Author Topic: high current safety--touching spot welders?  (Read 2326 times)

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Offline JellysfishTopic starter

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high current safety--touching spot welders?
« on: September 04, 2017, 07:16:22 am »
I noticed in a lot of videos of people using those battery tab spot welders they hold the tab in place when doing the welding. Now I know that the electricity is probably just flowing through the path of least resistance and that would be the battery tab an not anywhere near your finger, but at the same time, if you touch one side of a live 120v AC wire you would definitely feel it. Could someone explain to me how this is safe?

My hypotheses:
I was looking up this safety stuff, and someone mentioned that its the current that kills you not the voltage. It seems like you only need enough V to get the e- to flow through your skin. These spot welders use ~1.5V and ~500-1000A current maybe it's Voltage is just too low. In that case, if you have really sweaty fingers, would this be dangerous?


Here's a one of the vids I watched of the guy spot welding touching the leads:
https://youtu.be/Ceos88VO6p4?t=446

Thank you all for potentially keeping me alive in the future.
 

Online tautech

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Re: high current safety--touching spot welders?
« Reply #1 on: September 04, 2017, 07:28:51 am »
I noticed in a lot of videos of people using those battery tab spot welders they hold the tab in place when doing the welding. Now I know that the electricity is probably just flowing through the path of least resistance and that would be the battery tab an not anywhere near your finger, but at the same time, if you touch one side of a live 120v AC wire you would definitely feel it. Could someone explain to me how this is safe?

My hypotheses:
I was looking up this safety stuff, and someone mentioned that its the current that kills you not the voltage. It seems like you only need enough V to get the e- to flow through your skin. These spot welders use ~1.5V and ~500-1000A current maybe it's Voltage is just too low. In that case, if you have really sweaty fingers, would this be dangerous?


Here's a one of the vids I watched of the guy spot welding touching the leads:
https://youtu.be/Ceos88VO6p4?t=446

Thank you all for potentially keeping me alive in the future.
No big deal at the voltages used for tab spot welders.
Study this thread for more/better understanding.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/guesses-on-what-i-am-attempting-here/
(name now edited/changed by the OP)
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Siglent Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SiglentVideo/videos
 

Offline Fire Doger

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Re: high current safety--touching spot welders?
« Reply #2 on: September 04, 2017, 11:00:58 am »
A spot welder is "capable" to supply 1000A. It doesn't mean that if you touch it 1000A will pass threw you.
The worst thing that you can get from welding is burn from a heated metal or eye problems from the arc.

For safety reasons don't use tools with wet hands, wear safety equipment and inspect your tools for faults (like exposed live wire) once a wile.
Its super easy to damage a cable and then touching it if your working area is a mess.
 

Offline amyk

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Re: high current safety--touching spot welders?
« Reply #3 on: September 04, 2017, 10:50:38 pm »
Up to 1kA passes through the joint, but the voltage is very low. Spot welding is very low voltage, very high current.
 

Online Psi

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Re: high current safety--touching spot welders?
« Reply #4 on: September 05, 2017, 06:58:12 am »
Dont let your ring touch the spot welder.
Seriously, just think about trying to remove a 500degC ring from your finger. <shiver>

Remove it before use, or you will regret it more than not buying bitcoin
« Last Edit: September 05, 2017, 07:01:30 am by Psi »
Greek letter 'Psi' (not Pounds per Square Inch)
 


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