Gloves for surgeons: Luxury in the repair shop

[Andreas Thaler]

I used to wear this type of thing when working in my 3 foot by 3 foot unvented darkroom closet.

However, these masks do not generate oxygen

 

[koraks]

I prefer nitrile over latex. Nitrile gloves last longer and are easier to get into and out of in my experience. Nitrile as remarked earlier is also less permeable to some nasty chemicals.

 

[BrianShaw]

In the clock and watch repair world there are finger cots, like little condoms, that are sometimes much more convenient than full gloves when that protection isn’t required. Available from clock/watch parts suppliers and local pharmacies.

 

[MattKing]

I'm surprised that surgeons would use latex gloves, given how many people out there - including patients, nurses, other doctors, surgical technicians - have allergenic reactions to latex.
I find the nitrile gloves handy for lots of things, including food preparation.

 

[reddesert]

We use nitrile gloves very commonly at work for handling optics, and mechanical things that we don't want to contaminate (eg don't want to get finger oil on something that will then be installed in an instrument with sensitive optics). They do come in sizes and different workers have different hand sizes.

Lead-free solder is harder to solder with than leaded solder. It requires at least a higher temperature, and a different touch, and sometimes it's a pain in the neck. Andreas is correct not to mix the two. With an electronics hobby, I don't worry about the lead fumes, as long as I have decent ventilation. I take lead pollution seriously. However, there are many items where something is now prohibited for use at an industrial scale for good reasons, but the hobbyist scale produces essentially trivial amounts of pollution / contamination compared to the amount of already existing junk and/or other health hazards. I figure hobbyist use of lead solder is in that category, since most of the lead stays in the workpiece and only a trace amount might be vaporized. Throwing a stereo or VCR from the 1970-80s full of leaded solder into the household garbage (which in theory you're not supposed to do) probably is worse for the environment.

 

[Sirius Glass]

We use nitrile gloves very commonly at work for handling optics, and mechanical things that we don't want to contaminate (eg don't want to get finger oil on something that will then be installed in an instrument with sensitive optics). They do come in sizes and different workers have different hand sizes.

Lead-free solder is harder to solder with than leaded solder. It requires at least a higher temperature, and a different touch, and sometimes it's a pain in the neck. Andreas is correct not to mix the two. With an electronics hobby, I don't worry about the lead fumes, as long as I have decent ventilation. I take lead pollution seriously. However, there are many items where something is now prohibited for use at an industrial scale for good reasons, but the hobbyist scale produces essentially trivial amounts of pollution / contamination compared to the amount of already existing junk and/or other health hazards. I figure hobbyist use of lead solder is in that category, since most of the lead stays in the workpiece and only a trace amount might be vaporized. Throwing a stereo or VCR from the 1970-80s full of leaded solder into the household garbage (which in theory you're not supposed to do) probably is worse for the environment.

Unleaded solder is used in electronics and requires a different flux in order to solder properly and have good electrical joints.

 

[Nimbus62]

I can't choose anyway, since the lead-containing solder is already in the cameras. New solder is rarely added; most of it involves soldering cables with the existing solder.

I always remove existing solder and replace it with new one. On old camera I use leaded solder. I use different temperature depending location: from 260°C (small cable, flex circuits) to 310°C and different tips depending the type of solder to do. For unleaded solder I use dedicated tips at 370°C (regulated Weller system).

About fumes... do not solder enough to install a dedicated suction system. I work in electronic since... 45 years in a reserch/lab center during 20 years and my lungs are in good shape.
Working in production is a different story...
If you dedicated suction system for sure is better

About GLoves, I did not use gloves working on the mechanic parts. To remove the finger print I use "cigarette paper" on flat metalic area. I also use Rodico from Bergeon Id 6033-1 to remove finger print, oil, residue, ... (My father was watchmaker)
I use coton gloves only at the end, putting back covers.
For electronic, no gloves, except if I remove old corroded battery.

 

[AERO]

There are tight fitting quite thin cotton gloves available for handling work that requires utter cleanliness....cheap and disposable.

 

[Andreas Thaler]

My experience yesterday: I have a much better grip with the latex gloves than with the nitrile ones. This helps, for example, when unscrewing screws or larger rings. Since they're powdered on the inside (this will also be available for nitrile), I sweat considerably less.

However, the strong grip is a disadvantage when picking up small parts, such as screws, as they're difficult to move between the fingers.

