Cutting Wheel Safety & WARNING...! (A Bit Graphic!)

Cool. Thanks for clearing that up.

p.s. I'm not an idiot.

 

My friend Gino who lives in Orlando caught his left hand in a table saw a couple of weeks ago, the jury is still out on if he will regain full use of his hand. Often accidents happen to those who have used the same tools hundreds of times. Never let your guard down.

 

Wow - glad you're OK.
That looks close to so many vital things.

I have seen in safety training lit. that putting a side load on a cuttoff wheel or dropping it on the ground while in the arbor greatly increases the chance of it coming apart. It's not a warning you see very often, so I thought I'd share.

 

Add me to the "doc checking your wound" gang. I've made a lot of miscues, passed it off as "wounds heal...steel doesn't, " and have been paying for many of them after 30+ years. Won't run my all of my accidents by you...there've been a lot, but one last summer got my attention.. While trying to get my '64 Ford, which'd jumped the end of my trailer back on, I shoved my pickup's tailgate up out of my way, it caught on a chain , came down and sliced my head badly. Since heads bleed badly when cut, I grabbed a rag and wrapped it. The blood quit flowing so I went back to work. I thought all was fine. I felt ok until later that night after helping my buddy rough the new body on his vintage stock car. I felt whirley as hell and had a helluva time driving the 40 miles back home. The next morning, I couldn't think clearly at all and was driven to my doc's. It seems that I'd suffered a major concussion according to the CAT scan. Two weeks of my life are a complete blank. 9 months later, I've had recurring episodes which are finally easing up. I know that this isn't the same as cutting your hand with a grinder, but why take a chance of nerve damage or infection? Don't be like me living with recurring physical problems because I was trying to be being a tough broad when you don't have to.

Jan

 

I busted 2 wheels today, cutting out rusty floorpan. That double wall can be a pain. Like everyone else, I agree that a doctor needs to see that cut. I got lucky, but hope you don't have any problems that can't be fixed with regular healing. Good luck.

 

Years ago, I was sitting on a roller stool, cutting sheetmetal bodywork and got up to answer the phone (Laid my 4" air grinder down.)

Yep, u guessed it, came back and sat down.....Stood up pretty fast too. It burned for a week or so. It took years before I'd tell anyone the story. Still got the scar, wanna see it?

 

Same shit at the same place of my right wrist happened to me last year. Now everybody who sees it, asks me:"Tried to commit suicide?"

 

Lucky break, I did a finger without gloves and ended up with disc shrapnel left in my finger that was too risky to remove due to nerves and blood vessel. It took weeks and therapy and heaps of antibiotics.
It was a lesson to me and should be a warning to all my rodding friends out there. Play it safe guys and gals.

 

Lucky that it didn't penetrate any further too, right there you have a major artery and most of the adduction tendons to the thumb and wrist. Sever them and its microsurgery and months of rehab!! The reason it didn't bleed too bad wasn't so much a cauterizing effect but the tearing of the blood vessels. A clean cut will bled like a stuck pig (IE Shaving cut) as there is not a lot for the platelets to cling to when forming a clot. With a tear the vessel retracts with a jagged cut, plenty for the platelets to adhere to hence less bleeding.

 

i did exactly the same thing the other day but i was being stupid and couldnt be bothered to walk around the other side of the peice of metal, so i cut towards myself. my left wrist got in the way and i could see my vein and stuff (didnt peirce the vein).

that was with a 127x1.6mm cutting disc. (5inch by something)

grinder cuts dont bleed much ebcsaue the wound corderises or something. something to do with the dryness and heat of the cutting wheel.

 

The cauterization is only effective on the capillary bed, the larger deeper veins and more so the artery's will bleed a LOT when severed by a disk. Even in surgery they are clamped then cut as the only effective way to stop bleeding from them, these veins and artery's lay beneath the area cut by the disk. I have been a Paramedic for near 15 years now, I have an I idea as to what I'm saying.

 

I use to use the cheap disks from Harbor Freight tools. Now I buy Milwalkee, Makita and Dewalt. I used a masonary disk from Harbor Freight a while back because I was out of metal cutting disks and I even wrote in and told all about it. The bruises are gone but the scar hasn't left my stomach and chest where they imbedded in me. The ER was real concerned about the probability of infection because of the disk fragments. They are not sanitary. Gumpa

 

Geez!

 

yup, there is a reason for expensive discs, they are simply better. I have been cyclying through discs doing a whole new tunnel and axle channel and defifnitely see the difference between cheapies and quality discs. on another note, ever see a wire wheel explode, very scary, those needles go through everything. lastly, cheap die grinders suck, i had a grizzly tools (their supposed good one) literally blow apart in my hand and fly about 10 feet.

 

That's gonna leave a mark, Mark...

I've never had one blow up on me like that. Was it a 1/16" or a 1/8" wheel...?
I won't even use those 1/16" blades... no matter what RPM rating they have.

I've managed to tear into my hide about half a dozen times with my disc grinders. Most times I can attribute it to the cord on the grinder, or in the case of DeWalt tools, the locking trigger.

