Or else this might happen to you like it did to me...Or much much worse. I almost had a very bad Saturday
Clipboard02.jpg
Thankfully I just ruined my shirt and learned a valuable lesson...
Note the fact I am wearing impact resistant goggles and earplugs (not visible). But all it took was not paying attention for a second and my shirt got sucked into the grinder and caught in it. So tuck in your shirt when grinding! Or anything involving hand power tools for that matter...
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
I've had to do a fair bit of grinding lately and it scares the c**p out of me! Having to contort into unnatural shapes under the tray of a double cab with a grinder doing it's job way to close really made me re-think what I had to do (ended up taking the tray off which made it way easier). Your photo really brought it home, a grinder can make a real mess of flesh...luckily it was just your shirt. Goodluck with the rest of your job.
I've had that happen and it freaked me out. I've learned that no matter what the weather is outside, putting on the coveralls is non-negotiable. Same with the leather gloves. I have a nice scar from a wire wheel on my finger from getting it too close to the grinder. Also learned the hard way that just because my welder doesn't make a lot of noise, having ear protection is vital. Nothing like a hot spark down the ear canal to screw up your day.
Eek! I'm with Sneaks on this one, and I'm glad it was only a scare instead of a scar.
I think a third of what my splittie has taught me, is all the interesting ways a car can hurt you. I'm hoping that by the time I drive it, it'll be worth all the cuts, burns, shocks, slivers, sparks, and bruises I've invested in it.
I have an angle grinder mini horror story. Years ago my neighbor asked if I could help him cut a hole in a batting cage he had constructed of chain-link. I figure sure what the hell if you can get a grinder or something. He had already borrowed one that had the guard removed and a big cut off wheel, its was a bigger model than the one in the pic above (let the cringing commence!).
Now at this point I'd never used one of these but that's never stopped me before, I get in position to cut and flick it on and nothing happens, its defective. I start to lower it and it all of a sudden turns on, its that kind of defective! It was powerful enough to torque in my unprepared hand and turn towards my other hand and the spinning blade bumped into my index finger.
It bounced off the bone, blood everywhere yadda yadda. Its scarred to this day, and hurt for almost two years and was stiff for that duration. So besides safety gear make sure the tool you use is in good condition and if it doesn't seem to turn on, treat it as if its on until you put it somewhere safe and unplug it.
I was out in the garage grinding on some metal, it was winter so it was a little cool in the garage so I had on a lined flannel shirt/jacket, when I started to smell some thing burning. I looked around to find my flannel shirt burning away. So watch where the sparks from the grinder are going, they can be dangerous too.
Last edited by BAJA-IT on Fri Oct 05, 2012 12:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
BRAT Motorsports #936
Bolt Center: Salt Lake City, Ut
ACE: Air Cooled Engineering, now Black Line Racing
I still have a scar on the back of my hand from a big electric grinder. Was cutting a bolt off from under a car when the grinder caught and jumped out of my hands spinning around and catching the backside of my right hand. I think i got 10 or 12 stitches and of course blood everywhere when it happened...
Glad your OK, it might be a good thing to have scare that you got out of OK.
I can't tell from your photo but where is your on/off switch? All the angle grinders that I've bought in the last few years have the on/off switch in the tail of the machine near the power cord, a place where it would be hard to reach in an emergency.
Maybe there's a market for a foot operated pedal on/off switch.
I've been using a Porter Cable PC750AG for about a year now, it has a "trigger" near the tail instead of a dedicated ON/OFF switch. It's a bit big, but so far, I like it much more than my old angle grinder.
The angle grinder has to be one of the most useful things when dealing with old paint and rust, but by far one of the scariest tools I've used...
My two "learning experiences" involved a wire wheel and a 3M woven paint stripper disk. The grinder was a 4.5in Skil with a locking thumb operated rocker trigger. The first time, I was wearing shorts (NEVER do this!) and sitting on the ground (again NEVER do this!) while using the wire wheel to clean off a gas tank. My hands were getting fatigued, at which point the grinder snagged an edge on the tank and flew out of my hands. It landed on the inside of my bent knee and grabbed the bottom of my shorts. Thankfully the shorts got tangled up in the wheel and stopped it, but it still left a ring of fairly bad scratches on my leg. The second time, I found the paint stripper disk was just a tiny bit too large to fit with the guard. So, I pulled the guard off (probably rule #2?) rather than trimming the disk. My knuckle brushed against the disk, creating a pit about 1/2in long and almost to the bone. These wheels have a tendency to rip the skin off and cauterize the wound, so it wasn't too bad to patch up. Thankfully the only lingering effect is a small scar..
The biggest things I would emphasize: wear proper clothing - similar to a chainsaw, anything that will stop the tool without allowing it to touch you, never remove any safety features, never use a compromised grinding wheel (if you drop it, throw it away!), ALWAYS wear impact glasses and hearing protection, ideally a face shield, never use the tool if it feels out of control, and always secure your work piece in a safe location - that stream of sparks is every bit as dangerous as an acetylene torch. I feel like gloves are a personal choice. Similar to a band saw, lathe, mill, or bench grinder, they can often do more harm than good if they pull your hand into the path of the tool. It's better to get a nasty cut on one finger than lose the use of your entire hand.
I think the one of the worst shop horror stories I've heard involved a table saw with a large ceramic cut off disk exploding and lodging pieces in the operator's chest. Now that is truly scary...
