Welding Tips and Tricks

I've heard it before so I just stay cautious but will a plasma cutter really fry a cell phone?

mcoe wrote:I've heard it before so I just stay cautious but will a plasma cutter really fry a cell phone?

Light up on it and sure it'll fry it. Jokin aside I'm sure it is the same as any hf unit and electronic device. Some electronics are more sensitive than others.

Well it may depend on the phone - these " confusing new fangled " things you see people stoking all the time are weak - anyone I knew got one seemed to have more trouble than it was worth without welding - but I have a Nokia 6210 - was given it 2nd hand about 12 years ago - it lives in my pocket at all times - its had many hours of plasma cutting near it & all welding processes including HF AC with the hose draped over my shoulder virtually touching it - never had a problem - I guess it could pack up tomorrow - but if it does I have another one barely used still in a box ! - reckon this could be a myth - though if you have a real expensive phone without insurance perhaps a workshop is not an ideal place for it anyway - this post reminds me of the varied advice given concerning pace makers - any electronic device can be affected my strong EMF - but they are usually made to cope with ordinary levels encountered - just don't try them with particle accelerators or Tesla coils !

I have a samsung flip phone, nothing fancy about it and my wife has an iphone but we never keep our phones in the shop with us. I do have an ipod that I have playing in the shop for music and it hasn't fried yet so it should be the same as the iphone.

The only time I've had a problem with my cell while plasma cutting was my fault. I leaned across a 3/8 plate to pull a line across it and broke it in half.

With the industrial plasma it can screw with them nothing permant that I have noticed yet. My brother had a samsung galaxy s3 and I was running the plasma his phone locked up for over an hour from the table as soon as the arc started his phone stoped working. Not sure why it did it.

I don't like being bothered by phone calls when I'm working in the shop, so if my phone takes a temporary hit, maybe that's not such a bad thing...

If it is a plasma that such as a hypertherm power max or thermal dynastic cut master you should be fine but if you are running something such as a hpr or auto cut industrial class plasma is when it starts to mess with things. since the industrial plasmas use high frequency to start the arch, and this is the reason most shops with industrial plasmas have a Burny/Hypertherm or one of the other big company controllers that has been designed and hardened to prevent getting toasted. Same thing could happen with cellphones