Sometimes it's the stupid lil crap that will kill ya.

[kwrangln]

What a day.




























Get off work at 7:45 this morning, head to the house knowing I had some cool parts for my rifle show up yesterday. Have some coffee and out to the shop to install.

Get the bench cleaned off, and start disassembling, all is good. Now comes time to cut down the steel sight fixture, piece of cake. I've probably got thousands of hours running a grinder, been working in metal shops for the last 13 years, no sweat. Almost just started grinding, but stopped and put on my safety glasses, plugged in the grinder and thought "Its only about 1/2" worth of metal I have to cut through with a cutting disc, good to go", then though about it a bit. Go grab gloves, the spark stream from a cutting disk can get kinda warm after all. So, now wearing my leather gloves and safety glasses, sight post firmly held in the vice I start cutting. Careful, don't want to cut too deep, I'll finnish it up with the sanding disk just to make sure everything is smooth, but still focusing on getting it just a cunthair away from where it needs to be.

Then the cutting wheel binds in the metal. All of a sudden the grinder is wrenched out of my hands and I'm seeing stars. Maybe a fraction of a second has passed and I'm assessing what the hell happend and what has been injured. Face hurts, check the hands, hmmmph, cut through the gloves, better pull em off and check. Pull left glove and there is a gash about an inch long and as wide as a cuttng wheel, deep enough to see bone, it hasn't even started bleeding yet.

Immediate though is "oh hell, thats going to take some stitches", then I realise that my face feels wet. Damn, thats why I saw stars, the grinder hit my face too. Pull up my T-shirt and put it to my face and it comes away blood soaked. Oh shit, I done fawked up bigtime. Grab some rags and start cleaning up the mess a bit to see just how bad things are. Hand is dripping blood all over the floor, face thankfully is minor, but hurts like hell. Wrap the hand in rags, kill power to everything, shut the doors and head into the house. Then tell the wife its time to go to the ER.

While she's getting things together, I go to look in the mirror to assess damage. Now, my nose is far from straight, been broken a half dozen times, but this time its a bit worse. Bleeding from 4-5 places, and the whole damn thing is laid over flat against the left side of my face, whoops, that aint good. Guess a grinder traveling at mach 10 will do some damage when it hits you square in the face. Luckily the wheel didn't hit my pretty mug, just the gearbox. I think the wheel hit my hand first deflecting the gearbox into my face, thank you for small miracles.

12 stitches in my hand, and they knocked me out to stick prybars up my left nostril in order to straighten out my nose. Now I'm stuck wearing a splint on my snot locker and my hand is still numb from the stitching. Could have been a lot worse, without the gloves the wheel would have probably hit bone and done tendon damage (been there, done that, it aint fun), and glasses helped a bit as well.

This was a 5 minute grinding job, hardly worth thinking about, the kind of thing I was considering just saying to hell with finding my safety gear and just getting it done, done it a million times before. Glad I didn't this time.

Wife was in the room when the reset my nose, said it almost echoed in the room it was so loud when it popped back into place, glad I didn't feel it, thank you mr. drugs.





Don't forget your safety gear, even for those quick little jobs. Sure, you can still get hurt, but it will be a lot less. 12 stitches vs a cut tendon, I'll take the stitches thank you very much. Broken nose vs smashed orbital, thank you, but a broken nose aint that bad, I'll take it.

I don't know what hurts worse, the injuries, or the shit I'm going to catch when I show up to work on monday looking like I went a couple rounds with a prize fighter, probably the abuse. Margaritas and beer are handling the pain quite nicely so far.


DON'T FAWK UP LIKE I DID, WEAR YOUR GEAR AND PAY ATTENTION.

All this pain could have been avoided by simply turning the vice 90 degrees so it would have had me cutting with the right side of the wheel so that if it got bound it would have forced the grinder away from me. As it was, I was using the front edge of the wheel, so when it bound it was forced straight into my face. Its the little things.

[trkklr77]

pics or its just a bullshit story.

[Travis Waldher]

Grinding discs I don't worry too much about.

those cutting wheels on the other hand...

