Welding Zinc coated item?

SHINTON

SHINTON

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Location
Triad area of NC
Picked up a tractor implement "thingy" for use in the front of my antiwrap bar...noticed the main part is zinc coated?

Anything I need to know about welding on it? (Deadly gas etc would be nice to know about, heh)

Sam
 
Grind it off well--don't just wire wheel it, then make sure not to breath any of the fumes...use a fan if you have to. You'll know when you do inhale them. An old weldor's trick is to drink a glass of milk afterwards to prevent getting the "zinc chills" or whatever they're called. It's one of the more harmful things you can inhale while welding.
 
zinc coated or galvanised?

If you are going to weld you will want to grind the surface first anyway to remove the coating before welding. Galvanised is pretty nasty I would not breath that
 
You can weld right on it... it'll burn a little funny, and you'll want to wear a good dust mask to keep from inhaling the fumes. Grinding the surface coat off is a decent idea... but sometimes you don't have a choice otherwise.
 
braxton357 said:
It's the same thing
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Must be a East Coast thing.....LOL never heard it called that back home

There is also Zinc Primer used on car bodys I was not sure if that is what he was talking about.
 
This is a "Tan/Goldish" colored coating over the metal, bit hard to describe...

Ok, looks like a fan will be a good idea along with a mask!

Sam
 
Like a grade 8 bolt would be? That would be zinc dichromate plating and is pretty much just as bad, and can/will cause a shitty weld plus bad fumes.
 
so will the fan blowing all your shielding gas away... ;)
 
EXACTLY like a grade 8 bolt...

and my RW has fluxcore wire in it Rich, heh! (And yeah I am welderdumb enough to not know if the fan would ruin that effect as well?)

Sam
 
Rich said:
so will the fan blowing all your shielding gas away... ;)
Click to expand...

You can use it to "suck" the fumes away...there doesn't need to be much air movement, just enough to keep that nasty shit from coming in your mask. With flux core, it doesn't really matter...it'll just probably be hard to see wtf he's welding with all of that smoke. :flipoff2:
 
I used to weld galvanized quite often making fences and block off gates for the thruway.

I dOnt tHoiNk it hErtz më aÑy -
:p

OK - seriously

Don't breathe the thick yellow smoke.

Unless you really like headaches and that wonderfull "I-just-licked-a-nickle-while chewing-on-tin-foil" taste in your mouth for the next few hours.

Fan is good, but don't put it directly on your work at close range - it will blow away your gas pocket and make for irratic arc & some dirty welds. Just enough air movement to keep the fumes from coming up into your face.

BTW - Typical dusk mask will help with the thick smoke, but won't really keep out the fumes. You paint stuff so if you have a legit respirator you might want to wear it if you can fit it under your mask.

Given the option - grind off the coating first. It will make your weld cleaner/better/ stronger.

Be aware of the fumes even while grinding the metal can off-gas.

HTH
 
SHINTON said:
EXACTLY like a grade 8 bolt...

and my RW has fluxcore wire in it Rich, heh! (And yeah I am welderdumb enough to not know if the fan would ruin that effect as well?)

Sam
Click to expand...


Actually, Sam what happens with either SMAW (Stick) or flux core is that the flux burns and creats a sheilding gas pocket much like GMAW (MIG) gas does. Either way you don't want too much wind.
Same thing happens welding outside in a high wind.

Make sense?
 
SHINTON said:
Picked up a tractor implement "thingy" for use in the front of my antiwrap bar...
Click to expand...

The "technical" term for it is a LINK... could be used with "top" or "bottom" prefixes... altogether different name in some areas... depending redneck dialect! :D
 
Caver Dave said:
The "technical" term for it is a LINK... could be used with "top" or "bottom" prefixes... altogether different name in some areas... depending redneck dialect! :D
Click to expand...

We typically called it "back the damned tractor up some more! I still can't get the pin through this gd mf'r " (un-abbreviated though) :D :flipoff2:
 
braxton357 said:
We typically called it "back the damned tractor up some more! I still can't get the pin through this gd mf'r " (un-abbreviated though) :D :flipoff2:
Click to expand...


That's why you need to get the ADJUSTABLE "back the damned tractor up some more! I still can't get the pin through this gd mf'r "


:D
 
The fumes from galvanized took me down for 3 days once and I had a fan going and doors open. I was fine for about 4 hrs afterwards and the the above mentioned "chills" hit then the fever and joint aches. It sucked because it was all a favor for a friend anyway. Yes, I drank milk but it still hit. Hospital called it metal fume fever or something like that and said I just had to wait till it worked it's way out of my blood. Wear a good mask and grind as far down and out as possible from the weld area.
 
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