Welding precautions

[RattyCortina]

In the near future I will need to weld a patch on the sill of my van, it was an advisory at the last MOT.

Apart from the usual disconnecting of the battery and alternator, do I have to do anything else? (thinking of the BSI)

[Sol]

It might be worth unplugging the BSI - saves any earth loops burning stuff out. Good question.

I've lost PLCs at work on heavy rotating machinery because of welders. Our main stranding machine is 320Te with a 1400A motor and its PLC was killed by someone welding a lifting eye to a jig fixture.

The BSI is just such a PLC. (Programmable logic controller)

[Romahomepete]

Also, keep a bucket of water and or fire blanket and fire extinguisher handy. I recently repaired some rust on my son's transit work van and the underseal/wax kept trying to burn inspire of me removing as much as I could. Easy to put out but there is a need to be aware. Also make sure that you get it high enough so that you are comfortable and can move about easily in case you are underneath and have to make a rapid exit. Make sure that all bare skin is covered and wear non flammable clothing (I have a welding apron and my nephew has a leather welding jerkin). Decent gauntlet type gloves help too

Peter

[Guanock]

Make sure there is nothing on the interior that could combust, such as carpet or wiring.

Geoff

[RattyCortina]

Thanks, I'll disconnect the BSI to be on the safe side. TBH I'm not actually sure yet whether the area in question will need welding until I give it a good scrape, the stonechip coating is bubbling as though water has got trapped under it.

As for the general welding precautions, with the cars I've had its a case of been there, done that, got the T-shirt, set fire to the T-shirt...

(And had 'arc eye'... ouch)

[Sol]

Before disconnecting it, shut it down properly. Bonnet up, doors closed, everything off, wait about 2 mins then disconnect the battery. Once that's off it's safe to unplug the BSI. Otherwise you could corrupt it by unplugging it while it's booted up.

[RattyCortina]

After peeling off the bubbling stonechip coating the metal underneath looked sound so I thought it would be a case of a quick clean up and paint, but the whizzy wheel of doom shows no mercy...



So out with the cutting disc and whip out the offending section, then I found the inner sill behind needed a small patch. So with everything prepared I disconnected the battery and BSI, which I had naively assumed had one big plug...

Then I had issues with the welder, I had switched to a disposable argon/C02 bottle after using gasless wire for years, after struggling with the settings and not getting anywhere I gave up and swapped back to gasless wire. The local pigeons complained about my welding being compared to their droppings but after a tickle with a 60 grit sanding disc and a smidgen of seam sealer the result looked acceptable... if I took my glasses off and squinted a bit. Then it was a wrestling match with the BSI plugs, a few choice words were uttered but I got there in the end. I reset the clock and radio, there were no weird electrical issues or dancing dash lights (yet!) so I assume all's well with it. I've just got to give it a coat of paint now.

[Guanock]

Looks good. What was it like before?

[RattyCortina]

Looks good. What was it like before?

I see what you did there..