Help!!! sheet metal vs. Employee

I have an employee that when his hands touch bare metal its like muratic acid touching it, its rust within that day, has anyone ran into this personally or otherwise is there a vitamin supplement i can buy him... Dammmmmm!!!!!!!

 

I have heard that some people are worse than others when it comes to touching sheet metal, if it's that much of a problem just ask him to wear some gloves when handling metal.

 

i ware latex or cotton gloves. keep your hands purty too!!!

 

I had exactly the same problem with an employee. An awesome metal worker, he had actually talked to doctors about the situation and no solution was forthcoming. We worked around it by him always wearing thin latex gloves and cleaning the sheet metal with Metal Prep anytime he had worked on something. A bit if a pain and added cost to the projects because of the amount of Metal Prep used but his work was worth it, 20+years experience and a true apprenticeship in England.

 

vitamin G (gloves)

 

I have run into this problem,never heard of a solution.

 

We had to shoot an employee over this, sad sad


JK....

 

I am the same way, although not nearly as bad now (at 41) as when I was a kid and teenager. Back then the frames on my glasses had to be stainless steel because the plating would peel off of the frames otherwise.
Frequent hand washing helps, and of course gloves help, but I don't know of anything you can eat or not eat to help. It's just acid in the sweat. Don't know why. Wear gloves and/or turn the A/C down to keep his hands from sweating.

 

I have a friend who grew up on the Island of Malta.

I don't think his ethnicity is the problem, but his diet is.

He eats a lot of fruit.

20 years ago, he touched a new lathe chuck and backing plate I'd made for it.
I wiped it down with oil right after he left.

The fingerprints are fainter, but still there.

 

Back in my bicycle road racing days, there was a guy we raced with whose sweat ate through the paint on the top of his bike's top tube and rusted it. His girlfriend was quite pretty, and I cautioned her as to the dangers of hopping in the sack with a guy who sweats battery acid, to no avail.

Haven't seen her in years. Hope she's okay.

Dave
http://www.roadsters.com/

 

its the salt content in their sweat.
my father in law went thru watches like crazy, his sweat would eat them up.

 

Found out you have to be careful where you bury them... nothing will grow in a fifty foot radius around the body...!

 

I have that problem pretty bad, just had my 40's frame sandblasted to patch it etc, every where I even remotely touched it is surafce rusted again already, I'm a shell metal worker by trade, and never has been a problem, just an annoyance at times. I have aluminum door panels in my Willys, and you can see every where I have touched and neglected to wipe them off. i try to keep them sprayed with WD40, but I forget sometimes. I think it's from the beer???

 

I've had the problem forever. Leather watch bands just rot off my arm. Could be the beer.

Bill

 

man i feel alot better about my sweaty ass crack now after reading of these such maladies. neoprene gloves might be the trick for him - but im currently in Patent pending for the 'Man-pon' that should help fellow men like me whose ass cracks have the ill dreaded swampification symptoms - dont even get me near a vinyl covered booth seat!

 

Yep, my vote is for the salty sweat!

 

Is his personality abrasive as well? Hahaha!

 

Stay away from latex gloves. I suggest either nitrile gloves or cotton.

 

That made my day.

 

I am "that guy " as well...get him a set of good gloves. then make him wear them.

 

The Dermotologist call them "rusters"---duh

Metal corrosion by chloride in sweat
THE PROBLEM OF'RUSTERS' IN INDUSTRY

http://books.google.com/books?id=CZ...&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result

 

I dont have that problem but got used to wearing Mechanics gloves for protection and such anyway. Saved me from tons of nicks and cuts.

 

Same problrm for guitar players. They don't know the answer either.

Rick

 

Tell him the future is in plastics

 

I have the rust touch as well. Every week I go over all my bare metal with metal prep on a scotch brite.

 

Try using Gibbs instead of WD 40,it resists fingerprints and stays on longer. Might be an idea for quick fix instead of metal prep on every thing too. I've slowed down "watch attrition" too with a slight film on the backing.

 

My older brother was a smoker and a heavy drinker. He could shoot one of your guns and if you did not clean it the same day it would have a rusty finger are palm print on it. I always figured it was the chemicals from both mixing and causing some kinda acid. He died at 61 wanting another beer.

 

I have a buddy with that same condition. The knobs on the radio in his truck have all of the paint cleaned off of them to the white plastic underneath. He's bald but the shine on his head can be seen from space. He says it is just the acid in his sweat that does it. His keyboards and little red IBM mice things always fall apart before mine.

He was a metal worker and always wore gloves to keep it purty. I've had to represent his work at the customer in Japan and it was top notch. Never had to worry about a mark because he always took good care of the stuff.

Ask him to wear gloves and try whatever types you can. My buddy always wore the leather ones. Sucks to do tight work but overall saved wear and tear on his hands and issues with the parts.

 

Rusty paws. Seen it in machine shops. About 20% of the population in my experience. Nothing you can do about them, except for gloves and Jack Daniels. Smack 'em with the gloves and the Jack is for you. Makes you feel better.

 

Shit, I am that guy too. Sheet metal, metal plate, aluminum, my guns, hell I could leave a print in water!! Learned to not touch peoples things when young. I am always wiping stuff down with corrosion x and whatever else is handy. I guess I have a natural patina about me. I think it is diet and stress related as there are hot times for me and times where I don't leave a mark.