Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Safety Gear - dremel and airbrushing

The neon paints I'm using for my Trondar project are highly toxic - they have a warning that they contain chemicals known to cause cancer and birth defects. Said paint will be applied to resin minis for the most part (and some old lead ones), so more toxicity there.

So here's what I've got to protect myself:


1) Respirator - it is rated for both particles (resin dust) and fumes, so does double duty. I also wear it when drilling metal minis as it's probably best to not be breathing that in either.

1.b) Fan (not pictured) - If I'm working indoors, such as applying the neon paint to minis with a brush rather than an airbrush, ventilation is important. I keep a fan on to make sure there is circulation as only a few minutes with the lid off (and using thinner to clean brushes) will fill the room up with fumes.

2) Goggles - as I'm using power tools it's a no-brainer. Even when I'm only drilling a pin hole it's better safe than sorry.
They're not bad for using on the paint either as they stop the fumes irritating my eyes as much.

3) Gloves - I only wear the left one when dremeling (ah-heee hee!) so that in the event of a slip or breakage my fingers are slightly more protected. I keep the right free so that I maintain maximum dextereity with the tool.
I might get a pair of box handlers gloves, which are like the ones above but the thumb, index and middle fingers are missing.

They've already proved useful when this happened:


So instead of it shearing off into my hand, it bounced off the glove. Similarly I always wear long sleeves (and shoes if standing).


A bit of an investment, about $80 all up, but well worth it.


Final tip - make sure to mention to anyone else in the house you'll be wearing the gear, as you look like a serial killer with it all on (especially with a black jacket and pants).


Another good investment is the chuck attachment:


Some models come with this standard, but the cordless doesn't. It's much better than swapping out the collets and it can also close up enough to grip tiny drill bits, like the 0.6mm one above - perfect for pinning minis.

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