Suggestions for PPE?

[Dakine]

Hi I am just getting started in casting and swaging and putting together my kit. I saw the poll on gloves or no gloves, and I think I will definitely be going with gloves, I really wish I could get a pair of those Oakleys :D

What about the rest of the PPE gear?

Apron? leather or ? where is a good cheap place to get one?

Face shield? from Lowe's / Home Depot good enough or no?

Breathing mask? do you guys use just a cheapie cotton mask or do you get one that a painter might use with replaceable media or ??

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Dakine

[Shiloh]

Gloves and safety goggles.
Gonna get some of those safety glasses side shields in the future. In hot, humid weather, the goggles fog up. The side guards are cheap.

Shiloh

[dbarnhart]

Harbor freight has a set of welder's gloves and apron on sale right now for $16.99:

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-piece-welders-leather-combo-set-94128.html

[MBTcustom]

You definitely need to invest in some asbestos flip-flops:kidding:
You dont need a leather apron. Just a canvas one will do. If you have good eyesight, all you need is a pair of Winchester shooting glasses from wal-mart. I prefer casting with a glove, but only on my right hand YMMV. I cast outside most of the time, so I dispense with the face-mask. The main thing is to where leather footwear. Hot lead BB's can sometimes get through the mesh on your nike's.

[bbqncigars]

I would advise cotton socks and tightly laced leather footwear. Anybody who said white boys can't dance should have seen me the one time a bit of molten lead went into my cowboy boots. :-)

Wayne

[mdi]

It's just common sense. My casting methods don't include splashing or runaway hot bullets. But Mr. Murphy lurks around every corner. I have been a mechanic most of my life and my hands aren't silky smooth, more like leather, and I can't wear gloves and work. But that's just me, no gloves. I wear Rx glasses so I wear my "work" safety glasses when I cast, and I consider this a "must". I've been casting 12 years, most of my sessions are sitting down and I haven't gotten a lapful of hot lead, yet. So, fer me, it's safety glasses, Levis, leather shoes, and common sense...

(way back when I started, I got so excited over a "perfectly" cast bullet I picked it up, oops! A 600+ degree .44 cal. bullet does leave a lasting impression)

[koehlerrk]

Good access to a sink and some really good soap. I like Gojo Orange myself, cleans my hands well, and smells good to boot. A small brush helps clean under your nails, and, I know it's overkill, but I do a full scrubdown... twice. All the way to my elbows, and rinse well. I do this after casting and also after reloading lead. Doc says that's a big part of why my lead level is undetectable.

[Charley]

PPE? My regimen is safety glasses, shoes, and cotton clothing.

Mask? Particulate masks aren't going to help except for particulates...if you're splashing that much lead around, you are doing something wrong in a major way. Ditto for a NIOSH/MSA respirator. If you are runing the pot hot enough to get volitization, you're doing something wrong.
Gloves are an individual preference. I don't like to work in them.
Wash thoroughly after casting/handling lead, before smoking/eating/drinking.

Always think about what you are doing, and why. Situational awareness is more important than PPE in most situations, although the OSHA types don't like to admit that.

[scarry scarney]

I go with the full face shield, heavy long sleeve shirt and weilding gloves. And I'm lucky because of it. One time while casting, I went to flux the pot, and there was a small amount of moisture either in the flux or the spoon I used. (it was a little foggy outside, and I was casting in my work room.) Needless to say, the tinsel fairy visited me. The entire contents of my RCBS furnace (20 lbs) was all over me, the wall, the work bench, every where. It happened so fast, all I had time to do was to blink! The only thing that got hurt was my pride, not a single burn. But it was a learning experience! Now, I always wear the shirt, gloves and shield, plus pay attention to the weather outside. A smart man learns from his mistakes, a smarter man learns from the mistakes of others.

[Longwood]

I go with the full face shield, heavy long sleeve shirt and weilding gloves. And I'm lucky because of it. One time while casting, I went to flux the pot, and there was a small amount of moisture either in the flux or the spoon I used. (it was a little foggy outside, and I was casting in my work room.) Needless to say, the tinsel fairy visited me. The entire contents of my RCBS furnace (20 lbs) was all over me, the wall, the work bench, every where. It happened so fast, all I had time to do was to blink! The only thing that got hurt was my pride, not a single burn. But it was a learning experience! Now, I always wear the shirt, gloves and shield, plus pay attention to the weather outside. A smart man learns from his mistakes, a smarter man learns from the mistakes of others.

Pray tell more!
:veryconfu
What on earth were you fluxing with?
Did it happen when you put the spoon down into the melt?
Do you live where, what they call fog, gets everything soaking wet?

