Welding Screen advice needed

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Now that my daughter is kicking up the amount of practice welding she does, I find that welding screens are going to be a necessity since their are a bunch of kids in the neighborhood, especially.  The garage is 80Ft from the street, but you know kids.  For mig and stick, I have pretty much banned them from inside the garage for now due to the fire hazard around a lot of stuff jammed in there. (Making room, Making room) Tig can be contained mostly. So it looks like I may have to keep it up like that for a little while.  I suppose that I need to set up rods around the welding area to hang some welding blankets inside the garage to keep down fire hazards for now.What kind of screens can I get that are easy to deal with and won't break the bank?  The welding table is 42" X 54".  I guess I would need three, but what size, Brand and quality?  Translucent?   Color? Thickness?  I've really never dealt with screens before, so any knowledge passed is appreciated.Last edited by Housedad; 04-25-2016 at 11:05 PM.Victor Oxy weld/cut Setup Meco Midget Torch outfitEverlast 2016 250EX & Power Cool W300Lincoln Power mig 210MP  w/amptrol and Spool GunEverlast Powerarc 200 Hypertherm Powermax 45Bandsaw, Lathe, grinders, press, Bridgeport, etc.
Reply:you could look at thesehttp://www.harborfreight.com/catalog...welder+curtaintrailblazer 302thunderbolt ac dc machine Hobart fluxcoreAHP tig 200x 2015
Reply:The blankets in the above link are nice and cheap.  The only catch is if you need something to let light through.  I keep 6 translucent orange arc curtains on the truck in 6' x 8' size and a bunch of those cheap "Vise-Grip" plastic squeeze-lock clamps to hang them up with.  I mainly use them for wind screeens for outdoor MIG use, but they're handy to have to keep the general public safe, too.  But I want to say they were around twice as expensive as those welding blankets from HF in the above post.  The other thing about arc curtains is that they aren't burn-proof.  If they're arranged in such a way that slag or something can fall and lay on them, it'll burn through.  I've got some little holes in a couple of mine where the lower edges were laying on the ground and hot stuff ended up on them.  Sparks bouncing off are no problem, but you don't want hot slag from your torch blowing onto them, for example.  It takes a lot more hot stuff to burn through a welding blanket, but it can still be done.  There's other makeshift stuff you could use.  If it's back from the area where sparks can reach it, regular old thin cheap plywood would do the trick, too.  Or super-thin-gauge steel sheet on little frames with legs that would let it free-stand.Last edited by tbone550; 04-25-2016 at 11:44 PM.
Reply:i buy only about three things from harbor freight.     blankets is one.    they changed there blankets about 5 yrs ago.   i wouldn't use the fiberglass ones for hanging.    when i move those balnkets in the sunlight, i can see  little tiny shiny reflective particles falling off and  floating in suspension in the air.   i don't know whats in it, if its asbestos or what.    but i'm not compfortable w/ the looks of it, and don't care to breath it no matter what it is said to be.     i have some old hf blankets, made out of fabric, i wish i had more.   they are spark resisant, i duct tape them over nearby windows where i'm working and would be good for what your describing.       i wouldn't want myself/kids breathing around some sort of flexible fiberglass or whatever they representing  it to beLast edited by 123weld; 04-26-2016 at 12:40 AM.
Reply:amazon has a selection of welding screens/curtain material.i.u.o.e. # 15queens, ny and sunny fla
Reply:You can make your own welding curtains from a heavy canvas drop cloths (that doesn't already have dried paint all over it) and then treat them to be fire resistant (not fire PROOF). Basically soak in a borax/boric acid/hot water solution then hang dry. No need to worry about breathing in crappy Chicom fiberglass fibers wafting through the air, even if you are using a Chicom welder Remember that even commercially available welding screens and or clothing that are labeled "FR" are only fire RESISTANT, not fire PROOF. If you hold a torch to it, it will char and burn, but it will not support a flame when it is removed. I won't go into detail here as I think it merits being it's own thread rather than hijacking the OP if there is interest. (update, after forum search, yeah imagine that, I see the topic really hasn't been discussed, I guess I'll start one)Last edited by xryan; 04-26-2016 at 06:08 AM.RyanMiller Multimatic 200 tig/spool gun/wireless remoteMillermatic 350P, Bernard/XR Python gunsMiller Dynasty 350, Coolmate 3.5 & wireless remoteCK WF1 TIG wire feederMiller Spectrum 375 XtremeOptrel e684Miller Digital EliteMiller Weld-Mask
Reply:the harbor freight blankets are a good start, if you dont have respirators for your kids when they weld, you are not doing them any favors allowing them to breath in the toxic smoke from welding, and I wouldnt worry about some flakes coming off the hf blankets at that point, and if they have good masks and filters the flakes are a moot point..not having see through curtains to let the kids in the street see flashes will cut down on prying eyes looking at what your doing and possible flashing of their eyes...