No More Long Sleeve Shirts For Me!!!

Safety

Mental attitude has alot to do with proper safety. One should always be looking for the worst thing that can happen when they operate any equipment. Complacency among experienced personnell are one of the things one really has to be aware of. Thinking one knows it all and has performed the same operation countless times is the wrong mental attitude to have and can lead to tragedy.
Chino69
 
Some things they never tell you about before operating.......

..............a new lathe;

One of the first projects that I thought, intuitively, would be fairly safe to perform as a new gunsmith lathe operator was the file blending of a brass jag to a 54" cleaning rod with a heavy stainless steel handle.

Let me tell you, a dog leg cleanning rod with at least a 1 pound stainless handle on the end, spinning at well over 500rpm, can reek absolute havock on a shop and personell.

I thought stuffing a few rags in the spindle outboard end would be sufficient enough to keep the cleaning rod centered and supported, well it did for about the first 15 seconds, but when the outboard end of the rod began to oscillate off center and took a 90 degree bend, turning into a 7 foot diameter wrecking ball smashing everything it came in contact with, well, my intuitive thoughts of safety also went with it.

This was one of those cartoon scenes where you hit the floor due to all the shrapnel flying around, and low crawl back to the shut off switch, praying you make it in one piece.

Funny, I have never heard of this happening to another lathe operator or hear any warnings about turning, threading, polishing, long and thin cleanning rods..............which probably goes to show my intuition is lacking and I am one of the duller tools in the shed..............Don
 
There are lots of ways to get in trouble with machine tools. I'm very blessed in that I have had relatively few injuries that would make you go "Eeewww". I have a friend who once left too much bar hanging out the left side of a lathe, and the bar swung around as it bent and hit him. It shattered his arm, his ribs, and collapsed one lung, as the story goes. For that reason, I use a support for anything long, and keep the speed relatively low. I'm not reccomending this, but I have a 5" wide piece of plywood that I put various sizes of nylon bushings in. I just wheel the band saw over to the lathe, put the support in the saw vice, and align it to the lathe spindle.

I've noticed that most of the replies here mention lathes.......know that a mill can suck you into the spindle and thrash you just as quick. There was a young apprentice killed at a tech school near here when he got caught in a boring head.........it broke his neck. An old Machinist told me once that the most dangerous machine in the shop is a drill press, because they are often used with the work "loose", but mainly because people just think of them as being simple.

-Dave-:)
 
I agree with Dave as I have seen it first hand with a drill press. It caught a hold of the sleeve of a Journeyman and this guy was huge. He hooked his other arm around the post and hung on for dear life until I could run over and shut the machine off. When I turned it off I noticed that the drill was still running like his arm wasn't even there. When we got his arm out the drill had twisted his sleeve like a tourniquet and had tightened on his arm till it had displaced all his muscle down to the bone. He was fortunate that it wasn't worse and did recover without loosing his arm. Made me really sit down and think if I was in the right career choice or not.
 
Almost meeting my maker...

I put a piece of 6 foot .750 alluminum stock in my lathe. About 4 feet of stock stuck out the headstock. I turn the lathe to work the stock sticking out the chuck. The speed was not right so I sped the whole mess up and the stock bent 90 degrees an beat a hole in the sheat rock I could walk through. If it had hit me it would have killed me. I saw a light go off in my head just how dangerous a lathe could be.

Rustystud
 
I didn't check the link but

Many years ago I worked on oil drilling rigs. Lots of fast rotating heavy parts - spinning chains etc. You develop "situational awareness" very quickly.

I still remember one time my toolpush went to help at another near by rig where two people had just been killed -stupid really - drinking related . My friend was on the rig controls as they removed one rough neck from the draw works where he was wrapped in the drum and cable. He stopped drinking himself for six months after this.

Glenn
 
John

Knew a guy who was running a drill press with gloves on. He lost a couple of fingers that got pulled out at the root. They had to cut all the way to his elbow to re-attach the tendons.

Larry (Gage) can tell you about a guy who lost a quarter of his head to a crankshaft grinder (production setting). Wheel blew up just as he looked into the machine. Literally knocked him out of his shoes. Last we knew he was still alive but had extensive therapy waiting on him. The put him in a coma for a few weeks until his brain healed.
 
This is why I don't allow anyone to work alone in the shop. I have had close calls once even getting my coat caught in the lead screw.
 
Somewhere back in the Grizzly lathe thread I posted that I would pass on the smaller gunsmith lathe simply because there was no foot brake. This is a great example of how a good brake could save you. I have a Lux-Matter (same as Turn-Pro, Acer and others) that came with a lousy brake that I finally had to remove just to keep the noise down. The strap had broken so it was useless anyway.

