PSA #297: Flying Wood (2 Viewers)

[e9999]

Don't do what I did!
Today, I was trying to see if I could plane some wood cookies that I cut the other day.
But I wanted to try something else besides using a planer (duh). So I put a carbide cutters disk on an angle grinder, rigged up a Unistrut frame with rolling bearings, and bolted the grinder in there. So I can move it back and forth over the round while hopefully cutting a flat surface.
I figured I need to find a way to secure the round somewhat while still being able to move it easily so I could cut all the way across it. So I put it in some wood stops for that.
Tried it, it worked great. Was quite flat really. But there was this one spot... So I had to do a little more. Started to be a bit less careful holding it down (with a wood handle, not by hand, of course), admittedly. It got thinner and thinner (the 4th table leg effect).
Then suddenly, the grinder grabbed the thing at its 12,000 or so rpm and flung it out from the bench. Had sort of happened before but not quite so fast and I could control things before. Not this time. It went.
I looked for it in the garage. Nothing. Weird. Not under the many carts. Not under the truck outside. Nothing. Puzzlement ensues. Thinking "damn I'm getting old. Can't see well or just imagining the whole thing? Losing my mind? Dissolute youth resurfacing?"
Gave up SMH.
A bit later gotta drive out and I finally see the thing. Way out there on the driveway, like 100' or more. Must have frisbeed out of there.
Good I didn't get that one in the ribs...!
Sooo, don't do that! Did not go the extra distance securing the thing for convenience and speed... Bad (lack of) thinking.

 

[e9999]

seriously, angle grinders are the spawn of the devil. It's a miracle we don't end up getting hurt more often with these things. The speed... the power...

At least I'm drawing the line at not using those chainsaw cutters some people put on them... Shudder...

I'm gonna double check everything when using my angle grinders for a while.

 

[franklin40]

i had a flap disc come off my angle grinder and hit me in the stomach. i has carhartt insulated bibs and a sweat shirt on and it still broke skin from the pressure where it hit me. it didn’t cut the fabric but still tore my skin!! they can be super dangerous!!

i also caught my crotch on fire once from grinding sparks. thats was stupid!!

 

[bj70bc]

if you havent ever got you shirt caught in a grinder and had it wind up until its jammed against your stomach you havent really lived

 

[Mauser]

if you havent ever got you shirt caught in a grinder and had it wind up until its jammed against your stomach you havent really lived

A wire wheel makes it so much better.

 

[Ragnaroek]

i also caught my crotch on fire once from grinding sparks. thats was stupid!!

Been there, done that.

 

[PAToyota]

A bit later gotta drive out and I finally see the thing. Way out there on the driveway, like 100' or more. Must have frisbeed out of there.
Good I didn't get that one in the ribs...!

Many years ago I was home from college and down in the basement running my father's Craftsman table saw to work on a little project. A friend stopped by and came down to try to get me to go out somewhere with him. I wanted to finish up what I was doing, but he was anxious to get going... I got distracted...

I was cutting a bevel on a piece and the way that worked best "trapped" the piece. So far, it had been working. Getting distracted, it suddenly didn't work and the piece of wood went flying (fortunately) past me... My father had a metal shelf against the wall in front of the table saw and had Xerox paper boxes full of various things on the shelf. The piece went in above a box and below the shelf above it with a resounding bang. Ok, that was it. No more working distracted. I cleaned things up, turned everything off, and went out with my friend rather than tempt distraction again.

A few days later my father called me down to his den, which was on the other side of the wall from the shop area. He had a similar metal shelf there with more Xerox boxes full of other various things. He showed me how one of the boxes wouldn't go in flush with the other boxes on the shelf. He pulled the box out and pointed to the drywall buckled out, which was holding the box out further than the ones to either side. He looked at me and asked whether anything had happened recently. I recounted the episode with my friend and then we went over to the shop side and pulled out some boxes. There was a hole in the drywall that matched the end of the piece that left the table saw. The piece had rocketed between the box and shelf, hit the wall, punched through the drywall on that side, and hit the other side hard enough to buckle it and push the box on the shelf on the other side out a fair bit. It really made me think about what it would have done to me with that force behind it if it had hit me instead of the wall.

No harm was done and my father chalked it up as a lesson for both of us. I can't say that there haven't been any accidents or near misses in the ensuing decades, but I often think back to that incident when I'm "just trying to finish something up" and hurrying or getting distracted. Over the years, the subsequent incidents have nearly all been attributable not having my mind totally into what I was doing.

 

[ntsqd]

This ought to make e9999 cringe. I inherited my grandfather's 7" and 9" angle grinders. I think the 9" is a 1/2 HP motor.

And did you know that you should carefully measure the height of electric fences (with something non-conducting) before stepping over it lest you get high-centered on it? I do, now.

 

[mrsleeve]

if you havent ever got you shirt caught in a grinder and had it wind up until its jammed against your stomach you havent really lived

This was me but it wadded up and ran up to my neck as I was squatted down and working about nipple height

 

[bj70bc]

like being attacked by the tasmanian devil