Re: Re: Trichloroethylene (was: covering with mylar)

From: Segundo Zarate <segundo.zarate_at_gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:29:40 -0700

Great advice, Chris. And thank you v ery much for the heads up WARNING.

Ding Zarate

On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 5:52 PM, Chris and Josette Borland <
candjborland_at_surewest.net> wrote:

>
>
>
> 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
>
>
>
Received on Wed Apr 27 2011 - 21:29:45 CEST