[The Dove]

When smelting wheel weights in my cast iron pot to make ingots I use the following; leather boots, wrangler jeans, wrangler denim shirt or BDU top, welders gloves, safety glasses and felt cowboy hat.

When casting boolits in my Lee bottom pour pot, I use the following; leather boots, wrangler jeans, wrangler denim shirt or BDU top, welders gloves, safety glasses and felt cowboy hat.

If I owned a face shield, I would use that too. JMHO

The Dove

[Ickisrulz]

Sunglasses.

[9-toes]

Face shield, welders gloves, loose jeans, leather boots with high cotton socks, and welders sleeves. Going to get an apron because my pot sits high so I can line up the spout with the mould but if things were to go south the last thing I want is molten lead on my nether regions.

[9-toes]

. . . A smart man learns from his mistakes, a smarter man learns from the mistakes of others.


+1 - agree

[waksupi]

I am highly amused by some people's precautions.

[13Echo]

I like leather gloves but I prefer rather thin leather to help preserve some sense of touch. The gloves protect from splatter and brief contact with hot lead. You really don't need welding gloves. Leather shoes and all cotton or wool clothing with long sleeve shirt and the pants legs fitting over the tops of the shoes or boots. A heavy canvas apron would be nice, especially if you sit down while casting. Glasses or face shield to protect the eyes. You don't need a respirator or mask unless you are smelting and cleaning really dirty salvage lead and that is best done outside standing upwind.

Jerry Liles

[Moonman]

Safety Glasses and a Face Shield, your eyes only get one chance with molten metal.

Cotton wear is your friend, synthetics melting into your skin is a terrible thing.

Gloves.

Shirt should be long sleeve.

Wide brim hat, a lead drop on the top of the head or ears will SMART.

Apron, Leather or canvas.

Boots preferably, but definitely NO FLIP FLOPS, or loose shoes.

If you're truly safe, you won't be sorry.

NO FEAR is not the way to be in this business, Visit a hospital BURN CENTER someday and see.

[btroj]

No shorts, shoes a must, I already wear glasses so those are required by me.

That is about it.

Most important piece of safety gear les between ypur ears. Utilize that and you won't need much else.

[The Dove]

I am highly amused by some people's precautions.

I am not.

The Dove

[scarry scarney]

Pray tell more!
:veryconfu
What on earth were you fluxing with?
Did it happen when you put the spoon down into the melt?
Do you live where, what they call fog, gets everything soaking wet?

I use marvalox, and had put the spoon in the molten led with the marvalox to stir the pot. I didn't notice the spoon being wet from the fog, but it was foggy outside,mand i had a fan blowing "fresh air" in from outside. Murphy let the Tinsle Fairy in!

[Dakine]

Thanks for all of the replies, I really appreciate the advice. I would rather learn from others mistakes than repeat them :)

[bearcove]

I'm a welder and have 6-8 sets of leathers from sleaves to full jackets and an apron.

I see molten metal every day I work.

Wear a pair of saftey glasses, gloves when something is too hot to hold without. Leather boots are a good idea cause a spill goes that way. I wear jeans and a shirt. A dust mask is WORTHLESS. FOR ANYTHING. Good ventilation is a good thing.

The only time I put on leathers is when smelting and adding "suspect" Alloy to a HOT mix.

[fatelk]

I have to say I'm in the same camp as Waksupi, but if you feel the need for more PPE, by all means use it.


Most important piece of safety gear lies between your ears.
A big +1 there. Pretty much every time I've been burned it was because I did something stupid or thoughtless. By focusing on the task at hand one can learn to minimize those incidents.

Wear a pair of saftey glasses, gloves when something is too hot to hold without. Leather boots are a good idea cause a spill goes that way. I wear jeans and a shirt.
Good advice there. Just my opinion though. I won't argue with someone who wants to wear more.

Lead can burn you and is worthy of serious respect, but I work with far worse stuff every day. I get real serious about PPE at work. I've handled Hydrofluoric Acid, Tungsten Hexafluoride, Silane, Arsine, Octafluorocyclopentene, Trimethyl Aluminum, and just about every other chemical used in the semiconductor industry, up close and personal on a daily basis. At my last job I once caught a couple guys on the night crew changing out a drum of 49% HF without PPE. That is borderline suicidal.:veryconfu


One time while casting, I went to flux the pot, and there was a small amount of moisture either in the flux or the spoon I used.
Funny, when I read that I wondered if you were using Marvelux. I bought a can of the stuff many years ago. I hated it with a passion because of it's tendency to attract moisture and cause lead explosions if I wasn't careful. I ended up throwing a nearly full can of it in the garbage.

