Dermatitis from Wire EDM water?

Anyone else ever get contact dermatitis from the DI water in wire EDMs? Particularly water that has not been changed out frequently enough? I recently started working in a new shop and by the end of the first week the back of my hands are completely red and irritated. I've been dealing with wires for nearly 5 years and in my time with Mits have probably been in a hundred shops and never had issues like this before.

Last time I had any kind of contact dermatitis was 12 years ago working in a shop with many infrequently used, and poorly maintained, manual lathes with flood coolant.

I worked in different WEDM shops for 15 years and had problems with contact dermatitis during the last 4 years.

We were cutting a lot of Cobalt/Chrome alloy as well as Tantalum along with 17-4 PH SS and die sections of D2 and the powdered die steels like CPM10V and ASP23. Our water got changed when somebody opened the door on the AGIE tank at the wrong moment.

I think in my case it is more than likely a developed allergy to nickle after 25 or more years in metalworking shops.

I still get it a couple times a year. I have it right now and still haven't figured out just what triggers it to come back. Non chlorinated brake cleaner exposure might be one trigger in my case. Sometimes I think it might be certain anti-bacterial soaps too.

A dab of Hydro cortisone cream mixed in with some Gold Bond lotion or Udderly Smooth work best for my rash. The menthol in the Gold Bond offers fast relief from the itch.

If you keep having problems see a dermatologist for some prescription creams. Just don't let them give you a prescription for a cream you can get off the shelf but wind up paying 10 times as much.

Good Luck

Tim

Have any of you had your water tested or analyzed (pH level and or for heavy metals)? The only thing that comes to mind is potential issues with the machine's filtration system. What size micron rating filter are you using, and when was the last time they were replaced? Also, are you using virgin or regenerated resin? In the case of regenerated resin, you might be picking up other unexpected contaminants in your water!

-Brian

Thanks for the replies. I did test pH today, but the kit I used was an aquarium kit so it only goes from about 6.8-7.6. The water did come up at the 7.6 limit but it could be far beyond that if it is beyond the scale of my kit. I may look for some real litmus paper tomorrow.

The heavy metals is another possibility, and a rather scary one at that. It's a job shop and Lord only knows what has been cut in the last 15 years. I'm trying to nudge them in the direction of realizing how important water changes are, and not just for the reasons stated above. Filters get changed regularly, not sure on the micron but probably 5. Resin I'm pretty sure is regen.

My biggest worry is that the coolant tanks have become a 150 gallon petri dish. With so many years of everyones hands going in and out of the tank who is to say what is living in there.

Tim, thanks for the ideas on treating it, although I think the ultimate solution is to fix the problem at its source. The developed allergy is very likely. Tantalum should not be an issue though; it's used in medical implants and is supposedly completely non-toxic to the body. Tantalum oxide residue from EDM may be a different story that I do not know. I had one customer that ran nothing but in multiple machines and it was neat to see how it all just fell away from the cut due to it's density. Water never seemed to get that "blackness" you get when roughing steel. Those had to be the cleanest machines I have ever seen outside of our showroom

"Trying to nudge them in the direction of realizing how important water changes are"

Say what???
Do they know who they hired???
Don't they realize who you are?
Why should you have to explain anything to them?
Just tell them to sit back and watch and maybe they will learn a thing or two.
Dude... come work here and the only question I will ever ask will be, "Will you show me how to do that too??"

One of the, few, negative aspects of submerged cutting machines.

Would think that regular filter changes would eliminate the problem.

I've never had a problem with it in any of our wedm's, submerged or non.

Had it big-time though with a sinker we owned about 15 years ago.

Agree with Tim about the nickel.