The worst one yet was just a couple of months ago. I was crouched down and when I went to step back, caught the cord with my foot and pulled the grinder into my knee.
Ever see the underside of your own kneecap...? It ain't all it's cracked up to be... and this wound has caused me alot of pain. I don't have insurance, so I took care of it myself. Tweezers to get what I could of the blue jean fibers, alcohol and peroxide and Steri-Strips to close it up. There's a nice divot in the bone on the edge of my kneecap and a nasty scar to remind me to be more careful....

The bummer, most times, is that you rip through clothing, and embed fibers into your skin. No way to get that all out....

So, yeah... just be careful...
Machines have no conscience and don't care if they hurt ya...


JOE

 

this thread is making me scared to ever touch my grinder again.

my old one just burned out after all these years and i just got a fresh one- damn you all, i guess im going to have to go buy a sawzall now.

 

Well, Wingnuts still hasnt said what brand of cut off wheel it was. Norton wheels are impregnated with a fiberglass webbing in them, so I really doubt they would explode like that. If they crack, the fiberglass will hold the pieces together.

If they were cheap discs from HF or the like, Im not surprised. I use Norton cutoff wheels for a lot of stuff, because of my lacking of cutting tools (shear, nibbler etc), and have had the wheels get damaged, but the higher priced Norton ones always stay together despite any damage.

Now if this was a Norton or other high end wheel with the fiberglass webbing embedded in them, I will definately think twice before grabbing the cutoff wheel so often.

 

He did say... DeWalt.

I'll add to that by saying that the grinder that I did my knee with was a DeWalt also. My brother also had a terrible accident with a DeWalt.

The trouble with them is in their trigger. It's a long ergonomic trigger with the lock built right into it. When you grip the handle, you also grip the lock. It's fucking stupid and dangerous and I can't believe they haven't been sued by thousands of people for millions of dollars.
I'd rather have a stiff hand from holding the trigger, than no hand at all from not being able to let go of the trigger...

Look at the regular trigger with the side mounted lock....



Then at the one with the ergonomic trigger...



Just how in the hell are you supposed to let go of that... and still keep a good grip on the tool...???

If I can offer ANY advice...

DO NOT BUY A DeWalt GRINDER WITH THIS TYPE OF TRIGGER...

In an emergency situation you will not be able to let go of the trigger... or even be able to think fast enough about how to unlock it....

My brother was on a ladder using one when it caught and jumped back. It hit the ladder then his forehead... then the ladder...then his forehead...etc...etc...etc...
He couldn't let go of the trigger without dropping the whole grinder on the old man who was down below holding the ladder.
It fucked him up pretty bad... and came really close to slicing his eye.

I love my DeWalt tools. I'm not speaking ill of them at all... just that fucked-up trigger lock...


Be careful... the skin you save may be your own.


JOE

 

it would be nice if they could incorporate the ability to detect skin and shut down rapidly like the table saw posted on here some time back...

 

An uncle of mine was using his chop saw, the disk let go and just about cut off his manhood. A few more millimeters and it would have been a goner!

 

"Well I played by the rules and I still got bit...!"

No you took the guard off and that is a big no no. Your gloves aren't made of steel. I have done the same thing myself and got lucky. I am sure we will all be a little more careful after seeing your injury. It could have been worse and glad you will be ok. Roupe

 

Ouch...I have had a few cheapie wheels blow, but only i a 4.5" grinder.

Someone else at the shop had the 14" cutoff wheel let go and it killed the grinder. It was a cheap cutoff with an aluminum table and some of the shrapnel went through the table.

 

Glad you're ok, Mark

 

I used to work at a welding and fab shop. The guy next door built and repaired boats. He lost an eye when a cut off wheel blew up while he was cutting fiberglass. He would always give me a hard time when he came in our shop and saw me doing something without proper protective gear. He went so far as to pull his glass eye out one day and told me if I wanted a glass eye so bad I can have his. I always think of him when I put my eyewear on.

 

wow, thast a lesson

 

I agree with most. You can live with the cut it's the infection. I had to go to a plastic surgeon last week over a cut. It got infected above my eye and I got a staff infection quick. everybody has the staff germ. I grew a spot on my head that made me look like a unicorn in 3 days. I got scared when it started into my eye socket. I usually don't go to the doctor. I sewed up my hand last year. I had been castrating pigs all day and had the needle and cat gut. get it looked at before it turns bad. My spot came out good. I got lucky. The Dr. told me if it had gotten into my eye I would have most likely lost it or it could have gone to the brain. Not good. hurt like hell when he cut the 1" spot out of my forhead. get it looked at. TP

 

Learned my lesson the hard way just over a year ago!
Tablesaw took off the top of my finger. only thing still attatched was the nailbed. Finger still does not work right and gets cold fast.

Do not click on the link if you have a weak stomach!
http://www.roadkillontheweb.com/images/finger4.jpg

 

I only have 31 plus years experience so take that into consideration here in my advice....
NEVER..... use a cut off wheel on an electric tool=too damned fast/ motor speed.......
NEVER.....run an air tool at full speed-about half is dramatically safer and waiting a couple minutes is by far better/faster- than reattaching body parts is.
NEVER NEVER NEVER-use a 6" cut off wheel on any hand held tool....
you may wanna use those fingers for sex or playing the guitar later.....

 

Oh Gross! Well, in a kind of cool way. Wish I could have documented my screw-ups.