--- In
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "leon_heller"
<leon_heller@h...> wrote:
> I was etching a PCB a few minutes ago. I thought I'd beef up the
> FeCl3 with a little HCl so I went in the other room, got the bottle
> and opened it. On my back to the kitchen sink where I was doing the
> etching I tripped, splashed a little of the HCl into my face
(luckily
> the cap was still partly on) and dropped the bottle. A little of
the
> acid went into my left eye so I put my head under the tap and
flushed
> the eye out thoroughly. Of course, I shouldn't have removed the cap
> until I was at the sink. I suppose I ought to get the eye checked,
> but I can see perfectly out of it, although it's a little sore, so
I
> won't bother. The effect was like peeling onions, but a ∗lot∗
worse.
> Onions generate H2SO4 when the juice gets into the eyes, same sort
of
> effect.
>
> It's 30% HCl, BTW, quite concentrated.
>
> Leon
I am VERY happy you lived to tell your tale.
I think I would have hit the shower and rinsed for another 20
minutes. OF course I don't have much hair left (age, not mistakes)
and would worry about more of that falling out as well.
My story is of poor housekeeping. I bought a gallon of HcL called
Muriatic Acid and made some etchant. did the work and then put the
bottle on the floor. A few days later I came back and found that a
board scrap was sitting nect to the bottle had a thick green haze on
it.
A few drops of acid ran down the case and behind the label. as it
evaporated, it 'etched' everything around it.
Dave