bentwings

Since most of what I do is with warbirds I'll post this here.
Last weekend while preparing parts for our Z-P-51 3rd generation scale exhaust I thought I'd take a short cut. The new parts are all 304 stainless steel. Here in lies the problem....I had a little deburring to do and some close fitting in prep for TIG welding. I got out my brand new Dremel and carbide bit to do the job. Normally I also use gauntlet style welding gloves and long sleeve shirt to protect my hands and arms from micro chips but I was a bit pressed for time and since I had done "expert" job of cutting already I passed on the gauntlets besides this was only .018 thick material. I finished the job in about 30 minutes and went to get the TIG welder out and OUCH...#$%*& I had micro slivers of clean 304 stainless steel imbeded in all 10 fingers and 1/2 way up my arms. You think fiberglass itches..magnify by 100 this hurt. Now I have done this before with steel and simply soaked in salt water and it went away pretty fast. The normal salty sweat will dull normal steel particles pretty fast. Not stainless. it's been 2 days now and still stings. I finally scrubbed with a coarse Scotchbrite pad in an attempt to wear off the skin and particles. Only a partial fix.
Moral of the story is be careful grinding any steel and especially stainless. Wear your protective stuff and especially glasses. Saftey glases are one thing I never pass on in in my shop.
I may post pic of the exhaust later.

bentwings

Shane B

My Feedback: (3)

Being a welder by trade, I know where you are coming from,, Although i have gotten used to the itch and burn over the years,,, Rubbing your self down with (panty hose) works good , just dont aact like you enjoy it,,, LOL ,,, I have been covered in metals way worst than stainless ,,, grinded and welded in places so tight all you could wear is a T-shirt and cutting goggles ( you talk about burn and itch) ,, you say you learned your lesson but i bet you will do it again, we all do, when time gets us and we get in a hurry you pass on the things you most need ,,, but hey NO PIAN NO GAIN ,,,,

t_burley

My Feedback: (59)

ouch[:@] hurts just reading it!
hope it all gets better soon for sure!

nchrome

Sounds a little silly but have you thought about waxing your arms. The hair will grow back so why not give it a shot. Just a little pain compaired to that alfull itch. Just an Idea cant realy hurt that much LOL.

bentwings

I duno about the waxing....my wife would really beat on me. The "Arnold " look is ok on him but I prefer the "bear" look with plenty of fur and "muscle" wiskers. If my wife saw panty hose in the shop she would have a fit reguardless whose they were. I went out to the baseball field last night and worked out a couple hours and most of the stuff is gone. The first few throws my finger felt like I beat them raw with a hammer.

I donated a underarmour long sleeve baseball shirt to the shop.

bentwings

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

I hate slivers...

I used to think that all stainless steel was non magnetic. But I have run across some stainless screws that whatever alloy they are, have a little bit of attaction by a magnet. Not sure if it's 304 or 18-8 or whatever.

Anyway, the point being that if the stainless or whatever metal you are grinding has any magnetic attraction, then you could try using one of those super powerful neodymium magnets and try to pull the slivers out of your skin. They sell the magnets for cheap on you-know-who-bay and apparently are so powerful they can be dangerous because of the way they will stick to ferrous metals.

Just a thought...

bentwings

304 stainless is not magnetic unless unless heavily worked (machined or beat on) even then it is only slightly. This is what makes this so bad. I've had steel chips and slivers taken out of eyes (even with fancy eye wear) and other areas by the very process you are indicating. I have a powerful magnet that I clamp on the weld table when grinding steel but it is useless on this stuff.
Yes there are very magnetic stainless materials, some high strength fasterers, stainless exhaust pipe on cars for example. Unfortunately they are not readily available in this thin of material. Working with stainless is always a trade off between corrosion restance, magnetic prop, welding, availability, and cost among others. I always get the book out and verify the project needs first.
I am also building an all 4130 steel system and an aluminum system (not much hope this will hold up) to come up with the most practical system.

thanks for the input. I was mainly interested in posting a warning based on real experience of how disregarding saftey can lead to maximun discomfort.

bentwings

Gdolboy3

400 series Stainless is the one that's Magnetic

bentwings

You are right about the 400 series. It is used quite a bit on auto exhaust. Often aluminized.

bentwings