Since I've already ordered 100 pairs of latex gloves, I'll stick with them

 

[Nimbus62]

Since I've already ordered 100 pairs of latex gloves, I'll stick with them

100 problem to solv

 

[Andreas Thaler]

100 problem to solv

No, 100 more projects

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Since we're on the subject of occupational safety:

• When I'm working with large quantities of solvent, I wear a protective mask with suitable filters and pay attention to the room ventilation.
• Soldering fumes are sucked into an activated carbon filter. I solder with lead-based solder, as this is already in my cameras, and lead-based solder shouldn't be mixed with lead-free solder. I don't know whether the soldering temperature is actually high enough to release lead fumes; I think the fumes are more likely to be the flux, which you shouldn't inhale.
• A fire blanket is at hand.
• I always wear safety goggles over my prescription glasses; something can easily fly into your eyes.
• Wearing earplugs when working with the Dremel will prevent hearing damage.

Good list. How about fire extinguisher?

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Nitrile or latex or nothing or other for loading film in 4x5 film holders?

 

[Andreas Thaler]

Good list. How about fire extinguisher?

I'd have to maintain it regularly, and I think I'm well-equipped for my work with the fire blanket.

Otherwise, the fire department in Vienna is quick to respond

 

[Andreas Thaler]

Nitrile or latex or nothing or other for loading film in 4x5 film holders?

Cloth gloves would be a comfortable solution.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Cloth gloves would be a comfortable solution.

Are those cotton lint proof really lint proof?

 

[paul ron]

Nitrile or latex or nothing or other for loading film in 4x5 film holders?

nothing. i do it my darkroom with my eyes closed so i need the delicate feedback of bare skin.

 

[Chan Tran]

Why do you need the gloves for working on cameras? I can't do nothing with gloves on.

 

[Andreas Thaler]

Why do you need the gloves for working on cameras? I can't do nothing with gloves on.

See this thread, #1.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

nothing. i do it my darkroom with my eyes closed so i need the delicate feedback of bare skin.

That's what I've been doing. I just wash my hands first with Dawn dishwashing detergent to get the oils off my fingers and hands

 

[Chan Tran]

See this thread, #1.

Oh well. I just can't do anything with the gloves on especially the intricate of camera disassembly and assembly.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Nitrile or latex or nothing or other for loading film in 4x5 film holders?

No need for gloves. I prefer bare hands so I can feel the film surfaces and the notches better.

 

[DREW WILEY]

There are all kinds of thin tight-fit nitrile "surgical" gloves. The only difference is that the real surgical ones have been specially sterilized, are packaged and labeled as such, and cost a lot more.

For loading sheet film holders in the darkroom, I just wash and dry my hands well, and make sure my fingers don't get sweaty or contaminated. I keep little unscented pure alcohol wipes around too. But for backpacking with a portable film tent in potentially grimey conditions, I not only carried alcohol wipes, but little nitrile fingertip cots instead of full sized gloves.

Cotton gloves for film loading????%*(^!!! When loading film in the cleanroom, I wouldn't even wear a cotton lab coat - only a 100% Dacron
long-fiber genuine cleanroom smock - just a little more expensive with no lint.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

There are all kinds of thin tight-fit nitrile "surgical" gloves. The only difference is that the real surgical ones have been specially sterilized, are packaged and labeled as such, and cost a lot more.

For loading sheet film holders in the darkroom, I just wash and dry my hands well, and make sure my fingers don't get sweaty or contaminated. I keep little unscented pure alcohol wipes around too. But for backpacking with a portable film tent in potentially grimey conditions, I not only carried alcohol wipes, but little nitrile fingertip cots instead of full sized gloves.

Cotton gloves for film loading????%*(^!!! When loading film in the cleanroom, I wouldn't even wear a cotton lab coat - only a 100% Dacron
long-fiber genuine cleanroom smock - just a little more expensive with no lint.

I also use my Kinetronic Anti-Static gloves. Not sure what they're made of.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Anti-static is just an extra treatment in the case of thin "surgical" plastic gloves. You can also get anti-static Zip-loc bags (generally a light pink color to distinguish them from ordinary bags), custom anti-static Formica, all kinds of things from cleanroom suppliers for tech electronics applications.

Kinetronics gloves involve conductive threads woven into the material. Of limited value unless your gloves are also grounded. And yes, even grounded gloves replete with lines are also available from cleanroom houses, although that kind of thing would be easy to jerry rig with just a little bit of cheap doorbell wire etc. I even grounded my metal monorail cameras that way when out shooting in dry highly static winter conditions in the desert : an alligator clip attached to one end of the wire, and a big nail at the other end, rammed into the ground.
In a cleanroom, the glove or comparable conductible lab coat fabric gets the distal wire end metal-taped to a silver nitrate impregnated conductive countertop material (which is not cold and prone to condensation like a stainless steel countertop). Been there, done that, all of the above.

All my film holders and their slides have been sprayed with a commercial antistaticum. It lasts a long time, and makes a huge difference.