I had no idea the brake cleaner and other products were quite as dangerous as they are, given the right circumstances.

It would not be hard to reach for a can of brake cleaner to clean something up before welding it.

Here's an article from one guy that learned it the hard way.
http://www.brewracingframes.com/id75.htm

OSH Welding Health Hazards

R12 Dangers

 

holy crap that is an eye opener

 

why the **** would you use brake cleaner?! I was told to use aluminum powder, or grind off anything substantial.

 

acetone is the best for cleaning areas to be welded.

Good to know I'd probably use brake cleaner to clean somthing. it works well leaves no residues. I use it to clean parts all the time. but Now I'll never use it to clean up somthing to be welded. That sounds pretty fucked

 

Wire wheel or a scotch brite wheel pad are the only things I use to clean welding surfaces, no chemicals.
Kids....only weld on clean metal surfaces, respirators are not a bad idea too.

 

Thanks for sharing this.

 

I've had a bit of a close call myself a while back.

After using some chemical cleaner to clean some aluminum parts I gently rinsed the parts with water. To aid in the drying process I sprayed it with brake clean. After some time passed the brake clean hadn't fully evaporated- so I rushed and put a flame to it to burn off the tiny excess remaining. Small cloud of smoke rose up in a mushroom like fashion and I figured if I closed my eyes and didn't inhale nothing would happen... Well, it still about knocked me off my feet. My eyes were watering and I couldn't hardly breath. It was as if my lungs shut down and my chest wouldn't open to allow fresh air to enter.

Suffice to say some reaction occurred and bad things happened... It took several hours to feel recovered enough to do anything and a full day for me to feel normal.

Point of this: DON'T MIX CHEMICALS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE.

 

I have a can of that stuff.

Kinda disturbing as I use it from time to time, just trying to use it up. When it's empty I won't buy another. I prefer the other kind in the green can (non chlorinated) because it seems to work better.

I bought the red can by mistake when the store ran out of the brand I liked. Found out it had trouble taking off sharpie ink and paint overspray. The green can takes that stuff right off and is a whole lot healthier if you accidentally breath any fumes.

So now my question is what's the point of the formulation in the red can? Does it work better for certain uses? I haven't found any. The green can works far better for me.

 

I've always bought the green CNC Brakleen, I figured that non-chlorinated is safer anyway..
Though the first time I bought it at Shucks they asked for my ID... I figured that meant that it was flammable [wouldn't have occurred to me otherwise] so I went and sprayed it on the driveway and lit it up.. Makes awesome Back To The Future flames, and also works great as a sprayable fuse for fireworks..

Though, I'm somewhat concerned seeing this.. Does it mean it's seriously unsafe [for these] even with the green can?

 

I'd say the green can is far safer because it won't accidentally make phosgene, even if you do burn it. I've test burned a small puddle of the red can before and it left a weird yellow residue. I knew it was pretty serious stuff and never did it again. Good thing.

 

I use stuff like MPK, isopropyl alcohol, DNA etc on a daily basis... That ****'s nasty.

While we're on the subject of using chemicals, remember to use good gloves too! The ones I use with MPK at work are (from what I've heard) $36 a pair! But is that worth not getting cancer? **** yes.

 

i dont weld aluminum, but i do weld. i usually have to either cut or grind something before im going to weld it anyways, so i just clean my areas to be welded, with ... weld anyways, instead of worrying about all that, just weld then clean it up later instead of having to worry about your *** turning inside out and talking to you

 

ignorance is not always forgiving