[kwrangln]

pics or its just a bullshit story.



Best yer gonna git fawker, I aint takin the bandages off for ya.:flipoff2:

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk58/kwrangln/fawk.jpg?t=1223168487

[trkklr77]

cool. just tell people you mma fight and stare them straight in the eyes all scary.

then tell the next guy you are a ninja and was on a assanation mission.......

and so.

[mobs]

couldve been a lot worse man.. thank goodness you still have your 'salutin finger :flipoff2:

[randii]

...stick prybars up my left nostril in order to straighten out my nose.
BTDT, that's a sunny picnic, ain't it? :p Did they pack it up after they set it? That's another happy little fun-storm when they pull the packing. :barf:

Good on you for living through it and getting on the mend, and thanks for sharing the safety learnin'.

Randii

[kwrangln]

BTDT, that's a sunny picnic, ain't it? :p Did they pack it up after they set it? That's another happy little fun-storm when they pull the packing. :barf:

Good on you for living through it and getting on the mend, and thanks for sharing the safety learnin'.

Randii

The ER doc arranged for me to be knocked out for the procedure, the plastic surgeon who did it was suprised, said he usually did it while the patient was awake. I said fawk that, I've set it enough myself to know it hurts like hell, knock me the fawk out.

Luckily they didn't pack it. I'm not an easy bleeder, and never bruise. Durn nose has been broke a bunch but I've yet to ever get a black eye from it. Every time I do the gym teacher snot rag trick it throwing blood clots out though, trying to not blow my nose. The wife aint diggin it.:laughing:

[5litre]

Good story i lolerd, sorry. Hope they gave you some good pain pills.

[kwrangln]

Good story i lolerd, sorry. Hope they gave you some good pain pills.

Doc gave me some vicodin, but I aint too hip to taking pain killers. Don't like the way they make me feel. Advil and beer will get me through just fine.

Last 3 or 4 broken bones I waited a week or so before going to the doc to get checked out. Hate going to the doc, hate taking pills. Big gaping wound that I can see bone, sure, its time to go to the doc, other than that, fawk it.

Yes, I'm going to be a miserable old man due to all the improperly cared for injuries since I didn't go get em taken care of. I can live with that....I think/hope.

[onetontoy]

Glad u survived intact. Been involved in few loggin accidents and you dont realize how fast things can happen. Proper safety gear has helped to minimize my injurys. Got my face crushed in last year, wasnt fun, and they can pack a assload of gauze up there......:shaking:

[shelljeep]

Dammit man. Thanks for the reminder. Didn't hurt yer looks any.:flipoff2:

[PAToyota]

This was a 5 minute grinding job, hardly worth thinking about, the kind of thing I was considering just saying to hell with finding my safety gear and just getting it done, done it a million times before.

Yep, pretty much every single time I've had something go wrong it has been under these conditions. Complacency is what gets you in trouble...

Glad to hear it wasn't worse.

[Proeliator]

This is why you should always keep superglue in the shop. I shit you not, saves you a trip to the er and works as good as stiches.

Ask me how I know :D

[Flingarrows]

This is why you should always keep superglue in the shop. I shit you not, saves you a trip to the er and works as good as stiches.

Ask me how I know

ditto

[kwrangln]

I've superglued enough cuts to know the deal. Grinder wounds are notoriously dirty, so its best to get em cleaned out as best you can. Besides, this was an opportunity to get the nose fixed professionally for the first time ever. Figure worst case its only as straight as it was before, best case I do away with some of the problems that come with a much abused septum.

[jpmassey]

[QUOTE=kwrangln;8817186]Grinder wounds are notoriously dirty, so its best to get em cleaned out as best you can. QUOTE]

I did basically the same thing...minus the whole broken nose part. I wasn't wearing gloves, so it did hit the bone. Only minor muscle damage, good thing that cutting wheel was thin!
The worst part was the doc using one side of the scissors to scrape the wound out.....:eek:

My lesson: Always use two hand when cutting.

