Oh Fudge, That Was Close – A Salutary Lesson

[Bob Unitt 1Participant @bobunitt1]

It's also one reason that I use paper towelling when I am working with or polishing/cleaning a job while my lathe is running because if and end does get drawn in or snag it will tear very easily unlike cloth which quickly turns into a crude rope and drags anything in with it.

I use something called 'Safety Cloth' for the same reason when wood-turning – it's a bit more robust than paper tools, but tears easily when it needs to.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your concern, I can assure you that no-one is as relieved as me that it didn't end differently. That's a lucky star by the way.

I now plan to do a review of the whole workshop looking at the emergency stops on all the machines, and making sure they work. I also need to address a few known hazards.

I have a pair of buttonless overalls that I got when I started my training 40 years ago. I can still get into them, but it is a bit of tight squeeze. I need to get a bigger pair of overalls, then I'll be more inclined to wear them.

It makes you think, the whole incident probably only took a few seconds, and could have been life changing.

Regards,

Andrew

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I tend to ware one of my old carpenters aprons, being tied at the back they keep any loose clothing tight to the body and are not as restrictive as overalls.

Maybe you should take up a safer hobby like flying

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

That was a close call Andrew and happy nothing serious happened!

Now I, however, went one step further and had a contretemps with a spinning circular saw, putting my LH palm down onto the blade, and my fault entirely, as some years earlier I had removed the blade shield and overarm in order to saw larger pieces of sheet, and now don't remember where the arm is.

A strange feeling of flesh being torn rather than sliced or cut, and I knew immediately how STUPID I had just been.

I knew to press all the fingers of the hand against the gash to prevent bleeding, and only a couple of small drops, but the most amazing thing – NO pain whatsoever.

999 of course, but all ambulances where busy, so other half took me to Norwich A&E. Being a nurse, she removed the four stitches when the time came, and I was utterly surprised at the total lack of pain when they came out.

Anyhow, the old adage 'A photo is worth a thousand words' or such like, so photo herewith to show what happens when things come together in the right sequence and conditions.

New Album added with two further photos.

Another close shave was whilst slicing wood to make the fronts for all those shallow drawers, the blade caught the just sawn off piece and flung it towards my left eye.

It just bounced off!

I had JUST put on one of those full face polycarbonate shields, and it still has the ding in it to remind me of what could have been.

I shudder whenever I think of those two near misses.

If the photo makes everyone think about safety, I'll be happy.

Geoff – It just takes a split second to change your life for good!

[Brian WoodParticipant @brianwood45127]

Maybe it is time for a touch of levity now.

Several years ago when my son worked as a service engineer for an organisation that maintained filling stations up and down the country, he was called upon to demonstrate safe pit working to a number of new recruits.

There he was, yellow hi-vis jacket, hard hat and safety boots, earthing strap on his wrist cabled down to the grounding point and barriers round the open fuel tank filling pit. What could go wrong?

He was facing his audience, going through his spiel and took a step backwards, stumbled on the barrier and fell into the pit!

A few bruises and hurt pride I'm pleased to say.

Brian

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

Posted by OuBallie on 04/11/2014 10:55:14:

That was a close call Andrew and happy nothing serious happened!

Now I, however, went one step further and had a contretemps with a spinning circular saw, putting my LH palm down onto the blade, and my fault entirely, as some years earlier I had removed the blade shield and overarm in order to saw larger pieces of sheet, and now don't remember where the arm is.

A strange feeling of flesh being torn rather than sliced or cut, and I knew immediately how STUPID I had just been.

I knew to press all the fingers of the hand against the gash to prevent bleeding, and only a couple of small drops, but the most amazing thing – NO pain whatsoever.

999 of course, but all ambulances where busy, so other half took me to Norwich A&E. Being a nurse, she removed the four stitches when the time came, and I was utterly surprised at the total lack of pain when they came out.

Anyhow, the old adage 'A photo is worth a thousand words' or such like, so photo herewith to show what happens when things come together in the right sequence and conditions.

New Album added with two further photos.

Another close shave was whilst slicing wood to make the fronts for all those shallow drawers, the blade caught the just sawn off piece and flung it towards my left eye.

It just bounced off!

I had JUST put on one of those full face polycarbonate shields, and it still has the ding in it to remind me of what could have been.

I shudder whenever I think of those two near misses.

If the photo makes everyone think about safety, I'll be happy.

Geoff – It just takes a split second to change your life for good!

That's not too bad, you still have all your digits.

Tony

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

You're right Tony, it could have been so so much worse.

The injections prior to stitching felt worse than the actual blade tearing flesh.

Instinctive reaction in pulling my hand away no doubt prevented more damage being done.

A couple of inches further up or down the hand would have been a different story all together.

Must add remote emergency stop buttons to the VFD units, as mentioned by Neil.

Geoff – Spare ribs tonight I think.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

> Geoff – Spare ribs tonight I think.

ROFL!

Neil

[Ian WelfordParticipant @ianwelford58739]

Geoff

relieved you're intact!

