Richard H
Western Thunderer
I recently started work on an etched brass locomotive kit intended for my Craster layout. It’s a very long time since I last made an etched kit, and soon after I started I realised that;
A search for solutions or advice wasn’t very informative, other than to confirm that most people seem have the same problems. I had already intuitively developed techniques such as putting the workpiece on a piece of paper or card and putting the card on a soft mat of kitchen paper or toilet paper which would hopefully catch most of the splinters, then discarding the mat after each use. This was helpful, but not enough be regarded as a solution. I found latex gloves uncomfortable and they made fine manipulation difficult, and could get snagged on metal edges – also they didn’t solve the problem of stray splinters on the work surface.
Two days ago I decided that if the innate malignance of fibreglass could not be controlled, then it would have to be contained.
I quickly discarded ideas like using the brush inside a polythene bag or making one of those containment cabinets with gloves, seen in films about unconventional scientists saving the world from killer viruses.
More seriously, realising that paper mats do actually collect a fair amount of fibreglass debris, I made the tentative assumptions that, at least when dealing with small workpieces:
My experimental solution was to put the paper mat inside a plastic ice-cream carton. I also put in a piece of 45x19 softwood about 3” long to rest the workpiece on. These stay inside the box at all times, unless I am replacing the paper at the end of a session. Here's a photograph:
I reinforced the sides of the carton with strong gaffer-tape, and marked it to avoid confusion. In use, I am able to rest my hands on the sides of the carton, and place the workpiece on the wooden block – a longer block could be used as appropriate to support any workpiece that fits inside the carton. Not visible in the photograph, the wooden block is also marked to remind me that it is contaminated. The workpiece can be held (very carefully) on the block with a wooden probe of some sort if the workpiece is robust enough to allow this, otherwise by a reluctant finger. I have found that by using long tweezers and a simple wooden probe I can place and hold most things without actually putting my fingers near any fibreglass.
I have use used this Mk.1 improvisation over two days now, and it seems to work as I’d hoped. I can see the considerable accumulation of splinters in the bottom of the carton, but I have not been afflicted with splinters even once. I still wipe down my work surface intermittently but it has, as far as I can tell, remained clear of splinters.
Forgive me if this technique is already a known, or perhaps in common use, but I thought the idea worth reporting. I’d be interested to know what other solutions are in use.
Emptying the ice-cream carton in the first place was fun, too.
- I had forgotten the finer points of some techniques and had to re-learn, or at least rehearse and refine, some very rusty practices, and …
- Fibreglass brushes are still as malicious as ever, and receiving a couple of punctures while working on the kit had instantly revived an almost visceral dislike of them.
A search for solutions or advice wasn’t very informative, other than to confirm that most people seem have the same problems. I had already intuitively developed techniques such as putting the workpiece on a piece of paper or card and putting the card on a soft mat of kitchen paper or toilet paper which would hopefully catch most of the splinters, then discarding the mat after each use. This was helpful, but not enough be regarded as a solution. I found latex gloves uncomfortable and they made fine manipulation difficult, and could get snagged on metal edges – also they didn’t solve the problem of stray splinters on the work surface.
Two days ago I decided that if the innate malignance of fibreglass could not be controlled, then it would have to be contained.
I quickly discarded ideas like using the brush inside a polythene bag or making one of those containment cabinets with gloves, seen in films about unconventional scientists saving the world from killer viruses.
More seriously, realising that paper mats do actually collect a fair amount of fibreglass debris, I made the tentative assumptions that, at least when dealing with small workpieces:
- most of the splinters fell within a short distance of the workpiece, and
- most of those that didn’t were not flying far, nor at any great altitude, and therefore ...
- the workpiece did not need to be fully enclosed in order to contain flying fibreglass debris.
My experimental solution was to put the paper mat inside a plastic ice-cream carton. I also put in a piece of 45x19 softwood about 3” long to rest the workpiece on. These stay inside the box at all times, unless I am replacing the paper at the end of a session. Here's a photograph:
I reinforced the sides of the carton with strong gaffer-tape, and marked it to avoid confusion. In use, I am able to rest my hands on the sides of the carton, and place the workpiece on the wooden block – a longer block could be used as appropriate to support any workpiece that fits inside the carton. Not visible in the photograph, the wooden block is also marked to remind me that it is contaminated. The workpiece can be held (very carefully) on the block with a wooden probe of some sort if the workpiece is robust enough to allow this, otherwise by a reluctant finger. I have found that by using long tweezers and a simple wooden probe I can place and hold most things without actually putting my fingers near any fibreglass.
I have use used this Mk.1 improvisation over two days now, and it seems to work as I’d hoped. I can see the considerable accumulation of splinters in the bottom of the carton, but I have not been afflicted with splinters even once. I still wipe down my work surface intermittently but it has, as far as I can tell, remained clear of splinters.
Forgive me if this technique is already a known, or perhaps in common use, but I thought the idea worth reporting. I’d be interested to know what other solutions are in use.
Emptying the ice-cream carton in the first place was fun, too.
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