Watch your off hand and other body parts!

[Allen]

Well, you'd really think I'd have learned by now that angle grinders and body parts are a bad combination.
I've needed stitches because a big 6" one caught and skipped while I was grinding auto spot welds and decided it liked my knee better. I've had little ones grab and skip and tear holes in shirts, in pants, in gloves and bite whatever was underneath.
Friday I tried to grind my thumb. i was trying to remove a little rust lump and holding the bit of channel steel in my bare hand because I got in a hurry*club*

Some people NEVER learn, At least grinder bites don't bleed much, i guess,

 

[bret4]

I learned some time ago not to use my angle grinder without leather gloves. Never thought about needing knee pads.

 

[gus]

My real life experience.Happened 25 years ago.
While doing deep drilling with 6mm drill and clearing swarfs by cotton glove got caught by the drill bit.Had yank it off before whole left hand goes.Thumb got dislocated and it was very painful.Could have been worst.

Lesson learnt use no cotton thread woven hand gloves. Clear drill swarfs using tools.Never bare hand or gloved hands.
After this incident,I wear no gloves when working on machine tools.Hot work like welding-----yes.

 

[bret4]

Your right there. Never wear gloves when running any machine tools. I only mentioned gloves when using an angle grinder. It is just too easy to grind away a bit of a finger so with that tool I wear heavy leather gloves.

Funny you should mention gloves and machines. We had a new guy that was in charge of all production in our shop. He thought everyone should be wearing gloves while running their machines to protect their hands. Our boss finely got through to him just how dangerous that would be and put an end to that before it got started. Still I see a new young 18 year old guy wearing thin rubber gloves. I guess he is afraid to get his hands dirty. I can't believe that the boss has not told him to take those gloves off. Hopefully being thin the gloves will rip apart before pulling his hand into a cutter.

 

[traindriver]

remember a chap who i worked operating a hand power saw saw had the habit of keeping it running after he had finished the cut then he learned a hard lesson the blade guard did not come down and it sank itself in his leg it missed all the arteries and muscle very lucky man and a hard lesson learned i myself wear suitable glooves my self as i take anticoagulants and a cut takes a long time to heal horses for courses i suppose

 

[skyline1]

Hi Allen

Gloves and a long leather apron are a good idea with angle grinders. I was using my little 4 1/2" a couple of days ago cutting some sheet steel. It kicked and cut a huge gash out of the piece of wood the metal was clamped to. Reminded me just why I wear gloves and how dangerous they can be. No harm done and that's what the wood was there for but if that had been a bare hand...!

Hope your thumb gets better soon.

Regards Mark

 

[rake60]

Hope the thumb heals quick Allen.

I agree with the NO GLOVES when operating machinery, but grinding is an exception.

Grinder cuts are as bad as 3rd degree burns.
They have to heal from the inside out and that takes a long time.

We had a man working off of a ladder with a 9" Wildcat 90° grinder one day.
He was wearing heavy welding gloves as he was supposed to be.
The grinder caught and spun around throwing him off balance.
It exposed a section of clean white ribs, 2 inches high and 4 inches wide.
His recovery time was 3 months.

Rick

 

[robcas631]

Well you live and learn......

 

[robcas631]

I take off my wedding ring, watch and make sure all clothing is above the elbow. I don't wear gloves. I have an old grinder that takes 5 minutes to stop! I keep a bath of water nearby when things heat up. I find the steel brush worse than the stone!

 

[Antman]

I reckon more people are hurt using angle grinders than any other power tool. The other thing to watch out for is causing a fire. The sparks are hot enough to ignite your denims and anything else in the vicinity. I wish I had a couple of bob for every time I have seen someone using an angle grinder without even eye protection. I always wear a tough welding mask with a clear lens sandwich (plastic between your face and the glass) when angle grinding. Good thing I do ... I've had a wheel break apart and make a deep gouge in my mask. Mashed the mask against my face, had a sore nose for 3 days. One piece of the schrapnel thudded against my chest. I'm lucky it was cold outside and I had layers of padding under my overalls. Many people also remove the wheel guard to get more clearance. Stay safe,
Ant

 

[terrywerm]

Fresh out of high school I worked for about a year in a machine shop. One of the jobs I was given involved deburring the ends of some bars with slots milled in them. This was done with a bench grinder with a wire wheel installed in place of a grinding wheel. Well, after doing this for a couple of days, it gets rather boring and you tend to quit paying attention to what is going on. The result was my left index finger in the wire wheel, large chuck of flesh removed in an instant. Luckily, I missed all of the tendons, etc, and a few stitches took care of the problem. Result? I hefty respect for bench grinders, no matter whether there is a stone or a brush mounted on the arbor.

Angle grinders are another beast altogether, especially the larger ones. I always use two forms of eye protection, wear heavy gloves, and NEVER attempt to use it one handed. I always have two hands on the grinder and I make sure that the work is clamped down somehow if it is not heavy enough to stay put. I've had a couple of near misses with angle grinders, but none since starting to follow these rules without exception. Oh, and be especially careful with wire wheels mounted on angle grinders! They can grab and kick like no other!

