Glue used to make bellow.

[Drew Wiley]

Gosh, even the variety of ducting can be a life death decision is they're not properly grounded and spark resistant. I've known of lacquer explosions that shattered windows sixty miles away. Everyone thought a nuke war had begun. A manufacturer of it was only six blocks away. I use "was" in the past tense.

[jimskelton]

Who knew making a bellows could be so dangerous? I mean, by using spray adhesive I've apparently cut years off of my life. And apparently I'm lucky nothing exploded during its assembly.

Really, we're talking about making one bellows here. Spray adhesive will likely not shorten anyone's lifespan significantly if common sense precautions are taken.

[John Layton]

...but you could, just by inhaling those fumes...spontaneously combust! (just like that drummer in "This Is Spinal Tap," who was that guy?)

[Rick A]

Who knew making a bellows could be so dangerous? I mean, by using spray adhesive I've apparently cut years off of my life. And apparently I'm lucky nothing exploded during its assembly.

Really, we're talking about making one bellows here. Spray adhesive will likely not shorten anyone's lifespan significantly if common sense precautions are taken.

Yup, but then there's always that one alarmist who knows everything what's best for everybody. So, surround yourself with bubble wrap and don't breath the air.

[Drew Wiley]

Go ahead, call it "alarmist" is you want. You're just plain ignorant if that is your impression. Almost an entire generation of the pro picture framing trade died prematurely when these spray adhesives first came out. Those products became infamous. I have personally known numerous individuals with a nonchalant attitude who now shake uncontrollably, or got mentally incapacitated and violent, or died of cancer, or were literally blown up or burned to death. By law, back then we had an entire library and staff librarian in charge of MSDS sheets and tech info, prior to current internet downloading convenience. Those are meant to be read. And yes, I do know what I am talking about. I was expected and paid to know; it was my responsibility, and hundreds of pros relied on my advice. I was personally involved in EPA safety-licensing more than 2200 contractors.

And I've been involved in selling entire cargo containers worth of these kinds of products to Military contractors. Had factories making them nearby, and saw what happened to the workers and even owners, plus the fires and explosions, the horrible cancers, the advancing of bright personalities to almost vegetative dull stares. And without serious precautions, and serious ventilation, using these things literally is "glue sniffing". Even if the adhesive involved is less hazardous or flammable than the old hot solvent varieties, the propellants themselves might be just as seriously risky.

As for spontaneous combustion - I'm aware of hundreds of specific incidents right around here just in the past decade, many of them fatal, several of them destroying half a city block at a time, quite a few houses burned down, a few far bigger industrial incidents, and every one of these entirely preventable if people had bothered to read labels and MSDS sheets and followed the rules. For those who think they don't need to know what a spark-proof spray booth consists of, in the trades we called that the Darwin award.

[Andrew O'Neill]

I wore a respirator when I used the spray adhesive (I believe it was Elmer's adhesive), in a ventilated space. I used the spray once. I hardly suspect that it cut years off of my life. One person, making one bellows for themselves shouldn't be an issue.

[Rick A]

I wore a respirator when I used the spray adhesive (I believe it was Elmer's adhesive), in a ventilated space. I used the spray once. I hardly suspect that it cut years off of my life. One person, making one bellows for themselves shouldn't be an issue.

Exactly.

[Drew Wiley]

This entire class of chemicals acts in a cumulative manner, and is encountered in various modern products. The less overall exposure, the better. I'm obviously concerned about how much I've been cumulatively exposed to over the decades, since safety precautions were mocked at when I was younger, even regarding things like asbestos and pentachlorophenol. And with respect to lacquers, certain types which are now illegal to sell to a pro cabinet shop, for example, in any volume whatsoever, are actually present in nail polish.

I once had an ambulance emergency med tech tell me that in just the past two months he had to resuscitate eight women in nail salons, and had done so many times before. That is an infamously unregulated abuse of such ingredients, and largely unventilated; but it also informs one that single exposure incidents can in fact be dangerous or even fatal in unventilated spaces. Nail polish is also classified as the most common form of hazardous waste found in ordinary landfills, which actually belongs in hazmat waste instead. Just one example of many of the things we might get exposed to one way or another in daily life, including spray paint, without recognizing the cumulative overall exposure. People might get annoyed with stricter rules and labeling - but let's face it - it's one reason people in the trades today do live longer than they once did, except where such restrictions are deliberately violated, which is also unfortunately commonplace, especially with undocumented workers. Health and safety abuses by the military could be of almost ridiculous scale, and pre-sensitized a lot of people.

So saying a single bellows project has no effect is begging the question. You have no idea how much any specific person has already been exposed to a similar class of chemicals beforehand, or will be in the future, or how close to a health threshold point they have come, whether another bellows project is ever involved or not. Hyper-sensitization can also suddenly occur. You take anecdotal cases like yourself, and just assume something, without understanding the big picture. On the other hand, someone like myself has met thousands of people interacting with those seemingly casual solvent scenarios, with a percent of those, especially careless macho "artiste" types, becoming seriously debilitated in one way or another. It's a roll of the dice. We've all have more cumulative exposure to some of these solvents and ingredients than we realize.

Sure, I use contact cements and so forth myself, but always outdoors with the breeze taking the fumes the opposite direction from me. An organic vapor respirator can also help, but not a mere dust mask like nail polish salon workers sometimes wear. My last project was re-laminating my Durst enlarger baseboards with new black Formica. I've done plenty of countertops too, but always the safe manner with good ventilation, and avoiding spray applications unless an effective spray booth was in place involving a sparkproof system.

[Rick A]

Back to the OP's question, when you have your two sides sprayed, place a sheet of waxed paper between them to line them up and slowly pull it out as you go so they stay aligned.

[Greg Blank]

As I am now, been working in a job shop that makes Military and Aerospace parts, the biggest culprit I see is Toluene. But we also use lots of Acetone, I personally spray various forms of Epoxy resin. (Using a Respirator in a non confined area (with ventilation). Toluene is terrible when the can is open I can smell it thirty feet away in a very large work area. Thankfully I don’t personally require it.

So Drew where does one get the rubberized camera cloth? ��