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There are a couple of ways to minimize the hazards. I've done quite a bit of
sandblasting with a small 100 lb ALC unit. First, I wouldn't use Silica sand
unless you can not find a substitute. There are other better alternatives. The
best I've found in the midwest is something called Black Beauty. It is coal
boiler slag and is almost 100% free of free silica. It is very sharp stuff that
is created from the crushed chuncks of stuff left over from burning coal in a big
power plant boiler. I've bought it directly from the manufacturer in
Lawrenceburg, IN before. A 100 lb bag is about $3.00 and you can get in a number
of grades from very coarse (small stones) to very fine. It cuts much faster than
silica sand so you use a lot less and the blasting goes much faster. The guys who
blast bridges and river barges use this stuff. They load it into semi trailers
right at the plant.
Regarding your exposure. I doubt that you've inhaled enough to do irreversible
damage. IE, you will die eventually, but probably not from doing this! (;->) But
I wouldn't blast any longer without a really good respirator. Not the throw away
paper varaety, but a real dual cartridge unit that has those spin on cartridges.
They cost $25-$35, but I've paid as little as $15 for the entirely disposable
units before. I've got Asthma and I've found that with the proper protection I
can do just about anything with no problems. I've discussed the situation with my
lung doctor (also a car and truck nut) and he said take the proper percautions and
it's no big deal. You have to remember that the OSHA stuff is setup for people
who are exposed to the stuff on a virtually constant basis. (That's what he told
me) This guy should know since he treats guys with Black Lung desease on a
regular basis. By the way, if it was old enamel paint on an MV you can bet that
it has at least lead and probably other heavy metals such as chromates, etc.
Again, don't eat without washing, wear a good mask. The good ones are rates for
heavy metals, etc.
Good luck, keep blasting and where a mask!
Dave
Lisa wrote:
> *This message was transferred with a trial version of CommuniGate(tm) Pro*
> Funny you should mention silicosis...
> I started getting a sore throat Saturday night, after I had
> sandblasted a little. The night before I had visited a
> friend in the evening, and thought I was getting a cold from
> being in the COLD night air. Sunday I did the majority of
> the sandblasting. After visiting the OSHA page on silicosis,
> I am nervous. I only used the flimsy blast hood supplied
> with the blaster. There was a perfectly good 3M paint
> respirator in my toolbox, but I didn't think I'd need it. My
> plan is to visit my doctor, tell him/her what happened with
> the sandblasting, and get a lung scan as a baseline. Living
> in the desert with the dust storms here isn't good for the
> lungs anyway, so I figure it couldn't hurt. From now on, I
> wear a decent hood with the respirator, and a suit that I
> can take off and put in the wash. Luckily I am blasting in
> open space which allows the dust to dissapate. The OSHA site
> was very informative, except I can't tell the particulate
> concentration to be able to determine the best respirator to
> use. I will continue to use sand only because it can't be
> determined it the alternatives are any better. I also wonder
> if the old paint I blasted away contained lead. Oh, well, if
> it isn't one thing, it's another. I would rather have fun
> working on mil vehs than worrying about the danger in
> everything.
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Apr 04 2000 - 21:57:05 PDT