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Today I'll be discussing ways to mitigate the effects that extreme cold has on us and our work as welders. Some are obvious, but there are many small details that can make a huge difference in the quality of our work and our personal comfort

 

Be personally prepared

Adequate winter attire is essential if you want to work in cold weather without regretting your career choice

• Base layers are essential, but be sure to avoid fabrics that can burn easily. Wool and fleece are my go-tos for base layers
• Adequate hydration and skin moisturization does a greal deal to protect you against cold, dry air

Ensure that your work area allows you to operate effectively during extreme weather

This means adequate insulation, proper moisture barriers, and climate control

• You can't always throw space heaters at the problem if you're not properly insulated. This is especially true in cases where you have a limited number of circuits or power draw constraints
• If you work in the winter, you may have painted something that didn't turn out well due to a low ambient temperature at drying time. It's important that your work area is warm enough to allow your materials to adequately heat up for proper finishing, not just the air in your shop
• Be conscious of which products are irreversibly altered or damaged after freezing. Store paints and other sensitive consumables in a climate controlled area

Ensure that you understand how your materials and equiment behave in extreme cold

Ever try to wind up a 12g 100ft extension cord in below freezing weather?

• In the video on this post, you'll see that I'm using a finished steel shape as a template to plasma cut another one. That's because I'm using the rejected piece from the first attempt where despite my adherence to all the points above, the cable for my plasma torch was so stiff from the cold that it sprang like a heavy slinky during the initial trace and marred the surface of the 14g sheet. Filling, polishing, and painting would not be enough to save the piece from its fate in the scrap pile due to warping from thermal expansion where I attempted to fill in the gouges. The silver lining in this was that the rejected piece served as a perfect template and allowed for a smoother final product. Hold those torches close when they're cold and springy!

 

Happy welding!

 

-Adan