Got a stick/tig/plasma machine not long ago and finally was able to get the bottle and try TIG welding. Fired it up four days ago and did some no-filler mild steel 18GA (10 amps) as well as 1/8" stainless (60-90 amps) with filler rod. Total arc time was probably 10-15 minutes with 100% Argon for shielding. Used 90% rubbing alcohol for cleaning, although did not clean stainless too well and it had some cutting oil on it (possibly used engine oil 'cause i'm cheap) from trying to cut it with carbide-tipped blades. Poked at aluminum a couple of times (at 40 amps or so), but gave up since this is a DC-only welder.
Anyways, about an hour after finishing all that i got a weird feeling as if i was a brain controlling body that is elsewhere, almost like playing a video game. Then a massive headache hit that turned into nausea two days later. I have gotten sick from welding before, but that was from galvanized coatings (before learning about how you should NOT weld through them) so got to thinking could this time be caused by something i've overlooked in the set-up, or miss-used? Or could it be simply the weather changes?

Umm.. See a qualified professional? This is like medical bench racing

when i saw the itile of your post, the first thing i thought was you were welding galvanized. could you have just been getting sick and it just so happened to kick your ass when it did?
you could try repeating your welding activitires and see if you get sick again

Carbon monoxide poisoning, but I doubt 10-15min of light inhalation would do it, unless you are extremely sensitized to it.
Could have something to do with getting sick from galvanized before.


Side note, if you want to weld aluminum with your welder, put the biggest red tungsten you have, (like 1/8") and run it DC+, It's hard on the torch, and you can only weld thin stuff, but it works.

stainless releases hexavalent chromium when welded. VERY bad for you. worse than any galvanized. i have welded lots of it without a respirator before i knew better, i never got sick. but everyone has different tolerances for toxins.

EGLTAWLN said:

stainless releases hexavalent chromium when welded. VERY bad for you. worse than any galvanized.

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That is most likely it. Tried welding again, this time just mild steel, and everything was ok.

Thanks for that tip about aluminum, bastarddsm.
Curt-s, over 130 000 members on this site. Has to be at least one professional in here Just figured since it was most likely a newbie mistake then someone has probably done something like this before.

Did you get arc flashed at all? I've seen people get some of these symptoms from arc flash. Were you welding in a confined space? Have you looked at a SDS (formerly known as a MSDS) for the cutting fluid used on the stainless?

91-GS said:

That is most likely it. Tried welding again, this time just mild steel, and everything was ok.

Thanks for that tip about aluminum, bastarddsm.
Curt-s, over 130 000 members on this site. Has to be at least one professional in here Just figured since it was most likely a newbie mistake then someone has probably done something like this before.

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Ya just when it comes to matters of health, I would at least get checked for heavy metals poisoning and blood work done given your symptoms, and I am saying that not relating symptoms to your recent time spent welding, just generally. Seemed pretty serious..

Kind of like going back to home depot and asking the professionals there (a stretch, but many customers are actually experienced) if theyve had similar experiences of left arm numbness and tingling in their chest when installing a shower fixture

Glad to hear it has subsided and not returned.