[SeaBass44]

need before pics of sideways nose
I can stick on a few band aids & say same shit, you just want attention don't ya:D:laughing::flipoff2:

[Todd W]

Cutting wheels are not exactly nice tools to use I steer clear as much as possible now... grinding dust again not fun getting picked out of the eye. Those things spin so fast mechanix gloves do little,and welding gloves do only a lil more good.... Lucky it didn't break the disc and launch into your eye through your goggles.. scary sumbitches :eek:

[Smith & ARROW]

Cutting wheels are not exactly nice tools to use I steer clear as much as possible now... grinding dust again not fun getting picked out of the eye. Those things spin so fast mechanix gloves do little,and welding gloves do only a lil more good.... Lucky it didn't break the disc and launch into your eye through your goggles.. scary sumbitches :eek:

Yes, cutting discs can break. However, most tools can break - weather or not they do, depends largely on how they are used.

It is always important to choose the correct tool for a particular job. Using the wrong tool for a job probably means that the tool has to be used in a way that it was not designed for, which can be hazardous. People use the wrong tool for a job for many reasons - for example they are in a hurry and don’t take the time to change from one tool to another tool when moving to a different part of a job. Or perhaps they have never been educated on the correct use of a tool and know no better. Or perhaps they use the wrong tool on a job because are just "interested" to see if works, or because it is the easiest and simplest option at the time.

Usually, if the tool used is of a good quality, and it is used correctly, there is very little chance of it breaking - however, even in these cases, tools can break. No human is so perfect that they will never make a mistake using even a good quality tool, used correctly on a job it is designed for. No manufacturing process is flawless and all machines and consumables have the capacity to fail.

The potential outcomes that can be expected from using the wrong tool for a job, or using the right tool incorrectly, can range from amusing, to life threatening, depending on the tool and the circumstances. Some cutting wheels spin at 20,000 revolutions per minute. This is fast. Anyone who does not protect themselves against the worst case scenario when using any tool, is exposing themselves unnecessarily to a risk that is reflective of the hazards potential to the tool they are using.

Every effort should be taken when using any grinding machines with any brand of cutting or grinding discs, to protect the head and neck, hands and torso of the user – simple.

On thin cutting wheels in particular… By definition, thin cutting wheels are not the same as thick cutting wheels, and as such should not be used in the same way. A 3mm thick cutting wheel is 3 times as thick as a 1mm cutting wheel, however, this does not necessarily equate to a direct correlation in terms of strength and forgiveness. There is an element of synergy that applies in the equation, not dissimilar to when a 2 lane road is built to replace a 1 lane road – the volume of traffic that can travel safely along the road does not double, it increases exponentially to a multiplier of 3 or more. In other words, a 3mm cutting wheel is significantly stronger and significantly more forgiving with regards to twisting, bending, and other “misuses” than a 1mm wheel. Misuse, or pushing the boundaries of the functionality a 3mm wheel is significantly less likely to end in tears than doing the same with a 1mm wheel.

Ultrathin cutting wheels (0.8mm – 1.3mm) should only be used for straight cuts - NO BENDING, TWISTING OR FLEXING AT ALL and should not be pushed – the user should allow the “weight” of the grinder to do the work. That’s it. They are not designed to be used in any other way.

Having said that, good quality 1mm Cutting Wheels, if used correctly in the right circumstances, have some amazing benefits. They cut very fast and as such, not only save time in the cutting process, but can significantly reduce the time required for clean-up work on products such as stainless steel, because they cut so quickly there is less burning and marking. Also, because they are thin, when used on curved surface, such as a car panel, they take out very little material and allow for easier, smoother rejoins.


To sum up, it is important to use the correct tool for a particular job, and to be well informed as to how to use that particular tool properly as well as to take sensible precautions to protect yourself against the rare occasion when even the right tool for a job, used correctly, fails.

[kwrangln]

Then there are us fools, right tool for the job, using it in a correct manner, but have a moments carelessness due to complacancy. "I've done this a million times, it will only take a minute", whoops, damn, how did that happen? 30 seconds to turn the vice would have saved me 4 hours in the ER, a lot of pain, and the last 2 days with an itchy nose I cant scratch due to the splint that is glued to it.

