Observations on health and safety #37: The grinder

[dremu]

Was doing some metalwork today, a dozen of the same piece , and several times the spray from the grinder came back on me.

See, I'm smart enough to wear safety glasses, and even ear muffs ... but gloves? Long sleeves? Nope, totally spaced on those.

So now, two hours of solid grinding later, my fingers are buzzing ... and my forearms have what I thought was a rash. Nope, dumbass ... that's burns.

Note to self: Those red things coming off the grinding wheel are HOT, and when your body says it hurts, do something about it!



-- A

 

[ryoken]

I lit my shirt on fire from my 7" grinder and 20 minutes straight of it blasting my shirt....


The one I'm bad with is sneakers... I rarely wear boots, thus the slag burns on top of my feet from the mig...

 

[tRustyK5]

Worse yet is if a small chunk of the disc comes off because it's wearing out...those chunks hurt when your arms and hands are covered, I gaurantee they'll hurt worse with bare hands and bare arms.

As for boots, I wear steel toed boots more than I wear regular shoes. I've broken my big toe having dropped a complete 14 bolt carrier assembly on it while wearing runners. No more of that for me thanks...I keep steel toed boots at home and at work now.

I stopped fighting the safety gear stuff a while ago. I don't care what others think, or what i may look like. If it's loud I wear ear plugs, sparks, flakes of riust etc etc...safety glasses. Sharp, hot or really dirty I have work gloves. Potential to hurt my feet in any way I have my steel toes on. It's so much less painful to do the job the right way...whether it's at work in a shop, or at home tinkering.

Rene

 

[AJMBLAZER]

I put a front receiver hitch on my '99 Ram back in '03. You have to notch the bottom of the plastic front bumper fascia in order to have it fit.

I broke out the cutting wheel and started going to town on the thing.
Very soon I was getting pelted with debris...

...then I realized it was VERY hot and each little spot actually hurt.

I had semi-molten bits of rubbery plastic goo stuck to my face, neck, arms, and hands. Had these little white scars where they hit me for a few months.

 

[Stomis]

I lit my shirt on fire from my 7" grinder and 20 minutes straight of it blasting my shirt....


The one I'm bad with is sneakers... I rarely wear boots, thus the slag burns on top of my feet from the mig...

As far as the shoe thing goes, tell me about it. I was wearing a pair of converses when I was welding the other day, HUGE mistake.

And haha I have you all beat. First I'll tell you what happened today. I was using a wire wheel on the angle grinder and as we all know they throw the little wire piece ever now and than. Well the planets aligned and the thing took such a trajectory as to lodge itself 1/4 in into my thigh like it was an f'ing blow dart. Then to top that I was too busy welded a long bead and laid the side of my elbow where I started the bead. It was so hot I didnt ever feel it til I went to home depot to get more wire later on.

But seriously here is my all time OUCH moment other than get metal lodge in my eye twice from being a dumbass and not wearing glasses.

When I had my toyota I had just recently discovered how great the previously mentioned wire wheels are for a 4.5in angle grinder. So I'm grinding down some surface rust on a box tube crossmember so I could paint it when all of the sudden I take too much of a sweep witht he wire wheel.

It grabs its own power cord yanks it from the extension cord and the momentum continues to wrap it up and up in the wheel until DING the plug smacks me in the gonads. I swear on my mother this is a true story. I fell to the ground only to laugh at myself in pain. I couldnt believe noone saw it.

So you know what I do now? Loop the cords where they meet and PAY THE **** ATTENSION!

 

[smalltruckbigcid]

You know what you should have typed...I are dumbazz and can prove it
Don't worry we've all done dumb stuff before

As far as the shoe thing goes, tell me about it. I was wearing a pair of converses when I was welding the other day, HUGE mistake.

And haha I have you all beat. First I'll tell you what happened today. I was using a wire wheel on the angle grinder and as we all know they throw the little wire piece ever now and than. Well the planets aligned and the thing took such a trajectory as to lodge itself 1/4 in into my thigh like it was an f'ing blow dart. Then to top that I was too busy welded a long bead and laid the side of my elbow where I started the bead. It was so hot I didnt ever feel it til I went to home depot to get more wire later on.

