Do you wear a mask grinding HSS tool bits?

[Blue HeelerParticipant @blueheeler]

Along with suitable eye/face protection, does anyone wear a mask when grinding HSS tool bits?

[Blue HeelerParticipant @blueheeler]

[jimmy bParticipant @jimmyb]

Interesting question!

I'll be honest and confess to never bothering.

Jim

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

No.

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Posted by jimmy b on 28/05/2019 07:35:11:

Interesting question!

I'll be honest and confess to never bothering.

Jim

Me too; but it's one of those 'Hmmm' questions, better to err on the side of caution….

George.

[Neil LickfoldParticipant @neillickfold44316]

It depends. If it is just a touch up of a tool, No.

Yes if it is taking a regular drill to a flat bottom , or vice versa, or making a new form tool from a blank.

The same for linishing, if it is just a very small thing and less than a couple of minutes , and a 1 off, Then No.

If I have lots of parts to linish, I wear a mask. Going to install a vacuum collection point on the linisher for the new shop though, and for the bandsaw as well.

Neil

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Why?

Martin

[S.D.L.Participant @s-d-l]

Posted by Martin Kyte on 28/05/2019 08:48:13:

Why?

Martin

Cobalt would be one good reason.

Steve

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Really. So how much Cobalt would you say gets into your bloodstream in this way?

regards Martin

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

It is just common sense, if there is an appreciable amount of dust in the atmosphere, to wear a dust mask. Clean air is always better than polluted air.

[Blue HeelerParticipant @blueheeler]

Posted by not done it yet on 28/05/2019 09:15:46:

It is just common sense, if there is an appreciable amount of dust in the atmosphere, to wear a dust mask. Clean air is always better than polluted air.

I did a lot of grinding today from just bought blanks, the build up of dust was a fair bit and my 8" bench grinders are outside under a lean too. Half way through I started to think this can't be good and I could taste metal dust in my mouth.

Put a mask on and by the time I had finished the prefilters on the mask were pretty black. I think from now on anything besides a really quick touch up I'll be donning the mask. It only takes a second or two, annoying yes, but I suppose lung problems would be a heck of a lot more annoying.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

I would agree if off hand grinding does generate appreciable amount of atmospheric dust. I don't think it does.

Quarter the acceptable yearly exposure of something is better than half of the acceptable yearly exposure but they are both acceptable.

regards Martin

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

the only time I use a mask – and it a professional double filter jobby – is when im cleaning up the outside of my completed copper boilers. The microscopic copper particles are aweful if you breathe them up your nose!

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

I dont wear a face mask but do use a pair of safety glasses, a serious eye injury doesnt bear thinking about I do the same when milling and turning.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Long list of industrial diseases caused by breathing dust but I've never noticed HSS mentioned as a hazard.

The risk of grinding depends on the material (including the wheel), how much exposure, and individual health.  Sheffield Knife Grinders used to die young from Grinders' Asthma. "In fork grinding, which was acknowledged to be the worst branch, Dr. G. C. Holland found in 1843 that of 97 men employed, only 30 attained the age of 30 years; and he thus concluded that two thirds of the men died before reaching their thirtieth birthday."

Good news – coroners haven't identified Model Engineering as a cause of premature death and GP's aren't writing worried letters to the Lancet about us. (As far as I know!)

I guess the risk of sharpening HSS is a home workshop is tiny. But it would be sensible for anyone grinding on a large scale to wear a mask, especially if they are already on the wheezy side. Smoking is a risk multiplier, don't suck on a cigarette whilst grinding.

Finding the right mask to filter out a particular nasty isn't easy. Might be fun to collect what comes off a grinding wheel and use a microscope to compare particle sizes with the mesh of the filter. An ordinary DIY store dust mask might be completely ineffective for this purpose.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 28/05/2019 10:23:14

[Anonymous]

If you've got a lot of metal to remove from a HSS blank it's quicker and easier to mill it first, then use the grinder to touch up and add the relief angles.

Andrew

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 28/05/2019 10:21:52:

Good news – coroners haven't identified Model Engineering as a cause of premature death and GP's aren't writing worried letters to the Lancet about us. (As far as I know!)

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 28/05/2019 10:23:14

I don't know about that – saying "Darling, Look at the lovely new lathe I've just bought" might lead to a fatal encounter!

[thaiguzziParticipant @thaiguzzi]

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 28/05/2019 10:22:59:

If you've got a lot of metal to remove from a HSS blank it's quicker and easier to mill it first, then use the grinder to touch up and add the relief angles.

Andrew

??

I'll stick to my Al/Ox belt linisher for roughing out 5/8 and 3/4" sq HSS blanks thank you…

Re the OP, no.

[Blue HeelerParticipant @blueheeler]

Posted by Nick Clarke 3 on 28/05/2019 10:52:24:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 28/05/2019 10:21:52:

Good news – coroners haven't identified Model Engineering as a cause of premature death and GP's aren't writing worried letters to the Lancet about us. (As far as I know!)

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 28/05/2019 10:23:14

I don't know about that – saying "Darling, Look at the lovely new lathe I've just bought" might lead to a fatal encounter!

Swollen testicle syndrome

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Considering the age demographic of Model Engineers we should be more resillient than the general population.

For example we have a longer life expectancy as we are not in the group that died before they were 50. The older we are the less likely slow killers are to get us on the basis we will be dead before they have the chance. We will not get early onset dementia or die giving birth.

regards Martin

[Guy LambParticipant @guylamb68056]

For some years now when free hand grinding steels containing Tungsten an extraction system has been mandatory (in most parts) of industry due to the possible inhalation of radio active Tungsten.

Guy

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

I have to admit that I don't wear a dust mask if I'm only touching up a tool, as Neil said. For grinding a HSS toolbit to shape I wear a dust mask. Inhaling a lot of fine dust particles isn't healthy.

Thor

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Posted by Guy Lamb on 28/05/2019 12:56:16:

For some years now when free hand grinding steels containing Tungsten an extraction system has been mandatory (in most parts) of industry due to the possible inhalation of radio active Tungsten.

Are you sure that isn't just for thoriated tungsten TIG electrodes?

Rod

[Anonymous]

Posted by thaiguzzi on 28/05/2019 11:07:57:

??

What bit don't you understand and I'll try and explain?

Andrew

[Neil LickfoldParticipant @neillickfold44316]

Continued exposure to grinding dust will give you miners lung. The same thing from wood working and car paint refinishing. It is all basically the same thing. Stuff getting into your lungs that will cause an otherwise early departure. I can recall a test being done with exposure to Beryllium from grinding and milling it, making injection tools in the early 80's. The grinding wheel dust from wheel dressing and the tungsten dust from making D'bits was the highest risks. When 1 cutter was resharpened, it could not show a particle count. Making a cutter from the blank was measurable on that day. Initially it was a 1 morning test, that lead to a 1 month test. In that whole time, they had no Be gas collected that they could measure. Loads of carbide, and diamond wheel and regular grinding wheel dust. Also lots of BeCu dust from the surface grinding, but no Be only.

Neil

[Author]

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