Can I recommend the wood turners smocks to one and all- they have velcro'd necks, velcro pull tabs at the wrist and the pockets are at the back so no swarf! Covered zip at the front and heavy duty cotton. Lovell workwear ( no connection except satisifed customer) will even put your name on it ( suitable Christmas present? )

Got one for turning in and so good got another for metal work!

I have also had a chuck of Yew bounce of my face mask, hit the wall behind the lathe, then bounce back(I ducked), it then cleared the car and put a large dent in the door. At this point my nearest and dearest stuck her head in the ask if I 3was OK and wanted a coffee "as she'd heard me knock". The half bowl still attached to the face plate ( with edge like a razor) was still doing 800rpm. I "retired with hurt pride" for a coffee, then recovered all the bits – I still have that damn bowl to remind me to wear my airhelmet and never the take "one last cut" in a hurry.

I also recommend installing "emergency exit lights" which trigger if you have a mains cut out. With houses now having earth leakage circuit breakers a bulb can trip the power ( and lights ) but the lathe takes time to slow down. I didn't fancy waiting for my circular saw to stop in the dark!

Only about £15 each and very effective.

Regards Ian

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

The best advance made to the table saw must be this http://www.sawstop.com/why-sawstop/the-technology.

Mike

Edited By Michael Poole on 04/11/2014 22:49:54

[RJWParticipant @rjw]

Well done Andrew, pleased to hear you escaped that potential tragedy, which is more than I can say for me!

Wonder if they’ll develop a similar device for bench planers Michael?
Last week I removed the nails and tips of my right thumb and index finger on a bench planer, and I can’t even now work out how the hell I did it, I wasn’t even planing wood!
3 years ago I took half the nail and tip off the same thumb on a bench saw And I had the guards down, unfortunately I reached for some timber laying to one side of the blade without looking where I was putting my hand and caught the side of it, it was a 12″ TCT blade and it was the side cutter that got me, so even take care when guards are down, they’re often not enough!
I won’t post photo’s of the damage to my digits, it’s bloody horrible, planers do not cut cleanly!
All it took was a non-second of inattention in each case which took (and will take) months to recover from
John.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Wee bit OT; when I was nursing, we got a patient in who had chopped the tip of his finger off on hit rotary lawn mower, that was OK he bought the bit of finger , and it was reattached. A few months later he was mowing the lawn, and someone asked him how he chopped his finger, you guessed it, with the motor still running, he stuck his finger under the edge and chopped it off again. Not so lucky this time, the finger could not be found so off at the second knuckle. Some mothers do have em.

Ian S C

[Brian WoodParticipant @brianwood45127]

For me this thread is rapidly turning into a confessional with ever more lurid stories of mishaps and stupidity.

I am not sure who else reads this material, but the sort of image such stories project to the wider world outside our sheds is certainly not flattering.

The very last thing we all need is to find Health and Safety busybodies leaping in and interferring in what we do.

Concerned

Brian

[RJWParticipant @rjw]

Brian, whether it’s stupidity or otherwise, these accidents do happen whether we like it or not And will continue to do so despite taking all precautions known to Man and the HSE!

Whether flattering or not, this thread should serve as a warning to anyone using machinery to take care because if something can happen it WILL, and denying it because someone finds it a tad offensive is stupidity itself, I’m sure the HSE would rather we policed ourselves by publishing these salutary warnings than suffer in silence with serious injuries because of a lack of awareness!

[David ColwillParticipant @davidcolwill19261]

I too am guilty of the jumper round the leadscrew trick. In my case the lathe in question was an old Cardiff with no reverse. Fortunately I was screw cutting at the time and it was running very slowly. The first I knew was an irresistible pull towards the lathe. I managed to hit the stop switch (just) and found myself stuck. The only way out was tediously winding back the chuck until I could get out.

Lesson learned!

David

[CotswoldsPhilParticipant @cotswoldsphil]

I'm glad to hear you are OK Andrew.; this thread has however, focused the mind;

I've been using a Dewhurst switch on the Myford since I was a lad – quite a few years now, I've not burned it out yet despite all the warnings, probably because of limited use.

Yesterday, I ordered an NVR with Locking Panic Stop switch a 15:40 from Axminster it arrived today at 10:00 – now that's good service. I have no connection apart from being a satisfied customer. It's not got any overload capability but after 40+ years without…and it does need spade connectors for the NVR switch.

Off to the workshop to fit it between the plug and the machine's supply cable.

Regards

Phil

[Brian WoodParticipant @brianwood45127]

RJW,

To defend myself.

I was more concerned with the hint of competition that was beginning to creep in, rather than taking offence at the material itself. I couldn't agree more that such warnings are both salutory and timely and need to be taken on board but it can turn into something of a circus in the end and is then unedifying.

