Drill Press Query

[Anonymous]

I guess it is all down to how good your eyes are. When centering the drill over the "x", I have been known to get my head right in there. Obviously the long hair thing could be a danger in this situation.
- I should point out that the drill is never on with me underneath it though!

 

[Anonymous]

But for those of you with long hair they are an absolute essential.

at the risk of sounding blonde... can I ask... why...???...

My hair is cut very short and will not tangle. I have seen a guy with long hair have an enormous handful torn out when it tangled. More blood than you have ever seen

Belive me, you don't have to be stupid to get tangled up in a machine

 

[CHJ]

is there some corrolation I'm missing between hair length and stupidity..??

Don't know if it is anything to do with stupidity or just that S**t happens from time to time.
Having seen a guy with 3" of his scalp flapping in the breeze after his hair was wrapped around a drill chuck I always came down hard on anyone with long hair not taking appropriate precautions in my shop.

But I agree that for non repetitive production type work drill guards in the main cause more damaged fingers and frustration than they are worth.

Another tale: (related to Franks comments re ammers.)

An apprentice with me did the usual and cushioned his thumb between a hammer and an anvil for some obscure reason, being a macho rugby player he shrugged it off and even showed off the blood blister forming under his nail. 8) Some 15mins or so later we were all surprised to here same individual screaming his head off whilst doing some interesting new dance near the pillar drill.

Bottom line: Get ready to wince.
The pressure in his thumb had finally got to him, and in his wisdom he decided to drill a 1/64" hole in his nail to let the blood out.

BUT the pillar drill being old had vertical play in the shaft which lifted a 1/16" or so on applying pressure and DROPPED when it broke through.

For some reason that image has always stuck. :!:

 

[Jorden]

Ouch CHJ you just made my rear end tweek something awfull!

I dropped a manhole cover on a finger some years ago and the hospital used a heated paper clip to burn through the nail to relieve the pressure of the blood blister - I still wince at the memory of the pain now!

Dennis

 

[Midnight]

I always came down hard on anyone with long hair not taking appropriate precautions in my shop.

I got no prob with this at all... but then, dumb is dumb... hair length has nothing to do with it...

I've frequently had to use the bench drills at work; given that this is a fabrication shop, it's a given that the guards are either U/S or totally opaque... my eyesight isn't what it used to be, and yea.. I can relate to having to be careful to hit the centre dab on the plate / bracket I'm drilling... however...

it's a no brainer to raise the table to position the work as close to the drill tip as poss.. takes less than a minute...
it's a no brainer to step to one side, check alignment and repeat from the other side...
it's a no brainer to "watch" the tip of the drill as it starts to engage the centre dab; any deflection = slightly off-centre... adjust to suit...

I've been doing all the above for over 25 years irrespective of hair length simply because it's a sound and safe way to ensure accuracy...

<shrugs...

maybe it's just me.....

 

[Bean]

Midnight
The fact that you have been doing something for 25 years does not mean that you are immune to the dangers, complacent maybe but immune never !
A moulder working at one of our sister factories had been moulding for 20 plus years and had always short cut the system, being complacent he assumed it would never happen to him. He is now getting used to life with only one hand, the other being seperated by a 180 deg C mould in a 300 ton Press.
Just because it has not happened to you, yet, does not mean it won't.

Bean
rant over

 

[Midnight]

The fact that you have been doing something for 25 years does not mean that you are immune to the dangers, complacent maybe but immune never !

I'd (politely) dispute the complacency while agreeing with the lack of immunity; pillar drills aren't something I use all day every day. Frequent enough to "keep my hand in"... yea... seldom enough that I need to focus on what I'm doing.. I learned through observing a blood-n-gore accident while at school that these things dinna take prisoners... it's a trait that every machine has in common... with that in mind, I'm ever mindful that I stay well outa it's capacity to bite me... like I said, it's a no brainer...

I take my time, not only to stay safe, but because I've usually invested a bunch of time in the plate / bracket already; the last thing I wanna do is screw it up now... right.??? So I pay attention to the set up, I adjust everything possible to stack the dice heavily in my favour... when I'm happy, then and only then do I hit the power switch...
the day I catch myself not thinking about what I'm doing is the day I quit...

like I said... maybe it's just me...[/b]

 

[CHJ]

Midnight The guy with the permanent parting in his scalp did not even have his hands on the drill press, he just leaned forward to look around the guard to blow a bit of swarf off the part to see if he had it centred :!: Sooner or later we all do the dumbest of things, my latest was to put a finger behind something to steady it whilst drilling, guess where the drill broke through.

Having seen most things from a chewed up finger to partially guillotined leg (by a collapsed Aircraft undercarriage) I would say that the majority of workshop accidents happen despite the people concerned doing the correct thing every time they consciously thought about it.

One of our senior supervisors was relating the tale of a guy who damaged his hand in a car fan blade and promptly pointed at the radiator area of the vehicle he was servicing through the revolving fan blades.

Another chap was demonstrating that he had made and fitted a new guard to a guillotine (it had arrived in shop without a satisfactory guard) and promptly proved that he was still able to flatten a finger to the thickness of a ten pence piece under the hydraulic work clamps. The arguments we had with the factory inspector who would not budge from the rule that there should be a minimum gap of 8mm to prevent finger access when the machine was made to cut 15mm steel stock.

A TIG welder in my last shop always wore a hairnet whilst working (mainly to aid the fitting of the full airfed mask), in his lunch hour he took an angle grinder out to his motorbike to shift a recalcitrant nut and came back in with a somewhat unusual hair style.

I'm with Bean here sooner or later we all have a sharp reminder that machines do not care what they chew. I still mess with as many as I can get my hands on though and hope the next one that bites is midge size not tiger.

 

[Midnight]

I'm with Bean here sooner or later we all have a sharp reminder that machines do not care what they chew. I still mess with as many as I can get my hands on though and hope the next one that bites is midge size not tiger.

Chas... trust me.. I hear what you're saying; I just disagree with your premies.. The reason I'm sticking to my guns is cos I gotta... the rules have changed... the compensation culture's toast, history... dead n buried... these days, if I have an accident at work, it is my fault...
Somewhere down the line I've messed up by either failing to do a proper TRA, failing to follow the TRA or by operating the machine with my head up my whazoo... either way I'm held accountable...

you haven't heard the story about the crane service tech who failed to lock off the overhead crane he was checking simply because it was Saturday and the shop was quiet..??? Someone tried to use it while he's working on it... I'll spare the details but the guy's never gonna work again. On top of that the courts held him liable for huge damages along with a massive fine for breech of procedure...
I simply can't afford to let that happen...
Like I said.. it's a no brainer.. if I need to clear swarf I switch the damn thing off... rocket science it aint...

 

[Dewy]

Is it just me that hates those awful plastic guards?
Nothing but a nuisance. I removed mine eventually after cutting myself on the thing once too often. :evil:

The first time I saw one of the small pillar drills with a plastic guard was in B&Q at £39.95.
The plastic was broken because the depth stop was fitted to this flimsy plastic guard.
Thank you B&Q for having your tools on display for people to play with.
They soon break so we can all see why not to buy them.

 

[Bean]

Its one of the best adverts for not buying a lot of them, but I find it furtile territory for possible mods. Cheap tools will have had all the money spent on the guts of the kit, so very little of it on what are seen as accessories or trimmings. Remember these parts are only fitted to drill in the west and we are not always the biggest customers.

Bean