash on my hands that's a blighter to get rig of. For hot work I wear welding gauntlets over the top of my latex gloves then you can whip the thick gloves off for the bits where you need a bit more feel. I sometimes use the goalie gloves as they're a bit grippier but not as much feeling as the latex. For trimming the prickly bush around the house I've found the thermal riggers seem to stop me getting spiked the most, and I've had those prickles go through the sole of my shoe before :/

I didn't used to wear ear defenders but I find noise really irritates me these days so I just use the peltor tin can type.

Most of the time I don't use goggles due to having glasses but I did find some really comfy ones that don't steam up so I wear those for grinding now.

I wear overalls if I think I'm going to get dirty, mainly to reduce nagging as I get in trouble if I make the washing machine smell :)

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On top on hands, eye and ear protection, I've been using a respiratory mask for quite some years when doing any amount of grinding or sanding.

It cost me about £15 from Screwfix IIRC.

Don't neglect your lungs, they be quite important. It doesn't take much grinding before you can blow a good deal of black stuff out of your nose ?

If I'm welding or plasma cutting I either try to work outside or make sure the door is open.

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Tig gloves a bit thin for long term welding imho

Use welding gloves, couple of leather sets, for mig plus grinding.

Leather welding jacket for welding and grinding.

Combination of welding gloves and leather coat with long sleeves saved my arm when I plugged my grinder in and it was locked in the on position by mistake and jumped out my right hand and bounced off my left arm / wrist with a 1mm cutting disk in it.... so fast, no long term damage, just a reminder for the future (a+E brilliant at 11pm to 3am..., suspect they thought foul play of me breaking into something at first gen I looked like a hobo in garage gear and a kitchen roll on my arm...)

Autodimming welding mask (Swiss)

Various green glasses for plasma

Good 3M ear defenders with a high DBA reduction.

Use to use goggles with grinding, but recently changed to full face.

Cotton jeans and safety boots.

Respiratory is one I've not got mastered with a good pp3 with cost effective replacement filters for regular changing.

Problem is, garage is an (expensive) hobby for me, if I do myself a serious injury, I can't work = no sick pay = day job affected....

After the grinder bounced off my arm, I took it as a warning shot.... if I loose a limb, eye, hearing, permanent or temporary... it can affect my breadwinning ability.

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I switched back to full face mask recently, after having some very nice goggles... however I think the biggest thing when using either, is to make sure you are looking straight at what you are cutting, that way there is much less chance of anything directly striking your face.

Part of the full-face change was probably triggered by now having a large beard ;)

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I wear prescription safety specs and a full face mask for grinding.

Glasses friendly goggles on their own didn't stop me having to make two trips to the eye hospital (one the day before my wedding). A full face mask is a must after having a 9" disc disintegrate in my face. I was wearing a mask so it was a complete non-event. I've seen pictures on Pirate of different outcomes.

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Haven't tried them welding but we acquired a set of what turned out to be Maxiflex gloves from hivis.net. (They were branded promo gloves from Wera).

I've been using them when working on the 110 recently and they have the wonderful property of not becoming slick when covered in oil. Genuinely impressed with them for the dirty jobs.

Will have to order some more.

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I switched back to full face mask recently, after having some very nice goggles... however I think the biggest thing when using either, is to make sure you are looking straight at what you are cutting, that way there is much less chance of anything directly striking your face.

Part of the full-face change was probably triggered by now having a large beard ;)

Yeah - it's one thing having beer and sausage roll in a bushy beard, but melted patches from big sparks just looks silly. ;)

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I wear prescription safety specs and a full face mask for grinding.

Glasses friendly goggles on their own didn't stop me having to make two trips to the eye hospital (one the day before my wedding). A full face mask is a must after having a 9" disc disintegrate in my face. I was wearing a mask so it was a complete non-event. I've seen pictures on Pirate of different outcomes.

I will get one for that reason when I return to the UK and the hobby.

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To be fair, the main reason, other than not liking the smell of singeing hair, it was the amount of muck it picks up, especially when grinding/wire cup brushing. I also wear a face mask more often now to avoid the same thing, as well as protect my lungs!

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Yes it is tricky :)

I use the material type, rather than the useless paper ones, and tuck it all inside :P Tie it up snug from behind.

This sort of thing, but never tried these specific ones: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silverline-Fold-Flat-Valved-Face-Mask-FFP2-NR-Display-Box-25pk-FFP2-NR-/121801707375?hash=item1c5bf28f6f:g:CZ8AAOSw5ZBWM0FB

Though having googled I am now tempted by one of these, especially in winter:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Airhole-Brown-Insane-S1-Series-Snowboarding-Facemask-/301874851797?hash=item464924afd5:g:bdwAAOSwezVWxEaZ

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