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Afternoon all,
After a bit of advice really...
Old man is basically retired, welded mig all his life.
Recently got a pace maker, and has since been welding mig. When he's had check ups at hospital the graphs/stats show his paces maker has skipped/broke when he's been mig welding.
Generally he Migs steel. As he is basically retired he got bored and bought a TIG.
When he has asked the doctor can he they said no.something to do with the different type or frequency/arch?
He purchased the TIG so that he would be able to weld aluminium.
Has any one had any experience of TIG ing with pace makers?
Are there such things as welding vest/aprons that's have some kind of shielding in them to reduce transmission of frequency's/arch.
To be honest any information would be help full and useful other wise looks like I got to take up TIG welding
Many thanks
Liam
There was a link posted on here a while back (IIRC in the McMoonter vice thread) for a good welding forum:
https://www.mig-welding.co.uk
Putting ‘pacemaker’ in their search box (top right) produces 8 or so forum threads that might be useful (or if not, might be a good forum to ask re your dad?) HTH
Yeah, sounds about right unfortunately. My dad primarily welded for his job, when he had a pacemaker fitted they basically told him not to use any power tools at all. Since he was self-employed it retired him essentially. He was gutted as that was his hobby and his job. He tried building a r/c model boat after that but you could see he wasn't as interested in that. I dont know about any kind of apron/shield or even if they exist
EDIT
Not sure about gas welding though, there shouldn't be a big electrical jolt behind that method
High currents mean magnetic fields and pacemakers don't like those. A very quick (i.e. don't rely on it) google suggests safe distances of several feet. The machine seems to be worse than the tool.
Shielding against magnetic fields is pretty awkward, it's not like xrays where you can wear a lead apron.
From memory it is something to do with High Frequency start tig welders, which are the commercial ones as they contaminate the electrode less.
The home/hobby tig welders use lift or scratch start which I think is less of a problem for pacemakers, but I dont know if they are zero problem.
Mig welding forum should have the answers.
Chainmail suit? Faraday cage - would that stop magnetic influences?
epicyclo
Subscriber
Chainmail suit? Faraday cage – would that stop magnetic influences?
I would say not.
No.
What’s he actually making? If he’s retired then he’s presumably free to make what he wants how he wants. There’s more ways of joining metal than with an electric arc and other ways of making things than with metal.
The very first time I TIG welded at college a guy in the group had a brand new phone in his pocket and it packed up, I've always kept any electronics away from them since.
Aluminium TIG will also probably be AC not DC - don't know if that makes it better or worse.
Can you not get him to try brazing? No nasty HF electricity and you can do it with a small propane bottle and an old medical oxygen concentrator so it is relatively safe to use at home (certainly safer than oxygen and acetylene bottles). PM me if you want details of how to set up. Steel is no problem brazing / bronze welding and there are various aluminium brazing / soldering systems that I think just work with propane (so even less equipment hassle).