Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey yall I'm scratching the surface to figure things out. I have a pacemaker and from my understanding i will be limited to a 150-160amp unit (emf fields), possibly a little higher amperage but i will not know till I'm around the units while on. I know with that kind of amp restriction that I'm faced with....that pretty much stomps on going big or go home to weld everything.

I'm figuring I'll be restricted to welding light stuff as in possibly automotive or similar and that's fine....for now.

With all that being said, i figure MIG is ok but not sure what other forms of welding is within that kind of amp range.

For that type of amp range what welder would suit my situation? I' hope to be trying a welding class next year but for now i wanna get the feel for it.

Thanks In Advance!

Lots of tig and stick welding is done in those amp ranges. I run about 130 amps for tig on carbon pipe with a 1/8 or 3/32 filler wire. Stick welding with a 3/32 7018 is about 75-90 amps. Even a 1/8 7018 runs good at 120-130. SS pipe even heavy wall falls within those ranges. Useing straight helium with ac tig I think might get you into some pretty thick stuff. In fact that’s enough amps to weld unlimited thicknesses. Your only limitation will be how fast you can put down metal. Have you thought about a good ac/dc Tig setup?

Poland308 wrote:Lots of tig and stick welding is done in those amp ranges. I run about 130 amps for tig on carbon pipe with a 1/8 or 3/32 filler wire. Stick welding with a 3/32 7018 is about 75-90 amps. Even a 1/8 7018 runs good at 120-130. SS pipe even heavy wall falls within those ranges. Useing straight helium with ac tig I think might get you into some pretty thick stuff. In fact that’s enough amps to weld unlimited thicknesses. Your only limitation will be how fast you can put down metal. Have you thought about a good ac/dc Tig setup?

The only thing I've heard is that DC may be what i need, but I'm not sure of anything really. I'm just hoping that the welder unit doesn't put me in debt lol.

There has been a thread on EM fields & pace makers here a while back - maybe worth having a look & see if the OP is still active & message him - I'm not sure there is an accepted limit based just on amps for this as I would expect voltage to play a part as well so Tig with HF I expect would be worse - stick somewhere in the middle & Mig with it's lower voltages be least problem - I also think if your careful with body position relative to cables the limits will be higher - I don't recall if it was mentioned before but a metallic shield on you could screen the effects largely - hopefully others with better insight will chime in but I think a metallic clothing on the upper body that's earthed would prevent issues - exactly how thick / dense I'm not sure - for re-enactment purposes a light(ish) weight chainmail can be bought - I've seen people wearing these playing around with some scary home made Tesla coils & insane levels of voltage using it as personal Faraday cage with " lightening " jumping to them with no ill effects.

The HTP 221 will do ac lift arc rig with no high frequency. You can weld aluminum. Usually it's the high frequency and not the alternating current that upsets pacemakers.

@ loudandgreen - you may have seen this article from Medtronic highlighting the cap of 160A for welding. Recommend consulting your doctor and contacting your manufacturer of pacemaker.

Literature states "Frequencies between 10 kHz and 1 GHz are generally the most problematic....EMI signals in the 10 to 60 Hz frequency range can effect cardiac devices because they overlap the cardiac signal range....." - ref: Electromagnetic Interference of Pacemakers.

Thanks y'all. I will look for the other person with similar situation. I found the info about the issues of amps and distance of the use of the welder.

Q: What if I may need to use a welder?
A: It is recommended you avoid using welding currents above 160 amps. Follow the safety precautions below to minimize the risk of interfering with your heart device while welding with currents under 160 amps.

Welding Safety Precautions

Limit welding to currents less than 160 amps
Work in a dry area with dry gloves and shoes
Maintain a 2-foot (60 centimeter) distance between the welding arc and heart device
Keep the welding cables close together and as far away as possible from your heart device. Place the welding unit approximately 5 feet from the work area.
Connect the ground clamp to the metal as close to the point of welding as possible. Arrange the work so the handle and rod will not contact the metal being welded if they are accidentally dropped.
Wait several seconds between attempts when having difficulty starting a weld
Work in an area that offers firm footing and plenty of room for movement
Work with an informed person who understands these suggestions
Immediately stop welding and step away from the area if you start feeling lightheaded, dizzy, or you believe your implantable defibrillator has delivered a shock
Since welding equipment may temporarily affect the normal operation of your heart device, any decision you make to use this equipment should be made in consultation with your heart doctor. Your doctor can advise you as to the degree of risk these responses pose for your medical condition.

