Gas welding - pacemaker

I am about to have a pacemaker fitted which means I won't be able to arc or mig weld. I don't have any experience with gas welding, but am happy to learn.
My question is, is gassing welding okay for chassis and body repairs?

Yes, just takes more skill

Tis the old old method for car repairs, takes longer and you will probably require a fire watcher with water bottle to put out any fires.

Most people have given up gas welding but if needs must...

Interesting reading.....ask the Doctor...

http://www.scts.com.au/Surgery/Pacemaker.aspx

IAmThereforeIMustBe said:

I am about to have a pacemaker fitted which means I won't be able to arc or mig weld. I don't have any experience with gas welding, but am happy to learn.
My question is, is gassing welding okay for chassis and body repairs?

Click to expand...

Depends on the pace maker. but electric tools and chain saw are on the list also.

But at the end of article it says check with the doc. The really good ones are unaffected

I like gas welding but you have to be careful with thin stuff. The real problem these days seems to be getting hold of (and safely storing) the bottles if you want to do oxy acetylene. I'm sure there's threads about this on here but someone will be along soon to tell you the latest in availability and cost!

If you have a mig , just get someone in to do it for you , I use a polish guy , who does it for a living , and doing it regularly is quite important to getting a good result . JMHO

I like gas welding but wouldn't want to do it on a chassis, takes far too long

Oxy acetylene has many uses not just welding, I often wish I had a set for heating rusted nuts or cutting them off, annealing ally panels shaping steel repair pieces etc.
It is more difficult to learn, is slower than a mig and you get more distortion. Having said that I welded series chassis with it for many years, the work piece doesn't have to be as clean and again with the torch and a wire brush removing old paint in tight corners is relatively easy as opposed to a grinder which you can't get in.

I just remembered when I was at welding school they showed us a film of ship builders welding inch plate with gas. Each increase in jet size is double the flow rate and the largest is a number 90 !!!
If you get good at it the welds are very neat.

When I did my course a few years back I was able to try several different types of welding.

I liked gas a lot. It easily welded great thick chunks of metal, but if you were careful about the flame you could weld body thickness quite well. I found I could get on better than with MIG, but everyone has their preferences!

Someone who is experienced with gas would have no difficulty welding 0.25mm or 25mm steel. Selecting the gas flow and nozzle size are the secrets to a good gas weld!

One of my 'party tricks' was to weld together two pieces of foil from a cigarette packet using TIG.

Thanks for the info chaps.

The main thing here is that everyone seems to agree that gas welding is suitable albeit slower. I'm in no hurry, so the speed isn't an issue, I'm just glad that I will be able to do it myself.

I had read the info on the link that zzr1200 posted (thanks), and a fair bit more as well. Some people have suggested wearing something that has the same effect as a Faraday cage. I'm also pursuing some way of measuring the field to see what the limits are, but at the end of the day, if it puts my life at risk, I have gas welding to fall back to.

I thought I would give you an update on arc welding with a pacemaker. As you can probably tell I am still alive.

After reading many threads on the subject, including the pace maker manufacturers site, I decided to get hold of an arc welder and give it a try. I have to say my heart was in my mouth when I first tried it. (forgive the pun)

I brought a device called a Pace Alert from the states, which picks up interference that affects a pace maker and bleeps when it gets too high.

I followed the advice given by the pace maker manufacturer, which is keep the current under 140 amps, twist the two cables together as far as possible, put the earth clamp as close the weld as possible, weld at arms length, and stop if you feel dizzy. (I liked the last one).

With my son standing by with a phone to call an ambulance, and monitoring the pace alert, I tentatively began to weld. The anticipation made my heart thump let alone the effect of welding.

Anyway, it all went well, and I have welded for about 2 to 3 hours since.

We are now full steam into our series 3 restoration, although I haven't done any welding on it yet.

If you want to follow our progress, go to:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Land-Rover-Series-3-Restoration/791296174290891?ref=hl

Just an update on whats required safety cost etc. Two half industrial sized gas cylinders are available from BOC (you can choose a size to suit your needs) rental for this size is approximately 230 pounds per year payable in advance. The cost of filling each cylinder is, oxygen size y 25 pounds, acetylene size j 66 pounds. Then there is the cost of Regulators, I have the BOC 9500 multi stage at a cost of 150 pounds each but you will be fine with the single stage at a cost of 45 pounds each. Flashback arrestors are a legal requirement, I have 4 but one attached to each regulator will be fine these can cost up to 100 pounds each, therefore you might want to try machine Mart they supply a complete gas set with everything you will need including hose and torch but minus gas bottles, for approximately 250 pounds and its a good set. Regards Chris