Men, power tools and the stupid things we do with them.
 

My radial arm saw is probably one the most heavily used tools I own. Been using it for 20 something uneventful yrs. Tonight I was cutting some stock. After I finished i lowered the blade to make a different cut. I had multiple pieces to make the same cut.
Why I did this I'll never know. As I was putting the wood up against the fence, I hit the power switch which is on the arm. The blade which i had lowered to far ( and not checked) was against the table. It spun up, shot forward towards me and just skinned my wrist. a 1/4 inch over, and it might have taken my hand off!
In all my years I have never, ever turned it on without having my hand on the slide assembly. Real dumb azz move! Scared the crap out of me!

How about this one :cool:

Only way to get the routes I needed in the control cavity of my LP... The "Min" is for the factory recommended minimum insertion - to be safe.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1299996724.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1299996748.jpg
:eek:

Vin,

How did the blade come off. the shaft turned the nut off and the blade went flying?

Dave, that should be all right if you are not taking too big a cut. I have done that many times. Why not just a longer bit?

It didnt come off. The whole slide assembly moved. The blade was down, touching the table.

2.5" cutting length was the longest we could find without going custom. Longest cut at one time was at max cutting length, plus the extra length. It really isn't the smartest thing to do. :D

You could feel the change in vibrations with the router.

EDIT: That bit was damaged towards the tip early on in the project from the brass collar that's on the base plate. That made it really out of balance at full length.

If you want to consider a vacuum cleaner a power tool, I heard of a guy that was using it to clean-up around a gas tank and you can figure out the rest.....it sucked the fumes from around the tank and exploded.

A good friend of mine owns a fire restoration shop and he told me of a story where a guy was using a buffer on his garage floor and was using gas to remove the stubborn stains.......luckily for him the fire damage was isolated to the garage with minimal smoke/water damage to the house.

:rolleyes:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1300000453.jpg

That's an achievement! :D

ROFLOL... It is isn't it! :D:D:D

Safety and accidents is why they don't make radial arms saws anymore. Only make table saws where the blade doesn't move.

I expected this to be a "VASH" thread.:D



While drilling a hole for something, I got smacked in the face when the bit stuck and I wasn't paying attention. The drill kept going around and my face was in the way.

Luckily, no one saw it.;)

My question is how many times did it hit before you moved the obstruction? I was cutting an overhead limb off a tree and had plenty of time to tell my self, "This is gonna really hurt." And it did.

Just once but that was enough.

Huh? They still make them.

ffrctr,

Done that, too. I was lucky & using a ground fault extension cord.

I've got way too many to list.
I was using a cordless drill with a 1/4" bit to drill a hole in my firewall. I decided to elongate the hole by pulling up on the drill. Well, the bit broke about 1/2 way down and the broken bit, still in the drill, still spinning, whacked me right in the side of the face. That one took a while to stop bleeding.

As for the radial arm saws... This has been around for many years now. I sent mine to them.
Radial Arm Saw Recall

I have cut firewood with a circular saw. I still have all 10 fingers too!

I've been working wood for more than 40 years....both as a pro and as a hobby.
When I first came into the trade most of the oldtimers were missing a digit or 2.....but some weren't.....that makes an impression on a young fella.

IMO, you have to be just a little afraid of these tools and not get into the "familiarity breeds contempt" mode. You take one look at a radial arm saw or a shaper (a big router) and say to your self: "that thing could eat me up", but in fact, they all can.

I've had more close calls on a drill press & table saw than any others....maybe because they don't scare me enough. The discipline to think "what can possibly go wrong" is a digit saver.....yes, I'm now an "old timer" and I have all mine, albeit with some scars.

A certain amount of luck is involved.

It only takes once, that's why my carpenter father in law is missing two fingers. He was cutting a piece of siding with a chop saw and was distracted by his customer asking him a question, ouch.

Chainsaw. Ladder. Big limb.

That was last year. I learned something. It hurt.

Larry

How about an injury without a tool? This morning I was moving some scrap wood inside my shed to make room to hang a cabinet. I started to pull up on a piece of thin laminate that was behind some heavier sheets. At first it didn't budge.............and then it let go......right into my face!!! DOH!!!!!


I didn't realize it was an actual wound until my wife came out later, gasped, and asked "what did you do now?"

