a note to those who paint

[crumpton]

i have been painting my bikes for over 4 years now. health has been dropping a bit lately. tests show liver enzymes through the roof with no good medical explanation. likely cause, exposure to toxins.

i always wear a proper respirator and full suit but always broke the rules in several areas. i often paint in flip flops. no hood and more times than I can remember... have cleaned clear off my heads with thinner.

i am no longer painting and hope to see things come back to normal. i know it can be done safely. i think the little things count. take care and cover up completely. only wash with soapy water and if you get paint on you that doesn't come off with water, just live with it till it wears off.

ciao

[Clockwork]

Thanks for sharing your experience, Nick. I hope you have a speedy recovery.

-Joel

[themanmonkey]

Bummer. I've visited a lot of shops over the years, and watched a lot of painting and very rarely do bike painters really protect themselves. Maybe it's the casual aspect of our industry that leads to not protecting themselves, but I'm surprised I've not heard many more stories like yours. Get better.

[dbohemian]

It is easy to get lax. Thanks for the note. My next purchase will be carbon filters to clean the odor out of the paint prep area. I have a full suit and positive pressure respirator hood so that is covered.

Nick, How do you know it's not the chemicals that you work with making frames and is instead the painting portion?

[anthonymaietta]

Thank you for the note Nick. Its a real wake up call for those of use who do paint.

[crumpton]

Nick, How do you know it's not the chemicals that you work with making frames and is instead the painting portion?

i so rarely come into contact with uncured epoxy but it does happen. i'm sure it hasn't helped but my research into Toxic Hepatitis points to xylene and the other solvents in paints.

i think being totally covered in a positive pressure suite is the way to go and totally safe. but i am going to step back for a while anyway. will create far more time for frame building.

[crumpton]

thanks for the kinds words. i am not really so bad off and i am sure I will see a full recovery.

my post is intended to bring attention to the risks and encourage respect for proper usage.

[Archibald]

Dude! Cleaning your scalp with paint thinner?!!! Really?!!!

You're supposed to huff that stuff, not bathe in it!

Hope you feel better, Nick! Being ill is the worst.

[liberacefanboy]

ok so I don't have the link, but check out Mr.Garns story on his Brew site...something about toxic posining by welding some cleaner... scary shit.
read it , and be safe everybody.
erik

[EnginCycles]

Erik,
I agree that was a scary story. It was also scary to read that someone was welding a gas tank while it was still in the vehicle and he cleaned it with brake clean or something like that. I wish him well but the scary thing is what he actually did not the result.

-Drew

[Tom Kellogg]

having been at this stuff for so long, forget that a lot of what we do is really quite dangerous. WAY back in the day ('76), Jim Redcay believed that he was allergic to Imron. He got terrible skin reactions whenever he got close to the stuff. Fortunately for him, he had a great painter (Michael Overcash) who didn't seem to have the same issues. Peter Weigle does not use Imron for similar reasons. He just does not want the risk.

We use all the tricks here: supplied air respirator, Shoot Suit, etc, but I still spill and have other accidents on occasion. I do have full blood work done when I have my regular old-guy check-ups and my liver numbers have been OK so far. Maybe some react differently than others.

Nick; I think you are smart to get away from all that stuff for a while. I'd do more riding as well since getting things pumping tends to clean things out as well. If you can get more tests taken in a few months, you will have an idea whether the chemicals are the source of the problems or not. Good luck and take care.

[Archibald]

Erik,
I agree that was a scary story. It was also scary to read that someone was welding a gas tank while it was still in the vehicle and he cleaned it with brake clean or something like that. I wish him well but the scary thing is what he actually did not the result.

-Drew

You can do that stuff as long as you follow a proven process. We used to do hot patches all the time on tank farms. There's a pic around here somewhere of me welding a hot patch on a full 150,000 gallon petro storage tank. You approach it with some trepidation, but as long as you follow your process (liquid levels well above the patch, etc., etc.) you're golden.