Aprons or vests will not effectively shield your pacemaker or implantable defibrillator from the electromagnetic energy generated by welding equipment.

I found Joe Buddy the other person with a pacemaker and messaged them. I'm optimistic even though they haven't been around in 4 years.

I've talked to my docs...the manufacturer of my pacemaker and even called a few welder manufacturers, at this point I'm passed frustrated and all this isn't worth the agravation to get certified for a decent job soooo i guess i will look for me a 150-160amp mig/flux core unit and just focus on it being a hobby for automotive sheet metal and maybe frame building for body drops and c-notches if i can get good at it.

In that amp range i'm thinking around $500 should get me a decent machine when time is right.

Any thoughts on units in that range in 220v? Is there anything else i need to know?

Thanks in advance!

Miller has the 190 and the 141, only the 190 uses 220v
Lincoln has the MP180DV, which is a dual voltage machine
All of these are more then $500 though

There is ESAB and Everlast, don't know the details without looking them up

LtBadd wrote:Miller has the 190 and the 141, only the 190 uses 220v
Lincoln has the MP180DV, which is a dual voltage machine
All of these are more then $500 though

There is ESAB and Everlast, don't know the details without looking them up

I called Everlast today with questions especially about the inverter systems and how they compare to a regular transformer system and nothing useful came out that convo, so it looks like i will mark them off my list and see what is offered by other companies.

Eastwood has a 175amp mig/flux core welder with spool gun included on sale for $479.00. Reviews seem generally pretty good. At 89lb this must be a transformer unit.

inverters have been around long enough that better sources are available for that info, that said Everlast does make some compelling machines at good price points, and you'll find plenty of folks that like them, and also don't.

Also, for want you want I don't think a transformer unit is available (I could be wrong) unless you buy used

The European Union passed laws about worker exposure to EMF from welding, and as part of that legislation developed software that can predict the EMF levels the worker will be exposed to. Assuming you know what levels are safe, you could use that program to determine the levels for arc, mig and tig at various currents, and see which ones are safe for you. I think it's free, you can setup an account at this site.

If you want to know how inverters work you will need to pick up a text book to get a dumbed down version of how it works. There simple in concept but also hard to explain though.

Basically they take AC current convert it to DC then convert it to high frequency AC 25 KHz then step it down to lower voltages via a transformer and then back to DC..
Remember the DC is filtered before it's output ed

It's hard to get stuff like that from any welding company.. I get the same kinds of answers from Everlast as I do from miller or Lincoln.. can be a pain

As for a mig welder I would look for a inverter as any welder below 200A that is transformer will be a consumer grade one and there kinda crappy. Everlast makes one, ESAB might, in fact I might suggest contacting them as there a European company. But maybe do it via there UK website and explain why your contacting them n not there US website.

LtBadd wrote:inverters have been around long enough that better sources are available for that info, that said Everlast does make some compelling machines at good price points, and you'll find plenty of folks that like them, and also don't.

Also, for want you want I don't think a transformer unit is available (I could be wrong) unless you buy used

I would get an inverter unit but i don't know how my pacemaker would react to it because as far as i know the limitations that are currently written for a welder are for a transformer style welder i think but not sure. When i asked manufacture of pacemaker they seemed abit confused and kept saying to check with manufacturer of welder which is when i called Everlast. ...and that was useless as well.

I would love to atleast try an inverter version because that would be great because i have a bad back but i don't know that much about the interference IF any between it and pacemaker. ....that's why I'm thinking it would be easier just to stick to the usual transformer units

I'm not much help here, but I hope that you can find a good solution so you won't have to panic too much about the different equipment that you can or can't use around your unit. I n Geelong I had a friend who's in the situation that you're in that ended up giving up all this sort of labour to play safe. Hopefully you won't need to do this, but do consider it for health's sake!