Anti spatter spray
What Can Be the Best Anti Spatter Spray Alternative That is Safe to Use?
Weld spatter are a nuisance while most anti spatter products are equally toxic so what’s better to do is to try anything that can be effective as an anti spatter spray alternative. Spatter can be caused by a lot of factors. And although the usual cause is due to the use of low voltage or the amperage getting too high, it can also be caused by the wrong choice of gas mixtures, by weld contamination, too long wire, or even basic settings like wire speed. And honestly, not all of us are excellent welders so it is really hard to produce spatter-less welding and must, therefore, seek for a welding spatter protection to avoid work distraction. 
Anti spatter spray products, most of them, are tested and proven to be 90 to 95% effective. But sometimes their efficiency also depends on the settings of the voltage, amperage and wire speed so it is really upon the welder’s experience on how he can achieve a spatter-free welding especially with the use of a product that is chemically blended for such purpose. 
On the other hand, any product that can cause bad reactions to users should not always be relied on especially by frequent usage. That’s why we have to consider using safe weld spatter removal that we can easily find at home. Actually, we are not after spatter removal because honestly once the spatter adheres on the metal, there’s no way of removing it but manually using tools so we better focus on spatter prevention.
Why There Needs to Be the Welding Spatter
An anti-spatter product is any product that can prevent spatters and sparks from sticking on the metal to which the product is applied. Such products usually contain silicone and other solvents and some are water-based while others are petroleum-based. With the anti-spatter sprays, these are sprayed right on the surface of the metal where the welding project will be laid on. As long as you know where the spatter would land on, this needs to be sprayed while the metal is cold
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Some manufacturers of anti-spatter spray products today are also beginning to replace some of the chemical components of their products by eliminating the toxic solvents and alternating them with natural substances. This is to comply with the requirements for product standards that safety organizations are mandated to uphold. However, most welding anti spatter products today contain methylene chloride which according to OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) has the potential to be an occupational carcinogen. This means it can cause cancer in long term use while it could give welders headaches on short-term use if inhaled in good amounts. 
As there was no replacement yet for methylene chloride, this chemical will still be among our weld spatter removal products in spray forms. For your info, methylene chloride is used in various industrial processes from paint stripping to foam production.
Shifting to Non-Toxic
Since we still want to be safe while avoiding having those BBs spatter in our work area, we may want to try using non-toxic welding spatter protection in alternative forms. So what are these non-toxic alternatives that deserve to be tried ? 
According to some welders, they have tried the following items. And although these are not totally in natural form and may not completely replace the synthetic products, at least you can avoid using products that contain methylene chloride. These anti spatter spray alternative can be found generally in homes, garage or workshops and even in the kitchen. Let’s check them out and discuss how you can use these.
Non-Toxic Alternatives for Anti
Canola Oil – Wipe it on the surface of the metal where the BBs spatter would likely to land. You can also apply it right on the spot where you would need to weld but only thinly. The oil will serve as a protective barrier and droplets of molten metal can just slide off whenever it lands. 
Foot Spray – Why foot spray as an anti spatter spray alternative? It’s because a lot of these contain organic oil coming from plants like tea trees, eucalyptus and peppermint which on the feet could be refreshing but the oil content in the spray can protect the metal from spatter. 
Car wax – Choose those that have lots of natural oils in them and apply liberally on the surface area either by hand or using a cloth. 
Vegetable Oil – Other than Canola oil, you can also try other vegetable oil like palm oil. The thicker the oil, the better.
WD40 – Lots of people also suggest this product but we are hesitant because this contains kerosene. But according to lab tests, the kerosene content can easily evaporate during welding leaving only the petroleum-based oil. Just avoid inhaling the fumes or wear a respirator when using this product. 
We still want to introduce more weld spatter removal alternatives but as we’ve found out, these are not effective at all according to those who have tested them. So there you are. The anti spatter spray alternative can be as simple as going into your kitchen cupboard. You can try any of these starting from the safest alternative like vegetable oil.
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Spatters can be common to any form of arc welding although we normally see them on MIG welding. But according to some experts, any welder can prevent the occurrence of spatter on mig welding if only the parameters can be correctly set. Yet, most welders like us don’t like bothering our settings and hate experimenting over and over. This is why anti spatter weld products are still popular. With them around, there’s no need for experimenting on adjustments but only spray it away and you’re good to go. 
But like we’ve said, there’s always the “catch” in using these spray chemicals and that’s them being toxic. So the above mentioned items can be your best alternatives which are proven to be safe to humans.
On our next blog, we will tackle mig welding vs tig welding to know which of them could give you better advantages and where to use them to utilize their full capacities.
I am glad that I have stumbled upon this website searching for spatter spray alternatives. I usually face the spatter problems while mig welding and find it difficult to tidying up the welding area. But always don’t find the spray or nozzle gel in hand. So this alternatives will help I guess.
Thanks for great article…