 

[gus]

May I add on my eye witnessing in 1994.
Using angle grinder with wire brush is dangerous especially when the switch has a push lock button to the trigger switch. The wire brush machine wrapped up itself on operator.Lucky for him his Levi pants stalled and stop same machine.Operator got up unscathed.Took him out for a beer.
Wire brush has a habit to sent out stray wires. One man got stung in the leg.Could have been the eyes had he not worn safety goggles.

Back in my plant ,I banned wirebrushing and went on to build a Wheelabrator Shotblast Machine to blast air receivers free of surface rust. Will post foto of Blasting Machine which I reverse engineer. A Wheelabrator Blast System would cost US$120k landed in Singapore.Built same for US$50k. Got no bonus from my local G.M. Just a pat on my back.My painters were happy as they no longer have to use the heavy wirebrush machine and the wearing the masks.
Posted foto of DIY balsting machine back to Campbellsville,Kentucky parent plant where my colleauqe swored it was a "Wheelabrator". The blasting blades lasted forever because of the oil quenched Swedish ASSAB Steel.Blades heat treated myself. Also monkey see ,monkey do ,built Auto Blow Back Dust Extractor.
Cheers.

 

[gabby]

Hi all, a different tool, but seriously dangerous is a cutting torch, I was cross legged sitting on the floor under a wheel well of a car trying to heat up a frozen suspention arm bolt when i had to put the torch down, i just layed it across my knees then reached under the car just as my dog chased a cat or something past behind me, one of them must have caught the gas torch hoses and the head flipped over and got me on the inside of my knee.
now that burn took forever to heal being on a very mobile part of the leg.
cheers graham
p.s the dog survived 'coz i couldn't catch 'im on one leg

 

[mcostello]

Should at least be tied for first place- when I was a younger lad I put a piece of sheet metal on my lap to drill a hole. Drill bit grabbed and wound it's way to a place it definitely was not wanted. Left a scar, and you all will NOT get any pictures of this. First metal related accident.:wall:

 

[Marine Man]

Had a narrow squeak as an apprentice 25 years ago. I was wearing a loose silver neck chain and drilling using an electric hand drill. Putting a bit of force on the drill I leant in real close, cheek against the machine. At some point I noticed the chain had slipped through the ventilation slots and was actually bouncing on the commutator a few millimeters away from the arcing brushes. Lucky I got away with that bit of idiocy!
Lesson learnt - no jewelry with power tools!!

 

[stovepipe]

When using machinery, especially rotating, think what could cause an accident, and act accordingly. Your family would like you to go home in the same state that they last saw you.

Dennis

 

[gus]

During my time in the field,I have seen power tools w/o proper plugs.Tradesmen were using wood
plugs to plug into wall sockets. Power tools in poor conditions and power cords flayed.Chuck keys were missing and workmen used screw drivers to tighten to hold drills. Angle grinders w/o spanners to remove or fix on grinding disc. No safety goggles.No hard hats.All waiting for accidents to happen and not prevented.
With my sub-contractors none of above tolerated.
Nowadays on job sites,all power tools must be inspected and tagged by Licensed Electric Worker.
There are safety officers on site.You cannot enter a job site w/o a Valid Safety Course dog tag.

For us at home.There is no one to police us.Our personal safety is our top priority.
For those with backyard foundries be aware of green horn friends helping out. Molten metals can cause third degree burns. Lead fumes are poisonous.

 

[kvom]

I think latex or nitrile gloves are reasonably safe as they tear easily. I use them for grease jobs or oil changes, but I've seen experienced machinists wearing them too.

My 4" angle grinder is plenty big enough for me, and I do wear gloves using it.

 

[skyline1]

I think latex or nitrile gloves are reasonably safe as they tear easily. I use them for grease jobs or oil changes, but I've seen experienced machinists wearing them too.

My 4" angle grinder is plenty big enough for me, and I do wear gloves using it.

Yes I have seen this too but there was a good reason in this case, the particular type of cutting oil being used was rather harmful to the skin with prolonged contact and it could stain very badly. So they tended to wear latex surgical gloves. Not all of them though as you might imagine some of the old hands weren't having any of it.

Dremels with cutting disks in them or worse still little circular saws can be quite hazardous in this respect whilst they do not have the power or torque of an angle grinder they do turn at very high speeds and you need to take care. Those little circular saws can take the end of your finger off so fast you may not even realise it until it's too late.

Regards Mark

 

[gus]

Yes I have seen this too but there was a good reason in this case, the particular type of cutting oil being used was rather harmful to the skin with prolonged contact and it could stain very badly. So they tended to wear latex surgical gloves. Not all of them though as you might imagine some of the old hands weren't having any of it.

Dremels with cutting disks in them or worse still little circular saws can be quite hazardous in this respect whilst they do not have the power or torque of an angle grinder they do turn at very high speeds and you need to take care. Those little circular saws can take the end of your finger off so fast you may not even realise it until it's too late.

Regards Mark

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the expert safety advice.Was thinking of buying(more of collectiing a "want") a Dremel to cut off some mini screws. Will stay with junior hacksaw. Looking at buying a small band saw. My energy free hack saw is too tiring for a 69 year old man other than good exercise.
Please advise source of good junior hacksaw blades. Even "Eclipse" is made in China. At best ,its best junk. For the hack saw,I use Nicholson which last and last.