Gloves

[Powder keg]

Last Thursday was the last day of class. We were supposed to meed at the shop where the head instructor works. He runs a shop that machines a lot of plastic. They had a new Hondia Kia (Spelling?) CNC lathe that he wanted to show off. He wasn't there when class was to start? We milled around and a while and he showed up a bit late. We went in the shop and he started warming up some of the machines. Before we started he called everyone together and told us a story.

He started by telling us of a guy that works for him. He is constantly telling this guy not to wear gloves when running powered equipment. He was getting better about not wearing them. But, earlier that day, he was using a powered saw. He had lost his concentration and the saw blade snatched hold of his glove that had wandered to close. The only problem with this is his hand was in the glove. He had to be driven to the hospital, and patched up. It was bad, but it could have been lots worse. The moral to this story is "Don't wear F---ing gloves when you are using power equipment!!!"

Another story happens at the shop where I work. There is a guy that runs some of the drill presses at work. He was wearing gloves. He was in the process of wiping some stringy chips off of the table wearing gloves with the chuck turning. The chips grabbed his gloves and wrapped his hand around the drill bit and chuck. Luckily it was a small drill press and it didn't tear his arm off. Unluckily the glove held fast and had captured his arm. This made it impossible for him to kill the drill press. He was trapped there for a bit until he was able to get someone's attention and have them shut the drill press off. The moral to this story is "Don't wear F---ing gloves when you are using power equipment!!!"

I have a couple more stories but the kiddies will have to leave the room. Please be safe

Wes

 

[rake60]

Good Point Wes!

Most shops enforce the no gloves around running machines, but there are always the random cases...

Several years ago a man was running a large face mill cutter on a horizontal boring mill where I work. He was wearing a glove and got too close to the cutter. It pulled his gloved hand into the cutter and it did
exactly what it was designed to do. When another operator was cleaning up the area he picked up the glove and a chunk of flesh dropped out of it. That more or less ruined his day as well.

Rick

 

[deere_x475guy]

Actually guys I would like to add the same warning about jewelery. I am missing my right ring finger from an accident I had 30 years ago. And my dad who was a machinist for National Waterlift had a similar accident but didn't loose his finger.

 

[Powder keg]

Last week a guy I work with was drilling on a drill press at work. He was trying to get rid of a coupe of stringy chips. With Gloves on. He is now missing his thumb nail. The moral to this story is "Don't wear F---ing gloves when you are using power equipment!!!"

Please be safe people.....

Wes

 

[Alistair Hosie]

Surely this makes the call generally that when working with any machines we should eventually all head towards a foot operated cut off switch.Alistair

 

[Cedge]

Allister
Once you run out of hands, feet are all ya got left. Then the warning should read: "Don't wear F---ing socks when you are using power equipment!!!"... ;D

Steve

 

[georgeseal]

While we are on the subject of chips.

Never pull long chips from a turning lathe

I keep a pair of side cutters ( dyke's ) on the lathe and clip the strands as the come off

Was turning some unattainable and the chips were coming off in long strings. One side was like a saw blade the other side was like a razor blade. Dyke's were very handy in converting these to manageable lengths.

George from Conyers Ga.

 

[compound driver 2]

Hi
Gloves are just simply bad news around any form of machine tool as are rings and bangles of any form.
Did i mention long hair? I wish I still had enough hair to be long but if i had id put a band round it.

As much as anything I go on the basis that my other half made teh effort to get me a ring (made the effort to live with me as well) so why risk damaging the ring she gave me. Mind you the ring was paid for from a joint account so did I pay for it??

Safety switches are a great idea nad no machine should be with out them. But i can promise you a machine will bite you faster than you can hit the button! play safe every time with any workshop tool its the only way to keep your fingers.

cheers kevin

 

[Tin Falcon]

In the course of duties with my "Day Job" I work at a chemical plant from time to time . If I mentioned the company name you would recognize it. I was reading a safety posting on gloves. It is the plant policy that anyone working on the plant must wear leather gloves. If you are using any kind of knife or working with sharp edges Kevlar liners are required. The building I was working in had an electrical contractor working a couple months ago on the intercom system. The contractor was asked about Kevlar gloves. He did not have any . The contractor then asked the contract coordinator if he would provide some . The response was we are not obligated that is your responsibility but here is a pair to use. A couple hours later the contractor showed the CC a cut in the palm of the Kevlar gloves. The guys hand was saved from major injury from a utility knife.The contractor was stripping wire and slipped.
Work safe
Tin

 

[rake60]

Good points Tin.

A couple more thoughts....

Band saw blade manufactures recommend the wearing of gloves when removing and installing
blades on the machine.

When you are installing an end mill , or even a drill bit in a collet holder, gloves are a viable
safety factor.

I restore old engines. I carry a lot of scares from solvent burns that could have been easily
prevented if I had thought to put on the neoprene gloves that I keep on my shop.

Gloves defiantly have their place in a home shop.
That place ENDS when a machine tool is ready to run!
In that case, a glove is feelingless extention just asking to be sucked into harms way.

This is a great hobby!
A hobby that involves turning an idea on a plan into a running model engine.
It would be real challenging to dial in that finish cut setting with ones nose or
other appendage.

There's MORE to be lost!
Could any of you type on a computer key board without fingers?
I paid out a good chunk of change to make this forum available.
In return I expect typing fingers!!!

OK so that's kind of a morbid suggestion to say:
SAFETY FIRST!

