[Noisebridge-discuss] ferric chloride spill

Andy Isaacson adi at hexapodia.org
Wed Jan 25 07:13:30 UTC 2012


http://yfrog.com/h7f40gbj

Perhaps half a bottle (6 ounces?) of fresh PCB etchant, containing
ferric chloride, spilled into a box on my shelf and a few shelves below.
As shown in the picture above, somebody's bag of fabric got hit pretty
bad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferric_chloride

It's not very nice stuff, and it eats metal, but it won't harm you if
you get it on your skin -- just wash it off.  It stains cloth, paper,
and organic substances bright yellow -- there's a yellow spot on the
floor now.  Unused PCB etchant is not a hazardous waste.  (*used* PCB
etchant contains copper chloride, which is quite toxic and should not be
disposed of in household waste.)

Luckily for me, only about $15 of electronics supplies were
unsalvageable.  The cloth pictured above looks to be in pretty bad
shape, though -- I didn't want to disturb it (and possibly spread the
contamination further) beyond cleaning up the spill as best I could.
A few other things on various shelves below also got a few drops.

(FWIW, it wasn't my etchant, it got knocked off the shelf above mine.)

Hack the planet,
-andy



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