Speedglas Adflo Questions

[Camber]

Hi guys,

New to this forum and would appreciate any assistance.

I suffered a nasty case of metal fume fever last night from welding galvanised steel, if anyone has experienced this they would know it is not pleasent...hopefully I wont have any long term effects.

On the upside, it made me realise the importance of breathing fresh air when welding instead of nasty fumes. I am looking at purchasing a Speedglas Adflo helmet and have some questions to anyone in the industry who has used one:

Does the helmet really do what is says?
How often do have to change the filters?
How good are the batteries?
Does the belt it get in the way?
If welding gal steel, do you still need to wear a respirator?

Any other feedback, positive or negative would be great. Its one thing to listen to a salesman and quite another to hear from guys out there on the front line doing the work.

Thanks in advance,:waving:

Cam

[Santinis]

So the helmet is a good helmet , but if you are welding on galvanized there are a few things you should do before you weld on it first .
First you want to grind the Zinc coating off first , what does that mean ?
You need to grind the areas that you are going to weld until you see SPARKS this usally takes at least 2-3 minutes of continues grinding with a 4 1/2 grinder for a 2-3 " weld . (If you are welding right on galvanized metal without grinding it first you are not getting the best penetraion as you would with nice clean metal .
You want to get down to the bare Carbon. Steel metal again .
Once the zinc is off the metal will weld just like it should normally , if does not then that means you did not remove all of the coating .And you need to grind some more
Once you are done welding it spray it with some cold galvaize spray.


If you have to have a respirator try 3M half mask that can go under your helmet it is cheaper.

Also get a fan to blow the fumes away .


Good luck ,
Santinis

[farmersamm]

Isn't one of the main components of a galvanized coating lead?

The long term effects of inhaling this stuff (if it is lead) is cumulative. Sounds like a bad thing.

I remember reading that one of the Antarcitc expeditions back in the 1800's possibly turned out as badly as it did because the canned food they took along was loaded with lead due to the canning process in those days. They now feel that some of the poor judgements made, and strange behavior, was due to cumulative lead ingestion over a long period.

I forget the explorers name.

[farmersamm]

The Idiot Strikes Again:rolleyes::p

Looked it up. Zinc ain't got a doggone thing to do with lead. Forget my previous post. If I had Half a brain, I'd be twice as dangerous. :laugh::laugh:

Tail between legs, head low to the ground, easin' out the door...........................

[Camber]

I had ground the gal coating off as best I could, unfortunately because the trailer was hot dip galvanised the backside of the metal and corners were not accessable, hence the fumes.

Even if the metal was perfectly clean, fumes are still generated from just about all welding processes. In my other job I do aluminium tig welding in which the components are cleaned before welding, usually with solvents.

I have tried respirators and find them unconfortable and they fog up my shield. Bottom line is I want to try and eliminate brething in fumes as long term it could potentially kill me, regardless of the cost. If in twenty years time I'm dying a slow and painful death, I think I'll be saying "gee I wish I had spent that $1500 for the helmet", thats if it works as good as they say.

Thanks

[Plasma-Head]

I own an adflo and it is one of the greatest pieces of welding equipment you can have. The regular dust filters on it handle all types of particles and fumes including galv and hex chrome and manganese and will last for 2-6 months if not more, depending on how much abuse you put it through. They make an additional chem. filter that handles almost every nasty chemical you could think off including oil mists VOC's and even H2S. It looks like to big gas mask canisters crammed into a box and it fits into the back with the regular filter going over it. I've only NEEDED to use it a few times, but it’s a life saver if you have to work with painted/epoxy/whatever parts that are impossible to fully clean because the regular filter won’t handle burning VOC's (volatile organic chemicals). The dust filter will handle grinding paint however. I use the adflo for grinding and burning as much as I do welding.
The battery will last from 8 to 12 hours, depending on how clogged the filter is. The chem. filter uses more power and requires a clean dust filter, I’ve had mine auto shut off because the motor was working too hard to pull through the chem. and the slightly clogged dust filter, new dust filter and no problem. The other one was still good for regular dust and fume usage, but not for handling paint. I have charged it and used it for 3 days without recharge, but that was with a lot of fitting and tacking where I didn’t have the power on.
As for the belt and motor, except for cramming into the tightest spots on a few train cars, I’ve never had an issue with it. You get used to it really quick, and after a while something doesn’t feel right if you don’t have it on and your welding. The belt is well designed and spreads the little bit of weight out nicely. For a few sit down production jobs I have to do from time to time, I just attach the belt to the back of the chair I’m sitting in. :)

