Custom Welding jacket

[bouncer254]

I am a designer/fabricator. Most of my work is TIG but I tend to use my welding jacket while I am fabricating as a protective piece of equipment. I also have been making things on my burly sewing machine and I am considering designing and fabricating a welding jacket. I want to incorporate great materials and design a jacket that will protect my arms and torso, look good and do something not done before. I am considering heavy duty fire-resistant cordura for the jacket body, kevlar fire and heat fabric on the front and arms, inside. I imagine firefighters turnout coat only tailored and not so heavy on the back of the jacket, maybe even add venting. Thoughts and maybe material advice.

 

[akdiesel]

That will be interesting to see. We use bunker gear for fire fighting as well as cut resistance for vehicle rescue too. Some what over kill in this aspect unless you are welding for over an hour at a time.
They do make coats for welding that have a cooling system incorporated as well and a fan cooler / vent for hoods.

 

[sjm1340]

Back in the 80's I worked at a company that made turnout gear. Kevlar is tough to cut. You need a really good pair of scissors, with regular fabric shears the cloth will probably just wedge between the blades and not cut at all. You will also need a heavy duty sewing machine and a heavy needle like you would use on leather. Go slow and steady and you should be ok. Those industrial machines went really fast and the needles would get red hot in no time.

 

[rlitman]

Leather needles are for leather. Don't use a leather needle on fabric.
They make heavy needles for this purpose. Jeans needles are what you want.
Good knife edge shears (my Ginghers for example) cut kevlar thread just fine. Just don't try to pull and snap it. The thread will tear through your skin.

But I've never heard of fire resistant cordura. You don't want to use nylon or polyester, as both will melt onto your skin, regardless of whether or not they are treated to not burn.

Stick to FR treated cotton, wool, or nomex for your fabric choices.

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

Heat, weight, flexibility. These are factors that I consider when I'm choosing a jacket.

I prefer snaps over zippers since you can breath through the openings that form between the buttons.

I like Hobart jackets as they are lightweight, suitable for light welding, and make for a decent shop jacket to wear in general in the shop all year round. Unfortunately they don't hold up to grinding wheels you may not notice you're rubbing against while using the wire wheel at the other end. Oops.

The things I would add to a welding / shop jacket today would be pen loops to hold paint markers, center punch, soap stone, etc. If it had a loop for a chipping hammer, I would like that as well. Inner pocket for phone.

For ventilation, look at motorcycle jackets. They've been dealing with the issue of weight, protection, and ventilation forever and have very good ways to get the heat out. That includes vents under the armpits, along the sides, on the back, etc.

 

[rlitman]

Be careful with vents. You don't want anything that can catch a spark and let it underneath.
That's also the reason that welding jackets have collars you can snap snug to your neck.

My Tillman leather jacket (which is utterly too heavy to wear in warmer weather) has soapstone pockets on the arm (like a pen pocket, but generously wide).

Typical lab coats have slits on the side that let you reach through to access your pants pockets. You could do something like that, but with a flap cover to ensure no sparks can enter.

 

[pi_guy]

I like the Miller TIG jacket.
But I really use it only for welding.
One aspect to consider in trying to make a multipurpose jacket is grease and coolant will degrade the fire resistance of the jacket.
As it is one of the reason racing drivers are encouraged to remove nomex driving suit before working on car as a oily suit does not project as much as a clean suit

 

[Beemer533]

But I've never heard of fire resistant cordura. You don't want to use nylon or polyester, as both will melt onto your skin, regardless of whether or not they are treated to not burn.

Stick to FR treated cotton, wool, or nomex for your fabric choices.

Here you go;

http://www.cordura.com/en/protective_wear/nyco-fr.html

 

[truckone176]

I use an old turn-out coat that was condemned due to age by my fire department. I remove the liner in the warm months to keep the heat down and when I tinker around in the winter months leave in the liner. I am not saying that this is the best jacket out there, but it was free and works well for my use.