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Disk grinders can be dangerous. I know this all too well - from experience. And I have the scars to prove it.
The day before yesterday I was grinding a small part. I knew I should clamp it in the vise and use two hands on the grinder. I would certainly have taken an employee to task who tried to short cut the procedure. But it was only a little part and it only needed a little grinding. O held it to the table with one hand and started up the grinder. It went well until I was ALMOST done. Then the grinder caught an edge and bounced back towards me. I moved but not fast enough.
The grinding disk grabbed my shirt and wound itself tight in an instant. Sadly, my souvenir shirt from the Maritime letterhead meet suddenly had a HUGE hole in it. Sadder yet I immediately had some SERIOUS road rash on my stomach too. The grinding disk made a series of 4" swirls in a swath. The cuts weren't deep and didn't require emergency treatment. It did sting more than a little. My showers over the last few days have been tentative to say the least as the exposed nerves seem a little more sensitive to heat than the surrounding skin. Now as the scabs are getting harder it only hurts when I breath heavy, move suddenly or brush up against something.
In a few days I will have a fresh scar to prove once more that grinders can be dangerous if not used properly. I've now gotten into the habit of walking across the shop to use the vise a little more often when I use the grinder. I'm a quick learner.
Be safe out there...
-grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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Being in Florida I usually wear flip flops. I regretted it the day I plugged in the belt sander that was on the ground. Yes the switch was locked on. Nice 4 inch trail across the top of my foot. I really really regretted it the time I was sandblasting and lost track of where the blast was aimed.
-------------------- Dennis Goddard
Gibsonton Fl Posts: 1050 | From: Tampa Fl USA | Registered: Apr 2000
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We have a benchtop disc grinder in the metal shop at work, the kind with about a 12" diameter vertical disc and a platen to rest the workpiece on for safety.
And we have a handful of workers missing their fingertips back to the first knuckle because they force the pieces into the disc in order to make it work faster. When that puppy grabs an edge, it's a bone muncher!
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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yup in a split second things can change. On the other side of the billboard I was working on, while taking some measurements, under a pump jack I came up and Bang! hit my head under the fold of the metal, took a good little gash. Later had to get 5 stiches, $hit happens. and Dan as much as it hurts, you was lucky it could have been worst...
-------------------- aka:Cisco the "Traveling Millennium Sign Artist" http://www.franciscovargas.com Fresno, CA 93703 559 252-0935 "to live life, is to love life, a sign of no life, is a sign of no love"...Cisco 12'98 Posts: 3576 | From: Fresno, Ca, the great USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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Well, they say a workman is known by his tools.
-------------------- dennis kiernan independent artist san francisco, calif, usa Posts: 907 | From: san francisco, ca usa | Registered: Feb 2010
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Dan, when you get to realize how important you are to us, you will be more careful. I was saved by a pen in my pocket while using the table saw. A piece of material kicked back and hit me like a bullet. If it didn't hit the pen, which it broke, I could have had a nasty cut. Bill
-------------------- Bill Riedel Riedel Sign Co., Inc. 15 Warren Street Little Ferry, N.J. 07643 billsr@riedelsignco.com Posts: 2953 | From: Little Ferry, New Jersey, USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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I didn't catch on fire, but I was cutting with a torch and a ball of molten steel dropped down the back of my pants. OWE my butt hurt. It was dime sized.
quote:Originally posted by Dana Stanley: I didn't catch on fire, but I was cutting with a torch and a ball of molten steel dropped down the back of my pants. OWE my butt hurt. It was dime sized.
Down the BACK of your pants? What were you doing, playing twister and torching at the same time?
-------------------- Jon Jantz Snappysign.com jjantz21@gmail.com http://www.allcw.com Posts: 3395 | From: Atmore, AL | Registered: Nov 2005
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Little one man shops are exposed to the same risks as well. It's funny because we don't always act accordingly. When I was at the head of 85 employees in a sign shop, safety was my number one priority because after all, I was responsible. I told everyone and had little posters spread out all over 'you came in to work with 10 fingers, make sure you go back home with all of them' - 'measure twice, cut once' etc...
But when I work alone I cut corners (just like Dan, I saw you work buddy...). When I get a new tool, in most cases I remove all guards that will slow me down. I'm a bit better now but I wasn't big on wearing masks and goggles for short jobs. I would tack a weld with no mask just by closing my eyes... why? because it's quicker and I've done it a million times and still have all my good parts.
