Intro to welding for girls 11-14

thingiverse

WELDING “Welding and Women, both start with W. Coincidence? I think not!” Our goal: To introduce girls to a non-traditional career: welding How we will achieve this: by creating a guide for girls who want to try welding as an activity What is welding? Welding is the most economical and efficient way to join metals permanently. It is the only way of joining two or more pieces of metal to make them act as a single piece. Welding is vital to our economy. It is said that over 50% of the products produced from the U.S.A, is related to welding in one way or another. Nearly everything we use in our daily life is welded or made by equipment that is welded. Welders help build metal products from coffee pots to skyscrapers. In construction, welders are building the world; extending subways, building bridges, and helping to improve the environment by building pollution control devices. The use of welding is practically unlimited. Safety in welding: The general hazards of welding include impact, penetration, harmful dust, smoke, fumes, heat and light radiation. Welding “smoke” is a mixture of very fine particles (fumes) and gases. Many of the substances in the smoke can be extremely toxic. The intense heat of welding and sparks can cause burns. Eye injuries have resulted from contact with hot slag and metal chips. The intense light associated with welding can cause eye damage. Ultraviolet light from an arc can cause “welder’s flash” and also burns. There is also a danger of electric shock. If combustible or flammable materials are nearby, the heat and sparks produced by welding can cause fires or explosions. The use of compressed gas cylinders poses some unique hazards to the welder. Before any welding is conducted outside of a designated welding area, a responsible individual must inspect the area and identify precautions to be taken preferably on a written Hot Works permit. Fire extinguishers must be ready for immediate use. A fire watch lasting at least 30 minutes after the welding or cutting operations is required if more than a minor fire might develop. All combustibles must be moved 35 feet away or properly protected or shielded. Prohibited areas for welding include: • Areas unauthorized by management • Areas where sprinklers are impaired • Areas in explosive atmospheres • Areas near storage of large quantities of readily ignitable materials Safety equipment for welding: Eye and face protection: Proper eye and face protection for welding safety includes: A helmet, goggles and safety glasses or combination of these are acceptable protection in various applications. All filter lenses and plates must meet the test for transmission of radiant energy prescribed in ANSI/ISEA Z87.1-2015, American National Standard for Occupational and Educational Personal Eye and Face Protection Devices. Protective clothing: Clothing should cover all visible skin and be made of cotton, wool, or flame resistant material to prevent skin burns caused by sparks, spatter or radiation. Covering all parts of the body is recommended to protect against ultraviolet and infrared ray flash burn (i.e.sunburn). Dark clothing works best to reduce reflection under a faceshield. Heavy materials, such as wool clothing, heavy cotton or leather, are preferred as they resist deterioration. The ANSI standard requires all welders and cutters to wear protective flame-resistant gloves, such as leather welder’s gloves, which provide the heat resistance needed for welding. A gauntlet cuff offers additional arm protection. Insulated linings should be used to help protect areas exposed to high radiant energy. Other protective clothing for welding safety may include durable, flame-resistant aprons made of leather or other suitable materials to provide protection to the front of the body when additional protection against sparks and radiant energy is needed. Ventilation: Ventilation refers to changes of room air as often as necessary to prevent welders and other workers from breathing high levels of airborne contaminants. Ventilation is a means of providing adequate breathing air, and it must be provided for all welding, cutting, brazing and related operations. Adequate ventilation depends on the following factors: • Volume and configuration of the space where the welding operations occur • Number and type of operations that are generating contaminants • Natural air flow rate where operations are taking place • Location of the welders’ and other workers’ breathing zones in relation to contaminants or sources Proper ventilation can be obtained either naturally or mechanically. Natural ventilation is considered sufficient for welding and brazing operations if the work area meets these requirements: • Space of more than 10,000 square feet is provided per welder • A ceiling height of more than 16 feet • Welding is not done in a confined space • Welding space does not contain partitions, balconies or structured barriers that obstruct cross ventilation If your specific operation does not fall within the natural ventilation guidelines, mechanical ventilation will be required. Mechanical ventilation options generally fall into two basic categories. The first is a low-vacuum system, which takes large volumes of air at low velocities. This system consists of hoods positioned at a distance from the work area. The hood and housing may have to be repositioned by the worker to get maximum benefit from this means of ventilation. Hoods generally remove the fumes and contaminated air through ducting and exhaust the contaminants to the outdoors. Hoods should be placed as near as practical to the work and should provide effective air flow with a velocity of 100 linear feet (30 meters) per minute at its most remote distance from the point of welding. Processes where low-vacuum systems work best are arc air gouging and arc cutting. Another category of mechanical ventilation is a high-vacuum system. This system consists of a close-range extractor aimed at capturing and extracting fumes as near to the work as possible. Fume extractors often have an immediate area of welding. By removing a small volume of air at a high velocity, the potentially hazardous materials are effectively removed before reaching the welder’s breathing zone. These systems often are equipped with a fan that pulls the contaminants into a filtration system, with a high-efficiency particulate absolute (HEPA) filter or combination of HEPA filter and prefilter and then recirculates the clean air back into the work area. Advantages of high-vacuum systems are greater flexibility for job adaptation, more efficient means of fume removal and greater visibility to the welder due to reduced clouds of fumes and vapors being created. For more information on welding safety and regulations, see :https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=9853http://www.aws.org/standards/page/safety-health-fact-sheets Age appropriate activities: • Interview professional welder • Visit a functioning business that uses welding often • Visit your local maker space • Use a 3D design program (sketch-up or a free program will work, be sure to tell an adult and get their permission before downloading anything) to make a model (if possible build it) • Build the design provided (‘The Alcatraz Bird House’) Some places to try welding: Hilary teaches welding classes at the Houston Makerspace; we really appreciated her talking with our troop and helping some of us try welding! info@houstonmakerspace.com Leisure Learning: http://www.llu.com/sdc/group_classes_llu.html?classgroup=3605 I wish we had one of these in Texas! http://rosiesgirls.org/ Some links: The Boy Scouts/ American Welding Society merit badge:http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/MeritBadges/welding.aspxhttp://www.aws.org/weldingbadge/http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/support/process-and-theory/Pages/video-gmaw-boy-scout-merit-badge.aspx An article about women in welding (or the lack therof):http://thegazette.com/subject/news/women-welders-welcome-20150103http://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2016/04/02/women-welders-workplace-skills-gender-gap/82429122/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/the-only-girl-in-school-to-spark-an-interest-in-welding/ “Welding Merit Badge for Girl Scouts?”https://www.arc-zone.com/blog/carmenelectrode/2012/06/13/girl-scouts/https://www.arc-zone.com/blog/carmenelectrode/2012/06/06/welding-is-for-girls-too/http://www.girlscoutsaz.org/en/events-repository/2015/playing_with_fire_le_2.html