lessons worth learning........

Been there, done that, learned the same lesson. I used to paint clear Lexan R/C car bodies with laquers. I did the first one in the basement, and the headache lasted for 2 days. After that one they all got painted out on the patio.

If it's any consolation, it didn't have any long-term affects on my cat

Note to self.

Don't spray Lacquer based paints inside or without a respirator.

Does this include Alclad, as I'm thinking about giving this a go at some point in the future?

Karl

oh yes, alclad is most certainly a laquer

I messed with auto body shop lacquer on model cars a few years ago. That stuff used to wipe me out. I'd be going to bed & falling asleep right after cleaning the airbrush. I knew somethin' wasn't right. I never got dizzy, but I know I was screwing something up, and sleep was trying to repair it. Tho said in another thread that dizziness from these fumes is brain cells going numb preparing for death and that some cells have already died at that point.

Lets face it, you need to have a few dead brain cells to want to pursue this hobby in the first place!

It is just a question of defining what constitutes too many!

Reggie, I will bear that in mind.

Karl

Let me tell you a story on why safety is very important.

Several years ago, in a school not too far from where I live, there was a very highly regarded electronics teacher. He had lots of lacquer thinners, and pcb etchant liquid. Some of these were in plastic bottles and top shelf and never used in 15 years. Well one day, the teacher went to get a bottle that sat on the shelf for maybe 18 years, and since plastics degrade with time and chemicals, the bottle simply discintigrated and spilled the etchant all over him. Some senior students realized the trouble, they grabbed him and pulled him to the sink, flushing out his eyes with both taps running. After painful surgery, the teacher was almost the same, but lost his tearducts. painful to blink every time. and this was one year before he was due to retire.

QUOTE: Originally posted by jdavidb I messed with auto body shop lacquer on model cars a few years ago. That stuff used to wipe me out. I'd be going to bed & falling asleep right after cleaning the airbrush. I knew somethin' wasn't right. I never got dizzy, but I know I was screwing something up, and sleep was trying to repair it. Tho said in another thread that dizziness from these fumes is brain cells going numb preparing for death and that some cells have already died at that point.

yeah basically the dizziness is the chemical in your blood stream causing vasodilation in the capillaries.. (blood vessels relax and blood pressure drops), but when you start feeling tingly all over and maybe giggle a little... or especially when you get that headache right in the center of the top of your head... it's time to come up for air... the high feeling is from the endorphins... for me it's when my eyeballs feel like they are retracting into my head.. (ok hard to explain) that's when I know it's too much.. (thats what it feels like when I go to the dentist and he gives me too much nitrous)

where I learned it... we had a spray head come in the ER with chemical burns over his arms and chest... ends up he was sniffing brake drum cleaner (which I am sure contains some nasty solvents) and passed out with the nozzle depressed and it sprayed on him... I'll leave out details... he was ok physically.. but put out of the Navy as incapacitated and without benefits because it was willful misconduct... mentally he was like "Jim" from Taxi, or for younger folks... that mad scientist guy in Back to the Future. (Played by the same actor, small side note) For those even younger... think of Barney..... (not the same actor)

thats when the anesthesiologist on our cardiac arrest team walked through what happens in the different stages of inhaled intoxicants... (not cocaine but more like paint, ether etc..)

oh yeah... for those in the US... Lowes has a respirator for dusts, paints and solvents for about 25.00... it's in the paint section... replacement cartridges are about 10 bucks or so if I remember right, maybe a bit less... I am sure Home depot has a similar one for about the same... but any hardware store would have them, or be able to order them.. or a Sherwin Williams etc...

QUOTE: Originally posted by MusicCity Been there, done that, learned the same lesson. I used to paint clear Lexan R/C car bodies with laquers. I did the first one in the basement, and the headache lasted for 2 days. After that one they all got painted out on the patio. If it's any consolation, it didn't have any long-term affects on my cat

HEHE boy this sounds familiar R/C bodies are where I had my first few adventures with laquer! Boy was painting the inside of a body interesting the first few times....

I avoid laquer like the plague....but inevitably I end up using it just on a very rare occasion!

QUOTE: ... ends up he was sniffing brake drum cleaner (which I am sure contains some nasty solvents) and passed out with the nozzle depressed and it sprayed on him

Brake cleaner is not nice stuff. Lots of guys used to use it to clean out R/C electric motors, and every indoor track I used to go to reeked of it and orange-smelling tire cleaner. It is quite noxious. I used electronic contact cleaner. It probably wasn't much better, but at least it didn't have the stink of brake cleaner.

QUOTE: oh yeah... for those in the US... Lowes has a respirator for dusts, paints and solvents for about 25.00... it's in the paint section... replacement cartridges are about 10 bucks or so if I remember right, maybe a bit less... I am sure Home depot has a similar one for about the same... but any hardware store would have them, or be able to order them.. or a Sherwin Williams etc...

Yep, that's the one I've got and it works like a charm. They have a couple of brands (3M and North, I think). I got the 3M and really like it. I even use it from time to time

QUOTE: HEHE boy this sounds familiar R/C bodies are where I had my first few adventures with laquer! Boy was painting the inside of a body interesting the first few times....

Ditto .. that was enough to put me off painting laquer forever. It was also nice to get back to regular plastic models so I could go back to painting the last color last instead of first!

QUOTE: I avoid laquer like the plague....but inevitably I end up using it just on a very rare occasion!

Exactly the same here. About the only time I use laquers now are metalizers and I normally use rattle cans for that.

never used lacquers, never will.