safety first

My Son just had a little mishap yesterday. He was using a four inch electric angle grinder on his frame welds and the disc got caught in his shirt and the grinder flipped around and smacked him in the jaw. It dazed him for a few minutes. Could have been lots worse though.

I just saw a post on the HAMB where a cutoff wheel exploded and cut the guys hand real bad. All of this stuff we play with can hurt you in a heartbeat.

Don

danger

when I first got out of body school I was using a disc grinder and caught a edge and ripped off a chunk of disc and the abrasive caught a chunk of hand and caused hand hamburger , another learning experience

most of the time when I am working I wear gloves due to not wanting cuts and burns as I am diabetic and do not heal at all. usually use all the power tools barehanded

Since all the talk about grinding....

I will throw out the ring test for those that don't know...

Take a screwdriver handle or something and tap your grinding wheel before you put it on your bench grinder. You should hear a very crisp noise when you tap on it. If it sounds like a dull thud when you tap it you should throw the wheel away and get a new one.

Reason..... the wheel had a defect in it and may fly apart at high speed.

Also... don't grind anything but ferrous items on a stone wheel. If you grind aluminum, wood, brass or anything non-ferrous it will load the wheel up to where it will be out of balance and it may fly apart at high speed.

We have a huge grinder in our shop (aprox two ft. diameter wheels about 3 inches wide). I have watched people that should know better grinding aluminum on it....

On that same note, when I put on a new wheel on a bench grinder, I start it up and stand back and off to the side until it reaches full RPMs. I let it run for a minute before I use it the first time. I do the same with a new chop saw blade. I saw some kids flexing new ones in a store once, seeing how far the could bend them. (Yep told them to quit and why) But you never know if one has been dropped or otherwise abused before you got it.

i ALWAYS have a spare pair of safety glasses around... not subtle about tellin people to use em either! [ somethin about lettin the eye jelly out just makes me squeamish....

Burns where you don't want them

Talk about the "poster child", man. When sitting and mig welding please remember to use an apron or in my case a welding blanket. I was in a hurry and well 2 times is enough. Getting burned someplace not mentionable should teach me. Old dogs can still learn new things, I think. Later Steve

I was tack welding last year around christmas "real Quick" and dint wear my gloves...slag fell right on my silver ring and burned through to my finger. I like gloves alot now!