What's your poison?

[Mcgyver]

I once had an afternoon cutting and filing Beryllium Copper strip, had some cuts in the process.

its your lungs that it'll wreak havoc on

I don't even want that stuff, beryllium copper, in my shop. It affects certain people severally, even causing death, and there's no pre screening on who is susceptible. granted it's its dust/fumes that is the danger, but some small particles do result from machining and if its not in the shop then i don't have to remember to not file/emery it

http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/dirtysecrets/beryllium/1.asp

Many consider it a real problem that beryllium is making its way into so many things like golf balls, putters, kids toys etc - some guy cuts a golf ball in half to see what's inside, sands his putter or a kid figure his boat will go faster if he polishes the propeller....and it doesn't go away, all this beryllium crap is out there for some future tinkerer to find in the back of a drawer and start messing with

 

[Bluechip]

Hi Mcgyver

Interesting post.

Frightening ain't it, the stuff wandering about the environment, probably once classed as harmless, now known to be lethal. Not at the time maybe, but decades later

I found later, I could have had the first two fingers of my right hand amputated .

Would seriously disadvantage a young lad eh??

Dave

 

[steamboatmodel]

its your lungs that it'll wreak havoc on

I don't even want that stuff, beryllium copper, in my shop. It affects certain people severally, even causing death, and there's no pre screening on who is susceptible. granted it's its dust/fumes that is the danger, but some small particles do result from machining and if its not in the shop then i don't have to remember to not file/emery it

http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/dirtysecrets/beryllium/1.asp

Many consider it a real problem that beryllium is making its way into so many things like golf balls, putters, kids toys etc - some guy cuts a golf ball in half to see what's inside, sands his putter or a kid figure his boat will go faster if he polishes the propeller....and it doesn't go away, all this beryllium crap is out there for some future tinkerer to find in the back of a drawer and start messing with

Back when I was into RC racing boats Berylluim copper props were the Hot thing, Guys used to spend hours filing grinding and polishing them. They never came from the manufacture balanced and you had to balance them your self. I always wore a filter mask and gloves ( I had been warned about getting the dust in cuts), but I took a lot of ribbing from some of the other guys, one of them eventually got a bad infection and it took months for it to heal they were at one point going to amputate.
Regards,
Gerald

 

[rake60]

I suppose this post could cause me problems, but it needs to be reinforced!

I went into work one night and the job on the machine was sourounded by
management people. I was told it was critical that keep that material flooded
with coolant and must have a dust collector drawing above the tool cutting
point at all times. I was also told to inform the clean up personell that they
were to use wet rags and NO compressed air when they cleaned the machine
that night. I refused to run that machine until I was informed as to what exactly
it was I'd be working with. It was beryllium copper. A 4 foot OD slab of it.
That's fine. When you are positive about what your working with, you can take
the necessary precautions.

At home the "Mystery Metals" create a different scenario.
If it's copper it probably has beryllium in it.
If it's very red bronze, it may have beryllium in it.
It's not to be taken lightly.

Rick

 

[wareagle]

There really is some nasty stuff out there! What is even scarier is that one day we'll find out that other materials that we think are safe today will in fact be lethal if not handled properly.

More and more I try to keep that materials I work with in the shop environment from becoming airborne, particularly in small particles that are easily suspended in the air. Something as simple as the dust from sand paper isn't good to be inhaled or ingested, so why take chances. The materials we drag in for that future project may in fact have high levels of deadlytanium in it that will cause us harm in one fashion or another.

I will caution those using vacuums for dust control to bear in mind that you need a filter designed to trap the particles you need to capture, and to also make sure that there aren't any leaks between the filter and filter mount. If the integrity isn't there, you likely are doing more harm than good by using a vacuum. Better would be to vent the exhaust outside.

Use common sense if what your doing!