We want to see your best efforts.
AND, the better one that follows it!

Rick

 

[Tin Falcon]

As a follow up to my last post to this thread I am thinking of adding a pair of Kevlar cloves to the Home shop PPE drawer.
10 plus years ago I was laying floor tile for a friend. The utility knife slipped up onto the square I was using as a straight edge and glided across my thumb. Thankfully the thumb Nail protected most of it. The following week I was working putting up a pole barn . That thumb acted like a magnet and seem to attract the hammer. The phrase sticking out like a sore thumb does have real meaning.
thinking about the various hand work tasks about the home shop me thinks cut resistant gloves could save the precious Ten Digits. we do occasionally have to replace sharp saw blades etc. De burr and handle sheet metal, strip wires etc.
Tin
safety first safety always!!!!

 

[Rog02]

Kevlar gloves are great for many things. I happened upon a source of current issue "Tankers" gloves at a local Army/Navy surplus store which have become my favorite for TIG welding. The black ones are Kevlar while the grey "Aviators Glove" is Nomex.

If you ever run into one of those utility knife intensive jobs a viable alternative to the Kevlar glove is available at the local fishing tackle shop. A "fileting glove" is a chain mail glove made for dressing fish and will prevent those unforeseen slips from becoming a "911 Moment".

The "mechanic's gloves" that are so popular these days have the added advantage of a "sticky" grip that makes handling sheet metal much easier especially when E-wheeling or running a power hammer. Some even have a gel pad in the palm that greatly reduces wrist trauma when shooting and bucking rivets.

I also keep a box of the blue nitrile handy for paint work and solvent cleaning jobs. They also come in handy when packing bearings or handling raw 4130 tubing.

Gloves defiantly have their place in a home shop.
That place ENDS when a machine tool is ready to run!

Gloves should be used wherever needed and appropriate for protection. They are a safety device that may not be applicable in all situations.

 

[BobWarfield]

Kevlar gloves are great for Tig, and great for handling things with nasty sharp edges. And yes, never wear gloves around rotating machinery!

Cheers,

BW

 

[wareagle]

Gloves are an essential piece in the safety equation. As the other's have said, and with any other saftey device, they have their purposes and limitations. Understand the risks associated with any piece of safety equipment, and utilize the equipment to best mitigate the hazards associated with the task at hand. An example is latex gloves; great for solvents and cleaning, but not really the best option for welding! Use common sense in what you are doing!!!!

This is a little off topic, but it is in regards to gloves nonetheless. A guy that worked for me (electrician) was working in an energized panel with lineman's gloves on. No problem there, until I discovered that he had cut the tip of the thumb and index figers off of the gloves so he could have "a better feel" for the work he was doing. Hence the reason he "worked" for me. That common sense thing really works!!!!

 

[doubleboost]

Hi This is my first post hear.
A friend and i were working in my garage last nite.i was using the lathe whilst he was cutting some 1nch bar by hand.
My friend has worked with machine tools for 40 years with no more than the usuall cuts and bruses that are part of every day life.
He is a very clean and safe worker often complaining at me for not wearing gloves when welding tacking jobs up with no screen ,holding jobs by hand in the drill press (you no the sort of thing you do).
Back to last nite he was wearing kevlar gloves whilst using the hand saw he then went to our new mill drill machine to drill some 1/4 holes ,all i heard was (john take me to hospitall ), i turned around to see blood all over his hand his right index finger having no nail or skin left on above the first nuckle ,the glove was rapped tight around the drill the mangled finger end still inside it .
All he could say was how stupid he was for this moment of not thinking ,as i write this he is having plastic surgery to tidy his finger .
It just goes to show how easy it is for this splendid hobby to bite back
Regards
John

 

[Powder keg]

John, I hope your friend will be OK. Thanks for sharing your experience. Hopefully we will all take heed and learn from his mistake.


Later, Wes

 

[doubleboost]

Hi

I am posting these pictures of my friends hand to show how easy it is to spoil your day
He was drilling a 6 mill hole when his glove was pulled in to the chuck ,

This could have been much worse
Regards
John

 

[rake60]

For anyone who has never witnessed an accident like that it's
impossible to explain.

The first machine shop I worked was a production shop manufacturing
threaded ferules for gas meters. A coworker was running a vertical column
threading machine. The die head snapped open and started it's upward
travel to clear the part. There were a few long stringers still sticking to the
chasers. He reached in with a scale to knock them off. He had a glove on and
one of the stringers caught him.
I saw his arm jerk forward and back. Just that quick.
Two fingers were still in the glove that then laying on the machine table...

It happens too quickly.

 

[tattoomike68]

I have an accident prone friend with a few short fingers. I tease him by saying "some guys will do anything to get out of work"

He started out by grinding one short with a bench grinder in high school and continued the trend into his adult life.

 

[lathe nut]

I had an old friend of mine who was in his 70's, he made a large homemade compressor with a double belt pulley, put a wall switch on it, well he moved it and forgot to up plug well when his fingers made the round on the pulley cut off all four fingers on one hand between the nails and the next joint, he was not good over that when his lawnmower deck got caught in the drain in the yard, got off the mower reached under the deck and cut the other finger same length on the other hand, well I cut his grass and hid a lot for him until he pass on, I told him one day that I was sorry that those things happened to him, he always saw the good in everything, his reply, "at least I don't have to cut finger nails on 8 fingers like you do", I will cut finger nails, lathe nut