"Nothin' honey"


I didn't know I looked like a zombie. Apparently, it bled quite a bit.:D


I cleaned it up and it's barely a scratch. pssssh

I haven't injured myself with a power tool (yet)... Watched my dad drill right into the palm of his hand, once.

yup...did that years ago. climbed up to top a tree....lowered the saw before it stopped completely...almost took my kneecap off.

Vinman...you be one lucky paisano!

Having worked with tools most of my life, I have made some class act blunders as well. Another one of my favorites was putting head studs into an SC, just a top end, not splitting the case. I was in my early stages of the Porsche repair learning curve. Any how, I had spent nearly the whole day cleaning and scrubbing the case, had it super clean. Washed it down real good with brake clean, and blew it out with air. Fired up the torch, and went to heat inside the first spigot, and WOOF!, a blinding flash of heat and flame. The vapors from the brake clean stayed inside the case. It was like a bomb, and I came home that night without eyelashes and bangs. I also had a nice red tint to my face. I am always happy when no one is watching when I fuch up.

When you just need to shake that old can of paint! Offset in a 4-jaw chuck and let her go!

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...paintcan-1.jpg

Fast brake cleaner is chlorinated when burned it makes Phosgene gas you're lucky

I did the exact same thing with the exact same tool. I loaded up and went home immediately figuring it wasn't my day.

Phosgene and also hydrofluoric acid. The stuff that eats through glass and stainless steel.
Really, really bad stuff. If the phosgene doesn't kill ya right away, the HF will eat yer lungs slooooooowwwww.

Yer a wise man milt.

Did the same thing with the extension cord for my lawn mower.

... twice.

Long time ago my assembly guy was trying to pry a lid off a paint can or something... with a dagger blade. He was thinkign "Geeze, if this slips..." OUCH! Stuck it 1/4 inch into his palm.

Guy I used to make swords with many years ago was polishing a chinese hook-sword. Buffer caught the "hook" end of the blade and whipped it around into his neck, splitting seven 16 gauge welded links of the chain-mail coif he was weaing to protect his neck if that should happen. We broke the blade and buried it.

Same guy took and angle grinder across his rather large gut while grinding a blade when someone spooked him from behind. Spilt most of his insides down the front of his pants.
He lived. Nasty scar though. :eek:

Yeah it goes right for the wet stuff seeking H2O like membranes like throat and lungs. Do not use brake cleaner or anything with .chlorine, fluorine any anything ending in
"ine" anywhere near a flame. Same with anything that says "anhydrous" as in ammonia, its looking for the moisture of your esophagus and lungs.

HF nasty stuff. IIRC Mobil in LA runs an HF Unit just across from a residential area. Eats right to the bone, The nastiest acid ever. Their water deluge system for a release is not what I would want to protect me if I lived across the street.

I hope he charge the customer an arm and a leg?http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/128.gif

1958 through 1992? Seems like a long time to go back and recall something. Did they even have guards back then on anything?

My dad has a Sears radial arm saw (part of the recall?) from the late 60's or early 70's. Hasn't been used but once or twice since 1977. Always scared the snot out of me when that thing spooled up.

I was cutting up some of old furniture so I could get rid of it. It just went zap and the surge protector cut the power to the house.
I felt pretty stupid once I had realized what I had done.

It was easy to fix. Just opened up the handle, removed what was left of the cord and used the longer piece on its own.

That was good that your hand was not cut off!

Somethings will stay with you for a long time. During my high school years, I worked after school at the local cabinet shop to support my road bike racing career. one week into the job, I was told I no longer had a job because the owner died from an injury in the shop. He didn't tighten the knifes on his old Delta shaper and the knife flew and got him in the neck.

Now, I have a scary 1 1/4" Wadkins-Bersgreen shaper. It no longer has the insert knifes. Still, every time I go and use that thing, I duck below the table to turn it on. the guys laugh at me each and every time. I respect all of 9 horse power. The damn thing whines like local motor and nothing stops it (8/4" rock Maple full force will not slow it down) except the off switch and the brake pedal. Thank God for auto feeders.

My concrete sub had a new man on my job. This nut job was may be 35-40 years old (the non stop talking about how good he is type) . He would flip his Skill saw over on his leg. Pin the guard back and cut a little wedge. I nearly pee in my pants. The chop saw was set up on a large table five yards away on the porch.

^^^^^ Every time I'm on a jobsite, I keep an eye open for chalked guards on circular saws. I pull the wedge myself, because I know if I just tell them, they won't do it. Framers do it all the time to make faster cuts, but it's an accident waiting to happen.