Proper PPE and a good deal of luck saved my ass. I got real lucky that the spinning wheel hit my hand and deflected the gearbox into my face instead of the cutting wheel, hate to think of the damage a full speed cutting wheel would have done to my nose.

I don't think there is a person out there, no matter how much experience, who uses cutting wheels that has not sneezed, twitched, burped, hiccuped, farted, or got distracted by something and bound up a cutting wheel in the material at some point.

I agree 100% that the proper tool selection for the job, and the training/experience to use it properly is vital to completing a job safely. However; there is always the human factor to consider. We are imperfect in many ways, and when dealing with something that is sensitive to the slightest change in work angle, the human factor can not be discounted.



And Seabass, I could show you a pic from before my fawkup and you would say "damn, thats a fawked up snot locker", it hasn't been straight in 20 years. I think this makes break number 8 or 9, I've lost track.:flipoff2:

[zachv]

Geez, I forgot just how ugly you are! :flipoff2:

I sure do hope that Susan's hearing goes before you turn into that grumpy old guy. Then she will just have to put up with some senior citizen waving at her for no apparent reason.

Seriously, I am glad to hear you are OK, Ken. I have started using face shields and have actually gotten used to them, as long as they are clean, and like them better than glasses alone. Might be something to think about.

Be well. :cool:

[Mike Draper]

Ouch!! Damn, the nose looks painful! Hope everything heals quickly. I had a similar experience, I had a 4" grinder wheel explode, it broke into three chunks. Buggered up a couple knuckles and left a colorful bruise across my stomach. Super glue wasn't an option, had to stitch it up. The disc left a shredded mess, my wife used scissors to trim up the loose ends and stitched me back up. We've got a good friend that keeps us in stitches....and lidocaine :D The puncture at the ring finger kept getting inflamed...finally dug a 1/2"strand of fiberglass reinforcement out if it...much better! :D

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/2773/oops0002kc5.jpg



mike

[trkklr77]

ha, i would have the tip of my thumb worn off twice yesterday it i hadnt been wearing leather mech gloves :thumbsup:

[Mean_Green]

my shocker gloves tell my tales... i just retired them but kept them as a memory.... you can see all the cuts where somthing slippid into my hand and went chop then theirs some red ink around it too. pretty cool

[BB1980]

I guess I better start wearing one of these when I grind/cut. My 7" grinder would prolly meatloaf my face if it twisted.

http://www.arthritis.ca/images/user/%7B9781446C-F22D-4D99-8686-CC99FBFA8E40%7D.jpg

[SeaBass44]

I guess I better start wearing one of these when I grind/cut. My 7" grinder would prolly meatloaf my face if it twisted.

http://www.arthritis.ca/images/user/%7B9781446C-F22D-4D99-8686-CC99FBFA8E40%7D.jpg


get a good face shield
I use one called
UVEX Bionic Face Shield Faceshield Mask 1each. S8510
bad ass
http://cgi.ebay.com/UVEX-Bionic-Face-Shield-Faceshield-Mask-1each-S8510_W0QQitemZ280276375531QQcmdZViewItem?hash=ite m280276375531&_trkparms=72%3A1240%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A4%7C65%3A12%7C 240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

http://i19.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/a2/d1/63f1_1.JPG

[JFoster]

Does that fog up alot?

Will one of those little white air filter masks fit under it?

[SeaBass44]

Does that fog up alot?

Will one of those little white air filter masks fit under it?

been a whole, I don't remember any fog

[jesster]

I respect cutting wheels at a whole different level after a 4.5" grinder w/ shredded cutting wheel kicked back into my face... Flappy face skin sucks.

Grinders can be mean motherfuckers for sure.

[PAToyota]

Another UVEX Bionic user here. No fog problems. You can get an anti-fog shield on them, but mine is just the regular one.

[JFoster]

I do alot of cleaning with my angle grinder with a wire cup brush on it. It always makes me pretty nervous, worried its gonna catch my sleeve and attack the shit out of me :eek:

[PhantomEB]

Thanks Seabass, I been wantin one of those but completely forgot about it til now.