# Safety Month



## Rayanth (Jun 5, 2012)

Greetings all,

The month of June in the United States is National Safety Month. While in my own line of work (and many of yours) and our mutual hobby dictate that we follow safe practices *Every* month, I would like to propose we all take a little extra time this month to step back and re-evaluate our workshop overall. Take just a few minutes to look around at everything in your shop, and the obvious and unavoidable things aside (such as rapidly spinning machines), make a mental note of possible safety concerns.

- Are all of your manufacturer-supplied safety shields in use, and in good working order?
- Are all of your machines properly maintained, and in good working order?
- Have you read the safety section of the manual for each of your machines?
- Do you have a clear exit path when working, should something go wrong?
- Are there any serious tripping hazards in your shop?
- Is there a hazard of anything heavy falling in your shop?
- Are heavier items stored on lower shelves, to avoid muscle strain?
- Are all chemicals properly stored and at least minimally labeled with what they are?
- Are you aware of potential bad reactions should any chemicals in your shop mix with each other?
- Have you studied the MSDS for some of the more questionable chemicals, so you are aware what to do in case of emergency? (MSDS is freely available online at a number of websites)
- Are there any frayed or exposed electrical cords in your shop?
- Are you overusing any extension cords? Extension cords should never have more than one device plugged in to them (and ideally should only be used as temporary solutions)
- If you make extensive use of extension cords, are they have a heavier gauge to avoid fire hazards?
- Do you wear appropriate 'PPE' (Personal Protective Equipment - chemical gloves, safety glasses, faceshields, closed-top shoes, leather aprons etc) as necessary?
- Do you keep loose clothing and long hair out of the danger zone of machinery?
- Do you have at least one fire extinguisher easily accessible?
- Do you have a well stocked first aid kit readily accessible?

As you look through your shop, spend a few seconds looking at each item, with a safety perspective. If anything makes you pause and reconsider it - it's probably not safe!

We all have a tendency to ignore safety for long periods of time. Being safety-conscious is not fun, and not productive; We would all rather jump into the shop and get busy with what little free time we have, to make big chunks of metal into smaller chunks of metal. But as seen in another thread, Safety is an Attitude, and if you don't step back and refresh your memory from time to time, it's too easy to fall into unsafe practices. We rarely realize it until it is far too late.

After doing this quick safety checklist, make a list for yourself, and go through it once a month. Also think of the particular operations you are doing and ask yourself if those are safe as well. An action doesn't have to cause loss of life or limb to be unsafe, just an injury - that minor cut could get oil in it, which can lead to infection, or more serious health problems down the road. There are safer ways to do everything we do - when filing on a lathe, stand to the side so if the lathe should catch the file it won't send it into your body, but off to the side. When cutting with a knife, cut away from your body, or to the side, not towards yourself. Simple things can make a huge difference.

*Let's all make a pledge to be safe - not just this month, but every day we set foot in our shops.*

- Ryan
(I am a Safety Focal for my shop at Boeing, where no job is inherently safe, but every worker has safety drilled into them from day one. It's the ones who grow lax in that mindset that get run over by towed jets or crushed in spoilers, as you may have heard in the news recently.)


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## steamer (Jun 5, 2012)

Couldn't Agree More!

Dave


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## Rayanth (Jun 6, 2012)

Due to the fact that it's safety month, we've been getting additional 'reminder' safety briefings at work. I was digging through references from one of them and stumbled on something that reminded me of the thread on PTFE cutting, and I'd like to remind everyone of the dangers of some of the materials you may deal with, and to always know the properties of what you are dealing with or *might* be dealing with.

Titanium is something we deal with regularly in the building of airplanes. It is a wonderful material, very strong and light, and has useful thermal properties. It is also very corrosion resistant, except in the case of dissimilar-metal corrosion.

One of the biggest drawbacks to titanium is that when working with it, it tends to work-harden very quickly. That is, if you do not supply sufficient feed/speed to the work, it hardens and begins to resist the work more, making you add sufficiently more feed to overcome the sudden hardness. It is not uncommon to dull or break several drill bits per hole, when first learning to drill it. We drill at 450 rpm or less, and quite a bit of pressure behind the drill for 'feed'. It's something of a workout when drilling the pilots.

Why I bring all of this up is another property of titanium that is very dangerous. Titanium is one of the metals that are flammable, like magnesium. In larger pieces it tends to conduct heat away quickly enough that a fire is not an issue. However in its swarf, especially smaller pieces of swarf, the heat does not dissipate quickly, and it is VERY possible that it will catch fire. Just like magnesium - it is virtually impossible to put out a magnesium fire.

Titanium is becoming cheaper and more readily available to the home hobbyist. I am already considering its application for some of my engine designs. If you should ever come across it, please be very aware of its negative properties for machining - keep chip loading very low, and drench it in plenty of coolant. Do not let the swarf get hot, and due to its interaction with dissimilar metals, NEVER mix titanium swarf with swarf from steel or aluminum, or a fire is very likely.

