Well... this is certainly topical. I was welding up a new exhaust for my E30 last night and it was all covered in oil... went for the brake cleaner but grabbed the rubbing alch, because it was within reach.
I can't even count how many times laziness might have saved my life.
i had just got done bleeding the brakes on a 355 Challenge car with my dad when i was cleaning the nipples out of the caliper with brake cleaner. When i shot it, it shot directly in my eye.... WORST PAIN I HAVE EVER FELT!!!!
^ A similiar episode for me (but with Carb cleaner and injectors) has resulted in me actually WEARING my safety glasses in the garage whenever the 'possibility' of that kind of stuff is there.
Nathan
njansenv wrote: ^ A similiar episode for me (but with Carb cleaner and injectors) has resulted in me actually WEARING my safety glasses in the garage whenever the 'possibility' of that kind of stuff is there. Nathan
Me too. That stuff hurts.
Looks like Miller has added a blurb about this on their bulletin board.
Also, dont weld cadmium coated fasteners. Cadmium burns off, green at that, and is a carcinogen.
My (future) oncologist is going to be a rich man.
alex wrote:thedude wrote: Why did he wait so long to go the hospital?Look at that guy. Does Mr. Clean's hardass longshoreman brother go the hospital for some namby-pamby reasons like 'my chest hurts,' or, 'I stopped peeing?' Hell no. That just means he needs to drink an extra fifth of Turkey and punch another starving mountain lioness in front of her cubs before he settles in for a cozy night's sleep on a bed of aborted hyena fetuses. Hospitals are for fairies and sailors.
Yeah. I see this syndrome every day. I work doing lab and x-ray for family practice doctors. I get guys who won't go to the doctor unless they're coughing up a lung, won't get a prostate check because if the doc does the rubber glove check on them then they're queer somehow, won't get a colonoscopy, etc etc.
I've even got a standard rap I drop on these guys... "Yeah, I see it all the time. Men who won't go to the doctor and get their checkup, won't get basic tests done. They won't go to a doctor unless the blood is spurting or the bone is sticking out, but they'll change their oil every 3,000 miles come hell or high water." I've had more than one guy give me the sheepish grin after that line.
Get yourself checked. My oldest brother died of colon cancer, and I wouldn't wish that death on my worst enemy.
Just be thankful you're not a woman. Their routine with pap smears and mammo is much more invasive and done more often. When it comes to that kind of thing women's reproductive and urinary systems give them far more grief than men's do.
Dorsai wrote: Get yourself checked. My oldest brother died of colon cancer, and I wouldn't wish that death on my worst enemy. Just be thankful you're not a woman. Their routine with pap smears and mammo is much more invasive and done more often. When it comes to that kind of thing women's reproductive and urinary systems give them far more grief than men's do.
Yeah... after dealing with my kidney stone, my tolerance for going to the Dr. has increased dramatically... If I had gone earlier, my pain probably would have been less... I still have some discomfort in the same spot... but will have to give it another year before getting it scanned again...
Sadly, my g/f (currently 37) is worse than most men about seeing a Dr. I don't think she has EVER seen a gynecologist... not good.
Thanks for posting that link... I never would have thought about that... I don't weld now, but plan to in the future.
Also, I don't think it was the BrewDude (the guy in the picture) who wrote the article - just posted it on his site.
alex wrote:thedude wrote: Why did he wait so long to go the hospital?Look at that guy. Does Mr. Clean's hardass longshoreman brother go the hospital for some namby-pamby reasons like 'my chest hurts,' or, 'I stopped peeing?' Hell no. That just means he needs to drink an extra fifth of Turkey and punch another starving mountain lioness in front of her cubs before he settles in for a cozy night's sleep on a bed of aborted hyena fetuses. Hospitals are for fairies and sailors.
NOW THATS FUNNY!
You can also produce phosgene if you discharge an R12 Freon system around a running car. I learned this the hard way. One of the shops I worked at sent 3 guys to the hospital when one discharged an A/C system while another had a car running on the next lift. I just had some minor irritation that was cured with fresh air. This was BEFORE the days of ozone holes and (insert evil voice here) Global Warming. The ensuing OSHA training in hazardous materials was quite informative. Gave us many new ways to create mayhem 
Great article, learn sumthin' new everyday.........
And not to hijack but for those bike riders out there that have always wanted a custom frame, Brew (the writer of the article) offers frame building classes. At the end of the week you leave with a full custom and painted frame built by you. I've known people who have attended and highly recommend.
Tim Baxter wrote: I dunno about another forum, (and Tech Tips are a good suggestion) but this is JUST the sort of topic the "Vote this topic up" button was intended for.
That's actually how I stumbled onto this topic, I was on the leaderboard page and saw it there.
Thanks Keith for posting this one! 
A buddy told me one of the first things taught in Navy machinists' mate's school is not to smoke around Freon or similar chlorinated substances. As the Freon or etc is drawn through the cigarette it comes out the filter as phosgene gas. 
Glad I quit smoking.
Spinout007 wrote: Yup could see myself doing this one. Just like I ignored that rule of you really shouldn't weld galvanized when I was younger.....nope won't do that one again....even with a big shop fan blowing the smoke away from me, it turned out really crappy and I made myself sick as hell. Thanks for the warning, and even more so to the author of that article.
Man when I was taking a welding class our teacher TOLD us to weld some galvanized for us. He just told us that the fumes are toxic, so hold your breath and take a few steps back to breath (outdoors) and that we should stop if we started to feel bad.
I think if you get sick from the zinc in galvanizing they say to drink milk. Galvanizing won't kill you like cad plate.
One of my grandmother's brothers was in the navy and they used carbon tetrachloride to clean the planes. Well I guess it was getting late and the guy wanted to get out early so he didn't wait until the planes were cooled down and while cleaning a plane was overcome by the fumes and died. I think they mostly use methylene chloride now because it isn't as toxic and carbontet.
My Dad got me filter mask from his work so I don't have to breath nasty chemicals, tons of stuff in everything from paint to glues to cleaners is toxic to breath. A mask costs like 20$. There will always be some people who are too stupid or stubborn to take proper safety precautions so stories like this aren't surprising.
Do you know to wear your mask while welding after using brake cleaner to clean parts? It's not the most obvious precaution. That's the point of the story.
damn right, keith. hell, i don't even leave the house in the morning w/out a full-face SA-rated helmet on. 
I managed to get a whiff of galvanizing fumes after welding (didn't clean it as well as I thought) and I felt like crap for a couple of days. I now clean much more thoroughly.
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