But seriously here is my all time OUCH moment other than get metal lodge in my eye twice from being a dumbass and not wearing glasses.

When I had my toyota I had just recently discovered how great the previously mentioned wire wheels are for a 4.5in angle grinder. So I'm grinding down some surface rust on a box tube crossmember so I could paint it when all of the sudden I take too much of a sweep witht he wire wheel.

It grabs its own power cord yanks it from the extension cord and the momentum continues to wrap it up and up in the wheel until DING the plug smacks me in the gonads. I swear on my mother this is a true story. I fell to the ground only to laugh at myself in pain. I couldnt believe noone saw it.

So you know what I do now? Loop the cords where they meet and PAY THE **** ATTENSION!

 

[Fabrimacator21]

9" grinders leave some nice burns... also don't feel too good coming apart either. Like getting shot in the face with a bb gun.

 

[4X4HIGH]

I think i have a permanent welding tie on now. That's what i get for coming home from work and throwing on the welding gloves and having my work shirt unbuttoned a couple buttons while i'm welding. This was early last year and i can still see the "sunburn"

 

[Fabrimacator21]

I think i have a permanent welding tie on now. That's what i get for coming home from work and throwing on the welding gloves and having my work shirt unbuttoned a couple buttons while i'm welding. This was early last year and i can still see the "sunburn"

I remember getting a huge heavy equipment pin that was all worn out and I had to literally put it in the roller and weld nonstop for a good 6 hours burning dual sheild HOT. Turns out there was a little spot where my glove and coveralls didn't quite meet and I wound up with the worst flashburn I've ever had that wasn't on my cornea's.

Corneal burns aren't fun.
If you've ever air arched you know how the end of the rod glows right after arcing... I popped my hood up and had my face literally 3 inches from the rod (using it as a light to look for cracks) when I accidentally touched the part and got 300 amps striaght at my corneas with my eyes wide open... couldn't keep my eyes open and the boss sent me home. Took a good 3 days to recover from that one.

 

[CGT80]

I have a 5" Milwaukee angle grinder. it is the magnum version rated at like 11 amps and 2.1 hp. One day I was using a 5" cup wire brush and it grabbed my welding jacket. It tore a big hole in the jacket and constricted the jacket around my body. Another time, I was grinding with a wheel and slipped off the work due to using a worn out wheel that had become too small to effectively do the work. The wheel caught my shirt and wrenched my back so hard that it knocked my back out of place and did a number on the muscles. I had just been to my chiropractor the day before. That ruined my weekend, I could hardley move.

Now I always use good wheels and toss them when they don't work so well vs. trying to use them until there is nothing left. The more powerful the tool the worse the bite is.

 

[cdoggwsu]

I broke out the cutting wheel and started going to town on the thing.

Sorry, long day.

 

[asphalt]

Speaking of steel toed boots...

Stopped by a friends house and since he had an extra pair of hands available we decided to moved his roll cage into the garage. He dropped his end which wouldn't have been a problem but his foot was under it... he was wearing sandals... it clipped off his toe.

 

[Fabrimacator21]

steel toes are a double edged sword.... drop too much weigh on them and you can say goodbye to your toes.... however they will stop bone breakage in certain situations... I broke my foot because I bought into the whole "your better off without em" theory... however, had I dropped enough wieght on my foot then I'd be wishing I ddin't have steel toes.... just depends on the situation.

 

[cuervo]

the one i'm bad with is sneakers... I rarely wear boots, thus the slag burns on top of my feet from the mig...

this!!! Ouch!

 

[kyser_soze]

Worse yet is if a small chunk of the disc comes off because it's wearing out...those chunks hurt when your arms and hands are covered, I gaurantee they'll hurt worse with bare hands and bare arms.

We had an apprentice get 18 stitches on his hand and almost cut off a finger last year because the cutting wheel broke while using the grinder. It is recommended that gloves are to be used when using the grinder.