Goofs & Blunders You Should Avoid.

How about one of those wheels for a 4.5" grinder that has CHAIN SAW TEETH on it!!!?? I was using one (reluctantly) on a job site in Hawaii on a decorative wood log. It had no guard on it. (stupid) It caught on a knot, jumped out of my hand, hit my right thigh about 2" below the "twig and berries", rotated several times thus wadding and shredding my pants around it's wheel-O-death, then hung there in the OFF position!!
Fortunately it had the "dead man" style trigger that turned off when released. I uncoiled the beast expecting to see mangled flesh and blood but only saw a circular grind mark in my leg that had not started to bleed yet. You know, that kind of wound that takes a few minutes to eventually ooze forth blood then slowly bleeds for 30 minutes. I was relieved but also slightly woozy at the thought of what MIGHT have happened. I could have ended up a transgender.

I removed the aforementioned wheel-O-death from the grinder and sent it flying Frisbee style into the sugar cane field never to be seen again.

First mistake was even using the thing!
Second, no guard in place.
Third, climbing cut with the cutting edge spinning TOWARDS ME!!!

Stupid mistakes.

Lucky me eh?! :)
 
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My wife loved the you know what part on line two. She's still laughing.

"Billy G"
 
Well I know that both will a 4.5 grinder and a chain saw hurt.
While in Alaska I was cutting a bunch of trees and for firewood and wind kicked up and caught a tree sent the thing flying back at me. even though you let off the trigger it still spins. Came down across my knee, A couple of little cuts in the paint leg, but when looking at the know you could see the slices from each tooth on the blade right down into the knew cap. Patched it up and went back to cutting.
using a 4.5 with the brush cup and caught the corner of the work, it was the old style with lock on trigger, had not guard on it and kicked right back into my stomach wrapped my shirt around it but left a nice little abrasion scar where the brush poked through the cloth nice thing was it was a cheep one with out much power, and unplugged is self. or it could have been worse.
I have been told I am just a disaster waiting to happen, and at times it seem like it.
 
Bill Gruby said:
Nope, just another Marine crew chief doing his job, getting as many as he can out of harms way and hopefully home safe. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. but I did my best and that's all the Marine Corps expected. Once in a while I do miss those days, but it is an extremely fleeting thought. LOL

"Billy G"
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I disagree bill, All men and women who have served, or are serving, particularly volunteers are heroes to my mind. Nothing less than respect is good enough.
 
Tony Wells said:
Like many things, they are a means of risk management. It's true there could be adverse side effects (as with most any medical treatment), and you should not take them indiscriminately. But in our line of work (or hobby) there are definite risks of infections that are non issues if we are current on our shots. It is a personal decision, of course, but the generally accepted reasoning is that the risk of side effects is low in comparison to the risk of serious consequences resulting from an infection that would have been prevented by the shot. I've been taking them since I went into this line of work, every 10 years I believe.
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Throughout my working life a s a marine engineer we were required to have shots for everything. I've now been retired for a while and recently when turning 70 I saw my doctor for a major checkup and asked about an updated tetanus shot, he said at my age and considering how many I've had, that I'm covered for life. Hope so.
 
brino said:
There were some comments above about removing swarf.
Here's a shot of the acid brush I use to remove swarf and apply cutting oil to the work area:
View attachment 141751

The milling cutter grabbed it, pulled it thru and spit it out the other side.
I am so glad it wasn't my fingers.

I still use it.....keeping it as a reminder......

-brino
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I was told as an apprentice to never use a brush any where near a running machine, If you cant use flood coolant use a spray can or a squirt gun, and that was 55 years ago. And to use a proper swarf hook to remove swarf.
 
Tony Wells said:
I was on a job a couple of summers ago building a new hospital. Walked back out to the vehicle. Didn't need a key. Right rear passenger window was in tiny little pieces (safety glass). Never really figured it out. They were doing some mowing around the area, but it was record hot that day, and my vehicle is black. I looked inside thoroughly for a foreign object from the mowers.....kind of hoping it was them so I could make someone pay for the glass, but never found anything. Guess it could have bounced off. Watch where you park if there is a contract mowing crew around!

Funny thing was, even the dealer was not able to get the correct tint. It has (now has one) really dark passenger glass. Factory says no, it doesn't. I had to put the wrong glass in. I started looking, and about 80% of the ones I see on the road HAVE the near black glass. Others have a sort of goldish tint. I went aftermarket and got as dark as I could.......still burns me. I drove around with a Plexiglass window for 2 months looking and trying to get the right one. Now I see them on ebay all the time. I just hate to buy one twice. If I do, I'll try to sell this wrong one to somebody.
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That safety glass can do that, Explode in the heat. A few years ago we bought a new table for the outdoor BBQ area. The table was glass top made out of auto type safety glass. About a month later, came home and found the glass shattered all over the place. Took a photo and a bag of the glass pieces back to the shop. they replaced the table, no questions , but when it happened a month later they said they would replace it but not with a glass top, so we've had a timber topped table ever since. On both occasions it had been a very hot day around 42-43c Shortly after that they stopped selling glass top tables for outdoor use.
 
Just remembered doing this, , using the carriage feed to push the tailstock along the ways setting up for a long part, failed to pay attention and pushed it right off he end into the chip pan, this is not a recommended practice
 
Wreck™Wreck said:
Just remembered doing this, , using the carriage feed to push the tailstock along the ways setting up for a long part, failed to pay attention and pushed it right off he end into the chip pan, this is not a recommended practice
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Just a s well it didn't land on the concrte floor might hav edamamged bothe floor and the tailstock.

My lathe has a peg, screwed into the base under the ways, that prevents the tailstock from falling of the end. I guess it would shear the drive pin off in the feed shaft, or break something else. The peg can be removed if needed.

However I don't see myself using that method as my lathe is very short only 16" between centers, and the tailstock moves quite easily. How about installing a limit switch to stop it happening again, or a linkage to disengage the feed, there is always more than one way to solve these problems.
 
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