Back in my box now

Brian

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

The current 17th Edition of the Wiring Regs for new installations requires that:

• Socket outlets for general use in domestic installations must have the additional protection of an RCD not exceeding 30mA (regulation 411.3.3)
• Cables buried in a wall or partition at a depth of less than 50mm, and not mechanically protected by appropriate earthed metal, must be protected by an RCD not exceeding 30mA (regulations 522.6.6–8)
• …..(we don't tend to fit showers in our workshops)…..
• To prevent nuisance tripping, unnecessary hazards, and minimise inconvenience, circuits should not be connected to a single upstream RCD (regulation 314.1)
• Separate circuits shall not be affected by the failure of other circuits (regulation 314.2)

That's why split consumer units with multiple RCDs and/or RCBOs are the norm these days. However, if like me you had an "outdoor" workshop with its own dedicated consumer unit, you would need to wire it in before the house RCDs so that it doesn't trip the house in the event of a ground fault, otherwise you may also need to leave room to install a bed in said workshop!!!

It seems that RCDs or individual RCBOs are considered necessary for general use sockets etc, but not for hard wired (Class I) equipment which by definition is provided with a protective earth to trip the MCB if there is an internal short from live to ground. And strictly speaking, that hard wiring (and protective ground) should be protected by grounded steel cable ducting.

So, to broadly meet the requirements of the 17th edition in an external workshop and prevent loss of lighting after a ground fault, you'd really need to fit a split consumer unit there too, with separate RCDs for the lighting and equipment groups – or fit separate RCBOs for each of the individual lighting and power circuits. That tends to rule out most of the single RCD "garage" units unless you have a very simple workshop setup.

I have to say, an emergency (battery backed) lighting system (as suggested above by Ian) in conjunction with a single RCD and multiple MCBs sounds like a much simpler and more cost-effective solution that would meet these goals. LED-based emergency lighting products seem to start at 20-30 pounds.

Handbag alert. Well, it is fireworks night after all….

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Notice that the guy demonstrating the 'Sawstop' isn't confident enough to use his own hand or finger.

One of my customers was a surgeon, and one day Dad described to him how he had removed the tip of his middle finger, whilst using the EmcoStar planer making patterns, the surgeon then said:-

"Machines will remove limbs and body parts quicker than anything else!"

There spoke a man with experience.

Geoff – That machine has bitten me as well now!

[JonParticipant @jon]

Glad your ok Andrew were not all impervious to mishaps and should be treated as a warning. I work alone and you guessed it phone rings to flog you something, forget where you were and so on.

Phil replaced them Dewhurst internals twice before scrapping the machine. Luckily they are low power/torque used to set mine as a clutch with the belt if anything grabbed.

There is a difference in taken necessary precautions to going well over board. eg honestly how many remove chuck guards before using the machine for first time from new, another tripe H&S no wonder British manufacturing gone to the wall along with scaremongering offloaded to insurance companies.

One thing that scares me is woodworking machinery and presses.

[RJWParticipant @rjw]

[RJW,
To defend myself.
I was more concerned with the hint of competition that was beginning to creep in, rather than taking offence at the material itself. I couldn’t agree more that such warnings are both salutory and timely and need to be taken on board but it can turn into something of a circus in the end and is then unedifying.
Back in my box now
Brian]

No worries Brian, we both made responses to how we read postings, and I do see your point!
I’m still smarting badly from my accident and a 700 mile hike back home a couple of days after disfiguring myself which was a trial itself, so the issue for me was to put things mildly, rather raw,
apologies if my comment came across a bit hard and personal!
John.

[Brian WoodParticipant @brianwood45127]

Hello John,

It is very generous of you, there is no really need for apologies, rather it is me who should be offering them.

Reading your post had me close to sprinting for the bathroom and I didn't take it on board at all that your accident was so recent. I have been back since and read it properly this time.

What a horrific experience. Thank you too for sparing us the pictures, I really wouldn't have got to the loo in time and the computer keyboard would have copped it all.

I hope you can make the best of what you have been left with, my best wishes for a speedy recovery

Brian

[thaiguzziParticipant @thaiguzzi]

7 stitches on top of my right hand from a corner of sheet steel in the 80's at work. I was ok after they sat me down pouring blood, foreman came over, saw me and nearly fainted. they had to get him a chair too.

Early 90's in my own engineering workshop, very long beard, got caught in the pillar drill, pulled in and lost half the beard before switching off. Had to shave the rest off as i looked a right prat, and nobody had seen me for decades without a beard. Very fond of that beard.

Mike.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

I was busy turning a piece of steel in the 4 jaw chuck making a cube and it flew out of the chuck and went straight through the window narrowly missing a person walking past who was apparently totally oblivious of it. I had to replace the glass and I recovered the piece of metal and completed the job OK. I put up a sheet of wire mesh later.

Recently I reached across the wood saw bench and like others had a slight touch to a slowing down blade which lacerated my thumb pad, no pain or sense of cutting but some blood! Then, later the blade picked up a small piece of wood about 2" long and flung it at my thumb (Not the same one) and boy that did hurt.

be careful out there!

Clive

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

I get the ” hint of one upmanship” that might have crept in.

But.
This thread also serves to illustrate that ” if it can go wrong it will” ( if not to you then someone else)….lets not be terrified of our kit..but be aware. ( yeah sure..”just got to finish this last one”..seems to proceed many of these tales)..
In short be aware ..

Edited By jason udall on 08/11/2014 09:10:05

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