But things do happen.... even to people who just come to help for a minute! About 3 weeks ago, Heather came to the shop to help me move a sheet of HDU. One minute job in total and that's walking slowly...
On my main work table, I occasionly have a medium sized vice screwed to a corner. But if I need the whole table, I simply remove the vice and leave it under the table on a shelf that is 7" or 8" off the ground. You guessed it by now, the edge of the HDU sheet caught the handle and just tipped the vice over on her right foot only protected by sandals.... Crushed bones, nerve damage and feeling gone in a few toes she is now in one of those plastic walking casts and for another 5 to 6 weeks. And she just came to help for a minute!
That's why they're called accidents, we can't see them coming. I'm not one to cover everyone in bubble-wrap either, we just have to make an extra effort to be better at seeing them before they happen.
Now she won't come to the shop.... of course painting blood drips with red 1-shot on the vice didn't help my case either but you know me... I had to do something to remember that !
posted
I have friends who call me the 9 1/2 fingered carpenter....so I know about "oops". The only way my wife allowed me to still have a tablesaw after my "oops" was to get a "Sawstop". Glad to hear you are ok, Dan. I'll be watching out for your grinder when I come up.
-------------------- Doug Haffner Haffner Signs www.haffnersigns.com 309-338-9570 211 W. Williams Wyoming, Il 61491 Posts: 211 | From: Wyoming, Illinois | Registered: May 2010
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ACCIDENTS are PREMEDITATED CARELESSNESS ! ...and I have the broken collarbone to prove it !
-------------------- Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass... It's about learning to dance in the rain ! Jim Moser Design 13342 C Grass Valley Ave. Grass Valley, Ca. 95945 530-273-7615 jwmoser@att.net Posts: 488 | From: Grass Valley, Ca. | Registered: May 2006
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I used to restore vintage cars for ten years. One day I was scavaging through an old junk yard to get an exterior door handle for a 57 Dodge, knowing I would have to buy the whole darn door. I spotted one way out back and walked over the very overgrown yard to nab it. Tall weeds everywhere and I was watching for rabid bees and skunks. I got to the car, which was buried in a few inches of mud and grime and managed to pry open the door. Checking things out, I saw the handle was actually pretty good and still operating with few pits in the potmetal. Amazing! I managed to get the door open and began trying to unwrench the bolts holding it on and heard a distinct rattle sound. I looked around and two feet away under the dash was a very mad rattler. I have never skedaddled so fast! I hiked back up to the main office and told them about the problem. They said that was Jake, their pet snake. Yeah right. They all laughed for ten minutes.
I told them if they got the door off, I would take it and the next day, it was ready. Back at my shop I very carefully opened it up, expecting the worst, but no. They had not boobytrapped the inside. Pity the poor fellow who had to go out there and get the door. From that point on, I always had them retreive my parts and paid extra.
-------------------- Preston McCall 112 Rim Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 text: 5056607370 Posts: 1552 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Nov 1998
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I was using a 4 inch grinder at face level, doing a repair on an old RR car. Somebody had done a Bozo repair job by stuffing some newspaper in a hole, followed by about a gallon of fiberglass Bondo. Seriously. Just nevermind making a piece of sheet metal guys, when filler works so well. I think it was Sign Craft magazine, years ago, where I heard the term "Thermo elastic coefficiency" Well this repair had, what should I call it, bad Kinetic coefficiency? As the car clacked down the tracks, the huge green chunk moved at a different rate than the sheet metal around it. I realized this, and started removing all the Bondo. The regular safety goggles got condensation too quickly because of the mask (I assumed fiberglass wasn't good to breath)so I tried a full face shield, which wasn't much better. Finally, I thought, well, just this once, I could forgo the eye protection, squint the eyes, you know, that helps. Shortly thereafter, I got a metal fragment in my eye. $400 to remove it, even the doctor had a tough time getting it out.
Then there was the time I was giving an antique tool demonstration at a well known theme park. It included crosscut saw, foot adze, froe, rail splitting, broad axe, pit saw, draw knife. The last part of the show was where I would talk about how the pioneers used the great variety of woods found here. I got to the part where I lit a piece of fat pine, as a substitute candle. The thing lights alright, but then, in front of 75 people, however many were watching, a big drop of flaming pine pitch drips onto the top of my left hand. And it STAYED lit. I'm there in front of these folks desperately slapping my left hand with my right, trying to put out the flame, wishing I could hop around yelling "IT HURTS!, OH MAN, OH GOLLY, IT HURTS!!" I tried to be ever so British, and cool about it, but man, talk about seriously suppressed anguish. Just a tad of humiliation thrown in.
