CA Glue

Tom:

If you do much with CA glues, it's probably a good idea to have a bottle of CA Debonder around... It is specifically made for removing CA glues.

Anyone that uses much CA eventually gets some on their skin, and there are several methods for removal. If it's relatively thin sections on fingers, etc, a nice warm shower will usually get enough water/moisture behind the glue to allow you to peel or scrape it off with your fingernails or a fingernail brush. In my opinion, the worst part of getting it on you is that you have a smooth shiny spot where there should be skin, and if you're the type to bite your nails, you'll find yourself trying to gnaw it off. With clear it's not so bad, but black CA really looks bad as well.

Personally, I use Lacquer Thinner or Acetone to remove CA from my fingers, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone that hasn't already tortured their skin with various solvents over too many years. They probably lead to cancer like nearly everything else these days... Acetone and Lacquer thinner will often remove the CA, but they leach all of the oils from your skin, leaving it looking white and dry, which is not a good thing. Also, if you have either around, be advised they are extremely flammable, and if you use gas or oil heat (or have a gas water heater) you can get enough vapors in the air to be hazardous without too much difficulty... (the right vapor strength and a pilot light are a very bad combination...)

Thanks

--Rick

Tom Storey wrote:

Rick's answer is right. Keep a bit of debonder handy where you're working with the CA, not upstairs where you were yesterday. You can leave it on the skin once it's cured, though it does give a leprous look, or let it slough off with the dead cells to which it is attached later. I believe the distaff side calls this exfoliation.

Acetone is a slow solvent, which makes it ideal for something I've been doing for years - soaking the nozzles I've saved from bottles of glue. That way, should any become clogged, I simply choose one with an appropriate opening from the acetone bath and throw the clogged one in.

I certainly wouldn't bathe in the stuff, but your skin is able to resist a lot of things, by design. Breathing the fumes produced as the CA cures probably presents a greater risk. Somewhere back when I read a couple of articles which implied it might exacerbate certain cardiac arrhythmias, but evidence appears sparse. Sure burns the mucosa, though.

I use some 220 grit sandpaper to get it off my skin. Just enough to get it to a thin layer, then it comes off easily when you wash. As far as debonding, I've had to use acetone twice to get my self unstuck. Only once to something that I couldn't move...a large bowl blank. Had to get my wife to help me out.

Tom, The others have addressed removal of the glue. To answer your question about how bad it is for your skin, other than the fact that it sticks things together, it's not bad at all. In fact, CA glue was originally developed for M.A.S.H units in Korea to seal wounds. If you look on your store shelves, Band-Aid now has a product called Band-Aid Liquid Bandage. Close inspection of the label reveals that the active incredient is Cyanoacrylate (CA). I have occasionally gotten little CA spatters on my skin in summer when it's hot in the shop and there is perspiration on my skin. When the CA hits my skin it stings due to the rapid boiling of the glue. It's unpleasant but not dangerous in any way, Our club had a demonstrator from Liberon and in discussing CA glue he gave one scenario that if you ever glue your eyelid shut, just cover the eye and leave it alone for a couple of days and the skin oils will naturally lift it.

-Jim Gott- San Jose, CA

"Jim Gott" wrote: (clip) if you ever glue your eyelid shut, just cover the eye and leave it alone for a couple of days and the skin oils will naturally lift it. ^^^^^^^^^^^ Thanks for passing that along, Jim. Most of us have heard that CA in the eyes can be very dangerous. I would think that having an eye glued shut could be very scary, and might lead to unnecessary remedial efforts.

However, the experiences I have had, getting CA on my fingers have occasionally produced heat blisters. I think the damage from that, if it happened to an eye could be very serious. Be careful. Don't turn on the lathe until the CA is cured. :-(

"Tom Storey" skrev i melding news:IQpIc.75997$WB5.72252@pd7tw2no...

I have two points to make in addition to what is said here already:

1. Scandinavian health authorities claim that CA-glues are responsible for producing allergies with a lot of people. Keep them away from children, and keep your workplace well ventilated when glue is curing, and not least, do not get it on your unprotected skin.
2. This is really connected to the bit about protection: I have been advised to use a fat something on my hands before working with CA-glues, like rubbing in some vaseline or a cream with glycerine.

This also makes it much easier to remove accidental spots of CA.

Bjarte

Sure enough. Just like cleaning your hands with oil if you get oil-based varnish on them. If you simply use soap and water, they stay sticky, but a good rub with oil followed by LIQUID DISH DETERGENT to emulsify, and it flows away.

Oiling your hands prior to using oil stains will help shed pigment too.

I occasionally have gotten a splinter in me while turning and pulling out the splinter can sometimes bring a bit of blood that might ruin the wood. A spot of ca quickly stops the bleed.

See, Leif another good reason for LDD.

I know I always wince when I see demo after demo

This is borderline off-topic but I wince when I see them with fabrics and jewelry (beyond a wedding band) below the elbow.

When I was first being introduced to metal-working tools (lathes, drills, grinders, mills) I was told to have only bare skin from the elbow down and I have always respected that. If a minor irregularity catches a single thread, it can grab the rest of the material on the next pass ... by which time your fortune cookie fortune about taking an unexpected journey is about to come true. On a lathe, the machine is going to jam as many body parts as it can between the work and the tool rest.

If the material is a knit sweater you may be able to resist being pulled into the machine. But you are about to have your sweater removed by pulling on a single strand of yarn. The result looks as if your skin has been wire-wheeled.

Bill

Doesn't take long sleeves, just a bit of the dumb. Was wearing a 2X (fat shirt) T with big sleeves one day when I did something I rarely do, stood behind the headstock to retrue the outside of a piece. The other end of the shaft caught that sleeve and rolled it and a chunk of my skin right on in. Ugly bruise, but the belt did slip.

Tom; Your wife's fingernail polish remover will remove it best. James

Thanks for your tip, Leo. Garbage pickup is late today, so I have time to retrieve the jars of dry poster paint. I'll probably retrieve other of my treasures that Lori tries to sneak past me. Arch

Fortiter,

You might also try the Toner left in used Toner cartridges for laser printers. I got this tip from someone when I wanted to color some epoxy black to fill a hole in some black grips. Worked great and doesn't require much.

Users should take precautions regarding inhaling any of the superfine powders - metals, dust, pigments, etc. A dust mask should be standard equipment when working with these materials.

I believe Lamp Black is sold thru art supply stores.

-Jim Gott- San Jose, CA

From the MSDS for lampblack: "IARC evaluation: possible human carcinogen (Group 2B). May be harmful by ingestion or inhalation. Respiratory irritant. Typical STEL 7 mg/m3. Note: Carbon black is generally made under controlled conditions, and has a high carbon content. By contrast, soot usually contains additional complex organic molecules, some of which may be carcinogenic. Thus, industrial and domestic soot may be presumed to present a greater risk to human health than commercially-produced carbon black."

From the MSDS for Laserjet 4 toner: "Not a known or suspected carcinogen according to any IARC Monograph, NTP, OSHA Regulations (USA), EU Directive, or Proposition 65 (California)." The same wording is on the MSDS for all the other black HP toners I checked (I didn't check any color). Lexmark mentions that carbon black is a minor component of their toners and so might be carcinogenic on the basis of the carbon black content.

I think that claiming that laser toner is "highly carcinogenic" is a bit of an exaggeration.

Still, inhaling any finely divided dust, including sawdust, is not generally the best thing you can do for your health.

--John Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net (was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

Indeed it is an exaggertion. The major, and by major I mean over 95%, component of toner is PVC resin. The lampblack simply pigments the PVC. Dan