My Grizzly Toolroom lathe not only has a foot brake it's a disc brake that stops everything in an instant. I've not had to use it to save my fat butt but I know it's there and I know how to stomp it.
 
I may print one of the less offensive pictures and hang right over my lathe...

I've know a couple of folks who got tangled up in PTO shafts, They scare the hell of me....

I also inadvertantly ran over a calf with a 15' shredder. He was sleeping on the edge of a briar patch, he didn't get up and I didn't see him. The first clue I had is when I heard the thump, thump under the shredder, then no more noise, just the mower running. After I got clear of the thump, thump spot I got off the tractor to see what I had hit. It took me quite a while to identify what the animal was. I imagine it weighed about 100lbs and there was nothing but gore left... sad..
 
I made the mistake of going to the main page of that site, this is one of the tamest pictures their. these are some sick people I think I will get a look at their membership and make sure none live by me. If any do I may have to put them on the list
 
crb said:
All of us married 'home shop' guys need to remember that the wife would probably be the first person on the scene :(
Click to expand...

I'm fortunate that I would never be able to cause such a horrific sight to my wife. I think she'd ignore the horrific screams.

Just today, while my wife was in the house talking on the phone with her mother, I fired a single gunshot in the garage to perform a chronograph test. When I entered the house and asked her how loud the shot was.....she told me she heard it but refused to check up on me for fear of what she might find.

Gosh.....I've told her that at times her menopausal personality can drive me nuts. I guess today she really wondered just how bad she can be! :D
 
Attempt at safety drill press.

Interesting point that the drill press can be considered so dangerous.
My drill press is a big old 50"s model, no on off or emergency stop, just a three pin plug, 240 volt. single phase. When setting up this machine, and looking at it with my safety eye, I saw to use a foot switch pedal that I had on hand.
I wired the neutral, or blue wire through the switch to avoid switch arc and hopefully be electricaly safe. The pedal lays loose on the floor so that it can move comfortably to any stance to the job. Simply step on pedal to drill and off to stop. Both hands free for work and if drill bit jams or anything goes bad,just step off pedal. Others who have used this drill press coment on how easy it is to use and get used to. I think that it is very safe.
Another + is no more broken drill bits, due to the control this system gives the operator.
 
While it's gory and repulsive these pictures will do more to make a person think about power tool safety than anything. Even something as small and common as a drill press can remove a finger quickly. A friend of mine got a glove tangled in a tap that was spinning in a press and quickly broke and mangled most of the finger. My dad always did woodworking and was the foreman in the machine room of a large furniture manufacturer. He managed to cut a finger off and have it reattached and then years later lost the same finger on the same machine--a shaper. You can't learn too much about safety.

On the humorous side while working at the ER I saw a man who tried drilling a carburator that was sitting on his lap. The drill broke through under pressure and....voila....instant circumcision.
 
I try to always take great care to be safe in my shop,that being said Ill relay this story.I was turning a bbl between centers,and wanted to use a steady rest to reduce chatter.I positioned the s/r and screwed the fingers until they nearly contacted the bbl.I started the lathe and screwed the outer finger in until it touched I then reached ,between the chuck and the s/r with my left hand in to tighen the finger on the backside.Before I knew what happened my shirtsleeve got snagged and my T shift was abrupltly ripped off my body.My back got dragged into the chuck and scraped up a bit I also had some pretty bad bruises and abrasions from the shirt getting torn off my body. At the time it shook me up pretty badly and for a few second I didnt want to look at my arm and couldn't see my back to tell if I was seriously injured, it hurt like hell after the adreniline wore off. What had happenned was the dog I was using had a sqare head screw to tighten it down,when I reached in it snagged my T shirt sleeve and there ya go. I have wondered what might have happened if that shirt didnt rip off of my body , now I know.When I saw that pic it hook me up again thank god I was not seriously injured or killed.That t shirt is hanging in my shop as a reminder of what a careless moment do.
 
Pictures

ONE PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS !!!!! Safety First and Foremost.
 
WhelenMan said:
While it's gory and repulsive these pictures will do more to make a person think about power tool safety than anything. Even something as small and common as a drill press can remove a finger quickly. A friend of mine got a glove tangled in a tap that was spinning in a press and quickly broke and mangled most of the finger. My dad always did woodworking and was the foreman in the machine room of a large furniture manufacturer. He managed to cut a finger off and have it reattached and then years later lost the same finger on the same machine--a shaper. You can't learn too much about safety.

On the humorous side while working at the ER I saw a man who tried drilling a carburator that was sitting on his lap. The drill broke through under pressure and....voila....instant circumcision.
Click to expand...

Interesting comment about the gloves. If you look at the photos ( and I wish I had not ) you can see one hand has a glove on it at least it looks that way to me .
It is very difficult working in cold places where extra clothing and protection is required.
May God rest his soul in eternal peace.
 
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