Re: ATM plane crazy

[Dave Sopchak <das@po.cwru.edu>]

Dennis Rech writes:

>You may have noticed that he was using Poly Vinyl Ester Resin. Its the
>"good" stuff and is listed as one of the more benign of the resins. Glasair
>homebuilt aircraft are built using it. No allegic reactions, although the
>styrene
>smell will get to you.  I recommend to for people building composite
>telescope
>tubes.

Watch it with that styrene! It's on the list as a potential carcinogen (at
the very least!) Vapor respirator (charcoal filter type), a fume hood or
the wind at your back is  MANDATORY. Please don't expose yourself to this
stuff! Inhalation is the MOST EFFICIENT way to contact a foreign substance
(which is why smoking gets the nicotine to your body so quickly) and it is
often the most overlooked method of contact.

>What makes me cringe is reading messages where people are using epoxy resin
>in unventilated areas.  Almost everyone eventually ends up with reactive
>allegries and respiatory problems from epoxy.

Some epoxies and hardeners have the functional epoxy or amine groups as
pendant groups on polymers or long chain molecules and thus they have low
vapor pressure and are not (as) dangerous to be breathing around, but you
still have to worry about skin contact. I don't know the names of such
epoxy packages available to the hobbyist, but if there is a selection
available from your supplier, you might want to inquire as to if there are
lower vapor pressure ones that do the job...

>Definately use a charcoal mask and rubber or vinyl gloves (not latex, they
>cause more reactions than the epoxy).

Gloves are also a good idea for most anything chemical and potential nasties.

#begin soapbox

Always, folks, err on the side of safety. I had a dad who died of cancer
who worked in the chemical industry back in the "good" old days when they
would use benzene to wipe down the lab benches. We can't pinpoint the exact
cause of his cancer, but I'm sure lax safety and exposure to stuff like
that didn't help any.

I now work in labs where you'll get in big trouble if someone smells any
organic vapor at all- it means you aren't following proper safety procedure
and unneccessarily exposing yourself to something you don't want. Every
little bit adds up. Why take chances?

#end soapbox

I'm so glad we grind wet so we don't have to worry about
silicon-carbide-osis...

Dave

______________________________________________
Play an accordion- go to prison. It's the law!