The only real downside is the expense. You can shave a few hundred off of the price tag by getting a speed glass lens, and then buying the headgear and motor without the lens. The lens cost me about $120, and the air pack and headgear cost about $800. The price of the adflo setup with lens was around $1000+.

The real question is how much do you weld? If you’re just a hobby welder/ local fix it guy, they make some good "disposable" style dust masks that are rated to handle galv welding as well as the rest of the nasties in the smoke. I think they are around 40-60 bucks for 4 or 5 of them, and you will probably have to check a more specialized store than home depot or Lowes I’ll see if I can dig up a product number for you, but I know it’s a 3M mask.. If you weld for a living and can afford an adflo, you’ll never want to weld/grind/burn without it. Even if you don’t weld for a living, it’s a really comfortable way to weld anything.
Hope that helps

[Sandy]

The Idiot Strikes Again:rolleyes::p

Looked it up. Zinc ain't got a doggone thing to do with lead. Forget my previous post. If I had Half a brain, I'd be twice as dangerous. :laugh::laugh:

Tail between legs, head low to the ground, easin' out the door...........................

You weren't that far off Sam. Many moons ago a small amount of lead (5% or more) was common in many of the double hot dipped items. Chain link fencing being one. Pole line hardware being another. The second bath being cooler than the 1st lead was more survivable and was/is an excellent material for corrsion resistance.

Other than the cumulative effects on living things that is ;)..

[LarryO]

For small welds and grinding i use 3M Welding Fume Respirator disposable masks.

For larger welds i use the Adflo. I agree that the filters last for a long time. I change the pre-filter when i see it discolour.
My battery is getting a little old now but still get 6 hour continuous running from it.
If you turn it off for lunch and while fitting up, you will get longer life.

Its nice in summer to have a breeze blowing on your face while welding.

It has a hi-flow setting which supplies more air but lessens battery life.

[Dualie]

as for grinding all the zinc off that's good in theory but in practice would get you sent packing off a job in min. just got done putting down 75,000 sq ft of metal decking 90% of it was fastened with powder actuated hilti pins the last 10% was puddle welded. Grinding all the galv off would add DAYS to the project.

I think when things pick up and stabilize an adflo is going to be something im going to pick up

[delwelds]

We use them on the job I'm on right now. We have to wear them when stick welding P91 chrome with 9018. The hood is just your average speedglas. Personally I like wearing the hood the filter works great. You don't ever get a hint of a fume from it. Personally I wouldn't mind wearing it when welding anything if it wouldn't get in the way. The only thing I don't like about it is that the cross piece on the top of the headband can kinda dig into the top of your head some, even with a cap on. It's not unbearable, just annoying.

[Sparky#1]

I noticed nobody said that it also acts as an air conditioner in really hot spots.:)

[DavidSim]

>>I remember reading that one of the Antarcitc expeditions back in the 1800's possibly turned out as badly as it did because the canned food they took along was loaded with lead due to the canning process in those days<<

Sir John Franklin's last arctic expedition:

- - - - - - - - - - -

Canning was a new method of preserving food when the Franklin Expedition set off for the Arctic. It was thought that this new food supply would both sustain the expedition for years (certainly enough time to find the Northwest Passage), and eliminate scurvy.

But the canning process was far from being perfected. In fact, the food may have doomed the expedition.

It appears that the lead used to solder the seams of the cans contaminated the food. An analysis of hair samples from bodies found frozen in the ice proved that Franklin's men had lead poisoning. Not only would they have suffered from loss of appetite and weakness, but the lead probably also affected their minds

- - - - - - - - - - -

http://www.athropolis.com/arctic-facts/fact-can.htm

Regards to all.