Additionally, magnesium has similar properties, and is often mixed with aluminum or used in place of aluminum for things you might be scrounging materials from. I have heard of a quick and simple test to determine if your scrounge has magnesium content, though I have not verified its authenticity, I do trust the source I got it from (myfordboy on Youtube) - simply pour a small amount of vinegar on the part - if it fizzes, you have magnesium.

Like Titanium, magnesium is very flammable and VERY hard to put out. It also burns bright enough to cause permanent vision damage, and gives off fumes that can be toxic if inhaled.

Always be aware of what you are machining, even these metals can be scary to work with.

Be safe, all!

- Ryan


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## Ken I (Jun 6, 2012)

Cement powder is pretty effective in putting out Magnesium fires -if dumped on the fire in large enough quantities.

Whatever you do don't use water - you tend to get explosions.

Ken


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## Rayanth (Jun 6, 2012)

we had a flare go off on the ground (from an F-15C) in Japan one day... flares are basically a magnesium powder mixed with gelatinous kerosene, soaked into a thick felt. Flight line fire extinguishers are Halon, which puts out a fire, as I recall, by using the heat of the fire to bond with the oxygen around it, thus effectively suffocating it. It's one of the more effective fire extinguishing methods, but it will also suffocate anyone in its direct vicinity, so care must be used.

Unfortunately flares are too light in weight, and the fire extinguisher would have just blown it across the concrete. So the next best thing was done, a sandbag was thrown atop it. Watching the smoldering and smoking from the sandbag for a while, i can only assume it did not sufficiently smother the fire and it eventually burned itself out. After three people were sent to be treated for direct vision exposure to a flare in close proximity, and two more for smoke inhalation, the fire department removed the sandbag, to reveal a sizeable pit in the concrete where the flare had burned through it.

I have a healthy respect for what magnesium fires can do.

- Ryan


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## Ken I (Jun 6, 2012)

Flares are impossible to extinguish as they carry their own oxidiser as well - they burn beautifully under water at great depths.

Ken


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## rhitee93 (Jun 6, 2012)

As a kid, I beat the corner of length of 1/8" thick x 1.5" wide magnesium until it was very thin. Then I lit it.

I had assumed that once it got to the thicker section of the bar it would go out. It didn't, and I found myself holding onto a 2-foot bar of magnesium that was burning on one end. Not knowing any better, I stuck it in a bucket of water. It still didn't go out immediately, which now that I think about it means it was breaking up the water to get oxygen. Scary...

One of many things I did as a kid that could have ended very badly...


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## JorgensenSteam (Jun 6, 2012)

They had safety month at a local lake a few years ago.
As an attraction, they had jet ski rides.

So a mom and her 5 year old son were getting onto a running jet ski, and before the mom could put on the wrist harness, the 5 year old, who was on the front, opened the throttle wide while gripping the handlebars.

It was a powerful jet ski, and the kid went across the lake on it at 80 mph, and hit a dock 1/2 mile away on the opposite side of the lake. When it hit, it sheared a 4" square treated pine post in half, and the kid flew some 100 feet through the air, but survived with minor injuries.

"Safety month" they called it.


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## Ken I (Jun 6, 2012)

rhitee93  said:
			
		

> now that I think about it means it was breaking up the water to get oxygen. Scary...



Yup - that's what it was doing alright but the next problem is where did the Hydrogen go ? that's where the BANGS come from.

Ken


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## ieezitin (Jun 6, 2012)

I would like to add this.....

since everyone is B B Qing do not scrub the grill with a steel or stainless steel wire brush, it leaves wire bristles on the plate and you scoop them up with the meat and ind jest them and it causes an infection. That was a safety topic at one of our company meetings and made sense to me. scrub with a scotch-brite cloth and rinse thoroughly.

Anthony.


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## steamer (Jun 6, 2012)

As much as we would like to ....NEVER try to grab or touch in any way a long stringy chip coming off a lathe while running!

Not even with pliers!

What can happen to a bare hand I think is obvious, but I knew a machinist who was pulling them off with pliers and the chip looped around 3 fingers......and "boom" he now has fingers numbering 7!

Don't Touch them....stop the lathe and clear the chips with pliers then, grind a chip breaker or adjust your feed rate or both to break the chip up!

Dave


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## Jimthewelder (Jun 29, 2012)

Ken I  said:
			
		

> Cement powder is pretty effective in putting out Magnesium fires -if dumped on the fire in large enough quantities.
> 
> Whatever you do don't use water - you tend to get explosions.
> 
> Ken


Hydrogen gas. The fire burns hot enough to dissociate water into hydrogen and oxygen which results in you guessed it kabom.


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