Folks, wear your PPE.

catfishblues

catfishblues

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2005
Location
Pfafftown, NC
Not that you need another reminder, but I got a good one tonight at the shop. Running the Wilton 2x72 belt grinder. This isn't your average belt sander, that 6' belt is moving fast! I had just pulled the work piece away from the belt when it let go with a POW! I had all the guards in place, was wearing gloves, glasses, and a heavy t-shirt. The broken end still reached out and touched me on my gut. I'll save you the pictures as nobody wants to see that! It could have been worse. A couple good strawberries 2" wide and a big red spot. When I got my head back together, though, I thought about how bad it could have been if it had come across a bare knuckle or my face. The coarse belt would have taken a lot of skin with it!

So not that anybody cares, or even should, but just remember to think when using power tools. Anything can let go, and usually without warning. So keep your guards on your grinders and wear your shit. We're risking our health every time we walk in the shop.
 
I was thinking about that possibility when using my 6"x48 belt sander the other day....

Glad you got off easy.
 
Broke at the tape joint. Pretty sure I had it running the right direction, too. One problem is that when you switch belts frequently, the arrows wear off faster than the grit does!
 
The maintenance man on my shift got hurt a few weeks ago, right before Christmas. He was up in a machine working on I don't know what, but somehow got smacked in the face when something rotated and split his lip from right under his nose all the way down his chin. Something like 100 stitches. The machine was off but something in it had some built up pressure. Glad he was ok but could'a been worse if it hit him directly on the head. I personally had a near miss around the same time. Was picking up a hundred pound part with an over-head crane when its suddenly ended up in the floor in front of me. Startled me a bit but i heard it hit the granite surface plate before it hit the floor and I jumped back a few feet. I think what happened was when I was putting the straps around the part the eye looped over the hook and was sitting on the safety latch, I didn't see it obviously and when I started to lift the part it let go. Anyway moral of the story, pay attention to what you are doing idiot! (talking about myself of course lol)
 
You reminded me something that happened to my Dad ages ago. Someone in the shop was using a disc grinder. Apparently they had not tightened down the disc properly. That sucker came off and shot across the shop (he was about 40ft away) and nailed him in the gut. He had a shallow cut across his stomach and some severe bruising. Could have been much worse.
 
Glad you are OK. Have been hearing a LOT of rather scary, bizarre stories of near-misses recently. We just bought a new-to-us mini van and drove it home from WV down the mountain. The brakes weren't great, so we decided to change them out all the way around. I put new drums, rotors and pads on and sent my wife on a test drive (since she drove it home from WV and it is going to be her van). She said the brakes felt great. She decided to drive to her mom and dad's less than a mile away. She hadn't even got up to speed when the hood flew up taking out the windshield. She was OK, but shaken up. I have opened and closed that hood at least a dozen times since we picked it up, and it made it all the way back from WV without incident. Hood latches both failed, apparently. I now have some rockin muscle car hood pins installed on her mini van.
 
Wow, glad you made it out of that one! And yeah, like mentioned in another thread, ppe is very important. I wear it at work all the time messing with black mold, in crawlspaces, drilling metal, etc.. Its what I work on at home that's even more dangerous and I've learned the hard way that a pair of gloves and a pair of $1.05 safety glasses will save you globs of money and misery.
 
I highly recommend a full face shield when machining or grinding. I've worn safety glasses for years, but I always ended up with grit in my eyes anyway. In the past couple months I've been wearing a full face shield and the level of protection is so much better. I also think I breathe in less grinding dust and coolant mist.
 
Last year I was working in my old shop that had 12' ceilings and was grinding on a battery tray that I had just welded up for one of my cars. A piece of weld slag ripped off and hit me right in the middle of the safety glasses. It was hard enough that it kicked my head back a bit, or at least made me jerk my head back. Whatever it was it was loud and big. :lol:

That little piece then ricocheted off the glasses and went straight up 12' and blew out a fluorescent light on the ceiling. Can't imagine what it would do to my eye if I wasn't wearing glasses.
 
I've seen two awful pictures with someone with a cutting wheel lodged in their throat, and lip. It has made me very weary and careful with then now. I want to get a full fave shield noe that Matt has mentioned it. Sometimes I just wear the welding helmet cause it has a grinding setting.
 
Leather apron when grinding, torching and welding. Full face shield and gloves too.

I had a piece of a race pop off and hit my chest a few years ago. Went under the skin about 1/4" and to the side about 1/2" from the entry. Hate to think what it could have done to my eye.

