MachinistBlue
Aluminum
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2014
- Location
- Ellicott City
I have been slowly gearing up to restore the 10EE I purchased some 14 months ago. Over that time I have familiarized myself with different approaches to restoring such a machine. Before jumping into the mechanics, I decided to strip off the layers of grease and paint that have accumulated. After a few hours of applying chemical stripper and scraping off the various coats it occurred to me I have no idea if the material on the machine has lead in it. I am pretty sure the outermost coat does not as it seems pretty recent(and lead based paints are not easily obtained in this country). Whoever did that last coat did a fine job of coating everything such as sight glasses, lever labels, vent covers, etc. I am surprised the spindle nose was not covered. As I got through the various layers I noticed as I got closer to metal the paint seemed somewhat softer. My first thought was it is epoxy based but probably not likely in 1954. At that point I started thinking that maybe lead in that layer is what is making it soft. So I stopped stripping until I have time to access what I got myself into. I never hit these layers with a sander but I would rather not continue the process of chemical stripping until I have some idea on this lead issue.
So have I just poisoned myself (or worse others I share a house with)? I read that as long as I do not sand the surface I should be safe...but then I read how one should protect themselves during lead paint removal including throw away coveralls and respirators. None of which I followed. I feel like an idiot for not thinking about this beforehand. A this point I am not sure if I should just stop what I am doing and live with the machine as is, continue stripping or just cover up what I have with a fresh coat of paint and call it done.
Any help and/or advice is greatly appreciated.
-MB
So have I just poisoned myself (or worse others I share a house with)? I read that as long as I do not sand the surface I should be safe...but then I read how one should protect themselves during lead paint removal including throw away coveralls and respirators. None of which I followed. I feel like an idiot for not thinking about this beforehand. A this point I am not sure if I should just stop what I am doing and live with the machine as is, continue stripping or just cover up what I have with a fresh coat of paint and call it done.
Any help and/or advice is greatly appreciated.
-MB