How do you protect your fingertips from metal chips?

[BGHansen]

As mentioned by a few above, I wear nitrile gloves. I've got a LED desk magnifier and a tweezers/spike point tool to exact the ones that get through. Even with gloves it's inevitable.

Bruce

 

[pontiac428]

It's a curse on machinists. I hated the thousands of tiny burr cuts on my fingertips that would get infected with slime mold coolant. Machining is soft hand work, no hickory handles to grip to build up protective calluses. The metal splinters are easier to remove once they get infected and the tissue surrounding them turns to goo. I have no solution for the invisible stingers that @Cadillac identified.

I got so sick of it machining aluminum parts in my CNC machine loading/button pushing period that I wore mechanic's gloves. My hands were never near a live tool. Used to scare the carp out of middle management, but c'mon. Interlocks work.

I also found (at least on DAY shifts) that wrapping your three manipulating fingertips on each hand with that nonadhesive medical tape (the kind that comes in pretty colors and self-sticks) works really well for cut protection. You can feel through it, and the coolant doesn't make it lose it's stickiness so it can last a whole shift.

 

[great white]

Maybe I’m just lucky, but I just keep my meaty bits away from the area. Curls I remove with an old set of slip joints, smaller stuff is either brushes or vacuum. Never compressed air.

I’ll use sheikds wherever I can to stop chips from flying all over.

And…I try not to loose focus and swipe something with my hand to clear it off.

I like the magnet is the baggie trick, for ferrous stuff at least.

The absolute worst I’ve ever dealt with for metal “splinters” is a carbide burr in steel with a die grinder. Makes slivers that might as well be like throwing a couple hundred thousand seeing needles all over and then trying to pick them up bare handed. Where you need a carbide burr nothing works better, but you will pay a price for it and thats splinters. A carbide burr in steel is a last resort thing for me….

 

[wachuko]

I had to get a second Loupe because the first one I bought was dedicated to this task...

It is not so much of an issue if it happens to me... If it is not easy to grab, I used to grab the nail clippers to get some skin off to be able to reach the chip/splinter, then reach for the lamp with a magnifying glass and some tweezers to get it out...

But then COVID hit and my son spent two of his college years being, day in and out, barefooted, shirtless, and wearing only pajama pants... He would get a splinter/chip every time he went into the garage to grab something from the fridge there... You would think that the guy would learn his lesson the first time, huh!?

Anyway, with others, the loupe and tweezers have worked great. With me, I am now using some stronger magnifying goggles instead of the magnifying lamp...

 

[Braeden P]

I don’t really care too much about them but I avoid touching brass chips or even cutting it, the big ones are easy to see and remove but the microscopic brass ones are horrible, burrs are the worst because of the size and how sharp they are.

 

[Shotgun]

I had to get a second Loupe because the first one I bought was dedicated to this task...

It is not so much of an issue if it happens to me... If it is not easy to grab, I used to grab the nail clippers to get some skin off to be able to reach the chip/splinter, then reach for the lamp with a magnifying glass and some tweezers to get it out...

But then COVID hit and my son spent two of his college years being, day in and out, barefooted, shirtless, and wearing only pajama pants... He would get a splinter/chip every time he went into the garage to grab something from the fridge there... You would think that the guy would learn his lesson the first time, huh!?

Anyway, with others, the loupe and tweezers have worked great. With me, I am now using some stronger magnifying goggles instead of the magnifying lamp...

Is it really an issue for you that he won't put pants and shoes on?
When my boys would repeatedly do something stupid like that, I would eventually start asking, "Did you learn anything?"

 

[wachuko]

Is it really an issue for you that he won't put pants and shoes on?
When my boys would repeatedly do something stupid like that, I would eventually start asking, "Did you learn anything?"

Not an issue for me... But he can't complain about getting something on his foot when going into the garage. I told him... "the garage is not your room... put some frigging shoes on!"

 

[rodm1]

The small ones tape worked well to remove. You might have to take a scaple on that one.

 

[devils4ever]

I know this topic all too well. The worst ones are the splinters that are so small you can't see them or are so tiny you can barely see them. I have assembled my splinter kit as seen below. The tweezers are very fine with very pointed tips. If that doesn't work , I use the "Splinter Out". It is a very sharp point that you use to dig out the splinter.

 

[epanzella]

Due to a tuff hide I don't have too much trouble with most chips. If I feel a sliver I stop immediately and get it out before it imbeds too deep. I have a 10x jewelers loop which is a godsend for slivers as it's hands free. The chips from side milling are the only things that scare me and I vacuum them up immediately.