by smtk » Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:30 am
Well there no need to worry about cleaning my trousers...
This afternoon had a combination of things to try my patience. My father picked a fight with me upon getting to the garage, I had a lot of casting to do today, its very warm here, the power cut out for 10mins and the floor space in the garage is limited to about 1 square meter.
All of the above meant i was in a hurry to get out of there and didn't change into my spare set of clothes or put on my safety goggles ( seem to have lost my clear safety glasses). This was my choice to save time and complacency had set in. I was wearing gloves and my lab coat however.
I was using a new 50ml syringe (job lot off eBay) to fill the moulds. The plunger started sticking but i still had a lot of resin to go so i powered through it (you guys already know where this is going). About the 5th draw the syringe jammed then pulled apart with a loud pop and half a liters resin exploded everywhere all over my lab coat, trousers, the work bench and the floor. The only place i didn't even get a drop on was my face ever so lucky for me.
Thinking back now I was really lucky not to catch any in my eyes and blind myself. Only resin that got on my skin was on my wrist where it smashed into the cup I was using. Its really easy to become complacent when working with it so much its only days like today when you think what liquid resin is a liquid plastic that cures using toxic catalyst that get very hot.
Needless to say I will now will stop treating this as a hobby and remember its a hazardous chemical environment. I'll always use goggles now and have a back up syringe in case of problems. Remember to work at my own pace and not try to rush things.
I did however find out a similar funny story that happened to a doctor friend as a result. He was making blood cultures when the blood clotted in the syringe which then exploded covering him and the room in blood a nurse walks in right after, has fits of screaming, runs into the corridor and passes out.
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