Had a circular saw kick back and the blade wadded up in my Tshirt, could have been guts on the ground.

Was cutting grass and a pine needle came down from a tree like a dart and hit my eye. Tore a v shaped flap too.

Was talking to a coworker years ago and he hit the release lever by accident and let the drive on lift down on my foot (it was raised only 4 inches as I was working on a running board and it was the perfect height). I instinctively scrunched up my toes and although it mashed my shoe flat on just the end, my tootsies were spared.

I wear safety gear for everything now, I used to think I was indestructible back in those days.
 
Black Bear said:
What are yall doing about dust / ventilation. Grinding for hours at a time in a garage cant be good for you long term.
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I dig huge black boogers out of my nose for the next 2 days.


I had my wife pick up some cutoff wheels for my grinder one time. She got the ones that have the middle part elevated from the cutting surface (not the flat ones that I always use). I wasnt paying attention to how deep I was cutting some tubing and was rubbing the disc where it changed elevation. The disc separated and flew into the wall in front of me. Im glad I wasnt cutting on the other side of the disc.
 
Black Bear said:
Dont forget ear protection too. I wear ear plugs when ever i have the grinder running, welding or plasma cutting over head.

Slag in the ear is the worst sound ever.
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Ditto. I still use glasses a lot and throw an old pair of my earmuff style hearing protection on over them. Any time I find myself using a shield, I typically can dig a set of plugs out of my glovebox. Always seem to have them in the truck somewhere.
 
My dad is missing an eye from when he was younger. I have always tried to protect my eyes after knowing the things he misses. And I always wear hearing protection, the worst sound to me is blowing coolant and chips out of holes on the mill or lathe.
 
Here's the shield I use:
aecx.images_amazon.com_images_I_61E1_2B9JAbCL._SL1500_.jpg

$25 on amazon http://www.amazon.com/3M-Protection...&qid=1421355403&sr=8-2&keywords=3m+faceshield
And theres the same one without the quick adjust band for $14:
http://www.amazon.com/3M-90028-Prof...&qid=1421355403&sr=8-1&keywords=3m+faceshield

But I really want this one:
http://www.amazon.com/3M-Versaflo-R...&qid=1421355403&sr=8-5&keywords=3m+faceshield
 
I need a new one. I see them at Northern Tool and Agri Supply pretty cheap. Mine is pretty scratched up. My welding helmet has a grind setting but I don't like to use it for that.

I had a family friend who was almost killed when a 2 piece forklift wheel separated while he was airing it up on a jobsite. Should not have been standing right there over it.
 
jeepinmatt said:
But I really want this one:
http://www.amazon.com/3M-Versaflo-Respiratory-Faceshield-Assembly/dp/B0069BHJM6/ref=sr_1_5/176-8134621-9168552?ie=UTF8&qid=1421355403&sr=8-5&keywords=3m faceshield
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Thats awesome, looks ready for a riot!

I got used to wearing face shields working w/ the monkeys back when I was at Wake Forest. Don't miss those days, lol.
Wear one in the shop all the time. Looks pretty rough now.
I haven't found an affordable face shield that I can use with ear muffs (I hate plugs).
 
ponykilr said:
I had a family friend who was almost killed when a 2 piece forklift wheel separated while he was airing it up on a jobsite. Should not have been standing right there over it.
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I remember in the early 2000's when I worked at 4 wheel parts in Charlotte, we decided not to mount a new set of 49" irocs on new weld wheels. We got them for the truck we were gearing and sent them to a truck shop to have them mounted. The wheel blew apart when the tire popped on the bead. If I remember right it blew both his hands off. Remember thinking that could have been one of us.
 
They say a man was killed at the old Firestone store here in Smithfield back in the 70's by a wheel ring. The old wheels with the ring on the outside. I never stand over a tire when airing it up.
 
justjeepin86 said:
And I always wear hearing protection, the worst sound to me is blowing coolant and chips out of holes on the mill or lathe.
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Errrr! I hate that noise too! When its time to set up on the next job and I've got to change the fixtures out, need to blow out around 50 or so bolt holes in the pallet before you clean and hone it. Hands down worst part of the whole job lol. And that coolant is usually fawkin rank too.

We've got to have steel toes and glasses at all times in the shop, in some areas hearing protection as well. Most days I'll also wear an apron and have some gloves in the pocket ready to go. I only need to use the face shield when I de-burr cause it sucks getting grit and chips in the beard! lol. but really cause grit blasting your face sucks.
 
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