[a.squibload]

fatelk, when you said hydrofluoric I thought back to
working in a production area. A young engineer was
etching something in a beaker, on a hotplate. He was
tall & always tied up the front of the fume hood.
When the acid started boiling the vapors poured into the
work area, alarm went off & we took off. He was OK,
lucky no slices got ruined, we did prototypes.
HF will soak in with little apparent damage, then attack
bone, or that's what I heard.

[Wal']

Just a question to those more informed, whats the difference between wearing a PPE air mask protection casting boolits.

And standing in line at the fireing range, either indoors or outside with twenty odd + shooters blasting away in the comp's.

Surely you would be at more risk of lead contamination on the line.

:?: :CastBoolitsisbest:

[WRideout]

As a former company safety officer, I used to get involved in choosing PPE for the employees, who worked in a number of hazardous environments. Couple of thoughts: PPE is always a backup. The first line of defense is always engineering controls. In this case, read ventilation. A paper dust mask is only good for nuisance dust. It will not protect you against toxic dusts and vapors. You could wear a respirator with a HEPA filter, and it would protect you against airborne dust particles, but you would still have the problem of hand-to-mouth transfer from anything you handle that is contaminated. Handwashing is the usual cure for that. FWIW, when I cast, I always keep a fan on for ventilation, and wear gloves and safety glasses.

Wayne

[13Echo]

WRideout.

I like your avatar. Looks like the last version of the M110. A great single shot rifle.

Jerry Liles

[fatelk]

HF will soak in with little apparent damage, then attack
bone, or that's what I heard.
Yes. It is a "calcium seeker" as well as toxic. It can pass through flesh with little immediate damage, and start pulling the calcium out of your bones. We were told of a worker at another site who got some on a finger. It didn't hurt right away, so he washed it good with water and went home. In the morning his finger was black and throbbing. He went to the emergency room and it ultimately had to be amputated. He was lucky to just loose a finger because they say exposure of 49%HF to an area of skin the size of the palm of your hand will kill you, unless immediately and aggressively treated.

Sorry, don't mean to hijack. I also don't mean to downplay the dangers of lead. Lead poisoning and burns are serious business, especially if you have kids around. As with any dangerous activity, it's important to fully understand the dangers of what you're dealing with. Not fully understanding these dangers leads people to either be careless and risk exposure, or go over-the-top with unnecessary PPE. That said, if you're unsure about what is necessary, or feel the need, by all means use more PPE. I used to wear my respirator for a certain process at work where it was not required, mostly because of the smell, but nobody ever hassled me for it.

Another story: years ago after my grandfather passed away, I helped go through and clean out his house. In the attic I found a box labeled "Danger! Explosive!". It was full of blasting caps. Anyone familiar with explosives would have laughed at me for the overly cautious way I put it back where I found it. The person who came and took care of them told me that that type of cap is not really dangerous to handle. Heck, I didn't know, but I sure wasn't taking any chances.

[bdutro]

Gloves and glasses. Heavy glove on the pouring hand, light 'mechanix' glove on the other.

I'm not real clear on the inhalation hazards at casting temps. Lead in it's pure form or even alloyed with tin, antimony or whatever isn't going to be airborne, it's the lead based molecules like tetraethyl lead and lead styphnate that are going to get you. Anyone have data on that?

[WRideout]

WRideout.

I like your avatar. Looks like the last version of the M110. A great single shot rifle.

Jerry Liles

As a LT I was in the 1-144 FA in Santa Barbara, CA no less. I loved those guns.

Wayne

[Dakine]

Sorry, don't mean to hijack.

I don't consider it a hijack at all, I think it's absolutely relevant. My question is about PPE and these kind of answers from you guys are exactly what I was hoping to get! I cant thank you all enough for all of the wealth of knowledge you are imparting!

I hope that when I post open questions like this even people that aren't newbies like me will gain something from it, but the guys like me, lurking in the forums and just getting started consider these answers like solid gold handed to us for free! :)

[SkookumJeff]

I bought a combination face shield at one of the local tool stores when I started casting. It came with two face shields, a clear lexan face shield and a fine mesh metallic face shield. I love the mesh face shield, I SWEAT a lot and safety glasses fog up constantly when the humidity is up. The mesh face shield is cooler to wear and obviously never fogs up.

[a.squibload]

Forgot to say, I wear a Harbor Freight face shield when near the pot
(also sleeves, gloves, boots).
Found a speck of lead on it right in front of my eye, might have hit my
glasses but face shield makes for better coverage!
Wasn't wearing it a few weeks ago, felt a little drop hit my eyebrow.
I should learn to quit splashing...

[Bret4207]

I am highly amused by some people's precautions.

Me too. But, to each their own. As long as the guys wanting to wear kevlar undies don't call me stupid for not following suit, I say it's their choice.

[a.squibload]

How did you know about my kevlar undies?

[Bret4207]

The Shadow knows.........