-------------------- James Donahue Donahue Sign Arts 1851 E. Union Valley Rd. Seymour TN. (865) 577-3365 brushman@nxs.net
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for lunch, Benjamin Franklin Posts: 2057 | From: 1033 W. Union Valley Rd. | Registered: Feb 2003
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Seriously, imagine if it was something you were holding between your legs...one of those it just takes a second to grind that.
A long time ago when I was building a log house I was using a Log Notch Gouge, and a Malet, anyway the gouge sliped out of my hand and took a gouge out of my Thigh.... All of you could be referring to me as Shirley now... Yea Now it's funny.lol
[ May 21, 2010, 06:21 AM: Message edited by: Neil D. Butler ]
-------------------- "Keep Positive"
SIGNS1st. Neil Butler Paradise, NF Posts: 6277 | From: St. John's NF Canada | Registered: Mar 1999
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I think I can foresee some hairy 4" disc grinder swirls coming up in the next Enroute textures series...
but seriously a friend using it one-handed, had a 4" angle-grinder catch & grab & fling itself back at him, severing his femoral artery.
He lived not 80 yards from the ambulance depot, but he had blacked out from blood loss, and suffered brain damage, before he could be 'rescued'. This was 18 years ago. He still has memory problems.
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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I knew a mechanic who worked for my father who was using an old groundless electric drill. One of those old ones with the metal casing. He stepped in some water on the shop floor and ZAP! Dead. Instant electrocution from 110 volts.
Another time I had an employee who was using a buffer to polish out some fresh lacquer on a car. He somehow got into the car antenna and it whip sawed back at him and put out an eye. Thank God for Workmen's comp insurance and my liability policy coverage.
I had a body mechanic cut off the wrecked bumper assembly from an old Nissan Z and afterwards, I walked over to inspect the other damage inside. The bumper horn was red hot from the cutting torch. I bent over to look at the area behind and put my palm right on the hot bumper horm. Bob, pulled my hand back in an instant and ran to grab an arm off the alivera plant to soothe the severe pain. I washed it and bandaged it up as it was already blistering up into a three inch blister in just a minute. He took me to the ER and in a day or two the pain and the blister were gone! Alivera is a very good thing to keep around any shop. No scar and no nerve damage.
We just have to be careful and respect the fact that tools can be dangerous and meant for professionals...or idiots, to use.
-------------------- Preston McCall 112 Rim Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 text: 5056607370 Posts: 1552 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Nov 1998
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I crashed a motorcycle in front of all my Letterhead buddies, almost died a week later since my spleen was leaking all week - burst the next Saturday and the doctor said I was 10-15 minutes from bleeding out and dying.
And all you got was some road rash and a hole in your shirt?
Gotta say, I think I win this one . . .
But if we're reduced to hurting ourselves, shouldn't this competition end? LOL
-------------------- Jay Allen ShawCraft Sign Co. Machesney Park, IL jallen222@aol.com http://www.shawcraft.com/
"The object of the superior man is truth." -Confucius Posts: 1285 | From: Machesney Park, IL, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Well... it was a nice shirt Jay. It did have paint on it though.
I'm not into comparing scars or seeing who can hurt themselves the worst. I can think of a hundred ways to have more fun competing. And anyways... we are on the same team now... remember??
-grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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Jon, I was under a truck squeezed into the frame with full leathers on, and the molten metal rolled down the frame then off, down my pants and fried my butt. I had no way to run, just sat there and sweated and cursed.
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My dad new a guy that was trying to pry the chrome trim off an old car with a pocket knife. The blade snapped, flew up and sliced out his eye. He caught his eyeball in his hand before it hit the ground.
-------------------- Dave Sherby "Sandman" SherWood Sign & Graphic Design Crystal Falls, MI 49920 906-875-6201 sherwoodsign@sbcglobal.net Posts: 5397 | From: Crystal Falls, MI USA | Registered: Apr 1999
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Very first Letterville Panel Swap I was sitting on the porch with my panel in my lap "carving" on it with a Dremel tool. The Dremel cut-off wheel grabbed my shorts, instantly spun itself in, and came dang close to performing a "do-it-yourself vasectomy"
-------------------- Pat Whatley Montgomery, AL (334) 262-7446 office (334) 324-8465 cell Posts: 1306 | From: Wetumpka, AL USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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