(Ray gibbons wrote about M. W. Jordan, Jr.'s welding on galvanized steel)
>I'm not aware of any way to do it without first removing the
>galvanizing. At least I know that MIG welding won't work. If you try
>gas welding it, the heat will cause the coating to come off. Remove the
>coating by grinding it off; it usually isn't thick. Do your welding in a
>well ventilated area. Coating near the weld will burn off, producing
>toxic zinc fumes. How toxic? A whiff or two won't produce permanent
>damage, but you would not want to breath a lot of it.
Arc (Stick) welding works sometimes works, if (the base metal) it's not too
thin-but don't breath any of the fumes! I have welded (mostly torch)
galvanized, and every time I have had a bad fever afterwords (about a day or
so-not sure of any long term effects it's had on me). I thought each time
that I had plenty of ventilation, but obviously not enough (it was outside
every time-with a mask, but not something that provided fresh pressurized
air) After the third time this happened, I just decided to grind away any of
the coating on whatever I weld. The welding burns it away anyway. (Pretty
green flame)
Good luck w/ your project! Scott M Ryan
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