Sorry if this is the wrong catagory.
When sanding resin, what precautions should be taken? I’m using Elmer’s Marine epoxy (until I get Milliput, etc.). I looked up The Medical Safety Data Sheet, and nothing stood out. Thanks.
I think this is in the perfect spot…
Whenever I sand resin, I keep in mind that the dust can cause irritation to both the eyes and the throat/lungs. To keep down the dust, I wet sand (either wet the surface you are sanding or the sandpaper itself - make sure you buy wet/dry sandpaper). I also tend to wear my respirator. Might be a bit of overkill, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.
One final thought - when you finish, be sure to clean up any resin dust and wash your hands.
Hope this helps.
really, it ain’t the resin that’s gonna kill you, it’s the dust. Anytime small particles of matter are airborne, it’s potentially dangerous. A respirator is great, but you can probably use a good quality dust mask should do it. If you’re sanding a ton of resin though, I’d go with the respirator.
Wet sand - simple.
Dust is the problem as long term exposure to large amounts of resin dust can lead to health problems down the line. If you wet sand resin parts whenever possible then you’re preventing the dust from getting airbourne and making it much easier to control.
That said, the moderately small amounts of resin that the average modeller is exposed to over a lifetime is relatively tiny and extremely unlikely to cause harm (I reckon I have to deal with more resin fust in a week at work than most of you will ever see! [;)])
If this is just glue joints or minor filling you are sanding, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If you are sanding a lot of stuff off of a large urethane resin kit, that is something else. I was doing power sanding recently with a sanding drum in my Dremel on resin parts, removing the parts from a very large casting gate. That created a LOT of resin dust. As someone else said, wet sanding helps a lot. Keep your workbench clean by cleaning up frequently.
Dust mask and wet sanding.
Here is a little trick I found. I use 3M foam pads for sanding(washable) and rather than water I use non-foaming shaving gel. Binds the dust well and needs fewer dips than water alone.
Many seams/mold-lines can also be removed using the back-side of an X-acto No. 11 Blade, etc,