Caution Around Power Tools
 

She was happy cutting through 1/8" aluminum but she coughed at Stainless Steel Wire Cloth.
Was wearing my polycarbonate face shield and leather gloves.
When she blew, the fragments cut through my gloves and banged my left index and obscene street gesture finger.
'Thought at first that both were broken...plopped my hand into ice water immediately.
Both fingers bled pretty good and swelled up bigger than the size of my wrist,
This was 4 days ago...no broken fingers...swelling is way down...but still hurts like hell.
Be careful, boys.
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1438797459.jpg
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SS Wire Cloth (Hypermotard oil cooler screen)
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1438797521.jpg

Glad you'll again be able to deliver the shocker. Be careful out there.

Got it.
:D

Same thing happened to me last year, and my disc looked a lot like that one. I was VERY lucky and got away with a nasty bruise on my inner forearm, above the wrist. I can only imagine what might've happened if it hit me in the face.

Who made the disc?

I've always wondered how many cutting wheels let go when people use them inproperly for grinding instead.

Had an employee who installed a low RPM disc on a high RPM grinder...needless to say it ended poorly!! Had to have emergency surgery to remove parts of the disc from his thigh!!!
MAKE SURE YOU CHECK THE RPM rating for the grinder and the discs!!

Glad you are ok...

The key seems to stay out of the possible path of the disc if it fractures... The pieces can only fly off tangentially due to centrifigal force...

DON'T put your face into the plane of rotation...

Scary stuff...

I know to not grind with a cutoff disc.
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Christien: "I can only imagine what might've happened if it hit me in the face."
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Can you imagine the damage? :eek:
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I tend to be conscious of my hands/face/eyes around power tools.
Learned that in the military & working for the gov't for 5 years.
They are overly cautious...and rightfully so.

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Bosch disc...about 10 yrs. old...but only used 4 or 5 times.
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1438801512.jpg

Yes! Yes! Yes!

;)
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BTW, my left hand was also on the grinder...underneath. So it caught the debris.

Thanks for the warning.

I misuse those things all the time. I'll consider myself lucky that nothing bad has happened so far, and be much more careful in the future!

Never use one of those without eyes. I had a friend in his shop frag one. Embedded in a 15ft shop ceiling. Still their 5 years later.

Timely thread. I just went to the emergency room a few weeks back. Regular stuff, cut an exhaust pipe, and I was cleaning it up for welds with one of these:http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1438803453.jpg

I still have no idea what happened, but in a split second, the grinder was in my face. I had safety glasses on, but my nose got stuck between the wire wheel, and the guard on the grinder at full throttle. It hit me so hard, I was stunned, and when I came to, and looked down at my yellow work shirt, it was dripping red,. I knew I was in trouble.
I washed it out, and took a look in the mirror, and I when I could see bone, I knew I was going to the ER. 6 stitches and a few weeks later, I'm doing o.k , but have a new found fear of the grinder.
I bought a full face mask the next day. I use these things all the time, I was lucky it did not go into my eyes.
Be careful friends!

"...but have a new found fear of the grinder."
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Nasty event!!! Wow, eh?
I did also. But a couple of days later I mounted a new disc and got back on the horse.

You guys are freaking me out a little.

A few years back my brother gifted my one of China's finest angel grinders he purchased from the good folks at harbor freight as a Christmas present.

I don't do much metal work so it sat on the workbench.

Needed to trim down some plastic electrical plates for the front house... tried jig and circular saw but chip/cracks galore... so I went acoss the alley to my contractor buddy who suggested a cutoff wheel in my grinder... off to home depot I go and zippity do dah plates all trimmed.

Then the hinges on the old iron gate on the side of the house rusted out and the gate fell off.

Back to home depot for new hinges... get out the cut off wheel to trim off what is left of the old hinges on the gate.

No scary story and I do wear hearing protection and a face shield... did I mention I don't do much metal work? Think I'm going to keep it that way!

Amateurs. ;) Don, your grinder is way too clean.

I found out today a mapp torch needs a little help getting old JB Welded Elephant Racing bearings off of spring plates. Precision tools these things can be.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1438805509.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1438805538.jpg

That's a precision job there, Mr.
Nice cuts.
;)

I see you did the safety shield delete upgrade, I got that on mine too. :D

That and the pesky handle delete. My 22 year old Dewalt grinder looks a lot like that one except the cord got brittle and cracked, so it has three rolls of electrical tape holding it together. Still works like a boss!

Great PSA

I'll add, go slowly with these things.

Fast heating expands the circumference, setting up high internal stresses.

Obviously open for debate, but my best, longest lasting, strongest power tools are all Dewalt.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1438808236.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1438808255.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1438808300.jpg

photos, please, of the fingers, Don, and the nose, Fred.
i need to be impressed before i change my ways. :cool:

It is healing up pretty nicely now, I think it has been about 4 weeks. It took out a nice sized chunk. There was some meat stuck on the grinder guard when I got back from getting stitches. There was a flap of skin, that they had to stretch to cover the hole that I made in there.
I was back working within 2 hours. I actually think that the grinder grabbed something, and the handle broke. The handle was still in my hand while the grinder was spinning around on the ground right after it happened.
This is a tool that I use nearly daily for 20 some years. I already have respect for it, and am usually pretty careful. Things happen in a split second. Gotta wear your safety gear

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1438811461.jpg

A mear flesh wound! Have at you!

Hate to rain on your parade but from Wiki:
"In 2002, DeWalt ceased all tool manufacturing in the USA and moved manufacturing to China and Mexico"

Milwaukee were always my favorite tools:
"The Milwaukee Tool Corporation is a brand of Techtronic Industries, along with AEG, Ryobi, Hoover, Dirt Devil and Vax. Ownership history:
1924: The Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation was established by A. F. Siebert in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1975: Sold to Amstar.
1986: Merrill Lynch acquired it.
1995: Sold to Atlas Copco.
2005: sold to Techtronic.
Techtronic Industries Company Limited (SEHK: 669, OTC Pink: TTNDY), Techtronic or TTI, is an investment holding company.[1] Its products include Milwaukee, AEG, Ryobi, Homelite, Hoover US, Dirt Devil, and Vax. TTI employs over 20,000 staff and in 2014 had worldwide annual sales of US$4.8 billion.[2] Subsidiaries include AC (Macao Commercial Offshore) Limited, Baja, Inc., Homelite Consumer Products, Inc., Hoover Inc., One World Technologies, Inc. and Sang Tech Industries Limited."

Ironiclally I have been buying Ryobi tools

Not raining if my tools work hard and last long. My Chinese production in Shanghai was excellent so while a lot of stuff is cheaply made in China, Dewalt must have an expat team in country to keep quality at original U.S. standards. I am very hard on my tools and use them a lot, but they last.

I haven't even touched my DeWalt 18v XRP tools since I bought some Makita 12v Max tools.

Mine is healing rapidly...nothing to see, really.
Next time, eh? ;)