Guys,
I worked with all of these organic solvents testing them to see if they could be a possible carcinogen. Prudent safety measure should be taken with any reagent. Attached is a PDF of a short version of a very detailed report on this chemical. This solvent would not be allowed in the products that are available if it was "the worst solvent on earth", which it isn't. I hope this will end the discussion on this solvent, like I said earlier in a previous post, wear a respirator with a carbon filter, safety glasses in case you sloop things around like washing parts, use heavy duty industrial chemical proof rubber gloves if you are cleaning parts which can be purchased at Home Depot, and keep a cover on your container when not using during brushing, to be extra safe, purchase the blue or purple colored disposable gloves, these are solvent proof and none porous like a latex glove would be with organics. By the way, the TCE is considered none flammable.
I'm sorry if I upset anyone, but one must be realistic in this modern world and learn how to use some of the wonders discovered or created by the human race, good or bad.
A research scientist in my past life.
RP
From: Chris and Josette Borland <candjborland_at_surewest.net>
To: Indoor_Construction_at_yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 7:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Indoor_Construction] Re: Trichloroethylene (was: covering with mylar)
On Apr 25, 2011, at 5:19 PM, themaxout_at_aol.com wrote:
>
>Brett, no offense, but let me get this straight...you guys are using TCE to thin contact cement or 3M77 to cover an indoor ship with film?...MEK is about as bad as one should be using.
>
>Back up about 10' and think about that. TCE probably one of the more corrosive solvent/degreasers on the planet. It's used as a degreaser in contained vats with total enclosed ventilation...like dipping snowmobile frames in before priming. The folks in the work areas need protective clothing and respirators. Any skin contact and your skin is immediately degreased...not a good thing unless you don't want to leave any fingerprints. But, it will clean your tools though!
>
>It has a vapor pressure that allows it to form a "vapor cloud" over its surface. Inside of a jar say that is half full, the vapor cloud is probably 1/2"-1"...be careful! The degreaser vats I am familiar with were 5' deep and only had 2' of TCE in them...it needed about 2' of freeboard above the wet bath to contain the vapor cloud...and cover doors with no electric openers on them...all mechanical too...no oil. Explosion proof lighting in the work area. A hot light bulb could ignite the fumes.
>
>The folks in the work areas need protective clothing and respirators. Any skin contact and your skin is immediately degreased...not a good thing. But, it will clean your tools though!
>
>Having used it in military and commercial applications it's not something you want to have in any quantity in your shop. Plus, you just can't dump the excess down your toilet either. My advice is find something else.
>
>Rick
>
Nasty stuff. It is (or was) a prime ingredient in many brake cleaners (right there on the label). Doug Galbreath , the F1C guy, used to use brake cleaner when he was selling and servicing Selig Timers. He used to swish the timers around with his fingers until he started to notice some numbness. Now, a number of years later, he still has a little numbness. A great cleaner as it dried with no residue and Selig timers were always a little touchy about cleanliness. The moral of this story is to use pliers and avoid any contact (which we did after the problem surfaced).
Chris Borland
- application/x-ygp-stripped attachment: stored
Received on Wed Apr 27 2011 - 20:16:41 CEST