How harmful is an arc?

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Not directly applied, I mean- the light that it gives off.I once heard that welding is almost like having a small sun right in your hands. That being said, whenever I've been around welders, I'm usually covered from head to toe.I think I read somewhere that the ultraviolet light can even reflect off of surfaces, so sometimes I get a little antsy or uneasy when light starts leaking into my helmet from the bottom.Some people expose skin in a few cases however, and some people don't mind people welding around them without curtains.Is it just that you need not look at the light, and that's all the damage you have to worry about?... or can you get skin cancer from this stuff?Keeping it down in the hood...literally!
Reply:In a nutshell:  In the short term... you can get a hell of a burn.  In the long term... yes, it can cause skin cancer.In other words... keep covering up.Work HARDER, not smarter! ------------------------ Miller Bobcat 250Millermatic 251Lincoln Precision TIG 185Hypertherm PM 600Hobart 135 HandlerOxweld 400 FlameMaster
Reply:you can use sun-screen spf 30 or higher it will help
Reply:I was in a rush a few months back, welding. Covered up head to toe but i forgot to roll down my sleeves. Was welding for about 20 minutes. (not continuous).  Next day I had a sunburn on my forearms...  Put that aloe gel stuff on it to helpSomeone needs to make an auto-darkening Predator welding helmet...complete with dreads and multiple spectra of IR vision.
Reply:Originally Posted by prop-doctoryou can use sun-screen spf 30 or higher it will help
Reply:Originally Posted by prop-doctoryou can use sun-screen spf 30 or higher it will help
Reply:Burns you in minutes if you're unprotected....But then again, if I'm TIG welding, under 200amps or so (I rarely ever do any more than that at work) I don't even bother to cover up.When it's 95-100+ Degrees in the shop in the summer, I just spray on some SPF 85 Suncreen w/ UVA/UVB+ protection, get it on my arms, and usually a little on my chest. The radiation will go right through a tshirt easy. Typically that's welding around 27-32volts on MIG. Then I'll reapply every hour and a half or so for good measure. It won't even give me a tan.I prefer to cover up obviously, but when I'm always sweating to death, I admit I take the easy way out -.-I always get picked on by the guys at work saying how badly I'm going to get burned, blah blah.But never do o.Oand they also tease me because the suncreen smells like girls perfume, and they can smell it on me from like 10ft away when i have it on :X